Verse 12
So that the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and righteous and good.
The law of Moses was holy because it came from God, righteous because of the justice of its precepts, and good because of the benefit intended for mankind through the Father's giving of it. This high estimate of Moses' law will be further justified in the subsequent verses of this chapter, in which, not the law itself, but the sinful bent of human nature, will be shown as bearing the blame for the sin and death that abounded under God's law. Again, from the homely wisdom of Whiteside,
A good law is not to blame, if people disobey it and bring punishment upon themselves.[9]
If there had been any doubt whatever of which law Paul spoke in this chapter, it would have been resolved in this. Of what other law could it ever have been said by an apostle that it was holy, righteous, and good? This overriding fact must be kept in view for a clear understanding of this chapter, where Paul was speaking of the law of Moses and its ineffectiveness as a power to enable people to live above sin.
The law ... and the commandment ... actually may not require that a distinction between these entities be made, although one is possible, the first having reference to the whole Mosaic system, and the latter to specific laws. As Barrett noted,
Often when Paul speaks of "law," the word might be paraphrased, "The Old Testament System of Religion." This equivalence is valid in the present chapter.[10]
[9] Ibid., p. 155.
[10] C. K. Barrett, A Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans (New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1957), p. 140.
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