Romans 7:7-12: in context

Paul asks whether the law itself is sinful, and answers emphatically no. But he explains the law's role in relation to sin. I would not have known sin, he says, except through the law. I would not have known coveting unless the law had said, you shall not covet. The law revealed his sin to him, made him aware of what he would not otherwise have recognized as sin. The law, Paul concludes, is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good; its work is to expose sin, showing us our true condition.

Paul describes an important work of the law: it reveals and exposes our sin. Without the law, Paul says, he would not have recognized his coveting as sin; it was the commandment, you shall not covet, that made him aware of the sin already in him. The law functions like a light that exposes what was hidden, or a diagnosis that reveals a disease we did not know we had. It shows us our sin, makes us aware of our true condition, exposes the sinfulness we would otherwise not recognize. This is a good and necessary work, though an uncomfortable one. This helps us understand why God's law confronts and convicts us. The law's exposing of our sin can feel harsh, unwelcome, condemning; it shows us what we would rather not see about ourselves. But this exposing work is good and necessary, for we cannot seek the cure until we know the disease, cannot seek forgiveness until we know our sin. Through the law, Paul says, comes the knowledge of sin; the law reveals our sinfulness so that we might see our need. Without this knowledge, we would remain complacent, unaware of our true condition, seeing no need for grace. The law's exposing of sin, uncomfortable as it is, drives us to seek the cure. And this points beyond the law to Christ. The law reveals sin but cannot cure it; it diagnoses the disease but does not heal it. Having exposed our sin and our need, the law drives us to Christ, who alone can forgive and free us. The law, Paul says, was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. The law's work of exposing sin is meant to lead us to the grace that cures it. This calls us to receive the law's exposing of our sin as a good and necessary work that drives us to Christ. When God's law confronts and convicts us, showing us our sin, we are not to resent it or evade it, but to receive its diagnosis honestly, letting it reveal our true condition and our need. The law is holy, righteous, and good, Paul says; its exposing of our sin is a good work, meant to drive us to seek the cure. Let us receive the law's revealing of our sin honestly, letting it show us our need, and letting that need drive us to Christ, who alone can forgive and free us. The law diagnoses the disease that only grace can cure; and its uncomfortable exposing of our sin is meant to lead us, not to despair, but to the Savior who forgives and heals the sin the law reveals.

When God's law confronts and convicts me, showing me my sin and my true condition, do I resent or evade it, or can Paul's teaching that the law reveals sin, so that he would not have known his coveting except through the commandment, help me receive the law's exposing of my sin as a good and necessary work that shows me my need, letting its diagnosis drive me not to despair but to Christ, who alone can forgive and free me from the sin the law reveals?