Post #71: The Temple and Its Significance in Prophecy | KJV Right Division (Week 3)

Post 71 · The Law's Purpose – Revealing Sin (Rom 7:7)

"What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." — Romans 7:7 (KJV)

Who? Paul writing autobiographically — his personal experience of the Law's function: revealing the sin that was already present.
Dispensation: Law (historical) to Grace (present) — the Law is not the solution to sin; it is the revealer of sin. Grace provides what Law could only demand.
Key: The Law does not create sin — it reveals it. 'I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.' The command makes the forbidden desire visible.

Romans 7 is Paul's most personal account of the Law's effect on a sincere person. The Law is holy, just, and good (v.12) — but it cannot save. Its function is to reveal sin: 'I had not known sin, but by the law.' The commandment against coveting made Paul aware of the covetousness that was already in him. The Law did not create the problem — it exposed it. This is the Law's diagnostic function: like an X-ray that reveals a fracture without healing it. The tragedy of Romans 7 is the man who knows the Law and wants to obey it but cannot (vv.15-24) — he cries 'O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me?' (v.24). The answer comes in verse 25 and is fully unpacked in Romans 8: deliverance is through Jesus Christ, by the Spirit of life.

Application: Read Romans 7:7-25 carefully. Notice: the Law is good (v.12), but it cannot deliver (v.14-24). The problem is not the Law — the problem is the flesh. Then read Romans 8:1-4: the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus frees from the law of sin and death, and the Law's righteous requirement is fulfilled IN US through the Spirit. What does the Law reveal about you that drives you to Christ? What does the Spirit provide that the Law could not?

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Prayer: Lord, the Law showed me my sin and drove me to my knees. Then grace lifted me up. Thank You for a Law that diagnoses without healing, and a Savior who heals what the Law exposed. May the Spirit produce in us what the Law could only demand. Amen.