The Law of Sin and Death

 

Romans 7:10

“And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death.”

​

Why does the Law of God bring death?  Because of our sin.

​

Paul understands that the Law of God is intended to bless us in obedience, but curse us in disobedience. This is nothing new.

​

Deuteronomy 11:26-29

“Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of (YHWH) the LORD your God which I command you today; and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known.”

​

Obviously, all have sinned (broke the law of God – 1 John 3:4), or as Paul states, followed the “Law of Sin” (Romans 7:23). Thus, we are all cursed by the law and deserve death. Paul brilliantly calls this the “Law of Sin and Death” (Romans 8:2). Until we realize that we are sinning against God, we are unable to realize that we are cursed.

​

However, once we read the Law of God and realize it as truth,  that we have sinned against God. It is when we realize our sin that we should understand that we deserve death. This is how the “Law of God” equates to the “ministry of death”. It is by God’s law, and our sin that is against God’s law, that we understand that we need a savior from our sin, that demands our death.

​

This is exactly what Paul continues to teach in Romans 7.

​

Romans 7:11

“For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.”

​

Is the Law of God (“ministry of death”) bad because it kills us? No! God’s law is “holy, just, and good” because it kills us. We want the law to kill us. Without death, we cannot be “born again.” The very “Word” that kills is to also give us life.

​

Deuteronomy 30:15

“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil,”

​

The Word is “life” when we believe and do it. The “Word” is death when we do not believe in its truth.

​

Before our faith, we were against the Law of God and followed only the Law of Sin. We followed our ways instead of God’s ways.  We want the law to be a “ministry of death.” That is exactly what Paul teaches in the very next verse.

​

Romans 7:12

“Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.”

​

It is not God’s law that is bad, we are bad because we broke the law of God. Our sin does not make the Law of God bad, but in fact it proves that the Law of God is good. It is sin that deceived us. It is God’s law that reveals to us that we were deceived in following the Law of Sin. Law (Torah) simply means “instruction.” Life’s instructions.

​

There are only two sources of instruction. There is instruction from God (Law of God) and there is instruction that is against God (Law of Sin).

​

Continuing in Romans 7, Paul explains the ongoing battle of the instructions (laws) in all believers, the Law of God vs. the Law of Sin.

​

Romans 7:21-22 (Law of God)

“I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.”

In verse 21, Paul teaches that the will to do good, the Law of God, exposes the evil within Him. In verse 22, Paul states that His inward man delights in the Law of God. In the very next verse Paul teaches that the Law of Sin is the instruction that is against the Law of God. It is the Law of Sin that is bondage.

​

Romans 7:23 (Law of Sin)

“But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.”

​

Sin leads to death. This brings us back to the defining phrase that Paul termed the “ministry of death.”  The Law of God is the “ministry of death” because once we realize we broke the law of God we understand that we are under the “Law of Sin and Death”.

​

However, in Christ, we are no longer under the “Law of Sin and Death” but under grace. 

​

Romans 8:2

“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.”

​

Does this mean that we can break God’s law or nullify the Law of God in our faith? Paul makes it clear that we cannot.

​

Romans 3:31

“Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.”

​

Romans 6:1-2

1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

2 God forbid. We who died to sin, how shall we any longer live therein?

 

Because we often mistakenly misunderstand the “ministry of death” as something that was bad and had to be abolished, we then mistakenly assume that Paul must have been referencing the Law of God as to what was ended in 2 Corinthians 3.

However, without God’s law presenting itself as a “ministry of death” we would never realize that we are under the “Law of Sin and Death” and thus require a savior. If we never realize that we need a savior, then we would remain deceived in the Law of Sin without the Law of God.

​

Romans 8:2

“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.”

​

Paul details in Romans 8 that in our faith we have received the Spirit to want to do the Law of God, and it is those still under the law of sin and death that do not want to do the Law of God. This is how God begins to bring back the glory of the Law of God in the New Covenant.

We walk according to the Spirit (8:4). The carnal/flesh minded and the spirit minded are clearly opposite ways of living. We already know from reading the chapter earlier that the law is Spiritual (7:14).  Therefore, we should not be surprised when Paul states that those who are in the flesh are at enmity against God. Those who are at enmity with God do not do the Law of God.

​

Romans 8:7-8

“Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

​

Those who live according to their flesh are not subject to the law of God, but those who live according to the Spirit live according to God’s law, which pleases Him.

​

Therefore, those teaching against the Law of God are letting their flesh speak and revealing their enmity against God. Those who teach the Law of God are being led by the Spirit and showing that they are not under the Law of Sin and Death. It should be rather clear that Paul was not teaching against the Law of God in 2 Corinthians 3:7-8.

​

The pathway leading toward the righteous behavior God wants from us is illuminated by His law, which serves as the divine standard of conduct. We as fallible human beings often violate this standard of conduct, no matter how well-meaning we are (Romans 7:18). We also constantly face the unrelenting spiritual pressure of an adversary, Satan the devil, who wants us to step off the path.

​

But the application of charis (grace) saves us when we stumble and fall. When we repent, we are cleansed of sin and restored to a right relationship with our divine patron, God. Thus, reciprocating in divine faith ( pistis )—trusting belief and faithfulness—toward our divine patron, we are truly “not under law [under its penalty] but under grace” (Romans 6:14, ESV).

​

(Note – the terms for charis, pistis and patron are further explained in the site’s section on, 1st Century Grace, How Grace Was Understood in the Time and Culture of the Apostle)

 

Not abolished in the slightest, the law of God—summarized in the moral code of the Ten Commandments—retains its authority and, as Paul states, is “holy and righteous and good” (Romans 7:12, ESV). And as Jesus Christ Himself affirmed, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:4; quoted from Deuteronomy 8:3).

​

God’s law points the way for us to act in faith and faithfulness— pistis— in our relationship begun by our patron who “first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Paul tells us that “when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (Romans 6:10).

​

Paul profoundly understood that “by grace [ charis ] you are saved through faith [ pistis ] … it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8, ESV). Anyone hearing these words or reading them in the first century would have made an instant connection to the powerful relationship implied, which requires trust and a response of remaining faithful.

​

So grace, we see, is not contrary to God’s law in the slightest. Grace requires God’s law to define the standard of conduct for the deep relationship inherent in a bond established by charis. In fact, it is through grace that God has given His law, forgives us for breaking it and empowers us to continue in it. The relationship of charis is evident in God’s “incomparably great power for us who believe” (Ephesians 1:19, NIV).

​

What a fantastic illumination of the profound depth of a grace-powered relationship with God Almighty, one that will last for all eternity! No wonder then that the Bible itself closes with this encouragement from Revelation 22:21 (NLT): “May the grace [ charis ] of the Lord Jesus be with God’s holy people. Amen.”