Dealing with sin in our lives is a pursuit worthy of our careful attention, and yet it is invariably hard. On the one hand, we realize that we have no power over sin, in the ultimate sense. That’s what Christ died for. On the other hand, being conformed to Jesus involves the diminution of the power and effects of sin in our hearts. Often confusion over the process of how God sanctifies us is at the heart of the difficulty in our pursuit of holiness.
Two common pitfalls in regard to our approach to dealing with sin are my interest today. My thoughts come out of my study of Romans 7:7-13, where Paul is answering his own question about whether or not the law is sin, since we have been freed from it in Christ. He writes:
What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, "YOU SHALL NOT COVET." But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead. I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.
He had been arguing that we are no longer under the law, but rather we are now in the Spirit. He has been arguing that grace is the means of both our righteous standing before God, as well as the means by which we become conformed to Christ (made holy). Anticipating counter-arguments from legalists, he sets forth a series of questions and answers beginning in chapter six of Romans to address this issue. The final question is raised in chapter seven, verse 7: “Is the Law sin?” Paul’s answer is an emphatic “No!” But he continues the discussion by showing that our sinfulness is demonstrated in our use of the law. Paul’s intent is to show us that sin has power that nothing short of divine intervention will cure. His goal is to destroy any notion that we can handle sin on our own.
Paul begins by saying that the law is holy, righteous, and good. In other words, the problem is not with the law. Its intention and functions are good, when understood and used rightly. The law is good, because it helps us know our sin, but it is ineffective in dealing with our sin. One way we see this is that our sinful passions are aroused by the law (vv. 5, 8).
For while we were in the flesh, the sinfulpassions, which were aroused by the Law, were at workin the membersof our body to bearfruitfor death.
But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead.
In the process of revealing our sin, sin often intensifies even before it is exposed. In other words, telling me that I shouldn’t do something makes me want it all the more. The problem is not in the command, but in the sin of my heart that is doing the desiring. So, the law is not to be blamed for our sinful passions being aroused by its revelation of our sin. Sin is the culprit. Sin is to be blamed. The law created the occasion, but sin created the passion.
Now, at this point it is important that we understand what we mean by sin and how the law exposes it. We do not mean “sins”, that is, sinful actions or even thoughts, but rather sin as a condition, like cancer. Paul is referring to sin as a condition of our heart that we often refer to as fallenness. It is a law of itself, a principle, and condition that renders us bent in a direction away from God, blinding us from His glory, and setting our natural affections and thoughts toward the creation rather than the Creator (Romans 1:21ff). Our sinful condition causes us to sin. And this condition is deeper and more pervasive and productive than the sins that it produces. This is Paul’s point—that’s what he is trying to help us see. And that is what the law reveals. How does this work?
What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, "YOU SHALL NOT COVET." Romans 7:7
Paul is saying that we come to know how deep and pervasive and powerful is our sin by knowing what it produces and how the law exposes that.
Using Covetousness as an Example
Paul uses the tenth commandment, “Thou shall not covet” to illustrate this effect. Covetousness deals with the desires of our heart, as opposed to external behavior. The other commandments assume desires behind them. It is desire that shows we have lost our contentment in all that God is for us in Christ. While many desires reflect how valuable God is for us, (and those are good), some desires show that we have lost our satisfaction in God and what he is for us, and are yearning for other things to make up for the fact that God does not hold out for us the value that he ought to have. So, coveting shows that sin is much deeper than behavior and cannot be controlled by sheer power of the will. The law commanding us not to desire what we shouldn’t shows how impotent we are to keep it. Try desiring something you should when you don’t. And try to stop desiring something you shouldn’t. See how the law reveals the depth of our sinful condition and our impotence to deal with it?
The phrase “for apart from the Law sin is dead” (8b) means that sin is imperceptible as sin before the law calls it sin by prohibiting it. We don't see it as sin. It's dead in our minds as sin. We don't see our desires as illegitimate – unless a law has come in to call us into question. So it's all dead to us as sin. The law tells us that our own desires are not the measure of right and wrong (as opposed to many modern notions). I remember a song back in the 70’s that had a line that said, “How can this be wrong when it feels so right?” Wow! Now that’s a problem.
It is God, not our desires, that is the measure of right and wrong. But not until the law came did our desires as our law get revealed. We come into the world assuming that we ought to get what we want to have. Until the law comes, "want to" equals "ought to" – "desire" equals "deserve."
So, this is what God's law does: it exposes the sinful condition beneath all our desires for what it is—an independence from God and rebellion against Him. And our only hope is that the Holy Spirit of God would humble us, so that we can see the folly of trying to be our own god and treating our own desires as law. This is why Jesus died in our place and rose again and sends the Holy Spirit into the world and offers us forgiveness for rebellion, and justifies by faith in Jesus Christ.
The Two Pitfalls
Now, as stated earlier, I want to deal with the two pitfalls that stunt or even halt our sanctification. They are both based in lies wrought of this sinful condition.
for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 7:11
Verse 11 gives the key word to explain how sin does kill through the commandments. Sin uses the commandments to deceive us. One of sin’s chief characteristics is deception. It lies to us . . . constantly. It kills by deceiving us and using false logic. It kills by masking and hiding the truth about itself and its remedy. If you are buried under the guilt, it is because you are being deceived. Sin is lying to you and you believe it.
How does sin use the law to deceive?
On the one hand, sin will often convince us that we can’t keep God’s commandments and so why try. It would go on to convince us that there would be no real value in doing so, if we could. This deception leaves one hopeless. Our common response to it is to indulge ourselves in the false promises of sin that seem better and more attainable than keeping the law. Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you die! Grab all the gusto you can, while you can. That’s the hopeless lie sin tells.
On the other hand, sin will deceive when confronted by the commandments by convincing us that we can keep the commandment. So, get busy, exert willpower, and demonstrate that you are as good as everyone else, if not better. Get ready for judgment is coming. This form of deception gives a false hope that is based in self-righteousness.
Both forms of deception kill. Sin takes the Law and kills us by either offering relief from hopelessness through self-indulgence or hopefulness based in self-righteousness. One tells us that we can't keep the commandments and so give up, and the other tells us that we can keep the commandment and so be hopeful. They are both lies. And to believe either of them is sure death.
What is the remedy?
We must die to the Law and live to God through the gospel. Only the gospel has the power of God save and sanctify. The gospel gives hope to the self-indulgent by opening eyes to the beauty of Christ and the vast forgiveness He offers in His death. He perfectly kept the Law in behalf of those who would believe, and He offers far more pleasure than the things of this world and passions of our sinful flesh. The gospel also gives true hope for the self-righteous on the same basis. Why work for something that is a gift?
So, we see that the Law is not sin, nor is it a cause for our death.
Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful. 7:13
When Paul says that God’s commandment killed him, does he mean that the Law is a murderer? That it is sin? Absolutely not! He explains HOW the commandment killed him. Sin used the Law to bring about his death. See verse eleven again.
for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 7:11
It is sin that kills us. It brings about my death through the law. It brings my condemnation and spiritual doom, not the Law. But to show how murderous sin is, Paul points out that sin uses the commandment of God as the means of my death. So he concludes in verse 12: "So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good."
The purpose of the law was for our good. But sin uses it to our destruction. John Piper, in a sermon on this text, uses a poignant illustration to help us better get this point.
“Picture the Law as a surgeon's scalpel. It is meant for life and healing. And here comes sin and takes the scalpel of God's commandments and slashes people's throats with it. The commandment – holy, just, good – was to be life to me, and it became death for me, because sin took the scalpel out of the surgeon's hand and with it slashed my throat and killed me (verse 10). That is not what a scalpel is for.”
The essence of sin is the misuse of God’s intentions for self-fulfillment apart from Him and His way. That is what sin does with God’s law. That’s the way it is with everything. We use creation for intentions than those intended by God, which are, ultimately, to reflect His glory. Our fallen, sin condition causes us to do contrary to this, even in our use of those good gifts like God’s law.
Romans 7 is written that we would die to the law, not because it is sinful, but because it is ineffective to perform change in our sinful hearts. Any attempt to deal with sin that is focused on law-keeping, apart from the work of Christ and His Spirit in us, will not accomplish God’s intentions and is, therefore, sinful in itself. Any form of law-keeping will invariably take us further from Christ, further from trusting Him, further from delighting in Him.
Food for thought: What are some of these subtle forms of law-keeping that you struggle with? Ask the Lord to help you see them and depart from them. Ask for feedback from others. And, most importantly, keep your eyes on Christ, His finished work and His supreme value.