Request your free, three-month trial to Tabletalk magazine. You’ll receive the print issue monthly and gain immediate digital access to decades of archives. This trial is risk-free. No credit card required.
Try Tabletalk NowAlready receive Tabletalk magazine every month?
Verify your email address to gain unlimited access.
Romans 7:7–12
“Sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead” (Rom. 7:8).
Since the Ten Commandments play such an important role in Scripture and in the historic Christian faith, we slowed down our study of Exodus over the past month and a half to devote some extended study to these foundational stipulations. We have seen that the laws against idolatry, graven images, blasphemy, Sabbath-breaking, dishonoring authorities, murder, adultery, theft, bearing false witness, and covetousness tell us what not to do and also implicitly command us to do the opposite (Ex. 20:1–17). We would be remiss, however, if we were to move on in our study of Exodus without looking one last time at the purpose of God’s law with respect to salvation. We will have ample opportunity to study the Lord’s commandments and their application to the Christian life as we make our way through the second half of Exodus, but it is essential that we understand some of the broader realities at play when we are talking about God’s law and its relationship to sinners.
As noted in our study of Exodus 20:1–2, the Lord revealed His law to His people Israel after saving them from slavery. Thus, whatever else we say about God’s commandments, we cannot in any sense say that by keeping them we secure our redemption. Our gracious Creator gives His laws only after saving His children. Keeping His laws is a consequence of salvation, not a condition of it.
Today’s passage helps us understand why the Lord does not impose commandments on sinners as a meritorious condition that they must fulfill to enjoy eternal life. Paul explains in Romans 7:7–12 that in the hands of sinners, the law can bring only condemnation. When the law comes to fallen human beings, it cannot generate obedience. In fact, it has the opposite effect of inciting sin and deepening our guilt and corruption. This is not the law’s fault, for the law is in itself holy, righteous, and good (Rom. 7:12). Instead, the problem is us, our sin and corruption. Sin misuses everything, twisting even what is good to make it an occasion for sin. Apart from divine grace, sinners will pervert God’s law, using it for evil ends. Paul’s example is the tenth commandment: when fallen people hear that God does not want them to covet, they covet all the more (Rom. 7:7–11).
The Ten Commandments—indeed, all of God’s law—show sinners that they are powerless to keep them and that they will seek only to break them apart from a Savior. Thus, they drive us to Christ (Gal. 3:15–29).
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
If we are seeking to make ourselves right with God by keeping His law, we are engaged in a futile endeavor, for we cannot keep His law with the perfection He requires. We can be in a right relationship with God only through faith. Keeping the Ten Commandments and the rest of the divine law, then, becomes something we do to thank the Lord for saving us and not something we do to be saved.
For Further Study
- Deuteronomy 31:16–18
- Nehemiah 8–9
- Mark 10:17–31
- Acts 15:1–11