The ministry of the law reveals sin

Romans 7:7

In verse 7, what shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “Do not covet.”

            You shall not covet; it is natural for human beings to wants things; when it is brought to their attention that certain things which they want are forbidden them by law, there is a tendency to want them all the more, to set their hearts on them.

            Here we can see that Paul’s question, What shall we say, then? Indicates the beginning of a new section in which he once again uses the style of a philosophical argument.

            The question is justified, at least in terms of the symbolic sharpness of Paul’s formulation. He has not actually said so or implied an identification of the law with sin, but he has associated them so closely, with the law as sin’s friend and as sin’s agent, that a question along these lines is inevitable.

            Paul first answer for this question is (Is the law sin?) is to refer in effect once again to Adam and the story of Gen.3:1-6; the relationship between the law, sin and death. We can see that Adam and Eve sin against the law of God in the Garden of Eden. Through that sin is spread to all the descendent of Adam and Eve. Initially the reference to Adam is not so clear, but the sudden transition to the first person singular.  If it had not been for the law, I should not have known sin; the law revealing to men and women their sinfulness and inability, showing them that they are sinner.

            This does not mean that without the law people do not sin (5:13), or that without the law people do not have a standard of right and wrong. “While men do actually sin in the absence of the law, they do not fully recognize sin for what it is, apart from the law, and that, while they do indeed experience covetousness even though they do not know the tenth commandment, it is only in the light of the commandment that they recognize their coveting for what it is.

            And also Paul is mentioning “Do Not Covet” If the law is not there He would never have known what it is to covet if the Law had not said, “Do not covet.”

            And the word covet literally means “desire” and is sometimes used in the New Testament in a good sense (Luke 22:15), but generally it is found with evil connotation. Paul is here following a rather typical Jewish viewpoint, which speaks of the three stages of desire, sin, and death (James 1:15). Of course, this concept has its roots in Gen3.

            “The Law is the knowledge of sin” (Rom 3:20). “Where there is no Law, there is no transgression” (Rom 4:15). The Law is a mirror that reveals the inner man and shows us how dirty we are. James 1:23-24: “Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.”

            An old Chinese proverb says: “To an ugly man, every mirror is an enemy.” The mirror is not the problem; it’s my ugly mug.

            We can understand the Law shows us how sinful we really are. Turn back to Romans 3:20: “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the Law; rather, through the Law we become conscious of sin.”

            Here Paul did not use murder, stealing, or adultery in his discussion, he uses coveting. He remind that our inner attitude that lust, to other things, which is belong to other.

EXAMPLE:

            Suppose one of my friend have a good mobile or clothes, as soon as I saw that things, one things come to my mind is I should have that kind of thing.

            Then my inner desire gives me to covet, to have like my friends had. So this desire is the most dangerous in human life, we never realize what our inner being is thinking and people never think and never recognize in their own lives, but God’s Law reveals it.

Application

            So many a times we think that we are perfect in our life; we obey the entire commandment or the rule of our church, association, school and college, through action and deeds. But my friend, I want to remind you that, we may follow all the rules and regulation in our life. But one thing we need to do is, we must surrender whatever we have to the Lord and ask forgiveness for our sinful behavior, thought, mind, then we will able to live a life for our Lord.