The Law of Sin and Death.

What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. – Romans 7:7-12 ESV In Paul's assessment of man's relationship between the law and sin, he strongly emphasized that these two things were not synonymous. In other words, he did not want anyone assuming that the law must be somehow sinful itself because it caused man to sin. He clearly states: “What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means!” (Romans 7:7 ESV). The law simply revealed man's sin, in the same way that a speed limit sign exposes a driver who is exceeding the legally enforced and visibly posted limit. The infraction is the responsibility of the individual, not the sign. Sin cannot be blamed on the law because, as Paul says, “the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good” (Romans 7:12 ESV). God's law was given in order to show man his incapacity to live up to the righteous standards God required. It was man's sin nature that was the problem. The law simply exposed it. Paul states that “apart from the law, sin lies dead” (Romans 7:8 ESV). The Greek word for “dead” that Paul uses is nekros and while it can be used to refer to actual death or lifelessness, it can also mean “destitute of force or power, inactive, inoperative” (Outlines of Biblical Usage). Paul was not saying that sin was completely dead and impotent, but that until the law came, it remained dormant. Then “when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died” (Romans 7:9 ESV). He was also not saying that man was sinless before the law came, but that man sinned in ignorance. There were no speed limit signs, so to speak. So man went as fast as he wanted with no feelings of regret or remorse. But when the law was given, God's limits became known and man's true nature became exposed. Using one of the Ten Commandments as an example, Paul says that prior to the command, “You shall not covet,” he would not have known the coveting was wrong. His sin nature would have coveted in ignorance and without any conviction of having committed an act of wrongdoing. But when the law came, clearly revealing that coveting was against the will of God, man's sin nature resisted that command and produced an increased desire to covet. There is within man, because of the presence of his sin nature, a predisposition to rebel against the will of God. You can see it in a small child when you tell them that they are not to touch a hot stove. Suddenly, everything in them wants to do exactly what you just told them not to do. Their is a relentless attraction to the forbidden wired into each of us because of the fall.

God gave the law to show mankind what was required in order to maintain a right relationship with Him and, as a result, to experience true life. Because God is righteous and holy, He requires that those who come into His presence be holy. He cannot tolerate sin. Just as light cannot coexist with darkness, neither can God coexist with sin. And Paul explains that God's good, holy and righteous law, which promised life to anyone who could keep it, ended up bringing death to mankind. Why? Because sin, “seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me” (Romans 7:11 ESV). Sin was the problem, not the law. St. Augustine describes man's predicament this way: “The law orders, that we, after attempting to do what is ordered, and so feeling our weakness under the law, may learn to implore the help of grace.” Paul said, “had it not been for the law, I would not have known sin” (Romans 7:7 ESV). It is our awareness of our sinfulness as revealed by the law that should create in us a desire for God's help. But sadly, many just attempt to work harder at keeping God's law. Their guilt increases their self-effort. Rather than throwing up their hands and saying, “I can't”, they stubbornly refuse to ask for help from God and push themselves harder, thinking they can somehow earn favor with Him through their own strength. Sadly, there are others who, when convicted by God's law, refuse to acknowledge its authority over them. Sin, “seizing an opportunity through the commandment” ends up producing a growing list of infractions and transgressions. They knowingly and willingly break God's “speed limit.”

In the very next chapter, Paul gives us the great news regarding God's law. He writes, “The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin's control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins” (Romans 8:3 NLT). The law showed me my sin. It also showed me my need for a Savior. And God sent His own Son to do for me what the law was never intended to do. He came to save me and free me from the condemnation of the law. My righteousness is found in Him, not in my efforts to keep the law. God did for me what the law could not do. He did for me what I could not do.

Dead to the Power of Sin.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.  We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.. – Romans 6:5-11 ESV For Paul, the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus were more than mere events that took place. They were the key to his salvation, sanctification and ultimate glorification. As he stated in chapter one, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16 ESV). The gospel, God's abounding grace as revealed through the sacrificial death of His own Son, had not only justified Paul in God's eyes, it had provided him with the power needed to say no to his old sin nature that waged war against the Spirit of God within him. But Paul knew that, for believers, “our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its lower in our lives” (Romans 6:6 NLT). Paul stresses that, in placing our faith in Christ's substitutionary death on our behalf,  we are united with Him “in a death like his.” And if that is true, then we are also “united with Him in a resurrection like his.” From God's perspective, we died alongside Christ. Not only that, we were raised with Christ, to “walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:5 ESV). His death put an end to sin's control over mankind. No longer do we live as slaves to sin, unable to resist its influence in our lives. Because we died with Christ, sin's claim on our lives has been broken. We have been ransomed out of slavery and have been freed to live in the newness of who we are: children of God.

Paul brings up the logical conclusion that anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Dead people don't sin. This is why he states, “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing” (Romans 6:6 ESV). When Christ hung on the cross, He took on our sins. And He died a gruesome, painful death. When He was placed in the borrowed tomb, He was lifeless, limp and powerless. Death had been victorious over Him. But then, three days later, something remarkable happened. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus was brought back to life. But He was not just resuscitated. He was resurrected to new life with a new body. Yes, it had the nail prints in His hands and the wound in His side. He was still recognizable to the disciples, but He was also different. He was no longer susceptible to pain and death anymore. He had the capacity to move about freely, unencumbered by the physical constraints of the normal human body. He had conquered death and, in doing so, He had made it possible for those who believe in Him to undergo a spiritual resurrection to new life. And, as Paul puts it, “so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin” (Romans 6:6-7 ESV).

In his letter to the church in Colossae, Paul encouraged them, “Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:1-3 NLT). He went on to tell them, “put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you” (Colossians 3:5 NLT). This new life in Christ is not without its struggles. We still have our old natures living within us. We still have the capacity to sin. But Paul's point is that we are no longer slaves to sin. We have a choice. The key is that we must remember our new life in Christ. Paul put it this way to the church in Galatia: “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20 NLT). It is a matter of faith. I can no more conquer my old sin nature on my own than I could have saved myself on my own. Martin Luther described it this way: “Our spiritual life is a matter not of experience, but of faith. No one knows or experiences the fact that he lives spiritually or is justified, but he believes and hopes in this. We live unto God, that is, in our spiritual and new life to eternity” (Martin Luther, Commentary on Romans).

Paul's main point in this section seems to be that we must recognize that our new life, made possible by Christ's resurrection, is to be lived to God. We are to “think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.” As Paul stated, each believer is to “put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you.” He tells us to “put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him” (Galatians 3:10 NLT). Our new life in Christ requires a constant vigilance that includes putting off the old and putting on the new. We are to pursue righteousness and flee from sin. We are to constantly consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God. We belong to Him. We exist for His glory. “We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10 NLT).