⁸ … for apart from the Law sin is dead. ⁹ I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; ¹⁰ and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me;

Wonderfully negative news, odd as that may seem. Pity the person who goes through life without a true assessment of himself. The Law is our wake-up call, God’s blinding, inescapable light exposing the depths of humankind’s depravity. Apart from the revealing Law, humans just cannot see the depths to which they have fallen. “And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper” (Rom 1:28). Humans, made in God’s image, doing what seemed right in their own eyes, “enjoying” life independent of God, giving in to their whims and fleshly desires, thinking they have it made. But their thinking is messed up. The word “depraved” translates a Greek word meaning “worthless, base,” like spinning their mental wheels but getting nowhere. They became “futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools …” (Rom 1:21b-22). That seemed normal and proper for them.

Without any specification, sin had no relevance to them consciously. As one commentator puts it, sin is dead like a sleeping dog, but once awakened it goes on a rampage. The Law brings depravity out into the light. Paul likens it to someone who seems to be alive (without the Law), but then dies (at the hand of the Law). Usually we think of being alive as a good thing and death as a bad thing. However, Paul speaks with a certain irony and addresses this issue from the sinful man’s perspective. Coming to the Law puts a damper on the “enjoyment” of sin. To be sure, the long-range effects of sin are spiritual death and destruction, but the immediate enjoyment of sin is patently obvious. Giving in to fleshly desires has a fleeting excitement to it, or at the least a satisfaction. Temptation fulfilled gives relief from the struggle against temptation. Who does not enjoy the momentary culinary satisfaction of cheating on a diet for a savory morsel of donut or a hot fudge ice cream sundae? If we didn’t know that those things were contrary to our diet, then we are free of (dead to) those restrictions. But when a dietitian informs us of their calorie count, we become alive to the law, and we endeavor to be dead to (resist) the temptation.

The Law removes the “freedom” we had to live as we wanted, and we are now no longer “free” to do as we want. The Law shows us that there is no life in living independent of a perfectly holy God, the One whose image we bear.

Lord, help me never forget that there is no life in living independent of You.