For those who find this space from other countries I would ask that you indulge me for a moment and allow me to say to my fellow Americans, “Happy Independence Day!” On this day that we remember the founding of our nation and the greatness that we all enjoy, we should never forget that one of the first liberties our founding fathers wanted to protect was the liberty to worship almighty God.
Today, we see this liberty under attack especially where those of us who believe in biblical Christianity are concerned. I would ask that we all pray on this day for the return of our nation to the thing that made it great in the first place. That is a trust in God and a reliance on the bible as the guide for the conduct of our individual and corporate life.
Romans 5:18 (NKJV) 18 Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.
This week we have been looking at what the Apostle Paul had to say about the subject of grace. Paul’s revelation of grace was based in his own personal experience. He had persecuted the church until God intruded upon his life and sovereignly revealed himself to Paul. Paul had a deep understanding that salvation in Christ Jesus had nothing to do with our efforts to please God and everything to do with the grace, unmerited favor, which God showed us in salvation.
Yesterday we focused on the fact that Jesus paid the price for all sin in his sacrifice. However, it is also true that this salvation must be accessed personally by faith. Once we are born again, all past sin is completely wiped out under the blood of Jesus.
We all know that our flesh still gets the better of us at times and we still sin. These sins are forgiven potentially, but to access that forgiveness 1 John 1:8-10 tells us we must confess that sin with a repentant heart. Once we do, the bible tells us that God will forgive the sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. This is the keeping power of grace.
Romans 5 in general and today’s verse in particular, reveal the real power of grace. Something happened to man in Adam’s fall. His nature changed and that change was passed upon every human being born since then. Through one man’s disobedience, Romans 5 tells us that death through sin passed upon all people. This does not seem fair to our natural mind, but we must understand the principle involved. God made a statement in Genesis that cannot be violated.
Genesis 1:24 (NKJV) 24 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so.
The operative term here is “according to its kind.” This may seem like a small thing, but when the creator of the universe says something, it is so forever. Everything in the earth brought forth offspring according to its nature. When Adam fell, he could only pass on to his offspring the nature he possessed. After the fall that nature was separation from God or what the bible calls death.
Sin and death are vitally connected. Sin is what opened the door to death, but death is the nature that drives humanity to sin. As long as the fallen nature is in control, sin and death will be inevitable. We know that all die. This fact must lead us to the understanding that all will sin. (Romans 3:23) We may control sin, but man in the fallen state can never overcome it. We may not murder, but Jesus says that to be angry without cause is the same as murder. We may not commit adultery, but Jesus said that to look at a member of the opposite sex with adultery in our heart is the same thing. Jesus is not trying to give us some unreachable standard; he is simply letting us know that it is impossible to escape sin in our fallen state.
This is the purpose of the law as well. In Romans 5: 12-17 we see a parenthetical statement. This is a thought added to the original idea that can stand-alone and without which the original idea can stand-alone. In this parenthetical statement, Paul reveals that the Law of Moses did not create the problem of sin and death and that it could not solve it either. The law is there to define the problem.
The Law is really the solution to the effect of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that started the problem in the first place. God told man not to eat of this tree. Satan said God just knew that if they ate of it they would be like God, able to discern between good and evil. This was not true.
Eating from this tree gave them the false idea that they were qualified to decide what was good and what was evil. They proved very bad at this since their nature had become evil. Man chooses good and evil based on culture, intellect and emotion. The idea that good and evil are absolute truths that rule the universe cannot coexist with a race that has eaten from the forbidden tree.
God counteracted this with the Law. Good is what God says it is. Sin, or evil, is what God says it is. God is absolutely good. Satan is absolutely evil. Man has submitted to the lordship of Satan and has become like him by nature. This is the negative side of the revelation of Romans 5. Adam’s sin made our sin inevitable. We may control it to some degree, but we will sin. We will also die. This is not fair, but it is so.
If this were the end of the story, it would be a sad story indeed. We would be trapped with no way back into relationship with the God of life. However, that is not where Romans 5 ends. We find that if one man’s sin can condemn all people to sin and death, one man’s righteous act of obedience had the power to bring a free gift to all men as well. That free gift is the grace of God.
Jesus came and died for us while we were enemies of God. (Romans 5:6-11) We did not deserve the sacrifice of his life for us. On the other hand, we did not deserve the condemnation that came through Adam. Just as one man’s sin brought undeserved death to all, one man’s obedience brought undeserved life to all who would choose to receive it.
Paul understood this in a more intimate way than any of the early disciples. He was intimately acquainted with the law because he was a Pharisee. He thought he was doing what the law required by persecuting this new sect called Christians. When Jesus revealed to him that he was persecuting the Messiah that was the cornerstone of al Israel believed, he understood just how sinful he really was. When he also realized the wonderful nature of God’s grace it marked his life so profoundly that he spent himself to tell others about the grace of God.
Thank God for his grace. Thank God that the Father took it upon himself to pour out his love upon us in such a way that we can receive his unmerited favor. When we do, we do not just receive a new philosophy of life. We do not accept a new religious practice. When we receive the grace of God, we are born again. The old, dead nature is taken out of us and a new nature of life is given us in the spirit. All our old sins are done away with. Any new sins can be forgiven and cleansed in a moment’s time.
There can only be one proper response to this. Thank God for his wonderful Grace. How may I serve him and bring this grace to as many as possible.
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