Sin’s Advantage in the Law
7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. 9 I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. 10 And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. 11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. 12 Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.
If the law can only bring condemnation, is it sin in and of itself? No, because the law brings knowledge of sin. As I stated yesterday, it brings the knowledge of our sinfulness and it declares how far we fall from God’s perfect standard. The law stands to stop the mouths of the proud and show them their sins so that they cannot boast of their own worth against God’s standard. The Jewish leaders taught that by living out the law the people would be saved. The problem is that the law was never meant to bring them salvation from their sins but to show them that it was impossible. God promised that He would send them someone who would do the work for them, their salvation is based on their faith in Him alone.