¹² So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. ¹³ Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.

“Me gnoite!” Seventh out of ten times in the book of Romans, Paul proclaims, “May it never be!” His evangelistic ministry had encountered many who took umbrage at his message, attempting to debunk it on logical grounds. Being no mental slouch, the apostle knew and was convinced that in the arena of logical argumentation and debate, the truth of how one attains the righteousness of God through grace could hold its own. Masterfully, he presents (as he does frequently in Romans) the opposing objection, namely that his message leads one to conclude that the Law of God is the cause of our sin problem and its consequence of death.

It has been said that one cannot be fully confident in the logical integrity of one’s argument unless he knows the opposing arguments better than his opponents. Paul, indeed, could understand the objections, for he himself at one time held to many of those same objections, and actively persecuted the believers (Acts 8:3, 9:1-2). By his own testimony he had been “a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, [he was] found blameless” (Phil 3:2-6). He certainly had, before coming to grace, found self-convincing ways to justify himself “in the Law.” However, he came to see such thinking as “loss for the sake of Christ…rubbish” (Phil 3:7-8). So, yes, he was quite familiar with arguments against the Gospel of grace.

So now, what is the point of the Law? All agree that the Law is “holy and righteous and good.” The psalmist David extolled when he wrote Psalm 119, where all but a few of the 176 verses speak highly of God’s Law. How can the Law be so good, yet cause death? Or did it? Paul’s answer, essentially: “Of course not” (NLT). The cause of our death is sin, not the Law. If the purpose of the Law is to give people a means to gain righteousness, then one could conclude that the Law fails, because no one can keep the Law perfectly, and therefore everyone falls short. The Law would have been an unrealistic standard to measure up to. However, God’s commandments had a different purpose, and that was to demonstrate just how bad sin really is. It is so utterly pervasive and depraved that it leads to the death of God’s image bearers.

Lord, when I see from the Law how sinful I really am, Your grace comes more clearly into focus. I can’t thank You enough for Your gift of righteousness.