Romans 5 - Don't Let Your Sin Define You! God's Grace is Bigger Than Your Sin!
Peace and Hope
5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Having explained how we are justified by faith in chapter 4, Paul now gives us the benefits of being justified with God. First of all, we have peace with God. This cannot be overstated. Many people live in fear of God or wracked by guilt. By being justified by faith, we have been reconciled to God and enjoy a loving relationship, free of guilt or shame.
Paul says we should, "Stand in this grace". Just because we have received grace through faith doesn't mean we don't have to stand it and stay rooted in it. Many forces will try to get us to go back to trying to please God through works. We need to keep our eyes on the cross, where Jesus paid the price for us once and for all.
Paul tells us to glory in two things. We have hope that one day we will be glorified in his presence. This will happen when we go to heaven to be with God forever. Paradoxically, we also glory in our sufferings. This seems odd? How? Suffering, as we persevere through it, produces character. This character we develop as we go through trials and tribulations.
Hope is a gift given to us by the Holy Spirit. Hope is powerful gift and gives us strength in suffering. We hold to this hope when we have that loved ones who have died and gone to heaven, as they have put their hope in Christ.
Where is suffering producing character in your life? How do you need the hope the Holy Spirit to get through whatever you are facing?
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Those who attend A.A., or other 12 step meetings, talk a lot about being powerless over their addictions. We are all addicted to sin and powerless over it. But Jesus had the power to overcome our sin addiction. He did it out of a rare love we don't see in this world. Even when we were mired in our sin, Jesus died for us. This shows you how much God loves you. He doesn't love you when you are at your best self, but even when you are at your worst self.
9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
It seems weird to think we were, "Enemies of God", but our sin separated us from God. God hates sin. Since God is completely holy, He could not be in full communion with us unless we had been justified in Christ by faith. So our boast is never about ourselves but always about what God has done for us in Christ. Don't underestimate how important it is for you to be friends with god and united with Him through Christ, especially on judgment day.
Death Through Adam, Life Through Christ
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—13 To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. 14 Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come.
Paul often calls our sinful nature, our "old Adam". Why? We all inherited a sinful nature from Adam, who disobeyed God in the garden by not trusting God's promises and listening to his helpmate Eve. This sin existed from the beginning of the creation of man and woman, but it was accentuated when God gave Moses the Law, as summarized by the Ten Commandments.
The Law showed us how far we fall from God's glory and perfect standards. Jesus reinterpreted the Law in the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 5-7, to show not only the letter of the law but also the Spirit of the Law. Though people did not have the law before Moses, they still knew intrinsically right and wrong by observing God in His creation.
15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! 16 Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. 17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!
Just like sin and death came through one man, so did the grace of God and the gift of forgiveness come through one man. Jesus' death solved the sin problem that every human faces. Our sin brought condemnation from God, but Jesus' death on the cross redeemed us from sin and set us free to live a new life. Though we still deal with a sinful nature in this life, it does not define us. As we continue to understand our freedom in Christ, we grow in our victory over sin, death, and the power of the devil.
How does knowing your are justified and set free from sin by what Jesus did for you on the cross, help you to live a life free of sin and full of grace?
18 Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. 20 The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The first purpose of the Law is to show us our sin and lead us to Christ. Without the Law, we would not know the full extent of our wrongdoing. Before the righteous demands of the Law, we stand condemned before a Holy God. But here is the Good News! Don't miss it!
"Where sin increased, grace increased all the more!"
God's grace is much bigger and comprehensive than our sinful nature? We need to live in that grace! Satan wants to use our sinful nature and discourage us to think we are not really a Christian. If you do sin, confess it and move on. Stay focused on grace. This doesn't mean we can abuse grace, but as we truly understand the scope of what God's grace has done for us, we will want to live a life pleasing to God!
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