No Speed Limits

For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Romans 5:13

O death, where [is] thy sting? O grave, where [is] thy victory? The sting of death [is] sin; and the strength of sin [is] the law. 1 Corinthians 15:55-56

I've heard and known about these scriptures virtually all my life. But I was reading 1 Corinthians 15 today and it came alive in me all over again. It wasn't like I was discovering a new thing, but more like I was visiting with a close friend that I hadn't seen in years.

Where there is no law, there is no sin. That's not rocket science. But as I pondered that, I began to wonder "Does that mean God created law knowing we couldn't keep it, and in a roundabout way, create sin Himself just so that we'd come crawling to Him in guilt and shame? That's kind of manipulative." So, I pondered a while longer.

Where there is no law, there is no sin. If you are driving down a busy road that has no speed limits, you can do 5 mph, 50 mph, or 150 mph. It doesn't matter, because there are no guidelines. You cannot break the speed limit if the speed limit does not exist. But what happens when the guy doing 150 mph comes flying up on the guy in the beat up truck doing 45? Or how about the new driver too inexperienced to drive 85 in traffic but feels pressured to do so? There would be chaos and car wrecks all the time. There would be no crime because no one would be breaking the speed limit, because the speed limit did not exist. But, people would be seriously injured and even killed. Where there is no law, there is no sin, but where there is no law, people get hurt.

Wow. That explains it. God didn't create law so that we would break it and be forced to choose between Him or hell. He created the law saw that we wouldn't crash and burn on a speed-limit-less highway and injure or kill ourselves or others. He didn't arbitrarily hand down laws for us to follow just for the sake of following laws, because he is not a legalistic God. Rather, we are toddlers reaching for the hot fireplace or stove, and God has told us "no" so that we don't burn our hands in our childish ignorance.

Again, nothing really new or revolutionary about this, but it is food for thought. And food for thought is always good.

Cheers, and God bless!

Hoss