Romans 7:7 (parsed)
The Law and Sin
If it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin.
My parents were not religious. They never taught me anything about any law. If I did anything that they did not like I got the switch. Even then they did not tell me why I was being punished. I was supposed to figure it out for myself.
I lived in ignorance of the law so in that sense I was lawless, living without law.
Romans 4:7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;”
If I did not get caught then my lawless deeds were never connected to sin.
In drivers education we had a manual that stated the state’s rules that needed to be studied to pass the exam. The funny thing about that education was there was no education for what the penalty would be if we violated the law. I would have to be caught speeding before I would discover the fine.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Since I was lawless, I didn’t know sin. The offer of a free gift held no meaning for me.
Then during the Vietnam war I had to swear an oath to uphold the constitution. No sweat, I didn’t remember anything about the law in my reading about the constitution. But then I was forced to read and comply with the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), enacted by Congress, which contains the substantive and procedural laws governing the military justice system. The President prescribes procedural rules and punishments for violations of crimes in the Manual for Courts-Martial. That taught me what was expected of me as a soldier.
It did not cover civil law except to say there were civil laws that I should obey. UCONN.edu estimates that there are 300,000 federal laws that any individual might violate and that does not even include state and city ordinances. The more I know about the law, the more ignorant I become. So maybe lawless really means ignorant. As a judge once told me, “Ignorance of the law is no excuse.”
Romans 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
Now the law of the Spirit of life sounds like something I should study.