Sin and Law

Is the law a good thing or a bad thing?

In his epistle to the Romans, the apostle Paul answers unequivocally: God’s law is good. “It was the law that showed me my sin,” he wrote. “I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, ‘You must not covet'” (Romans 7:7, New Living Translation).

But here’s the challenge: God’s law shows us what we should do, so we see clearly the chasm between where we are and where we want to be. As we measure our behavior against the law, we are constantly reminded how far we fall short. “O wretched man that I am!” lamented both Paul and Nephi. (See Hebrews 7:24, 2 Nephi 4:17.) And Nephi added, “I am encompassed about, because of the temptations and the sins which do so easily beset me” (2 Nephi 4:18).

“By the law no flesh is justified,” wrote Lehi, “or by the law men are cut off. Yea, by the temporal law they were cut off; and also, by the spiritual law they perish from that which is good, and become miserable forever” (2 Nephi 2:5). The apostle Paul taught the same principle and explained why: “For by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20).

So the law shows us what we should be, and it can be incredibly demoralizing to compare our actual behavior with the ideal defined by the law. But there’s more to the story. Both Lehi and Alma explained that the law also opens the possibility of salvation by making us aware of our need for a Savior. Here’s how that works: Without the law, there would be no sin. (At least, we wouldn’t be aware of our bad behavior.) But there would also be no righteousness, no opportunity for us to intentionally overcome temptation and do good. The incredible joy we feel when we make good choices, especially hard ones, would not be available to us. There would also be no opportunity for repentance or mercy. We wouldn’t realize that we needed help. (See 2 Nephi 2:13, Alma 42:16-21.)

The apostle Paul arrived at the same conclusion. “Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?” he asked. “Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 7:24-25, New Living Translation).

Elder Neal A. Maxwell acknowledged, “There is no way the Church can honestly describe where we must yet go and what we must yet do without creating a sense of immense distance.” Then he added:

This is a gospel of grand expectations, but God’s grace is sufficient for each of us. Discouragement is not the absence of adequacy but the absence of courage, and our personal progress should be yet another way we witness to the wonder of it all!

“Notwithstanding My Weakness,” General Conference, October 1976

Today, I will be grateful for God’s law, which helps me see what I hope to become with His help. As I consider the ways I can do better, I will avoid becoming discouraged and immobilized by an awareness of my deficiencies. Instead, I will see those deficiencies as an opportunity to reach out to Jesus for the help only He can provide.