THE MONSTER DRAGGED TO LIGHT
Romans 7:13
Sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good,
so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.
There is a depth of meaning in the expression, ‘Sin, that it might appear sin’—as if the apostle could find no other word so terribly descriptive of sin as its own name. He does not say, ‘Sin, that it might appear like Satan.’ No, for sin is worse than the devil, since it made the devil what he is. Satan as an existence is God’s creature, and this sin never was; its origin and nature are altogether apart from God. Sin is even worse than hell, for it is the sting of that dreadful punishment. Anselm used to say that if hell were on one side, and sin on the other, he would rather leap into hell, than willingly sin against God. Paul does not say, ‘Sin, that it might appear madness.’ Truly it is moral insanity, but it is worse than that by far. It is so bad that there is no name for it but itself. One of our poets who wished to show how evil sin looks in the presence of redeeming love, could only say,
“When the wounds of Christ exploring, Sin doth like itself appear.”
If you need an illustration of what is meant, we might find one in Judas. If you wanted to describe him, you might say he was a traitor, a thief and a betrayer of innocent blood, but you would finish up by saying, ‘he was a Judas.’ That gives you all in one: none could match him in villainy. If you wished a man to feel a horror of murder, you would not wish murder to appear to him as manslaughter, or as destruction of life, or as mere cruelty, but you would want it to appear as murder; you could use no stronger expression. So here, when the Lord turns the strong light of his eternal Spirit upon sin and reveals it in all its hideousness and defilement, it appears to be not only moral discord, disorder, deformity or corruption, but neither more nor less than sin.
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD 
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