Romans 7:7-13
7 Well then, am I suggesting that the law of God is sinful? Of course not! In fact, it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, “You must not covet.”[c] 8 But sin used this command to arouse all kinds of covetous desires within me! If there were no law, sin would not have that power. 9 At one time I lived without understanding the law. But when I learned the command not to covet, for instance, the power of sin came to life, 10 and I died. So I discovered that the law’s commands, which were supposed to bring life, brought spiritual death instead.11 Sin took advantage of those commands and deceived me; it used the commands to kill me. 12 But still, the law itself is holy, and its commands are holy and right and good.
13 But how can that be? Did the law, which is good, cause my death? Of course not! Sin used what was good to bring about my condemnation to death. So we can see how terrible sin really is. It uses God’s good commands for its own evil purposes.
Would you rather face a hard truth or live in ignorance?
I was chatting to a friend a few months ago who was on the edges of faith. They believed in God but had so many questions about Jesus, the cross and sin. They were put off by Jesus’ isolationist claims that he was the only way to God and were unsure about his teaching on heaven and hell. After hours of conversations, they said to me, ‘it would have been better if you had told me nothing. Then I would not know about Jesus, could live how I want and legitimately plead ignorance to any punishment.’
This is part of Paul’s argument in this passage. He is debating the purpose of the Jewish laws and saying that knowing the Law did not make it easier to stop sinning. In fact, it did the opposite, it made the sin come to the surface. If they had not known the law then they would not have struggled with sin in the same way.
His argument is that the purpose of the Law in the Old Testament was not to prevent us from sin but was to reveal and diagnose the sin that we need freedom from.
I had a persistent pain a while ago and this thought came into my head - it’s cancer. I couldn’t shake it. For months, every time I felt it stab and ache, the fear would come up. However, I wouldn’t go to the doctor because I was afraid that they might tell me that it really was cancer. Living in ignorance gave me a kind of peace. Not a true peace, this peace felt fear and worry.
Of course, I made the mistake of telling my wife one day and she demanded that I go to get it checked out. So, I had a series of tests and there was nothing to it. There was nothing sinister or particularly concerning with me. With the news that there was no cancer, I felt peace. True peace. The kind of peace that comes not when you shut your eyes to the problems but when you see them through and come out the other side.
There is a lot in the Bible that I find challenging. The temptation can be to close my eyes and ignore anything that is inconvenient or scary. However, Jesus came to bring us true peace and salvation from our brokenness. This can only come when we face the facts and trust God with the deep work that is required.
Where in your life are you tempted to choose the “peace” of ignorance rather than facing something difficult that God might be revealing to you?
Paul argues the Law’s purpose was diagnostic, not preventative - to reveal sin rather than remove it. How does this change your understanding of your own struggles with sin?
Where might you be settling for false peace?
