Romans 7:7-13
“What shall we say then? Is the law sin? May it never be! However, I wouldn’t have known sin, except through the law; for I wouldn’t have known coveting, unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, finding occasion through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of coveting; for apart from the law, sin is dead. I was alive apart from the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died; and the commandment, which was for life, was found to be to me a cause of death. For sin, finding occasion through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So then, the law is holy, and the commandment holy and righteous and good. Did then that which is good become death to me? May it never be! But sin, that it might be shown to be sin, by working death to me through that which is good—that through the commandment sin might become exceeding sinful.”
Paul, a former zealous Pharisee, is writing to Christians in Rome. In this section, he's exploring the role of the Jewish Law (Torah) in light of the new understanding of God's grace through Jesus, especially addressing the idea that if grace abounds, does that make the Law irrelevant or even bad.
How does this passage shift our understanding of rules and boundaries in our lives?