Did that which is good, then, bring death to me?

Romans 7:13-14

13 Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure.
14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. – Romans 7:13-14

The law which is good did not bring about our death. Death came through disobedience to God. Adam died well before the law was given to Moses. Death reigns because of sin.

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned- – Romans 5:12

Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. – Romans 5:14

Paul says the law is spiritual. The Greek word translated spiritual is pneumatikós, meaning of God, of the Holy Spirit, belonging to the divine spirit, pertaining to wind or breath. The law is spiritual because it is given by God. It is His law. It is “God breathed” the inspired word of God:

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. – 2 Timothy 3:16-17

But as such it is a living word. We need to hear the word God has for us today. You maybe tempted to lie and the Holy Spirit may remind you the we are told not to lie. You may see a Aston Martin Rapide and desire it (greatly!) and the Holy Spirit could remind you the danger of coveting. But it will be a word of God for that moment. Not a list of rules you must fulfil to please God. Knowing God is a living, vibrant, spiritual relationship that we are all growing in and learning. We will always grow in the knowledge and the grace of God while we are still in our un-redeemed bodies, the flesh, but when we are in our resurrected bodies we will know Him as He is;

Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. – 1 John 3:2

Sin and death defeated for eternity:

54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. – 1 Corinthians 15:54-57

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