Peter Barnes | Romans 7:7-8
SERMON NOTES
WHAT DOES THE LAW DO? (part 1)
(Romans 7:7-8)
– is Paul describing himself just before his conversion? (Augustine, Calvin, Charles Hodge, John Murray) or as he was in Adam? (Richard Longenecker) or Israel? (Tom Wright, Douglas Moo) or everybody? (W. G. Kümmel)
– it is surely Paul describing his own experience
1. The law is holy.
– 7:7; at times Paul may seem to be negative about the law – Rom.3:20; 5:20; 6:14; 7:5; also Gal.3:10, 13, 15-18, 19, 21.
– 7:12; if a drunk falls off a bridge it is not the bridge’s fault.
2. The law makes sin known.
– 7:7; as an X-ray machine reveals disease. Paul had thought he was blameless (Phil.3:6)
Robert Murray McCheyne:
I once was a stranger to grace and to God;
I knew not my danger, and felt not my load.
3. Paul discovered that he broke the tenth commandment.
– 7:7-8; the gospel can convict of sin (e.g. Count von Zinzendorf)
– but for Paul it was the law; note Gal.1:14
– Tertullian: ‘It was not the law which led me astray but sin.’