Romans 7:7-13 – Law vs Sin

Romans 7 answers the Jewish objection, “How do you live without the law telling you what’s right and wrong?”

Paul says plainly—you don’t live by the law. You live by the Spirit.

The “letter” referred to in verse 6 points to the written commandments, those ordinances, those tablets of stone, the rules and requirements of the law of Moses that governed Israel from way back to the exodus from Egypt.

Colossians 2:14 says,

Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary (or opposed) to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

That’s what Christ did on the cross. He “blotted out the handwriting of ordinances… nailing it to his cross.” That handwriting, the law, was taken away by Christ’s death. Romans 7:4 says we’re “dead to the law by the body of Christ.”

Christ didn’t simply cancel the law. The law is still the law today, but in Christ, the law has been fully satisfied, and that’s what Christ came and died for: to fulfil the law Himself since no human ever could. We look at Jesus’ statement in Matthew 5:17,

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

On the cross, the law was fully fulfilled, and it no longer accuses us if we trust in the Gospel of Grace. How can it accuse us? It’s been completed, fulfilled.

In 2 Corinthians 3:6, Paul says,

Who (God) also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

The Old Testament was the letter, the commandments written down. The New Testament for Israel is the Spirit, God writing the law in their hearts, as Jeremiah 31:31 and Ezekiel 36 prophesied.

Now, just as a sidebar, here in this verse where Paul says God has made us able ministers of the New Testament, we have a verse that, for many Christians, confirms that we today, the Church, the Body of Christ, are under the New Testament that was given to Israel.

We’ve written a booklet that explains what Paul is saying in the context of the passage. It’s free and downloadable, and it’s available under the “Resources” menu of the Why God website.

We also have a chart below this recording showing a timeline to the New Covenant.

In Matthew 5, Jesus showed that He didn’t cancel the law; He revealed its spirit, the intent behind the command. You could keep the letter and still break the law in your heart.

But our situation in the dispensation of grace is different. We’re not under the law and not under Israel’s covenant. We serve in “newness of spirit” without the law. Israel’s New Covenant is the spirit of the law. Our position is the spirit without the law. No covenant. No tablets of stone. No handwriting. Just Christ, His cross, and the Spirit working in us.

Romans 6-7 is showing us the transition from the Law to the Cross to Israel’s New Covenant to the Mystery Body of Christ.

Paul’s showing a contrast.

Where Romans 7:5 says the law stirred “motions of sin” that worked death, Romans 7:6 shows that among the many wonderful things that happened when we first believed was that we’re delivered from the law.

This’s a result of our having died with Christ. Since He died as our representative, we died with Him. In His death, He fulfilled all the claims of the law by paying its awful penalty. He could do that because He was sinless. He was God in the flesh.

Our death, or the death of any man since Adam, could not do that because we were receiving our just wages for sin, which is death, eternal death.

Therefore, because of Christ’s death and His payment for sin on our behalf, we’re free from the law and from its curse.

We’re now set free to serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. Our service is motivated by love, not fear; it’s a service of freedom, not bondage. It’s no longer a question of slaves sticking to minute details of rites and ceremonies but of the joyful outpouring of ourselves for the glory of God and the blessing of others.

That’s why Paul asks in 7:7, “Is the law sin?”

Since he just said we’re delivered from it, someone might think the law itself is the problem. Paul answers, God forbid. The law is not sin.

Galatians 5 helps here.

The Galatians thought they should walk in the law after salvation. Paul says no. He told them in Galatians 5:16,

This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

The battle is flesh vs. Spirit, not law vs. Spirit. The flesh fights the Spirit. The law is just; we’re simply not under it. The real enemy is sin in our flesh.

Romans 7 teaches us to discern between law and sin. The law exposes sin, but the law itself is not sinful. Paul says in Romans 7:7, “I had not known sin but by the law.”

The law makes sin known. It brings condemnation because sin is present, not because the law itself is evil.

The old system wasn’t bad. God gave Israel a holy and righteous law. The guilt people feel under law doesn’t mean the law’s wrong—it means we’re wrong. Romans 3:19 says the law was given so “every mouth may be stopped” and “all the world may become guilty before God.”

The law gives knowledge of sin, showing that every person who is of the line of Adam is guilty of breaking it. “Every mouth may be stopped” means no one can claim righteousness in themselves. The majority of people, especially the unsaved, will put up the argument that because they’ve never murdered or raped and pillaged, and because they’ve only ever stolen little things, like the pen from work, or because they’ve only told little white lies, then God will look kindly on them in His judgement. How wrong can they be! Every thought, every action no matter how small is a break of the law and requires judgent because we’re working with an absolutely perfect and just God who must judge the tiniest break in the law with eternal death. This is why a saviour, who was perfect, had to pay the price, and recieve the wages of sin on our behalf. It is impossible for any man to do it.

Romans 4:14 shows Israel’s inheritance wasn’t based on the law anyway. God gave the promise before the law. If inheritance came by law, the promise would be void because no one could keep that law, including the ones God covenanted with. So the law worked wrath, not salvation.

In Romans 7, Paul begins using “I” over and over—showing his own experience with the law. He didn’t do that in chapters 5–6. Romans 7 is personal: the law revealed sin in him. Romans 8 will flip the picture: “Spirit” appears about twenty times, and “I” only once. There’s a shift—Romans 7: flesh and law; Romans 8: Spirit and life.

Paul gives an example in Romans 7:7,

for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.

The law uncovers the sin already living in the flesh. It shows the problem; it doesn’t solve it. Only Christ solves it.

That’s Paul’s point: the law is holy, but it cannot fix the flesh. The Spirit can. The law shows sin; Christ removes the condemnation.

Paul brings up the tenth commandment, “Thou shalt not covet,” because it goes straight to the inner man. The other commandments deal with actions—murder, adultery, stealing, Sabbath keeping, etc., but coveting is hidden in the heart and takes place in the mind. Nobody sees it but God.

Although Paul may not have committed any of the grosser, more revolting sins, he now realised that his thought life was corrupt.

Paul says he wouldn’t have known lust except the law said, don’t covet. He thought wanting things was just normal desire, but the law exposed it as sin.

He now understands that evil thoughts are sinful as well as evil deeds. He had a polluted thought life. His outward life may have been relatively blameless, but his inward life was a chamber of horrors.

This is why Paul uses this commandment as an example.

You don’t need Moses to know murder is wrong—your conscience tells you. But coveting is quiet and inward. God’s law reaches into the heart. Even today some Jews say only actions matter, not thoughts. But Jesus corrected that in Matthew 5, and the tenth commandment itself shows God cares about the heart.

Paul’s point is simple: the law reveals sin. It identifies it. It condemns it.

Anything that condemns what is against God is good. So even though the law stirs up sin and brings death, the law is not the problem—sin is.

If we were perfectly righteous, any righteous law would fit us perfectly. The issue is always us, not the law.

Churches today shouldn’t put people under the law—that’s wrong doctrine—but that doesn’t make the law itself evil.

Paul says in 1 Timothy 1:7–9 that some want to be teachers of the law but don’t understand what they’re saying. They think the law is how to live for God today. Paul says no—the problem isn’t the law; it’s the teachers’ failure to understand grace and the newness of the Spirit and actually the whole concept of the dispensation of grace. If someone thinks they need the law to walk right as a Christian, it shows they don’t understand how to walk in the Spirit. They don’t see the law’s weakness.

1 Timothy 1:8 says, “the law is good, if a man use it lawfully.”

What’s lawful use?

It’s knowing that the law’s not made for a righteous man. If we were perfectly righteous, we wouldn’t need laws. The law is for the ungodly, the disobedient, the sinner. That’s what we once were—but not now in Christ.

So the law’s lawful use today is to shine a light on sin. It’s God’s spotlight if you like. It’s like opening the curtains in a filthy room—the light shows the dirt. The light isn’t the problem; the dirt is. The law reveals what’s already there.

Romans 7:8 says

But sin, taking occasion by the commandment,

Sin “took occasion”.

Paul talks about sin like it’s a separate thing, almost like a person. He’s separating sin from law so we see clearly that the law opens the door for sin to show itself. The commandment says “don’t covet,” and suddenly sin wakes up and starts moving, and we recognise the covetousness in our minds and hearts. The law didn’t create the sin—it exposed it.

Paul also explains how sin uses the law. When God says “Thou shalt not,” He is speaking to a sinner, not a righteous man. You can’t refuse God’s command. If you ignore it, that itself is sin. So the sinner is obligated to obey, but by nature he cannot obey. That’s how sin “takes occasion” by the commandment and works out all kinds of evil. The law says “do,” but the sinner can only fail. It’s like telling a fish to walk. You throw it on dry ground and say, “Walk over there.” It may flop a little, but it cannot walk. Eventually it dies. That’s the sinner under the law—incapable of righteousness.

Before the law, Paul says sin was dead—not gone, but dormant. Romans 4:15 says, “Where no law is, there is no transgression.”

Romans 5:13 says sin was in the world before the law, but it wasn’t imputed. Sin was present, but not stirred up, not judged, not exposed.

When the law comes, sin wakes up. The commandment says “don’t covet,” and suddenly we see our own lust. We try to obey, but we fail. The law can’t help us. It only shows what we really are.

In Romans 7:9 Paul says, “I was alive without the law once.” He doesn’t mean he lived sinless—he means he lived without condemnation, without knowing his guilt. Then the commandment came, and sin revived, and “I died,” he says. He became guilty. The law revealed what was already inside.

This is Paul’s personal experience.

He uses “I” over and over again to show how the law exposed his own sin. Jews were born under the law, but they didn’t understand it until they grew and learned its demands. Before that, they felt “alive.” Then the commandment came, and guilt came with it. We’re about to see that even the greatest Christian who ever lived is exactly the same as you and me when it comes to sin. His struggle with sin is our struggle and it’ll continue to be a struggle until we;re in glory. At that time we’ll be saved from the presence of sin, not just saved as we are here in the flesh, from the penalty of sin and power of sin to condemn us.

People debate whether Paul’s describing a believer or an unbeliever, but the point is the same: when the commandment comes, sin revives. The law says “run a thousand miles.” We try, we fail, and we fall short of the glory of God. That’s true for everyone—saved or lost, sin is still present in our flesh.

Romans 6 says sin has no power over us, no power to condemn us anymore, but Romans 7 explains sin is still present in us until we go to glory. That’s why we must walk by the Spirit, not the law.

Paul’s not attacking the law. He’s showing its purpose. The law exposes sin. It condemns sin. It shows our inability. It cannot justify us, sanctify us, or empower us. It can only reveal what’s wrong. The real enemy is sin, not the law.

So, Romans 7:9 says,

For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.

He says, “I died,” meaning he became guilty. When sin revived under the commandment, it produced death in him. The wages of sin is death.

When we operate in the flesh under the law, we don’t get life — we get condemnation. The law cannot produce righteousness. It only exposes sin.

1 Corinthians 15:56 says,

The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

Sin brings death, and the law gives sin strength because the law has no power to stop sin. It can only reveal it, identify it, and condemn it. Every commandment creates another transgressor because sinners can’t keep it. The law is good, but it was given to people who’re not good. That’s why sin multiplies under the law.

Paul repeats it often: sin revived, and I died. The law is the strength of sin, not the source of sin. Sin was already in us; the law just pointed it out. This helps us judge rightly. People say Christians are hypocrites for pointing out right and wrong while failing themselves. But if what they say matches Scripture, it’s still right. The law is good even if it condemns the speaker too. The problem is sin in all of us.

Romans 7 teaches us to stop attacking God’s law. When people attack the law, they end up attacking God. The world says God’s law is unfair or impossible. No! People are the failures. The law is holy. We’re not under it today, but we must still understand its purpose.

Romans 7:10 says,

And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.

God never intended the law to give eternal life, because He knew people were sinners. He knew no man could ever have eternal life by trying to keep the law.

Galatians 3:21-29 explains this a different way. It says if any law could have given life, then righteousness would be by the law. But since all of us are sinners by nature, righteousness had to be by another means; the promise by faith of Jesus Christ to them that believe. Once that faith came, we were no longer under the schoolmaster, the schoolmaster of the law. We’re redeemed from the curse and the consequences of breaking the law.

The law said, “Do this and live” in Leviticus 18:5. Jesus quoted it in Luke 10:28. The lawyer Jesus was conversing with knew he couldn’t do it, so he tried to justify himself.

The law was ordained or appointed to life, but because all are under sin, it becomes death to us.

Galatians 3:10 says,

For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.

If you keep the law perfectly, you live. If you fail once, just once, you’re cursed. That’s the problem. Not the law, but our inability to keep it. Christ redeemed us from that curse by becoming a curse for us.

Believers today who try to live by the law discover more sin, not less. The law can only condemn. Only Christ gives life.

Jeremiah 17:9 says,

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Sin loves boasting, loves showing off, loves being seen. So when the law says “do,” sin says, “I can do that,” and tries to put on a show. That’s how law‑keeping becomes self‑righteousness and hypocrisy.

But when God reveals grace — walking by faith, not sight — sin cringes back. There’s nothing in grace for the flesh to boast about. Grace shuts the flesh down.

Paul’s conclusion in Romans 7:12 is clear:

Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.

The law is not sin. We’re simply not under it. It was good for Noah to build the ark, but we’re not under that command. It will be good when God judges the world, but that’s not now. We’re not anti‑law — we’re free from the law in Christ.

The law is holy, but our flesh is not; however, we’re in Christ, and Christ is our holiness.

Ephesians 4:22-24 has this,

That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;

And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;

And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Romans 6:22 says we have “fruit unto holiness” because of grace, not law. So our hope is not in our flesh or in law‑keeping — our hope is in Christ alone.

What the law could never produce in us — holiness, righteousness and life — Christ produces by His finished work. The law would glorify us if we kept it perfectly, but we can’t, so grace glorifies Christ, because He did the work for us.

So if the law is good, what are we afraid of? Only being under it, but we’re not.

Romans 6 says we’re dead to the law. Romans 15:4 says we can learn from it, but not live under it. Grace teaches freedom, not fear.

We can now appreciate the law’s holiness without being obligated to keep it in our flesh.

Romans 7:13 asks this,

Was that which is good made death unto me?

Paul answers, God forbid, Paul’s version of “No Way”. The law wasn’t death — sin was.

Christians today often use the law to point out sin in the world around us. That’s fine — the law gives knowledge of sin as we’ve so often repeated,  but when the world says, “You don’t keep the law either,” the Christian shouldn’t panic. We should realise that, “The law is holy, just, and good — but I’m not under it. I walk in the Spirit. And yes, I still sin.”

We don’t preach, “Stop sinning and God will accept you.”

We preach, “That is sin — and Christ saves sinners by grace.” Romans 7:13 says the law makes sin “exceedingly sinful.” Grace doesn’t do that. Grace overwhelms sin. Christ died for all sins. Grace makes sin look small compared to the cross. But the law magnifies sin so you can see it clearly.

The law’s job was to expose sin, not remove it. Like shining a light under the cupboard to see the mice. The light doesn’t kill them — it shows them, then we bring in the real solution. The law succeeded in showing sin’s ugliness. The real solution is grace by trusting in Christ and His death, burial and resurrection.

This function was mainly for Israel, not Gentiles.

Gentiles were already condemned without the law. Romans 3:19 says the law made Israel guilty.

Galatians 3:19 says it was added to Israel “because of transgressions”. Most of the Old Testament records Israel breaking the law — proving sin’s exceeding sinfulness.

Under the New Covenant, Israel will finally keep the law but by the Spirit. The Spirit in their hearts and minds will ensure the law is kept. It will be the Holy Spirit Himself keeping the law for and through them.

Galatians 3 says the law was a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. It’s not that Israel was saved by it — Christ hadn’t come yet. And not that the Body of Christ was ever under it — we weren’t.

But Scripture needed the law to teach us what sin is and why we needed a redeemer because we clearly could not do it ourselves. After faith came, Paul says in Galatians 3:25, “We are no longer under a schoolmaster.”

So the church’s mission today is not to make sin look sinful by pointing it out here, there and everywhere. The law already did that. Our mission is to preach reconciliation, reconciliation of man back to God because sin is no longer the barrier that separates us; Christ has broken down that barrier by handling the sin problem that separated us. Christ abounds over all sin.

Paul says in Philippians 3:8 that,

he counts all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord:

That includes his former law‑keeping. He was “blameless” outwardly, but inwardly a coveter. He doesn’t want more knowledge of sin — he wants more knowledge of Christ.

Romans 7 is to the Jewish believer and the Gentiles attending the synagogues who’re saying the law is a good thing, and we should keep it in order to glorify God, and Paul says, no, no, no, no. The law makes sin exceedingly sinful. It doesn’t glorify God. Grace does.

That’s the response we should have today to other Christians who think that same thing about the law.

So, the last two chapters have been all coming from what Paul said in Romans five twenty and twenty one, that the law entered, that the offence might abound. We just showed in this episode what that meant. This is going to be what Paul finishes up Romans seven and eight with in the next few episodes.

Below this recording is a list of 21 uses for the law to help show what its function is and seven things the law’s weak in.

Until the next episode, my friends, may God richly bless you in the knowledge of Him.