City Life Starter

I. TEXT: Romans 7:7-12

⁷ What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, 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.” ⁸ But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. ⁹ I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. ¹⁰ And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. ¹¹ For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. ¹² Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.

II. Study Question

1. What is the main purpose(s) of these verses?

2. Why did Paul called the law “Holy, Just and Good?”

3. What is David’s take of the law?

“The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul;
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;
The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
Yea, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.” Psalm 19:7-10 (NKJV)

Paul is defense of the law

Paul was fully aware of the law.  Since he was little, as a person of Jewish descent, from the tribe of Benjamin, he would have been raised with admonition and reverence to the law of the Lord.  As an adult, he studied under one of the finest Rabbinical (Jewish) schools under the leadership of Rabbi Gamaliel.  The law of Moses, given by God at Mt. Horeb in Sinai, has been the way of Jewish life all throughout history, even while they were in exile, the observation of the law was critical to their identity and heritage.  This is what they identified themselves with, people who believed in One true God (Monotheism).

Paul did not set out to bash the law or  to be against the law but to have readers to realize the limitation of the law as he did with justification (salvation).  Since there is no justification with the law, and so, there is no sanctification with the law, only through the Spirit.  The purpose of the law, according to Paul, is the awareness of sin that opposes the law.  For there is no lawlessness without the law, the law exposes the lawlessness in men, in this case, lawlessness against God and His Word.  There is absolutely another force that is at work against the men who observe the law, the forces of darkness, which is sin that leads to death.

Holy, Just and Good

If the law is “Holy, Just and Good,” as Paul concluded, then the problem lies not with the law, but the person who is trying to keep the law, the law abider.  The law was given by God to Moses, and to the people, so that they are set apart from others, to be a representation of God’s chosen people.  When God’s chosen people disobeyed the law by turning against God through sin, it misrepresents God and His character.  The Israel was chosen by God to be the priest for all nations, that through Israel, nations would discover the one true God.

David understood the beauty and perfection of God’s law in Psalm 19.  I believe it is the picture of the one who observe the law through the Spirit of God.  In its purest form, when the law is observed through the Spirit, it (1) converts soul, (2) wisdom, (3) joy and (4) righteousness.  Moreover, David compared the law to a treasure, far greater than any physical treasure on earth.  In the life of a believer, we were given this treasure through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, we have power to not only to observe the law but also to live by the Spirit of God.  Let us not squander our treasure for cheap substitutes this perishing world has to offer, but keep it in our highest treasure chest: our heart.  JY