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12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. 13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful." ~ Romans 7:12-13
Today, we return to our study of sanctification in Romans 6-8. In these three chapters the Apostle Paul reveals a three part process useful to believers as we are learning to walk with God. Essential to this daily attempt to walk with God is understanding our relationship with sin, the law of God, and the Holy Spirit. At the end of the day, it is the Holy Spirit who expresses the life of the Lord Jesus in and through our yielded souls. It is the Lord who should always get the glory for the godliness of the believer in Christ.
In v.12 of today's passage we read, "So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good."
Whereas the Apostle Paul had just informed us in the previous verses that the law reveals our sin to us and it awakens sin in us, he now says that the law is holy, righteous and good. His point is: the problem is not with the law of God, the problem is with sinful man. If a person is convicted and sent to prison for murder we would not blame the law, would we? We wouldn't even blame the judge or the jury. The whole purpose of a court is to merely uphold the law. And so, the law of God is holy, and it reveals how short sinful man comes in reference to measuring up to it.
God's law has always promoted goodness to mankind, but when it does not have free rein, its enemy, sin, runs rampant. As a result, sin delivers destruction to man which comes in a variety of ways. We experience sorrow, pain, and loneliness due to sin. The law of God is holy because it reveals God’s perfection, it is just because it is totally fair, and it is good because it promotes man’s highest blessedness.
The nice part of this unfolding scenario is that where sin abounds, the grace of God abounds even more. This only happens as we allow God to have His rightful reign in our lives. Our problem is a lack of trust that is only gained when we go through the stuff of life and He demonstrates His faithfulness. As the law stirs up our sinfulness, we are potentially positioned to realize that we need help from God. And, anytime we run to the Savior, we will always discover that His grace is available to us.
In v.13 of today's passage we read, "Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful."
In Psalm 19:7 we read, "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple."
The law of the Lord changes our minds, wills, and emotions, even though we can not measure up to it. Slowly, God uses His word to inculcate His culture into our souls. As a result, it makes wise the simple, it enables even the most unlearned to know the right way of living. And, as we have mentioned, the law does not get the blame for our sin. Of course, the key to all of this is the humility that enables us to admit that we have the problem, not God and His word. The law has never been bad or deadly. It is sin that is the culprit. When met with our sinfulness, the law revealed how undefined by God we truly are. The law reveals sin.
The essence of sin is exposed when the definitions of God are revealed. It is through God's word or His definition of things that we understand what is right or wrong. The word of God exposes sin for what it is. The word of God undresses sin that we might know how conniving and destructive it is. Sin works death in everything and in every way, whereas God's word bring security and healing to our souls.
In the light of the law of God, we see ourselves falling short. Ideally, this posture should lead us to recognize how wretched we truly are, and, this is when we are primed to cry out to God for His mercy. Perhaps, you remember the story the Lord Jesus told in Luke 18 where the tax-collector said, "God be merciful to me a sinner." The arrogant tax-collector made that request because he came to the realization that he was a sinner. This is what the law or the truth of God does to us. It is the law of God that informs us of our lost condition. Like the tax-collector, we were lost because we had wandered from God and His truth.
Having said all of this, we must be mindful that sin can even twist and pervert the purest thing there is. The law which was made to bring life, when mixed with sin, it becomes twisted and perverted. It is that twistedness and pervertedness that brings destruction and death. Sin manipulates God's law to deceive and damn us. This is why we must know the teachings of God for ourselves. This is why we, as believers in Christ, must maintain constant exposure to the word of God, the Bible.
We came to Christ because we saw our need and we cried out to God for help. It is most blessed for us to be backed into a corner and thus being convinced that God is our only hope. In addition, as we relate with Christ every day, we need to and will see our sin so that we can confess it and be freed from it. When we trusted Christ as our savior, He forgave all of our sin, our past sins, our present sins, and our future sins. As believers, we do not confess our sin to gain God's forgiveness because we already have it. We confess our sin so that we do not develop a hard heart toward God and His truth. We confess our sin so that we can be delivered from the power of sin because the more we feed sin, the more powerful the flesh becomes.
This is exactly why King David wrote, "Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee." Even though King David was an Old Testament saint who never knew what it means to be "born again," he understood that when we keep ourselves exposed to God's law, we will be less apt to stray from the heart of God which is what provides for us the soul-curing intimacy with God that we so desperately need.
