Q113_071526 Rom. 7:5 Here's The Shocker: The Law Stimulates SinQ113_071526 Rom. 7:5 Here's The Shocker: The Law Stimulates Sin
How it Happens with Colin Cook
Colin Cook reflects on Romans 7:5, arguing that biblical law can stir up sinful passions and deepen addiction and guilt. He contrasts this with faith in Christ’s atonement and ongoing forgiveness as a way into peace, love and lasting change.
14:34•15 Jul 2026
The Law That Fuels Addiction: Colin Cook on Romans 7:5
Episode Overview
- The biblical law is linked to the kingdom of Adam, exposing sin and death rather than bringing life in Christ.
- Believers are described as "dead to the law through the body of Christ" and joined to Jesus in a bond of love.
- Forgiveness is needed constantly because people live in ongoing imperfection, including many sins of omission.
- When fully faced, the law reaches the core of the heart and reveals that people do not truly conform to it.
- The law can arouse sinful passions and produce "fruit to death", so recovery depends on shifting focus to Jesus’ life, joy and love rather than legalism.
“For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death.”
What drives someone to seek a life without alcohol, drugs or obsessive behaviours? This teaching from Colin Cook tackles that question through a close look at Romans 7:5 and the surprising idea that "the law stimulates sin". Speaking to people wrestling with addiction and guilt, Colin explains why the biblical law belongs to "the kingdom of Adam" rather than the kingdom of Christ.
He uses Paul's marriage illustration to show that, through the death of Jesus, "you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ… that you may be married to another". Instead of trying to earn worth by keeping rules, you're pointed towards a relationship with Christ that rests on atonement and constant forgiveness.
Colin doesn’t shy away from the hard truth that "we are in a state of sinfulness and imperfection all the time", including the "sins of omission" – all the good we leave undone while others suffer. He stresses that the law exposes these failures but offers no sacrifice, leaving people stuck in condemnation and fear, especially those trapped in addiction cycles who "vow that you will never do that drug of choice again" yet repeatedly fall.
The shocker here is Paul’s claim that "the sinful passions… were aroused by the law". Colin argues that the harder someone tries to be righteous by rule-keeping, the more their inner passions flare up, producing "fruit to death" rather than life. For anyone battling alcohol, drugs, food, sex or chronic worry, this framing can feel uncomfortably familiar.
Instead of legalism, Colin urges a switch of devotion: away from self-powered rule-keeping and towards "the life of Jesus and the fellowship with him that is going to give you joy and peace and love". If you’ve been stuck in shame and white-knuckled effort, could a different kind of faith-training change how you see your struggle?
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