Week 13 - Wednesday

Grace Reigns Over Sin

And the Law came in that the transgression might increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 5:20-21)

When God put Adam and Eve in the Garden, He gave them only one restriction. They could do anything they wanted to, except eat from the fruit of one tree. Even though there were an abundance of trees from which to eat, Adam and Eve felt compelled to eat from the one that God had told them not to. One basic fault of human nature, which every person inherts from Adam, is the tendency to want to do whatever we are told not to. This characteristic is so prevalent in human beings that it shows up early in childhood. Try telling a young child that they cannot do something. Most likely, they will either defiantly tell you they can do it or proceed to do what you told them they couldn't. Many children burn their fingers on the oven door right after their mother warns them not to touch it. Even adults still have this natural tendency. As people mature though, they usually learn to control the impulses to do a lot of the things they would like to do. This is what keeps most of us from spending the rest of our lives in jail. Others however, keep getting into trouble over and over. Some people get in trouble so often that it seems as if they enjoy breaking the law. The truth is, deep down inside all of us do. We inherited that tendency from Adam, and it is a basic part of our nature.

One result of this basic tendency of human nature, is that God's Law stimulates people to sin. This makes sense, doesn't it. If our natural tendency is to want to do what we are told not to, then of course we would want to break God's Law too. In today's passage, Paul takes this concept one step further and says that God's Law actually causes sin to increase. Now this might not make sense to you. If God knew that our natural tendency was to want to do what we are told not to, and if God also knew that as a result of giving the Law sin would increase; why in the world would God give the Law? Could it possibly be that God is evil, or that the Law is evil? Absolutely not. God is holy and good. God's Law is holy and good also (Rom. 7:12). The only reason that the Law stimulates people to sin is because people are sinful. If you look closely at a beam of sunlight coming through a window, you will see there are millions of particles of dust in the air. The sunlight coming through the window is not the cause of the dust however, the sunlight only reveals the dust is there and that there is a lot of it. That is how the Law works too. When an unsaved person hears God's Law, their natural tendency is to want to disobey it. When they do go ahead and break the Law, it is not the Law's fault. The Law didn't make them sin. The Law simply revealed that they were sinful. When God gave His Law to man, He knew it would increase their sin. Even though He hates sin, God gave the Law anyway. The reason He did it was because He wanted the Law to reveal to people just how sinful they were. Once they realized the depth of their sin, God wanted them to be convicted of it and turn to Him to be saved.

God created the world and the first man Adam. Adam sinned and the entire human race inherited his sin nature. As a result, all mankind was condemned to die. When God gave the Law, it caused sin to increase. But where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. Even though sin increased, grace increased more than sin. This is the ultimate purpose of the Law, to display the abundance of God's grace. A person first needs to see themselves as a sinner before they will feel the need to come to Christ to be saved. The Law then, by revealing sin, leads people to Christ to be saved by God's grace.

One man sinned and his disobedience resulted in all people being condemned. God then sent another man, Jesus Christ, into the world to reverse the curse of Adam sin. Doesn't it seem right that if one man's disobedience could condemn all people, one man's obedience would provide salvation for all people too. Praise be to God for His incredible wisdom and mercy. .... that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Readings for today: Rom. 7:7; Rom. 3:19-20; Gal. 3:21-22; Gal. 3:24; Rom. 11:32-26