The Ten Commandments Increased Sin

[Sugar_Ray]

All:

I’m reading Romans and not quite getting exactly how the law increased transgressions.

Is this because once people were fully aware of the sin they were now accountable in a way they were not accountable before?

Or is there another explanantion?

Thanks

 

[Nita]

I think you deduced the correct meaning. There is no culpability when one does not know something is sinful. This changes once we have been informed.

The Ignatius Study Bible gave a great quote from St. Augustine in their footnote on this passage:

"The Law was given that grace might be sought; grace was given that the Law might be kept (St. Augustine, On the Spirit and the Letter 34).

Nita

 

[Evan]

“The Law” is a slippery thing with Paul. He was trained as a pharisee.

“The Law” could mean the Torah. The first 5 books of the OT or the Law of Moses.

Sometimes it mean natural law written in the hearts of man that all must keep.

Sometimes it is the laws that were added to the Torah by the pharisees such as you might find today in some orthodox jewish traditions.

Which law helps us obey God and which places an undo burden?

 

[Pious_Mat]

Notice that later on in the passage, Paul further condemns the law, and eventually reaches a crescendo in which the law seems to be denounced entirely. This does not mean that we shouldn’t follow OT moral law (which the Pope says we should), but rather that no matter how well we practise the law, it can’t save us. Following the law serves as necessary justification to our salvation by believing in Jesus Christ. Paul is so opposed to OT rituals, and so adament that they should be replaced (especially circumcision) that he often views the law only in the light of ritualistic law, or at other times, the law’s relationship to salvation. As was mentioned earlier, Paul’s definition of the law is sometimes ambiguous. Paul can be tricky, and sometimes needs to compared to other passages in the NT to be properly interpreted.