Romans 7:1-11
Not only does the law reprove the misdeeds that I have committed, but it also judges my sinful nature, for instance, my inability to love God and my neighbour as the law commands. So then sin puts me inexorably under the condemnation of the law of God. Well then! I am delivered from the law in the same way as I have been freed from sin: by death (that is to say, my death with Christ; v. 4). When a guilty man is dead, human justice can no longer keep him in prison.
Is the law then a bad thing, since God has had to shield us from its stern demands? "God forbid!" cries the apostle again (v. 7). If while I am in a museum I handle an exhibit, I may not be conscious of doing anything wrong. But, on the other hand, I am absolutely at fault if there is a notice, "Do not touch". At the same time such a notice will prompt in many visitors the desire to reach out and touch the objects displayed, for the proud nature of a man leads him to break every rule so as to assert his independence. Thus, by the law, God catches me out in the flagrant crime of disobedience, and submits as evidence the lust that is within me, in order to convince me utterly of sin.