Page 51 - Romans Student Textbook.doc

form in the next 4 paragraphs. The answer about the one who brings help to the desperate sinners was
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expressed this way; “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” His declaration was that in and
through Jesus Christ there is hope and deliverance for those who feel trapped by sin. There is a person
who has broken sin’s power and destroyed death and it is to Him that one must look for help.

Theology That Helps Us Live Wisely and Well

The law given to Israel by God had a dual purpose. It was given to display the goodness of God for
all to see as He gave instructions for controlling sin in the social / political life of His covenant
people, Israel. It was also given to reveal the sinfulness of sin to people. Its purposes are regulatory and
revelatory, but it was not given to provide salvation from sin and its penalty death.

Because of people being alive to sin one of the results of the giving of the law was the enticement of
people to act even more sinfully in their relationships with one another. Prohibition became an
enticement to rebellion rather than a deterrent to it because people are helplessly addicted and enslaved
to their sin. The law’s goodness revealed and reveals the holiness of God’s good character.

In doing that the law, being good, reveals the inability of people who are living by sin and in sin to be able
to do anything to help themselves do anything by their own power to escape from the evil of its bondage.

The only answer to the desperate predicament of people in regard to sin is found in the person and work
of Jesus, the Son of God, the Messiah of Israel.

The Purpose of the Law https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dEAjqidaos

49 Romans 7:25a.

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