Lesson 67
Grace Reigns in Life Over Sin's Reign of Death
Romans Chapter 5:12-21
Review:
For if
by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the
one,
The
result
is that mankind
is ruled by death through the power of sin in their lives.
And therefore under the katakrima (penal
servitude -
condemnation) of sin mentioned in vs:16.
- "much more those who receive the abundance of
grace and the gift of
righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ."
Paul has repeatedly stressed the importance
(necessity) of
responding to God's righteousness through faith in Christ. Thus only those who
receive Him are the recipients of grace.
The
contrast here is between death reigning in the lives
of those who are still in Adam, unbelievers
And
who are the ones reigning in life here?
Believers! Those who by faith have “received
the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness”: these shall reign-as-kings
through Jesus Christ.
Must be
careful:
This
describes the same thing as vs:18 there resulted justification of life to
all men and in vs:19 the many
will be made righteous
What Paul
is saying is that salvation, that is justification vs:18 and made righteous vs:19 is available for
all.
- No one has to pay the penalty of sin and stay in the
reign of death unless he chooses to; the grace provision is there through
Christ to deal with our situation and its a free gift
appropriated by faith!
Do we
live as the royalty of heaven, or do we grovel among the muck heaps of this world, living a life of expediency for the day?
5:18-19 Paul
brings to a conclusion the parallelisms between Adam and Christ.
- One act of each (Adam and Christ) and the contrasting results;
The one
transgression of Adam brought condemnation to all men;
- The one act of righteousness by Christ brought
justification of life to all.
This
righteous act was not the Savior's life or His keeping of the law, both of
which were total perfection in that He completely fulfilled the will of God in
these areas; but
the righteous act is rather His substitutionary death on the cross.
- What's
the quality or character of each??
Disobedience
of Adam -- the obedience of Christ
- See once again our direct connection to Aos - One man's disobedience the many, all humanity were
made sinners.
- were
made sinners
- When Adam sinned, when he was disobedient to the cmd of
God, Every one
was made a sinner; mediately through inherited sin
(sin nature) and directly thru imputed
sin that is IAOS at conception.
- The solution to this predicament, that we're all made
sinners in Adam is seen once again in the next phrase;
"even so,...through
the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous."
- Our union with Adam made us sinners; our union with
Christ enables us to reign in life through Him.
What Paul
has been saying would clearly come as a jolt to a Jewish reader who felt that
everything revolved around the law.
Part of
what Paul has in mind here he has already given us; 3:20b "...through
the law comes the knowledge of sin."
- The law did not originate sin and death, Adam did; but
the law does reveal sin as an offense against God, a violation of His
character.
"But
where sin increased, grace abounded all the more."
- Our old nature often reacts to the standards, the
parameters God has established, and sin increases.
Point of Doctrine:
** Sin can erect no boundary or barrier that God's grace
provision can not overcome.
- abounded u`perperisseu,w
not just to abound all the more; its over and above; it overflows beyond
anything that sin might erect!
- the contrast is between the
reign of sin and death and the reign of grace through righteousness leading to
life.
- This aspect of sin reigning is an important one which
Paul will take up in the next chapter; its a very
important issue in the Christian life!
Just what does death refer to here?
Now Paul
says there is to be a new ruler a new king in your life; that new ruler is to
be grace when your in Christ!
- What is the means of grace ruling??
When God
looks at the believer He sees the righteousness of Christ and He knows that all
the demands of His holiness have been met!
- And this reign of grace thru the means of righteousness
results in eternal life
grave is not the end of all things; true for those who remain in
Adam also!
- Paul is dealing here with the ultimate issues of life
and death!
- it all comes about through [dia] Jesus Christ our Lord.