READ: Rom. 7:1-13: … I would not have known sin except through the law… For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me …
Paul now gives more attention to the role of the law in the life of the believer after the coming of Christ. Something radically changed in the role of the law. Before Christ came and completed His work of redemption on earth, the law was an accuser, placing man under God’s curse. Man could not escape it. God had imposed the law upon man, and no one could withdraw from it.
Paul compares it to marriage. A woman is bound to her husband by the marriage vow. Faithfulness to her husband is required of her. But that no longer applies if her husband dies. Then she is free to enter into another marriage.
So Christ has freed us from the accusing and condemning role of the law. He has fulfilled the law in our place and borne the curse of the law. Through Him we are now free from that curse.
We now belong to Christ. He gives us a new life, in which we may, through the Spirit, bear fruit that are acceptable for God.
It was different when we were still under the law. At that time the Spirit had not yet been poured out and we were in the flesh (v.5). Then the law, through our sinful desires, incited us to fruits that led to condemnation, even to death.
This does not mean that the law is sin. All God’s commandments are holy and just and good. But it is our own sinful corruption that, with the law in hand, led to more and more transgressions. Through that corruption, the law worked out very differently than it was originally intended.
Thus, the good and holy law of God increasingly exposed the corrupt character of man. Therefore, not the law but sin brings death. We can add that the Lord, through the law, has also shown the great necessity of Christ’s atoning sacrifice.
What did the devil do with the law in the Old Testament?
Sing: Ps. 38:1,2