Sin and Law. The apostle John writes that “everyone who practices sin is also practicing lawlessness, and so sin is lawlessness” (1Jo 3:4); also that “all unrighteousness is sin.” (1Jo 5:17) The apostle Paul, on the other hand, speaks of “those who sinned without law.” He further states that “until the Law [given through Moses] sin was in the world, but sin is not charged against anyone when there is no law. Nevertheless, death ruled as king from Adam down to Moses, even over those who had not sinned after the likeness of the transgression by Adam.” (Ro 2:12; 5:13, 14) Paul’s words are to be understood in context; his earlier statements in this letter to the Romans show that he was comparing those under the Law covenant with those outside that covenant, hence not under its law code, while he demonstrated that both classes were sinful.​—Ro 3:9.

During the approximately 2,500 years between Adam’s deflection and the giving of the Law covenant in 1513 B.C.E., God had not given mankind any comprehensive code or systematically arranged law that specifically defined sin in all its ramifications and forms. True, he had given certain decrees, such as those given to Noah following the global Flood (Ge 9:1-7) as well as the covenant of circumcision given to Abraham and his household, including his foreign slaves. (Ge 17:9-14) But concerning Israel the psalmist could say that God “is telling his word to Jacob, his regulations and his judicial decisions to Israel. He has not done that way to any other nation; and as for his judicial decisions, they have not known them.” (Ps 147:19, 20; compare Ex 19:5, 6; De 4:8; 7:6, 11.) Of the Law covenant given Israel it could be said, “The man that has done the righteousness of the Law will live by it,” for perfect adherence to and compliance with that Law could be accomplished only by a sinless man, as was the case with Christ Jesus. (Ro 10:5; Mt 5:17; Joh 8:46; Heb 4:15; 7:26; 1Pe 2:22) This was true of no other law given from the time of Adam to the giving of the Law covenant.

How the Law made sin “abound.” While man’s measure of conscience gave him a certain natural sense of right and wrong, God, by making the Law covenant with Israel, now specifically identified sin in its multiple aspects. The mouth of any person descended from God’s friends Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who might voice the claim that he was innocent from sin was thereby “stopped and all the world [became] liable to God for punishment.” This was so because the imperfect flesh they inherited from Adam made it impossible for them to be declared righteous before God by works of law, “for by law is the accurate knowledge of sin.” (Ro 3:19, 20; Ga 2:16) The Law spelled out clearly what the full range and scope of sin was, so that, in effect, it caused trespassing and sin to “abound,” in that so many acts and even attitudes were now identified as sinful. (Ro 5:20; 7:7, 8; Ga 3:19; compare Ps 40:12.) Its sacrifices continually served to remind those under the Law of their sinful state. (Heb 10:1-4, 11) The Law by these means acted as a tutor to lead them to Christ, that they “might be declared righteous due to faith.”​—Ga 3:22-25.

How could sin ‘receive an inducement’ through God’s commandment to Israel?

In pointing out that the Mosaic Law is not the means for humans to gain a righteous standing before Jehovah God, the apostle Paul wrote: “When we were in accord with the flesh, the sinful passions that were excited by the Law were at work in our members that we should bring forth fruit to death. . . . What, then, shall we say? Is the Law sin? Never may that become so! Really I would not have come to know sin if it had not been for the Law; and, for example, I would not have known covetousness if the Law had not said: ‘You must not covet.’ But sin, receiving an inducement through the commandment, worked out in me covetousness of every sort, for apart from law sin was dead.”​—Ro 7:5-8.

Without the Law, the apostle Paul would not have known or discerned the full range or scope of sin, for example, the sinfulness of covetousness. As the apostle notes, the Law “excited” sinful passion, and the commandment against coveting provided an “inducement” for sin. This is to be understood in the light of Paul’s statement that “apart from law sin was dead.” As long as sin had not been defined specifically, a person could not be accused of committing sins that were not legally identified as such. Before the Law came, Paul and others of his nation lived uncondemned for sins that were not specified. With the introduction of the Law, however, Paul and his fellow countrymen were designated as sinners under condemnation of death. The Law made them more conscious of being sinners. This does not mean that the Mosaic Law prompted them to sin, but it exposed them as sinners. Thus sin received an inducement through the Law and worked out sin in Paul and his people. The Law provided the basis for condemning more people as sinners and on many more legal counts.

The answer to the question “Is the Law sin?” is therefore definitely ‘No!’ (Ro 7:7) The Law did not ‘miss the mark’ by failing the purpose for which God gave it but, rather, scored a ‘bull’s-eye,’ not only in being good and beneficial as a protective guide but also in legally establishing that all persons, the Israelites not excepted, were sinners in need of redemption by God. It also pointed the Israelites to Christ as the needed Redeemer.