134. Law or Christ
Romans 7:9 • 1 min. read • grade level: 4
“A Brother in Christ.” Romans 7:99For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. (Romans 7:9) teaches us that the only thing the law can do with a sinner is to slay him. “I was alive apart from law (χωρις νομου) once; but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.” If the law were not in question, a man might go on in ignorance of what is in his heart; but “by the law is the knowledge of sin,” and “the wages of sin is death.” If I sit in a dark room, I cannot see anything. I may be surrounded with dust, and not be able to see it. Suppose a law made against having dust in my room, and death as the penalty; what then? Why the moment you let in light into my room, I see the dust, and see myself condemned. It is vain to say, that the design of the law is to promote cleanliness; it condemns the very condition in which I am, and does not help me to get out of it. What am I to do? Look to Christ, who bore the curse and paid the penalty for me. “I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.” The law will not, and cannot, let any one live. Why? Because no one has kept it. The only way of escape from the law without, and sin within, is death and resurrection. Would that we all entered more fully into this glorious and deeply practical truth!