The Value of the Law

If our new God-provided freedom is a good thing, that which held us—the law—must be a bad thing, right? Paul has shown that the law cannot save or sanctify a person, so it would seem to be worthless. Even worse, he has shown that it arouses sin, so it could be construed as evil. Knowing that such objections might be raised to what he has taught thus far, Paul moves quickly to provide answers. In the process, he continues to show us the true purposes of the law.

“Is the law sin? Certainly not!” the apostle says bluntly. Actually, the law serves some very valuable functions in the process by which God brings people to Himself. First, the law reveals sin. No human being naturally thinks of himself as sinful. But when he bumps up against the law of God and sees his failure, he can think of himself in no other way (if he is honest with himself, which is to say, if the Spirit of God is at work in him). The logic is inescapable: “These are God’s standards. Violation of God’s standards makes one a sinner. I have violated God’s standards. Thus, I am a sinner.” Paul even provides an example from his own life, showing how, at some point, he became aware of God’s commandment against coveting and realized, as he never had before, that he was covetous. Second, the law provokes sin (v. 8), as we already have seen (5:20; 7:5). This, too, is a good thing, for it makes sin stick out like a sore thumb. In a sense, sin apart from the law is dormant, but an encounter with the law creates a “surge of rebellion,” as Dr. James M. Boice puts it. This strange reaction is like a window on the rottenness of the soul. Third, the law “brings us to the end of ourselves,” Boice writes. Paul notes that he was “alive once without the law.” He was alive in his own estimation, seeing himself as “blameless” (Phil. 3:6). The law, however, condemned him. It did not help him live so as to earn God’s favor; it caused him to live in a way that brought divine disfavor, the penalty for which is death. And so he lost his self-righteousness. Again, the law did good for him.

Paul’s conclusion: The law of God is holy, just, and good (v. 12). It is indeed a road map to God’s favor, but it cannot function as such under the reign of sin, for our sinful inclinations cause us to suppose that disobedience will be better than conformity. How good of God to give us His law to reveal unto us this perversity of our souls.