What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, "You shall not covet."
Romans 7:7 NKJ
Question 146 of the Larger Catechism asks, “Which is the tenth commandment?” It gives the answer, “The tenth commandment is, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.”
If you were given the power to make the moral laws by which an entire nation would be governed for all time but you could only make ten of them, would you waste one on coveting? I remember hearing a minister ask that question once. It is worth pondering. When we think of the great evils for which laws must be enacted in order to protect the innocent and promote justice, righteousness, and mercy among men; the one transgression that probably does not come readily to mind is the sin of coveting. Consider. Of all of the commandments only the prohibition against coveting addresses what is entirely an inward attitude of the heart. The other commandments include the heart, as we have continually noticed, but they also always issue in some outward behavior. Such is not the case with coveting. The moment my coveting issues in sinful words or deeds, it ceases to be coveting and begins to be another sin (such as stealing, adultery, bearing false witness, etc.). Thus, the sin of coveting has no outward expression.
The reason why this is important is because of the pride and blindness of the fallen human heart. As noted by the apostle Paul in the Scripture at the head of this article, unless the law had said “You shall not covet,” he would not have recognized coveting as sinful. Now Paul was well aware of pagan moral systems that had gotten much right about good and evil behavior. Plus, as an unbelieving Pharisee, Paul had made many correct judgements about what was sinful. Thus, this verse is not teaching that unless you are familiar with Old Testament statutes or unless you are converted in your heart you are not aware of any concept of good or evil. No, what the apostle means in this verse is that unless God’s Law had so specifically condemned the heart of man as being the seat of sin, Paul would not have known the true depth of human depravity.
Every religion and every philosopher and philosophy throughout history have seen some goodness or potential for goodness in man. Man never naturally sees himself as totally depraved. He may be weak, he may conclude that he is even prone to evil, yet salvation is always within his reach. If he just meditates enough, studies enough, beats or punishes himself enough. If he is enough of an ascetic, avoids certain kinds of foods or practices certain religious rituals with the right amount of fervor or solemnity, or if he eats healthy & exercises rigorously. But somehow, someway man IS ABLE to improve his condition. For in the final analysis, every fallen person naturally concludes that the problem is somewhere out there: unmet needs, oppression, discrimination, temptation, society, the weakness of the body, ignorance, the devil, or whatever else I do not know, but one thing I am always certain of as a fallen sinner: it is not ultimately me. It cannot be that my heart is dead towards God and devoted to evil. This baseline self-deception is shattered by the apostle Paul’s exegesis of the tenth commandment, proving that the real source of sin is my own sin-loving heart. As is confirmed by so many Scriptures:
“Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen. 6:5).
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jer. 17:9).
“For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man” (Mar. 7:21-23).
“For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh” (Rom. 7:18a).
“If you then, being evil…” (Mat. 7:11a).
Many other passages could be added. Thus, God’s Law, and particularly the tenth commandment, reveals the sinful depravity of the human heart. This revelation is good and necessary if we would be saved, for only the one who sees and admits the ruin of his heart will ever be moved to go to God for a new one. May God grant that His Law would do its great work in exposing to us our sinful hearts, so that we would then seek, and God would then grant, the salvation that begins with a new one!
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