Grace Abounds Even More
“Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
The Christian life is filled with hope because of Jesus’ victory over sin and death. Freedom is a gift from God, and it is gracious and glorious. The power of the gospel can overcome the weight of sin. Instead of being burdened by the reign of death, we have the privilege of living under the rule of Jesus. His kingdom is a realm of freedom, achieved through grace.
Paul’s argument in Romans is methodical, and he concludes chapter five by bringing together the opposing forces trying to claim our soul: sin and grace.
Sin is the corruption and perversion of what God designed as good and holy. As much as we try to counteract sin’s influence, we get caught and follow the path to destruction and hopelessness.
Grace is God’s gift to his people through Jesus, and it is our only path out of bondage.
Exposing The Need For God
God’s grace can be seen as an interruption to the destructive path of sin to offer a new way of freedom, but sin must be exposed before it can be dealt with. Paul explains that God’s law was designed to draw the line between what was right and what was wrong, but paradoxically, the law that showed humanity how to be holy only exposed how unholy we were.
Paul says it “came in to increase trespass.” Why would God do something that made sin increase? It seems like the law only makes a bad situation worse, but condemnation is not the end of God’s story for his people.
The truth is that we can grasp the idea of holiness, write out every standard, even convince ourselves that we are doing a good job at being a good person, but true holiness will always be out of reach. God gives the law to show us how good he is and how guilty we are of rejecting him. The point of the law was not to prescribe behavior but to compel repentance, and God’s response to repentance is grace.
We repent because we recognize that we are broken and separated from God. The pattern of Adam is repeated in every generation as all people live in sin and disobey God. Despite the good intentions of the most devout followers of God, only Jesus could break the curse and start the revolution of grace.
Grace Is Better
Grace is not a neutralization for sin that gets the record cleared. It is not a payback plan, it’s a door. Grace is the narrow passage through the condemnation of the law into a life of freedom. And it is only accomplished through Jesus, the gift of grace.
Maybe you expect the Christian life to be a “get what you pay for” situation, but God is too abundant in life to ration grace.
Jesus offered his very self, broken and poured out for the world's sins. The cost was unmistakably higher than any of us could imagine, but Jesus paid it, and in his victory, he offers grace to all who believe in him. The only way you can be holy is if God redeems you, and the only way you can be redeemed is through Jesus.
When you get into God’s family, you discover that his power and holiness abound even more than the compounding nature of sin and death, because God didn’t just cancel sin; he brought life! Maybe you expect the Christian life to be a “get what you pay for” situation, but God is too abundant in life to ration grace.
Respond: Only Through Jesus
Have you seen the increasingly destructive nature of sin at work in the world, your community, and your life? God’s grace is the only hope. Hope starts when we stop trying to grapple with sin and death alone and we come to God in humility, saying, “God, I need you. You are my only hope.”
Suddenly, oppression breaks at the revelation of Jesus. Grace is glorious, not because it fights back against sin, but because it completely disarms death and starts a celebration of freedom.
Recipients of grace don’t wave receipts of self-righteousness to gain admission to God’s kingdom. They party in the throne room with a ticket of grace that says, “Jesus delivered me!”
Reflect & Respond
Are you trying to be holy and live a good life through your own strength? Are you ready to drop the act and receive the fullness of God’s grace in Jesus?
Ask God to soften your heart, give you a hunger for your presence, and make you excited again about freedom.
