This commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me

Romans 7:1-13 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Or do you not know, brethren (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives? ² For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband. ³ So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man.

⁴ Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. ⁵ For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. ⁶ But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

⁷ 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.” ⁸ But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead. ⁹ I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; ¹⁰ and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; ¹¹ for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. ¹² So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

¹³ 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.

In today’s text it says:  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…    There are many people in the world who make a very similar statement and argument regarding sin and the law. They attribute guilt to God and religion and to their regulations. Their answer is to do away with God and religion so that sin no longer matters. They say it is the rules and the regualtions which are the problem. If there were no rules, there would be no sin, so their answer is to eliminate the rules.  The thing is that we all know that there is a necessity for rules. We all know that there is right and wrong. There is good and evil. The question becomes who makes the rules? Who determines what is right and wrong? The problem comes when people, who cannot agree and are subject to change based on their own desires, are left to determine what is right and what is wrong; what is good and what is evil.  There is an expression or a proverb that says: “Give an inch and they’ll take a mile.”  I found this regarding that expression:   This expression first appeared in writing in John Heywood’s collection of proverbs from the year 1546. However, it was written in a slightly different form, give him an inch and he’ll take an ell. An ell was a unit of measurement that was about 45 inches, or six handbreadths. Sources speculate that the proverb changed its wording due to the fact that ell is no longer a common measurement. Another theory is that it changed to become more of a hyperbolic to give greater emphasis to how much advantage a person would take if allowed to bend the rules even slightly.   Certainly this expression is proven true in regards to our culture’s morals and values. That is the problem when people are left to determine what is right and what is wrong; what is evil and what is good, what is darkness and what is light; even what is true and what is false. Each step that we take toward darkness causes the light to seem less real. Every step taken away from good brings us closer to what is truly evil. The changing or evolving of our cultures morals or its immorality does not change what is truly right. Since people are fickle and changing, who could better to determine what is good and right than the unchanging, holy and righteous; omnipotent God?  In Isaiah 5:20 God says: Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!  

Here is the thing, it is not God, religion or the regulations that are the problem. The problem is sin. Even without an awareness of sin there is still right and wrong and there are still consequences for doing what is wrong. Romans 6:23 says:  The wages of sin is death.  To compare this spiritual truth to a natural cause and effect, consider that fifty or sixty years ago, before there was knowledge and understanding of the detrimental effects of smoking, many doctors smoked. The fact that people were unaware of the negative effects of smoking did not mean that those negative effects were not real. In the same way that smoking caused deaths without man’s knowledge, so too does sin without knowledge still cause death. The word and the idea of personal choice is a polarizing topic in our culture and society today. It is a conflict that is often the center of the abortion debate. But personal choice has now become the mantra in nearly every moral question in society and as the proverb says, there is no end to how far it will go. We have come to a point where we are telling todlers that they have a choice in their gender. What those who promote the idea of personal choice don’t know and understand, is that it too has its origin in God. God created us with a free will; an ability to choose. Where it first went wrong was in the garden, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God. The thing is, fruit they ate was from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 3:7, when they ate the fruit it says: Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.   It was and is the knowledge of good and evil that brings about guilt, shame and condemnation. God is not the problem, but He does provide the solution.   

The text says:  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.   The awareness of sin brings us to the place of repentance.   To ignore what is causing death does not change the fact that we are dying. 1 John 1:5-10 says:  God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.

Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit for Your word which reveals Your righteousness. Thank You that You, the unchanging, holy and righteous God have determined and revealed what is good and right. Thank You that as it says in Romans 8:1, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. You have provided the way out of guilt and shame by redeeming us from our sin. Through the revelation of Your word and the power of the Holy Spirit, may I walk in agreement with what You say not what people say. Amen.