What other scriptures connect the law and sin's power as in 1 Corinthians 15:56? Starting with the Core Verse “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.” (1 Corinthians 15:56) Sin kills, death stings, and the law supplies sin with its lethal charge. Scripture echoes this pattern repeatedly. The Romans Walk-Through • Romans 4:15 — “For the law brings wrath; and where there is no law, there is no transgression.” – The law defines and therefore activates transgression, summoning wrath. • Romans 5:13-14 — “For sin was in the world before the law was given; but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses…” – Even before Sinai, death proved sin’s presence, yet the law later made that sin countable. • Romans 5:20 — “The law came in so that the trespass would increase; but where sin increased, grace increased all the more.” – The law doesn’t create sin’s essence but multiplies its occasions and exposes its magnitude. • Romans 7:5 — “For when we lived according to the flesh, the passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, bearing fruit for death.” – The command stirs dormant rebellion into active desire. • Romans 7:7-8 — “I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known about coveting if the law had not said, ‘Do not covet.’ But sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire.” – The law is holy, yet sin exploits it like a pirate boarding a ship. • Romans 7:10-11 — “I discovered that the very commandment that was meant to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it put me to death.” – The law’s good aim is hijacked by sin’s cunning, fastening death’s grip. • Romans 7:13 — “Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Certainly not! But in order that sin might be exposed as sin, it produced death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.” – The law magnifies sin’s hideousness, unmasking it completely. Galatians and the Tutor of Transgression • Galatians 3:19 — “Why then was the law given? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come.” – Given “because of” transgressions: the law highlights and hems in sin until Christ arrives. • Galatians 3:22-24 — “But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe… Therefore the law has become our guardian to lead us to Christ, so that we might be justified by faith.” – The law locks us up, convincing us we need the Liberator. Additional Echoes • 2 Corinthians 3:6-9 — “…the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life… For if the ministry of death, chiseled in letters on stone, came with glory… how much more glorious is the ministry of the Spirit that brings righteousness!” – The Mosaic code, though glorious, is termed “ministry of death” because sin weaponizes it. • 1 Timothy 1:9-10 — “We realize that law is not enacted for the righteous, but for the lawless and rebellious…” – The law functions where sin is alive; righteousness needs no legal restraint. • 1 John 3:4 — “Everyone who practices sin practices lawlessness as well. Indeed, sin is lawlessness.” – Sin’s definition itself stands in relation to law. Why This Matters for Daily Living • The law is good, holy, righteous; sin is the criminal, not the statute. • Rules alone can never break sin’s power; they only display its tyranny. • Christ fulfills the law, bears its curse, and disarms sin. • Walking by the Spirit replaces slavery to sin with the freedom of obedience born out of love. Scripture speaks with one voice: the law exposes, provokes, and condemns sin, while grace in Christ overcomes both the sting and its power. |
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