Paul tells us in Romans 7:6 ”we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.” Does that make the “old way” bad, then? No, its job is done, that’s all.
Its job was to bring sin out into the open, verse 9 – “when the commandment came, sin sprang to life, and I died.” The law simply identifies the sins that consume and control us. It brings them to life “so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful (verse 13).” In other words, we can see sin for what it really is, and how utterly dreadful it is. But once that’s done, the law has served its purpose, because it can only expose the sins within us, it can’t stop them.
Paul brings this out in vivid detail in his own life. “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin (verse 14).” The law was still “holy, righteous and good (verse 12),” but it couldn’t do anything about Paul himself. To Paul’s great shock and dismay, he found he was still riddled with sin, and sin still held him firmly by the nose, rendering him absolutely powerless against it.
It was hugely frustrating and confusing. “I do not understand what I do,” he cries out in verse 15. This wasn’t what he expected when he heard about the law. He thought the law would enable him to “bear fruit to God,” but instead he found himself totally under sin’s command still. “For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do (verse 15).”
But there was one positive point. “If I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good (verse 16).” The fact that he didn’t want to sin was proof positive he still thought the law was good. The law had done its job well. It had stirred a real desire in Paul to get rid of sin. He hated it. So, what was going on, then? He obviously agreed with the law because he wanted to obey it, but instead he was doing just the opposite! Why?
It wasn’t the law making him do it. It wasn’t him, either. So, what was it? Paul could only conclude “it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me (verse 17).” It was a horrible shock and disappointment, but Paul had to admit that sin was still as alive as ever inside him…
Filed under: The new way of the Spirit
