Sin and the Law

When it comes to living as God wants us to live, humans have always struggled to keep His Commandments, beginning in The Garden until now. While we have never been 100% successful in following The Law, that in no way should dimmish the purpose of The Law. The purpose of The Law has always been to lead in the life God desires for us, but we more often than not fall short. That is called sin.

We know how we are supposed to live, but we do not live that way. We know that we are supposed to avoid sin, but we rarely succeed in avoiding it. This is the common struggle of every Christian, even Saint Paul. Just because we don’t always follow The Law doesn’t mean The Law is at fault. The Law is good, we are the ones who sin, but thankfully because of The Law, we come to know our sin, and we can repent and live as God desires.

Brethren, I am speaking to those who know the law. Do you not know that the law is binding on a person only during his life? Thus a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives; but if her husband dies she is discharged from the law concerning the husband. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress. Likewise, my brethren, you have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God. While we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are discharged from the law, dead to that which held us captive, so that we serve not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit. What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet, if it had not been for the law, I should not have known sin. I should not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, finding opportunity in the commandment, wrought in me all kinds of covetousness. Apart from the law sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died; the very commandment which promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, finding opportunity in the commandment, deceived me and by it killed me. So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good. Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, working death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure.

Romans 7.1-14

In a basic way, this seems to be the issue with our society. We know the choices we make are often against the will of God, and sometimes against the law, so rather than changing our choices, we change the law. If it is no longer against the law to act in a particular way, then our conscience is soothed and we comfortably continue in our sin. I believe that is what is happening in our recent moral battle over abortion.

I keep seeing ridiculous arguments in favor of unfettered abortion. Let me say that I have NEVER met someone who is against abortion who wants to “starve” babies once they are born. I admit they may exist, but I have never met a single person who believes this point of view. I HAVE met many who speak about access to abortion to avoid the inconvenience put on mothers who get pregnant but having a child would not be ‘good’ right now, but my post today is only inspired by the abortion debate because that is the ‘hot button issue’ right now.

My point today is about sin and the law. Saint Paul is speaking about the Old Testament Law, which we know as Christians we are no longer bound to, since we have died in our baptism and were born in Christ, but we are bound to a higher standard than the Old Testament Law. We are bound to live as Christ wants us to live, and He doesn’t want us to so self-centered that our actions only consider the impact it has on our own lives.

Christ has commanded us to love others above all else. We cannot love others if we are preoccupied with loving ourselves. Getting back to the abortion debate, the vast majority of abortion cases in America have NOTHING to do with the mother’s health of even rape/incest. The vast majority of abortions are a matter of self-oriented comfort choices, and that has nothing to do with love. I have also NEVER met someone who was against abortion who thought it would be good for a mother to risk death by having a child.

When we love ourselves above others, then the guilty feeling we have when our choices are against the law, somehow must be resolved. There are only two ways to resolve the conflict in our hearts. We either stop the sin or change the law. Since changing the law serves our ego, we tend in that direction. Ironically, avoiding we never followed the law in the first place when in conflicted with our personal choice, and that is an ancient reality. What makes us think we will follow the law now?

The law only exists to show us what is wrong, but by itself the law will never change hearts. Saint Paul already proved that. Hearts have also never been changed by ridiculous arguments. Hearts can only be changed by God working together with our free will. If we want to follow Christ, then we will. If we want to follow our ‘own path,’ then we will. No law will alter our path.

Take a step back and ask yourself if you want truly to follow Christ. If the answer is yes, then I invite you to consider that any choice you make that serves YOU rather than Christ, is probably going to lead in the wrong direction.