The Law and Sin | Romans 7:7-13

After explaining the Gospel in Romans 1-5, Paul turns to dealing with distortions of its message. In Romans 6, he defended God’s grace. Now in Romans 7, he defends God’s Law. Paul knew that his statements about the Law in Romans may lead critics to suggest he thought the Law was bad. Yet he shouts in Romans 7:12, the Law is good! God’s Law serves His purposes by exposing sin, yet sin seeks to seize this good Law and use it to kill us. Paul’s argument that the Law is good, but the Gospel is better, will reach a crescendo in Romans 8:3-4– “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Take-Home Message: God’s good Law exposes sin, but only His Gospel can defeat it.In Defense of the Law:The Law is not sinful; it exposes sin (7).The Law is not sinful; it is seized by sin (7b-8)The Law is not sinful; it is sin that kills me (9-13).Take-Home Lessons:God’s Law is good.Sin can use good things for bad purposes.Sin kills me by lying to me.How does sin use the Law to lie to me?The lie of self-righteousness– I can keep the Law well enough to save myself.The lie of self-indulgence– I cannot keep the Law well enough to save myself, so I might as well get all the fleeting pleasure out of life that I can.The Gospel defeats sin where the Law could not.