“Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” ~ Romans 5:20
REFERENCE:
The writings of Apostle Paul will forever be a treasure to the New Testament church. Paul helped us unpack some of the sticky concepts of the Old Testament and explained the journey that leads to salvation and our need for it. He made sense of biblical dispensations regarding Adam (sin), Moses (law), and Jesus (grace) and how they affect us today.
Paul said the law was given to Moses so that sin may abound; that is, understood to be sin, seen in all its vileness, and reveal its power to make us enemies of God and damn our souls. The law came so that, upon knowing that we are sinners, we will see our need for God’s grace and understand how abundant it is in redeeming us from our ‘inherited’ and committed sins and how it infuses us with God’s holiness, nature and life, and makes us candidates of heaven.
This is the sequence: there was sin in the world through Adam, then the law came through Moses, and unmerited grace came through Jesus. If God’s abundant grace was introduced into the world without the prior introduction or the entrance of the law, man would not have: 1. Understood its richness, 2. Valued it, 3. Seen his need for it, or 4. Accepted and cherished it.
Introducing grace without the law would be equivalent to a court offering pardon to someone who is not (still needs to be made) aware of his offense. He would think the judge is insane or a joker. He would not think much of the pardon being offered to him. He would think it was just all a joke for him to be forgiven for what he did not do, and the reason would be because he was not first ‘made aware’ of his crimes. It is for this reason that the law entered.
The law of Moses came so we might understand the gravity of our sins and our departure from God’s ideals. It also helps us see our need for grace and its abundance of forgiving, redeeming, and transforming power. Now that Christ has brought grace to us, we cherish it, seeing that we have been delivered from much transgression and God’s judgment.
PHOTO QUOTE
ADDITIONAL TEXTS:
Romans 6:1-2, Romans 8:1-4, and Hebrews 2:3
PRAYER:
+ Lord, I thank You for sending Jesus Christ to redeem me from the power and influence of sin.
+ I thank You because, through the grace of Jesus Christ, I have passed from sin’s darkness into light, condemnation to justification, and from death to life.
