>>93

<Meanwhile, in his Epistle to the Romans (which is otherwise all about salvation through faith in Christ) he specifically states that the Law isn't a yoke of slavery, it isn't bad.

>Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.

><Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.

Eisegesis. Within the context of Romans 7, and other epistles by Paul, he describes the Law as a tutor, as >>92 highlighted. Paul calls the Law good, in that it was a teacher to point out man's sin. However, that's it. In the large scheme of things, it did nothing more. It could not change the heart of man; it could not make him righteous. Even with the Law, man sinned flagrantly. Some, like the Pharisees, were even using the Law as bragging rights, such as the Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican, when the Law was meant to show us just how unrighteous we are. If we were truly righteous, we would need no Law in the first place.

Romans 7, literally right before the verse you posted, points out this tragic aspect of the Law, and why it was woefully insufficient until Christ came. Even ironically at times inspiring the very sin it sought to point out and prevent because of the knowledge it revealed, combined with mankind's fallen nature and desire for the forbidden:

>Romans 7:7-11 - 7 What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, "You shall not covet." 8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. 9 Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. 10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. 11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.

Further on down in Romans 7, Paul discusses the far superior Law of the Inward Man that is the product of the born again Christian, which still wars with the Law of the flesh:

>Romans 7:22 - For I delight in the law of God after the inward man