Romans 7:1-12

Paul is certain that there may be some misunderstandings by his Jewish readers, especially since he has emphasized that a person who is saved by grace through faith is no longer under the law (6:14). But he was very careful to mention that the law was still necessary to provide a knowledge of right and wrong for those who were yet to believe; however, obedience to the law, which no one has kept perfectly, has no power to bring salvation but only condemnation. When Paul writes to the church at Galatia, he explains the significance of the law and faith:

“But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith
which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor
[teacher] to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But
after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons
of God through faith in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:23-26).

To help his Jewish readers have a fuller understanding of this truth, Paul draws their attention to a simple concept about the law – a man who is alive is still obligated to keep the law, but when he dies he is no longer bound by the law. In order to simplify what he is saying, Paul uses an illustration of a woman who is married to a man. According to the law, the woman is still married as long as her husband is alive; however, upon her husband’s death she is freed from that law (7:1-3). In the same way, Paul’s readers had “become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another–to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God” (7:4). When a person professes faith in Jesus Christ, he dies to the penalty of the law and has “been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter” (7:6). So, when a believing sinner is freed from the penalty of the law (death), the Holy Spirit produces new life through the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Speaking from his personal experience with the law, Paul quickly reminds them that “I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, ‘You shall not covet’” (7:7). Instead of producing righteousness through exposure to the law, Paul said that “sin, taking opportunity by the commandment [of the law], produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead” (7:8). Knowledge of the law actually made Paul’s rebellious heart more prone to evil desires (7:8); and when he finally began to understand the law’s moral requirements, he also realized he had no power to keep the law perfectly (7:9). Paul ultimately discovered that his attempts to keep the law could only “bring death” (7:10).

Therefore, Paul’s Jewish readers should not view the law as evil, but rather as the means by which God exposes the wickedness of a sinner’s heart and causes him to seek righteousness outside of his own human effort. At the point when a sinner recognizes he has broken God’s moral law, he is then ready to receive God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Dear God, thank You for giving us Your law so that our sin can be exposed and then we can seek the forgiveness which is offered through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ.