Romans 7:10, Presumption of Righteousness Torn Down

Romans 7:10 And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.

The Apostle Paul discovered at a turning point in his spiritual journey that the commandments of God showed to him his inadequacy, his inability to meet the demands of the law. It slays him. Whereas in the past, by a superficial obedience, he thought he had met the requirements of the law but was stunned when he came to the realization that the commandment was meant to rebuke him of his sin. It drove him to receive Christ.

Martin Luther came to this same realization when he wrote in his “Lectures on Galatians 1-4”, the law “serves to increase transgressions. This is the primary purpose of the Law of Moses, that through it sin might grow and be multiplied, especially in the conscience. Therefore, the true function and the chief and proper use of the Law is to reveal to man his sin, blindness, misery, wickedness, ignorance, hate and contempt of God, and well deserved wrath of God. That is what the law teaches. Hence, this use of the law is extremely beneficial and very necessary. For if someone is not a murderer, adulterer, or thief and abstains from external sins as the Pharisees did (Luke 18:11), he would swear, being possessed by the devil, that he is a righteous man; therefore he develops the presumption of righteousness and relies on his good works. God cannot soften and humble this man or make him acknowledge His mercy and damnation any other way than by the Law. Therefore, the proper and absolute use of the Law is to terrify with lightning (as on Mt. Sinai), thunder, and the blare of trumpet, with a thunderbolt to burn and crush that brute which is called the presumption of righteousness.”

Both men had “the presumption of righteousness” by their own concoction of keeping the law for righteousness until their sinful nature overtook them. This “presumption of righteousness” was torn down and both were gloriously saved. The Apostle Paul was used by God to bring the gospel after his conversion to the gentiles. Martin Luther was used by God to spark the 16th century Protestant Reformation that bringing back saving faith to the church that is according to the Bible.

Thank God for the record of these godly men who underwent spiritual transformation and duly penned their conversion experience for our learning and salvation. Amen.