What was the role of the law in relation to the motions of sins?
The law was the means by which the motions of sins operated; it revealed those sinful motions and held people in death. While in the flesh, the motions of sins were by the law, and that dead state wherein we were held was also by the law. Under grace, the law no longer has that effect.
Les explains in Romans 7:5–6 that when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins were by the law. The law was revealing all those things, and the deadness in which we were held was by the law. He connects this to Romans 6:14: sin or the old Adamic nature shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law but under grace. If you are not under the law, then it does not have that effect on you; all things are lawful because I am not under the law. The law was the demanding burden, but now the believer is under grace.
For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
More Questions
What did the motions of sins work in our members to bring forth in Romans 7:5?
The motions of sins, which were by the Law, worked in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.