September 5, 2022

Passage Read: Romans 6-7
Meditation Verse: 7:8

Thought

"Apart from Law, sin is dead." This cannot mean that there was no sin before the Law, because he's already said sin was in the world before the Law, but it was not imputed without the Law. God says back in Genesis 6 that every inclination of the thoughts of our hearts was only evil from childhood. Cain killed Abel, Lamech killed a young man. Sin was active in the world even without the Law, and so God destroyed the world with a flood long before He gave the Law. But sin, to me personally, wasn't alive or activated until a law or command came to me, then sin came alive and produced in me a desire to do the exact opposite of the command. So Paul can't be talking about sin in the world, but sin in the individual.

Application

I have no excuse to sin, now that I belong to Christ and have His Spirit living in me. Whether general sin in the world or personal sin in me, they no longer have power over me. The command doesn't control my destiny but does inform my understanding of what the Lord is like and desires for me. Now I love the Lord more than I love my flesh, more than I love sin, so I am compelled by love for Christ to do what is right, rather than love for self to do whatever my flesh says is good.