Lesson 1998

(Lesson 1998)(04-22-17) Romans 7:7-11

"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. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me."

Although the lesson in today's quote might appear to be complicated and hard to understand, in truth it is simple when one considers that there can be no penalty for breaking a rule that does not exist.

What we now consider to be the sin of "lust", a condition Paul referred to in today's quote, would have been totally acceptable before the institution of the law that condemned it. The same could be said of murder and adultery, those acts too would have been wholly acceptable so long as there was no a law against them.

We should note here also that the Gentiles were never subjected to the law of the Jews. They did, however, as we will learn in subsequent lessons, impose certain moral restrictions upon themselves.

Until the imposition of the law upon the Jews, God made no demands of mankind other than that he/she believe in Him and accept Him as the supreme authority over all the universe.

Therefore, what Paul is saying in today's lesson is that the law itself is not sin, but rather, that it created sin by its implementation.~