Good evening again my friends! If you’ve been staying with us the last little bit, you’ll recall we’ve talked quite a bit about sin and the law. But what is ‘sin’ and what does the law have to do with it (since the law is from God, who is sinless)?
In the beginning, when Adam sinned (Gen. 3:6, 7), sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death (Gen: 3:19) so death, like a disease, spread to everyone because everyone sinned. I know what you’re thinking, and yes, people sinned before the law was ever given. But it was not counted as sin because there wasn’t yet a law to break. Still, everyone died—from the time of Adam to the time of Moses—even those who did not obey an explicit commandment from God, as Adam did. Now Adam is a symbol, a representation of Christ, who hadn’t come yet. But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift of His Son (John 3:16). Because of the sin of this one man, Adam, death was brought to everyone. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of forgiveness to everyone through this other man, Jesus Christ. And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. The sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of honor because all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ (I Cor. 15:21).
Yes, Adam’s one sin brings blame to everyone, but Jesus’ one act of true goodness brings us to a right relationship with God and a new life for everyone (Is. 53:11). Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God (Phil. 2:7, 8), many will be made blameless.
God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were (Gal. 3:19). But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became even more abundant. So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ out Lord.
I know what you’re thinking. Because God’s grace grows more abundant the more people sinned, then should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of His wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined Him in His death (Col. 2:20, 21)? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.
Since we have been united with Jesus in His death, we will also be raised to life as He was. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer addicted to sin because when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. And since we dies with Christ, we know we will also live with Him (John 14:2). We can be sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and He will never die again. Death no longer has any power over Him. When He died, He died to once and for all break the power of sin. But now that He is alive, He is living for the glory of God. So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.
Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. And don’t let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God because you were dead, but now you have a new life in Him. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. Sin is no longer in charge of your life because you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.
‘Well then,’ you might be thinking, ‘since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning?’ Of course not! Don’t you realize that you become addicted to whatever you choose to obey? You can be a sin addict, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to upright living. Thank God! Once sin had complete control over you, but now you obey the teachings of the Bible with all your hearts. Now you are free from your addiction to sin, and you have become addicted to living good lives for God.
Because of the weakness of our human nature, I am using this illustration to help you understand all this. Previously, you let yourselves be addicted to impurity and lawlessness, which led you into an even deeper sin addiction. Now you must give yourselves over with the same amount of passion to good living so that you will become faultless.
When you were addicted to sin, you were free from your obligation to do what is right. And what was the result? You’re now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that you now see end badly for eternity. But now you are free from the power of sin and have become servants of God. Now you do those things that lead to grace and result in eternal life (Matt. 25:46). As you well know, the result of sin is death, but the free gift God offers is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Hallelujah!
Have a wonderful and blessed evening,
Paul
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