Unlimited: The Law Isn’t Sinful
Nov 14, 2022 605
What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! (Romans 7:7a)
Paul has told us that the law aroused sinful passions that worked within us so that we bore fruit for death. Furthermore, Paul tells us that the law had “once bound us” and that we needed to be released from it.
However, Paul doesn’t want us to think that the law is sinful. His response to this idea is emphatic: Not at all!
For many believers in Jesus throughout history, it has been easy to conclude that the law of God has been done away with, and that it no longer has any relevance for Christians. This is to misunderstand both the nature and function of God’s law. There are Christians who make it their mission to attack the law. Paul would have had nothing to do with them.
Paul doesn’t want us to think that the law is sinful.
What is sinful isn’t the law itself, but its misuse. The law of God is misused when it is used as a means of being made right with God, or to supplement or complement faith as the instrument through which we are saved. The law of God is misused when the letter of the law is applied without understanding its spiritual nature. The law is also misused when it is used as the means to control or manipulate others rather than to demonstrate the loving character of God.
Spiritual Application
Have you had a healthy relationship with the law of God in the past? Why? Why not? What wrong ideas have you accepted that have skewed your understanding?
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