Romans 7 Law, Sin and Israelローマ書7 立法・罪・イズラエル

Why did God give Israel the law and what relevance does this have for us?----more----

Romans 7:1-6

Paul likens our relationship with sin and Jesus to marriage.

Romans 7:4, 6:6

In our old lives we were married to sin, but now having died to that relationship we are now free to be married with Jesus.

Paul even says that when we were married to sin, everything we gave birth to was death.

But now in Jesus, we bear the fruit which is life.

And what role does the law play?

The law actually cemented the bond with us and sin.

Romans 7:7-12

What the law does is 2 things.

1. It reminds us of who we are, that sin lies within us.

2. It waits for opportunity for us to do wrong.

Romans 7:13-25

So 2 questions.

1. Why did God give Israel the law?

2. What is Israel to do in this predicament?

Harking back to the very beginning...

Paul starts off Romans by telling us the good news which is God's power bringing salvation for everyone.  But before we can appreciate the good news, we have to understand the bad news which in this case is sin being the core problem with humanity.  And in order to cope with this problem, God chose Israel to be the solution, but it too found that it was part of the problem.

So when God gave the law, it clung to the law which by the way Paul says is holy and good.

There is no problem with the law except that sin was there to tell Israel how bad it was and seized every opportunity to do wrong.

Romans 7:23

So Israel is caught in this tension, this war.

That it wants to do what is right, but sin is there to show them that they can't.

And what's more...

Romans 7:13, 5:20

Through the law, sin has attained its full height.

Why?

Why would God give Israel the law if it merely intensified it?

So that it can be concentrated into one place and so God can once and for all take care of it.

And that one focal point will be in Jesus who would then take on the sin of the whole world to execute it thereby making it powerless.