“The Sinfulness of Sin” Romans 7:7-13
Introduction: In this section of Romans Paul is still dealing with the Law and the purpose of the Law. He has already shown in earlier chapters that the Law cannot justify a person and in this present chapter he argues that neither can the Law sanctify a person. He further declares that the Law is still holy, just, and good. So the obvious question remains, “So what is the purpose of the Law?” Since God is holy and does not do sin, doesn’t it seem like a contradiction that God’s good Law produces sin?
Let me offer an historical note at this point. Two well-known figures had slightly different views on the purpose of the Law. Martin Luther held that there were two uses of the Law. One was a civil use of the Law which all persons are required to obey. The second purpose is what he called “the evangelical use” of the law. By that he meant that the Law is used to show us our sin and drive us to Christ. John Calvin affirmed Luther’s first two uses of the Law, but said there was a third use of the Law. In addition to the first two uses Calvin declared that God’s Law was also to be used to provide a pattern as to how a Christian ought to live. At the same time Calvin was careful to teach that the Law could not justify a person, nor could the Law by itself make a person holy.
Let’s now look at some of the good things the Law does.
I. The Law Shows Sin to be Sin.
Verse 7 in our passage says, ESV Romans 7:7 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."
It is amazing how easy it is to justify our sin or to think it is not as bad as it is in God’s eyes. For too long much of our culture has emphasized that God is a God of love. And as if God were a harmless grandfather sitting in his rocking chair, stroking his beard, and over looking any wrong within us, we tend to project that image of God Himself. We forget that love is not God’s only attribute. He is also a God of justice, holiness, righteousness, and wrath. When Genesis 6:5 says, ESV Genesis 6:5 The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
We tend not to believe it. Do you believe it? If you do, it is only because God has given you spiritual eyes and a spiritual mind to believe what He has written. Or consider Romans 3:10-12, ESV Romans 3:10 as it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one."
If you believe that, then it is because God has convinced you of its truth. Even the apostle Paul had difficulty seeing sin in his own life until he was confronted with the Law which said, thou shall not covet.”
In the 1970’s Karl Menninger addressed this vey issue in his book, Whatever Became of Sin? He argued that sin had been redefined. The public only saw sin as a wrong if it transgressed the laws of man. Even when it did, the idea that it violated God’s law began to fade into the background. Sin was blamed on our backgrounds or circumstances. Even the word sin was replaced by words like mistakes, errors, blunder, or even a misunderstanding.
II. The Law Provokes Sin.
An even more difficult concept to grasp is how God’s good Law could provoke sin and yet not be sinful itself. Hence, Paul says in verse 8 - Romans 7:8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. The sin that dwells within, especially before we experience being born again, may appear to be dormant. But the moment we hear a prohibition against some action that old nature springs to life and a strong desire to do the very thing the prohibition said don’t do raises it head. Adam and Eve experienced that rebellion as soon as God said, “Do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” (Ill.) We have all experienced that phenomenon growing up. Your parent says, “Don’t touch the top of the stove or you will get burned.” Perhaps you never even thought of touching the top of the stove until your parent said, “Don’t do it.” Now that is the very thing you want to do.
Theologians have often commented that the greatest problem for Christianity is the issue of theodicy. If God is all good and all powerful, how do you explain the existence of evil in the universe? These same theologians are quick to affirm that God is all good and all powerful and still evil does exist. The last thing they want to do is to say that God is the author of evil or that God created evil. Often they appeal to mystery and never really offer a satisfying answer to the dilemma. One of my professors in seminary use to say, “God is not the author of evil, but He is the author of the author of evil.” I think that only shifts the blame from God to one of His creation – Lucifer who is called Satan. But that still does not explain how one of God’s good creation became tempted to commit evil. It only identifies the channel through which evil came. I think another way of addressing the problem is to say that God, in a sense, “created” evil when He said, “Thou shall not!” Perhaps a safer way of saying it is to affirm that God created the conditions by which evil entered the universe. In the same way, or at least in a similar way, that the prohibition brought about the conditions by which Adam and Eve sinned, so the Apostle Paul experienced the temptation to sin when the truth of the statement, “Thou shall not covet,” came home to him.
Thus, we affirm that the Law is holy, righteous, and good, as it says in verse 12. And all the while that God is all good and all powerful, and evil still exists, there is a sense that God “created” evil, or if you prefer, He created the conditions by which evil entered the universe when He said, “Thou shall not.”
III. The Law Demonstrates the Sinfulness of My Sin.
The Law forces reality upon me and helps me to realize that I am helplessly and hopelessly lost if I ever hope to please God by my human effort. Only those who realize the sinfulness of their sin come to the realization that human effort will never get me to heaven. Remember the words Paul wrote in chapter 4: ESV Romans 4:1 What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness." 4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,
As one Bible commentator has put it, “the Law brings us to the end of ourselves.” And as one old-fashioned country preacher use to say, “I have to get them lost before I can get them saved.” Speaking personally, what the apostle is saying in verses 9, 10 is that what the commandment brought was a dawning of the significance of what it means to covet, and he died spiritually. The commandment which was suppose to bring life actually brought death to him. Thus, the Law served as his school master to bring him to Christ.