Have you ever stolen mangoes or rambutans from a neighbour’s tree?

If those
adolescent exploits still make you chuckle, it may seem puzzling to see why
Augustine agonized with guilt over some stolen pears in his Confessions. Was he
indulging in a kind of mental self-beating?

Apparently not. Augustine looked back on his ‘fruitful’ endeavor and confessed
that he was not even hungry that day. In fact, he gleefully threw his loot to the
pigs. His desire was not the sweetness of pears, but merely the excitement of
doing what was wrong! He asked himself, “Was it possible to take pleasure in
what was illicit for no reason other than that it was not allowed?” Forbidden
fruits taste better simply because they are off-limits.

This universal human experience seems to be on the apostle Paul’s mind when he
wrote:

“What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have
known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what
coveting really was if the law had not said, "Do not covet”. But sin, seizing the
opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of
covetous desire. For apart from the law, sin is dead.” (Romans 7:7-8)

Earlier in this grand epistle to the church in Rome, the apostle had argued
powerfully that sinners are declared righteous by God’s grace through faith in
Christ, not through obeying the law (3:27). Consequently believers are ‘not under
law, but under grace’ (6:14). They are no longer trying to impress God or earn
divine favor by keeping the written code and live under its condemnation.
Instead, they depend on what Christ had graciously done for their salvation and
thus set free from the power of sin.

If the law only brings us wrath from God (4:15), does that mean that Paul
considered the Mosaic law to be responsible for sin and death? Was he casting a
shadow against the law as the cause of sin and condemnation? (7:7, 13) In
Romans chapter 7, the apostle would answer these serious objections and defend
the role of the law in our discipleship.

No, he wrote, the law in itself is “holy, righteous and good” (7:12). On the
contrary, it is our fallen nature which is the source of sin and death. Although the
law reveals and condemns transgressions, our self-centered disposition is thus
aroused to produce every kind of prohibited desires (7:8). For this reason, the law
is unable to rescue sinners or make them holy. It can neither be the ground for
our justification or sanctification.

Paul used marriage as an illustration to explain the principle that the law has
authority over a person only as long as he or she lives. “For example, by law a
married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband
dies, she is released from the law of marriage” (7:2). Similarly, believers have
died to the law through participation in the death of Christ so that they may now
belong to Him and bear good fruit to God. They were once controlled by the
sinful passions provoked by the law, resulting in evil deeds that lead to death. But
now they have been released from the law so that they may serve God in the new
way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code. (7:1-6)

Recently, I overheard some heated discussions in blogdom about the meaning of

being ‘released from the law’. Does that mean that the Ten Commandments are
no longer binding on Christians? One side of the debate was accused of
promoting the law without grace (legalism) while the other was indicted of giving
out a license to lawless living (antinomianism). So are we still expected to obey
the law? Answer: Yes and no!

Legalism says: “Obey and you will

be accepted by God!”
Lawlessness says: “Disobey and you will still be accepted by God!”
The Gospel says, “You are accepted by God because of Christ, therefore obey!”

Yes, the law still has a positive role for us as the revelation of God’s will because
we have been set free from sin to become slaves of God and of righteousness
(6:18, 22). We are liberated so that we may belong to Christ and bear good fruit
(7:4). But no, our motive to obey is not to save ourselves or earn acceptance from
God. We serve out of a grace-filled, loving relationship with Christ. Not because
we have to, out of mere obligation, but because we want to, out of grateful delight.
Such obedience is empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit, not fleshly efforts or
external coercion (7:6).

“What a wretched man I am!”

If the law is not to be blamed for sin, it is also clear that it is too weak to do what
it is supposed to do – that is, to make us holy. Paul wrote, “We know that the law
is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin” (7:14). Biblical scholars
have spilled much ink over the identity of the ‘wretched man’ caught in intense
introspective struggles as described in Romans 7:14-24. He delights in God’s law
in his mind (7:22) yet confesses that nothing good lives in him, that is, in his
sinful nature (7:18). He could not do the good that he wants to do. Instead, he
carries out the very evil that he wants to shun (7:15-16). It almost seems like he
has a split personality, fighting a ferocious war within himself (7:23).

Was Paul talking about his own guilt-ridden inability to keep the law as a
Pharisee in his pre-conversion days? Or does the ‘wretched man’ represent a
regenerate Christian life caught in the already-not yet tension of growing in
holiness in a fallen world? Or was Paul mimicking an abnormal Christian who
still relies on external law-keeping rather than the ‘new way of the Spirit’ for his
sanctification?

Without getting entangled too deeply in this debate (the curious reader may
consult a good commentary for more details), perhaps it would be fair to say that
all of us (be it Christian or otherwise) are unable to keep the law perfectly due to
the power of sin living in us. “Who will rescue me from this body of death?
Thanks be to God— through Jesus Christ our Lord” (7:24)! These inner struggles
did not climax with a cry of despair but of anticipation for eventual deliverance.
We would only read of the indwelling Spirit by whom we put to death the
misdeeds of the sinful nature later in Romans 8.

Tim Keller has a helpful way of distinguishing the gospel from both legalism and
lawlessness. While it is easy to detect sin in a hedonistic lifestyle, we often cannot
tell how the gospel is any different from moralistic religion. But a legalist rejects
God’s grace by trying to be his own savior through achievements just as a
hedonist rejects God’s law in pursuit of selfish pleasures. Both are fundamentally
opposed to the gospel of grace.

Two Christians may join the same cell group,

tithe regularly, serve in church, listen to the same sermon and try their utmost to
be good parents. But they may do so out of radically different motives, resulting
in radically different approaches to life. The legalist does these things in order to
appease God, out of fear and despair that God will reject him if he fails to
perform. If he succeeds, he feels proud and superior to others. On the other hand,
the believer transformed by the gospel does the same things out of grateful joy in
God’s free acceptance and desire to bring Him pleasure. The result is a humble
boldness since Jesus alone is his righteousness and atonement for sins.

Which is the primary driver in your life - the law or the gospel?

Is our standing before God dependent on grace rather than our track record in
law-keeping? Is our obedience an outflow of a personal, living relationship with
God? Or do we relate to God in terms of a slavish bondage to rules and
regulations, a list of do’s and don’ts, of mere duties and obligations?

God is not glorified by joyless religious duty, but by our joyful, willing and
obedient delight in all that He is.