Frankenbob says:
"Me like watching Law and Order!...Wait. What you talking about?"
Romans 7
"What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet, if it had not been for the law, I should not have known sin. I should not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, `You shall not covet(Romans 7:7).'"
Romans 7 is a verse rabbis like to quote as an example of why Christianity is idolatry or otherwise a disobedience to God. They like to say, "Paul is telling people that the commandments are sinful, when actually the commandments are the way of goodness and life and salvation." The argument comes from a misunderstanding of what Paul is saying here. Paul is not saying that the law is sinful. What Paul is describing here is the *letter of the law,* as opposed to the *spirit of the law (genuine service and obedience to God).* From this, we can derive two points.
1. It's difficult to sin if you don't know how to sin. It's like saying, "Don't think of an elephant."
One time, a girl asked my relative, "If you hit someone with a lead pipe, will it kill them?" To this my relative replied, "Yeah, I guess so." And not too much later, the police came and arrested the girl for murdering someone with a lead pipe. Perhaps it wouldn't have happened if she hadn't received that knowledge.
2. If you see a loophole in the written law, it encourages you to exploit that loophole. For example, a worshipper of pagan gods may say, "Oh, it's okay to worship Shango. The bible says `thou shalt not have any gods before me,' it never said you couldn't have any gods after him." If they acted in the spirit of the law, they would avoid the worship of other gods out of love for God. Instead, they look for a loophole in the words of the bible that can somehow justify their disloyalty to God. So, in other words, the law doesn't cause sin, but the loopholes and the idea of sin itself causes sin.
Dear Father in heaven, your law is good, but the idea of sin and loopholes in the law encourage us to sin. Lord, help me to conquer the temptation to sin and follow the spirit of your law instead of merely following the letter. In the name of your Son Jesus, forgive us our sins and help us to conquer the flesh and live righteously. Amen.