The Law Is Holy, But I Am Carnal

Key Passage: Romans 7:7–12

Romans VerseQuest Commentary
Essay 44: The Law Is Holy, But I Am Carnal
Text: Romans 7:7–12

Introduction

Romans 7:7–12 says, “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.” Paul is walking through holy ground with a drawn sword. He has just told the believer that he is dead to the law by the body of Christ and delivered from the law so that he should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. The legalist hears that and immediately starts squealing like a stuck hog in a smokehouse: “Are you saying the law is bad? Are you saying the law is sin? Are you attacking Moses?” Paul anticipates the objection and answers it with his usual apostolic thunder: “God forbid.”

The law is not sin. The problem is sin in man. That distinction is everything. A thermometer is not the fever because it reveals the fever. A mirror is not the dirt because it shows the dirt. A flashlight is not the rat because it exposes the rat running along the wall. The law is holy, but it walks into a human heart that is crooked, corrupt, proud, covetous, rebellious, self-righteous, and dead in Adam. The commandment is righteous, but the sinner is not. The law says, “Thou shalt not covet,” and suddenly the heart discovers a zoo full of lusts it had been calling personality, ambition, preference, taste, need, and self-expression. The law did not create the corruption; it turned the lights on. Man does not hate the law because the law is evil. He hates it because it tells the truth about him.

Romans 7:7–12 defends the law from false accusations while exposing the sinner. Paul is not contradicting Romans 6:14, where he said the believer is not under the law but under grace. He is explaining why law cannot justify or sanctify the flesh, even though the law itself is holy. The law reveals sin, defines sin, exposes lust, gives sin a commandment to abuse, and leaves the sinner slain under condemnation. It is good for its purpose, but its purpose is not to give life to Adam. It can tell a man not to covet, but it cannot make a covetous heart content. It can command righteousness, but it cannot create righteousness in fallen flesh. It can point to the corpse, name the disease, and announce the verdict, but it cannot raise the dead. For that, a man needs Jesus Christ.

Chapter One: Is the Law Sin?

Paul begins, “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid.” That question rises naturally after Paul’s statements about being dead to the law and delivered from the law. The carnal mind and the religious mind both misunderstand grace, though from different directions. The carnal mind says, “If I am not under law, sin must not matter.” The religious mind says, “If you say I am not under law, you must be saying the law is evil.” Paul refuses both lies. Grace is not permission to sin, and deliverance from the law is not an accusation against the law. The Bible believer must keep both truths standing without shaving either one down to fit a system.

The law is not sin because God gave it, and God does not author sin. The same Paul who says the believer is delivered from the law also says in verse 12, “Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.” That should settle it. The law reflects God’s holiness, righteousness, justice, and moral authority. When the law says, “Thou shalt not,” it is not speaking as a corrupt tyrant trying to spoil human fun. It speaks as a holy standard exposing rebellion. The problem is not that the law is crooked. The problem is that it is straight, and man is crooked. A bent stick hates a straight edge because the straight edge makes the bend obvious.

But the law being holy does not mean the believer is under it as his covenant master. That is where legalism confuses categories like a man trying to alphabetize a junk drawer. The law can be holy and still not be the Christian’s rule of covenant standing. The law can be good and still not give life. The law can reveal God’s righteous standard and still not justify the ungodly. The law can expose sin and still not conquer sin’s dominion. The issue is not whether the law is evil. The issue is whether fallen man can be justified or sanctified by law. Romans has already answered: “by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight,” and “ye are not under the law, but under grace.” The law is holy; the flesh is helpless.

Chapter Two: I Had Not Known Sin, But by the Law

Paul says, “Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law.” The law reveals sin. It names the criminal hiding in the heart. It takes what man excuses, renames, decorates, and hides, and calls it what God calls it. Men are expert at renaming sin. Pride becomes self-respect. Lust becomes chemistry. Covetousness becomes ambition. Bitterness becomes boundaries. Rebellion becomes authenticity. Blasphemy becomes courage. Unbelief becomes intellectual honesty. The law walks into that costume party, tears off the masks, and says, “Sin.” That is one reason men hate plain preaching. They prefer a doctor who compliments the tumor.

Paul is not saying no one had any awareness of wrong without the Mosaic law. Romans 2 already showed that Gentiles have conscience, “their conscience also bearing witness.” But the law gives explicit knowledge, divine definition, sharp exposure, and official charge. Sin becomes known in the light of God’s commandment. “Thou shalt not” does not merely inform the mind; it confronts the will. It tells man that God has authority over him. That is where the fight begins. Man can tolerate religious suggestions, philosophical discussions, moral ideals, and community values, but when God commands, Adam reaches for his fig leaves and starts looking for a lawyer.

The law therefore has a revealing ministry. It is not the Saviour; it is the witness. It is not the cure; it is the diagnosis. It is not the ladder to heaven; it is the sign over the locked gate saying, “No flesh enters here by merit.” Galatians 3:24 says, “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” A schoolmaster is not a redeemer. The law takes the sinner by the collar, points to his guilt, and drives him to Christ if he will listen. A man who uses the law to prove he is righteous has taken the prosecutor’s evidence and tried to frame it as a character reference.

Chapter Three: Thou Shalt Not Covet

Paul gives a specific commandment: “for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” That is the tenth commandment, and it goes beneath the surface. A man may avoid murder outwardly, avoid adultery outwardly, avoid theft outwardly, and avoid open false witness outwardly, while still being eaten alive inwardly by covetousness. The commandment “Thou shalt not covet” steps past the hand and deals with the heart. It condemns the inner desire before it becomes the outer act. It proves God’s law is not merely concerned with public order but with inward righteousness. God is not impressed by clean hands attached to a rotten heart.

Covetousness is a silent assassin. It can sit in church, smile at neighbors, quote Scripture, and still be worshipping at the altar of “I want.” It wants another man’s possessions, position, marriage, ministry, reputation, beauty, money, influence, or ease. It can look spiritual while secretly resenting God’s distribution of blessings. Colossians 3:5 calls covetousness “idolatry.” That is not gentle language. Covetousness says God is not enough, what God gave is not enough, and what belongs to another should somehow belong to me. It is the itch of a heart that refuses contentment under God.

Paul uses coveting because it exposes the inward nature of sin. Before a man steals, he covets. Before he commits adultery, he covets. Before he lies to gain advantage, he covets. Before he slanders another man, he covets reputation, control, revenge, or superiority. The tenth commandment pulls the roots out of the ground and lets the sinner see the worms. A Pharisee can boast about outward conformity until “Thou shalt not covet” enters the room. Then the holy-looking robe starts smoking. The law does not merely say, “Do not do wrong.” It says, “Do not desire wrong.” At that point every honest man stops boasting and starts looking for mercy.

Chapter Four: Sin Took Occasion by the Commandment

Paul says, “But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence.” The commandment did not sin. Sin used the commandment as an occasion. That is the perversity of fallen nature. Give sin a holy boundary, and it turns the boundary into a provocation. Tell Adam not to eat, and the tree becomes the center of attention. Tell flesh not to covet, and coveting rises like a swamp bubbling under heat. The problem is not the holiness of the boundary. The problem is the rebel standing in front of it.

“Occasion” carries the idea of an opportunity, a base of operations, a starting point. Sin sees the commandment and says, “I can use that.” It takes what is holy and uses it to stir rebellion in the flesh. That does not make the commandment wicked. It makes sin exceedingly wicked. A thief may use a good road to reach a house he intends to rob, but the road is not guilty of burglary. Sin uses the commandment to expose the heart’s hostility to God. The law says, “No,” and sin replies, “Watch me.” That little exchange is the history of the human race in two words.

“All manner of concupiscence” means every kind of evil desire. The commandment against coveting did not produce one tiny ripple in Paul’s heart; it exposed a flood. That is what happens when the law enters the conscience of an honest sinner. The man who thought himself respectable suddenly sees desires he had never judged properly. He discovers that sin is not merely in the gutter, the brothel, the prison, or the pagan temple. It is in his own heart. The law puts a spotlight on the inward factory and shows the assembly line running day and night. A man may be able to hide his acts from people, but he cannot hide his concupiscence from God.

Chapter Five: Without the Law Sin Was Dead

Paul says, “For without the law sin was dead.” He does not mean sin did not exist before the law or that sin had no guilt before Sinai. Romans 5 has already declared that “sin was in the world” before the law and that death reigned from Adam to Moses. Sin was not dead in the sense of nonexistent. It was dead in the sense of lying comparatively dormant, unexposed, unprovoked by specific commandment, not yet stirred into its full conscious activity by the law’s direct prohibition. When the commandment comes, sin springs up and reveals what was already present in the flesh.

This explains much of human self-righteousness. A man can think he is alive, moral, clean, and spiritually acceptable when he has never let God’s commandment search him. He measures himself by neighbors, culture, religious tradition, outward respectability, and a few major sins he has avoided. Then the law says, “Thou shalt not covet,” and the whole illusion collapses. Sin was there, but the man did not know it properly. The commandment brings it out. It is like lifting a rock in the woods. The insects were there before the rock was lifted, but the light sends them scrambling.

The law therefore does not make a good man bad. It reveals a bad man accurately. That is a hard truth for religious pride. Men like to imagine they are fine until strict doctrine damages them. No, strict doctrine reveals the damage. The x-ray did not break the bone. The scan did not create the cancer. The scale did not manufacture the weight. The law did not create Adam’s corruption. It made the corruption visible, chargeable, and undeniable. A sinner can boast while sin seems dead. But when the commandment comes, the funeral is not for sin. It is for self-confidence.

Chapter Six: When the Commandment Came, Sin Revived, and I Died

Paul says, “For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.” Paul is describing his experience of conviction under the commandment. There was a time when he thought himself alive. Philippians 3 shows that Saul of Tarsus had plenty of religious confidence: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law a Pharisee, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. That is quite a résumé, polished enough to make a synagogue elder wipe a tear from his eye. But Romans 7 tells what happened when the commandment reached the inward man. Sin revived, and Paul died.

“I died” means his self-righteous confidence was slain. The commandment killed his illusion. He discovered that the law he thought would justify him actually condemned him. He found out that his outward religion could not survive the inward commandment. The man who thought he had life under law discovered death under law. That is exactly what the law does when used properly. It shuts the mouth. It stops boasting. It brings knowledge of sin. It proves guilt. It leaves the sinner with no hope in himself. That is not cruelty. That is mercy, if it drives the sinner to Christ.

Many people need this death before they will ever seek salvation honestly. They are alive in their own estimation—alive in morality, alive in church tradition, alive in baptismal record, alive in family religion, alive in education, alive in decency, alive in patriotism, alive in sincerity, alive in theological vocabulary. Then God’s word enters, shows them lust, coveting, pride, unbelief, rebellion, and guilt, and the false life dies. Blessed is the man whose self-righteousness is killed before his body is buried. Better to die under conviction now and flee to Christ than to keep your religious confidence alive all the way to the Great White Throne.

Chapter Seven: The Law Is Holy, Just, and Good

Paul says, “And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.” The law promised life on the condition of perfect obedience. Leviticus 18:5 says, “which if a man do, he shall live in them.” The issue is the doing. Not admiring. Not attempting. Not sincerely trying. Doing. Perfectly, continually, entirely. Fallen man cannot meet that condition. Therefore the commandment ordained to life becomes, to the sinner, unto death. The fault is not in the commandment. The fault is in the sinner. A good bridge does not save a man who refuses to cross it properly and leaps into the canyon.

Paul continues, “For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.” Sin deceives. It deceived Eve in the garden, and it deceives men under the law. It can even deceive a religious man into thinking the law that condemns him is the very tool by which he will justify himself. That is one of sin’s slickest tricks. It takes the holy law, stirs pride in the human heart, and convinces a man he can climb to God on commandments he has already broken. Sin uses law to produce either open rebellion or religious arrogance. Either way, the sinner is slain. The sword is holy, but sin manipulates the guilty man into falling on it.

Paul concludes, “Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.” That is the final defense. The law is holy in its origin and character. The commandment is holy in its separation from evil, just in its righteous judgment, and good in its proper purpose. Never blame the law for what sin does through it. Never blame God’s standard because man fails it. Never call the mirror evil because your face is dirty. The law is not the sinner’s problem in the sense of being sinful. The sinner’s problem is sin. The law is holy—but I am carnal. The law is just—but I am guilty. The law is good—but I need grace. The law can expose me, but only Christ can save me.

Conclusion

Romans 7:7–12 defends the law while condemning sin in man. Paul asks, “Is the law sin?” and answers, “God forbid.” The law reveals sin; it does not become sin. It exposes lust by saying, “Thou shalt not covet.” It brings hidden corruption into the light and shows man that his problem is deeper than outward behavior. The commandment reaches into the heart, finds coveting, and destroys the sinner’s confidence in himself. A man who truly lets the law speak will not come away boasting. He will come away slain.

The passage also shows the treachery of sin. Sin takes occasion by the commandment. Sin uses what is holy to provoke rebellion in fallen flesh. Sin deceives and slays. This is why law cannot justify or sanctify the flesh. The problem is not that the law lacks holiness. The problem is that man lacks righteousness. The law can define the line, but sin wants to cross it. The law can command life, but the sinner brings death to the transaction. Legalism fails because it takes a holy law and puts it upon fallen flesh as though pressure could produce life. It cannot. It only exposes the grave.

Therefore the conclusion must stand exactly as Paul gives it: “the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.” The believer should never dishonor the law, but he must rightly understand its purpose. It reveals sin, condemns guilt, shuts the mouth, and points the sinner away from self toward Christ. The law is a faithful witness, but it is not a Saviour. It is a holy prosecutor, but not a Redeemer. It can show you lust, but it cannot wash you. It can kill your pride, but it cannot raise your soul. For that, you need the One who fulfilled the law, bore the curse, shed His blood, rose from the dead, and saves the ungodly by grace through faith.