Does the Law Sin?

 This morning, we are back in our study of Romans, and we are finally taking up what I think is the most difficult passage of the whole book. Because we’ve been away from Romans for a while and this is such a heavy passage, it would do us good to review. Remember, first, that this passage is fixed at the beginning of a set of questions that Paul is asking about the Gospel that he presented in chapters 1-5. Back in Chapter 6, he started by asking whether we should sin more that grace may abound. The answer: no, because we have died to sin and been set free from the law. That raises the question, if we are free from the law, then does that mean that we should go on sinning? To answer that, Paul gives two analogies. First, he says that we are like slaves who have been freed from one master (sin) to serve another master (the Spirit). Because we have been set free from sin and given God’s Spirit, we can actually live holy lives now. We covered the second analogy last time from chapter 7, verses 1-6. There, Paul compared our relationship to the law to a marriage. If a woman’s husband dies, she is no longer bound to the covenant she made with him. In the same way, because Jesus died for our sins, through faith in him, we are no longer bound to the law but to the Spirit.

Second, remember that Paul is maintaining an important dichotomy between those who are born in Adam and those who are born again in Christ. For those who haven’t trusted in Jesus and are still under the curse of Adam, their lives are defined by sin and their fleshly desires. But, for those who are born again in Christ, their lives are defined by the Spirit.

So, with all of that in mind, let’s read Rom. 7:7-25. From this passage I want you to see three points: The Commandment and Sin, the Conundrum of The Flesh, and the Clarity of the Spirit.

First, let’s consider the relationship of the commandment and sin in verses 7-12. Here again, we find another question that Paul wants to answer: “Is the law sin?” If the law was incapable of making me holy, then did it cause me to sin? This type of blame shifting is typical with sinful humanity. I mean, Adam and Eve did it from the very start. “The woman you gave to me, she gave me the fruit and I ate.” “The serpent you made deceived me.” People still do it today. A cheating husband will blame his infidelity on his wife, claiming that she wasn’t available enough. A person tempted by same-sex lusts will claim that their sin cannot be sin because “God made me this way.”

Paul answers by explaining that the problem isn’t with the law at all. The problem is with our sinful hearts. In verse 8, he says that sin “seizes an opportunity through the commandment” to produce sinful desires and actions. In other words, because we are slaves to sin, our hearts are set against God. So, whenever we find out that something dishonors God, our hearts naturally want to do that thing. And, because the Law points out those things that dishonor God, our sinful hearts are stirred in hearing the law to do those things all the more. If you have children, you’ve seen this proven time and again. I have given my children a command, turned my back for a moment, and turned back around to find them doing just what I told them not to. Does that mean that I was wrong to tell them? No! Most of the time, we give our children commands for their own good. And this is exactly the point that Paul makes in verses 10-12. The law was given to point us to life. It was given to show us the holiness of God and the way of life that would be fruitful and blessed. The law is “holy and righteous and good.” But we aren’t! So, when we encounter that which is holy, we want to defile it.

So, if the law is holy and good, then it should be easy for the Christian, since he has been set free from the bondage of sin, to obey the law completely, right? But it’s not. Even in Christ, I go on sinning. How is that possible? That question brings me to my second point: the conundrum of the flesh, in verses 13-20. Now, I do not use the word “conundrum” lightly, because these seven verses have fostered no shortage of debate among Bible scholars. Some who hold to a belief in “sinless perfection” (believing that once a person becomes a Christian or receives a second blessing of the Spirit, he can no longer sin) view these verses as something that happened before conversion. Others read this as a description of the present reality for Christians – that we still struggle with temptation and sin, even after receiving the Holy Spirit. My position is that Paul is describing the life of the Christian who has been saved by grace and is in the process of being sanctified and who will ultimately be glorified. We have to understand that every Christian is living in a time between God’s initial work of conversion and justification and his final work of resurrection and glorification. When God saved you through the Gospel, your heart was immediately changed from one that desires sin to one that desires God. And, you were given the Spirit of God to overcome sin. But, there is one thing about you that has not changed: your body. Your body still bears the corruption of Adam and the habits that you formed when you were outside of Christ. When you come to Christ, those propensities and cravings, they don’t just disappear. If you were given to alcoholism before Christ, it doesn’t just automatically go away. If you struggled with lust before Christ, lust will still be there after. What has changed is your attitude towards those desires and your ability to resist them. I’ll say more about our ability to resist next week, but Paul addresses our attitude in these verses. Notice, in verses 15-20, he says that we don’t want to sin, even when we do, and we agree with the law when we do sin. And, we desire to do what is right, even though so often it seems we don’t have the ability to resist. This inner struggle between a converted heart and spirit that longs to obey God and a sinful flesh that still feels the draw to sin is in itself evidence of God’s work in the life of a Christian. People often ask me, “Pastor, I just don’t feel that I’m saved because I keep falling back into the same sin. I don’t want to do it, but I struggle with it. How can I be saved if I keep on sinning?” My answer is always the same: the fact that you recognize that you are sinning, are remorseful for it, and want to change is evidence that God’s Spirit is at work in you. If you did not have the Spirit of God, you wouldn’t hate your sin. If you didn’t have the Spirit, you wouldn’t work to avoid temptation, seek repentance, and ask your pastor about your struggle.

That brings me to my last point – the clarity of the Spirit. In verses 21-25, Paul describes the very struggle I’ve just given. He says, “I delight in the law of God in my inner being but I see in my members another law waging war.” Then, he calls out in desperation: “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” You see, our sin should always drive us to this point. There should never be a time when we become comfortable with our sins. Our sins should always drive us to our knees in repentance and prayer for deliverance. And when it does, there is great hope. Notice verse 25: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” For every sin, there is deliverance in Jesus Christ. Even for the Christian!

Paul concludes by giving us a way to live in this between-time, a way to live in this constant struggle between flesh and Spirit. He says, “I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.” In other words, Paul recognizes that, until Christ returns to bring about the final resurrection, or until we die (whichever comes first) we will always struggle with temptation and fleshly desires. That struggle is a constant wrestling match between our minds, which are being renewed by the Spirit, and our flesh.

Friend, are you OK with your sin? Are you comfortable to rest in the slop of sin and depravity? Maybe you are blaming God for your sin, thinking, “you know God, if you hadn’t made me this way or put me in this life circumstance, or given me such bad parents, I wouldn’t be so sinful.” It’s not God’s fault that you are a sinner. You are perfectly capable of doing that right by yourself. But, you are perfectly incapable of getting out of the mire of your sin. Only Jesus can rescue you from the judgment of God. Only God’s Spirit can change your desires so that you can overcome sin. Won’t you trust in Jesus Christ today and be changed?

Brothers and sisters, the day you came to Christ wasn’t the end of your salvation, it was the beginning. In 1 Cor. 9:24-27, Paul compares the Christian life to athletes who are training for competition. He says he disciplines his body to keep it under control. We are called to recognize those fleshly desires and to train ourselves to resist them. That training includes learning to avoid substances, people, and situations that may lead to temptation. It also includes adopting habits that encourage holiness and discourage the flesh. May we endure in the struggle of sanctification as we live by the Spirit.