Romans 7 - Is the Law Sin?

1. The last chapter brought to bear 2 antinomian objections
   1. Romans 6:1a What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?
   2. Romans 6:15a What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace?
2. Now Paul brings forth another objection \- Romans 7:7a What then shall we say? That the law is sin?
   1. He brings up this objection because back in verse 5, he claims that our sinful passions were aroused by the law, which one could interpret as him saying the law was sin itself.
   2. To deal with this objection, Paul presents a positive understanding of the law, which we can understand through the three uses of the law:
      1. The law as a mirror, exposing to all man the sin within him
         1. Romans 7:7b Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, "You shall not covet."
      2. The law as a restraint on sin within the believer
         1. Romans 7:6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.
      3. The law teaches obedience to the believer
         1. Romans 7:25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord\! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
   3. Therefore, the law is not sin, but rather:
      1. the law bears witness to our sin,
      2. the law restrains us from further sin as we submit to God,
      3. and in that submission, obedience is built up within us so that we may serve in the new way of the spirit.
3. Expand on reasons why Paul is talking about himself currently, and not him in the past
   1. How could the man spoken of in these verses be speaking of an unsaved Jew, when he delights in God's law?
      1. Paul naturally switches from past tense to present tense, formulated closely to how a testimony is usually presented.
      2. A pharisee believed he was self-righteous, but Christ directly says the pharisee is wicked in his heart.
   2. One cannot delight in His law without being saved, if Romans 3:23 is true
   3. All the reformers see it as referring to Paul in his current state, rather than himself in the past
   4. https://withallwisdom.org/2025/04/07/episode-119-sin-sanctification-and-romans-714-25-part-3episode-119/
   5. We should be applying this passage to our own selves, seeing that we can only love God's law once he has saved us, and that we should indeed see God' s law as good.