Romans 7: 7-12

(Romans 7: 7-12)

『What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.  And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.  For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.  Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. 』

 

Without the law, sin is dead. Many people think that the law is given by God and must be kept. And they think that they are saved by faith, but by keeping the law they will not sin. They have a double thought. They have an ambiguous idea, "If we fail to obey the law, man will become a sinner, and eventually we may not reach righteousness." That is why they believe in being saved by faith, but they admit that they cannot escape the law because of sin.

 

『Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. 』Covetousness is fundamentally the sin of wanting to become like God. Greed is self-mastery. In Genesis 4:7, "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. 』The wish of sin is to deviate from the Word of God and to do what the body wants. Greed is also evident in Deuteronomy 5:21, ``Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbor's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbor's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any. thing that is thy neighbor's. 』

 

『 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. 』 It is a word indicating that greed exists in the human mind. If there is greed in your heart, you have already broken the tenth commandment. However, the Israelites thought that if they did not show greed outwardly, they had not sinned. So Jesus said that if he had lust in his heart, he had already committed adultery. It is a saying that there is greed in the human heart, and that greed itself is sin, that is, humans must be sinners. The law teaches man to be a sinner. There are various kinds of ugly minds whose covetousness is transformed in the human mind. That is why these hearts are revealed in the form of sin through the law. Without the law, sin is invisible. So the Bible says that sin is dead. Without the law, sin is not considered a sin. If there is a law, sin comes alive.

 

In Romans 5:13, "For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law." There is still sin in the heart, and it is because of the law that sin is revealed. Is like a mirror that reveals sin. In Romans 5:20, “More the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:” Whoever realizes this becomes grace.

 

In Galatians 3:19, ``Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. 』Because humans do not realize sin, sin is aggravated.『For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.』

 

The reason God gave the law to the Israelites was to show them that they were sinners. In other words, God tells them that the people have left God. Soon, sin is something that has left God. It is sin to deviate from the word of God. However, because sinners look to the law, sin appears, and because sin appears, they become dead before God. Without the law, we did not know that we were dead. By the way, the saints come to realize that they are dead through the law.

 

『 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.』 Here, the word 『For this reason』 means that sin died before the law came in, but because the law came in, sin was raised and I died. That is why the law is holy because the law makes it understandable. The Israelites thought that if you keep the law well, you can become a righteous person. Even today, if you try to avoid sinning through the law by examining whether or not you sin, you are thinking of yourself as a righteous person. Being the righteous is not what I think and decide for myself, but as in Romans 6:7, God does that for those who died with Jesus on the cross.

 

The Bible tells us to be dead to sin, and people try to avoid sin through the law. Those who try not to sin through the law eventually become those who are under the law and are bound to die. Will you be dead to sin or will you die for sin? The answer is Romans 6:7.

 

In Romans 5:14, ``Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. 』Even in the days when there was no law, death reigns. The reason is sin. They die because they have sin, that is, because they have left God. It is only that the law comes and makes them understand. “Without the law, sin is dead.” It is not that there is no sin, but that sin is not regarded as a sin. They were insensitive to sin, and when they saw the law, they realized they were sinners.

 

The reason God gave the law to the Israelites was to let them know that they were a departure from God. Without the law, all humans would have been living without knowing that they had left God.『 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. 』 In the end, the law convinces sinners of sin and tells them that they are a departure from God. The Israelites did not realize this. God told them to realize that they had left God and to return to the kingdom of God through the Christ who will come, and most of them were destroyed without realizing this.

 

Being greedy is a person who has left God. If you are dead about covetousness, you can meet God. The Bible tells us that to die of covetousness, there is no other way than to die with Jesus. The one who has left God exists as the spokesperson for greed. Who is the owner? Is it me or Jesus? So Jesus tells us to deny ourselves before the Word of God. If I am alive, greed exists. Having me before God's Word means that sin does not die.