Book of Romans Bible Studies
Romans 5:13-21 Grace vs Law - The abounding and reigning of Grace!
by Fraser Gordon
Last time we looked at Romans 5.12 about how sin entered the world and death through sin. Man not only died physically he died spiritually as well and communion with God was cut off. We'll carry on from there.
Rom 5:13 (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
Because Adam had a direct command not to eat of the tree in the middle of the garden, he directly disobeyed God's command. But from Adam to Moses there weren't any commands from God to mankind yet sin still reigned. They didn't transgress any commands because God had not given any more to mankind. Until you get to Moses.
Rom 5:14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.
Sin was not imputed to them and they were not counted as breaking something that God had said, like Adam had.
Rom 5:15 But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.
In this chapter, we see a contrast between Adam and Christ, two figureheads. All mankind either comes under the first Adam or the second Adam. You're either under Adam therefore sin, death and condemnation rules. Or you're under the second Adam, Christ, where righteousness, life, a standing in God and acceptance for the believer. One or the other.
Rom 5:16 And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification.
Everyone in this whole world has been born after the likeness of Adam in a sinful fallen state and is under the condemnation of God. One day there will be an eternal condemnation on all those who refuse to follow the Lord Jesus Christ and accept His gift of eternal salvation - eternal separation. This condemnation is active now. Everyone in this world is standing in a state of condemnation before God because of one man's sin. Have a look at what Jesus says in light of this condemnation in John 3.18, He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. If you believe, you are not condemned but if you don't believe you already stand condemned.
Light has come into the world
John 3.19 says, And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. Condemnation is active, light has come into the world but men reject it because they love darkness. Their hearts are evil, they have a sinful nature, and they love those things rather than the light.
The Lord Jesus is first and foremost the light of the world, and yet He was rejected. Through time God has always been the seeker of mankind. Romans 1.20 tells us, For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen. God exists throughout creation so that men are without excuse. God has given light in regard to that and there is enough evidence in creation for men to know there is a God.
Romans 2.15 shows that men have a conscience that either accuses or excuses them. Where did the conscience come from? God placed it within mankind and it is often rejected. The light of the Scriptures was also given to show the existence and the knowledge of God, but men love darkness, so they try to push it away.
The nation of Israel is another light given to the world. A country and a people that are not any better than anyone else. They are full of weaknesses but God has chosen this race by which to reveal Himself. We heard Amir Tsarfati the other night speaking about Israel as a testimony of the existence of God. It was prophesied that they would reject the Messiah and be scattered throughout the world yet hold onto their heritage, their language and their traditions. Not only that but one day they would return to their land. The land they returned to was barren but Israel today is a productive country. They export military equipment, technology and produce off the land. All this shows the faithfulness and truthfulness of God even though they are unfaithful. We know that all the promises in the Bible concerning Israel will come to fruition and one day they will mourn for the One whom they pierced. They don't recognise Him at the moment, but a day will come when they will.
All these things are light given to the world yet men love darkness because their deeds are evil. You can see this in the nations. A lot of light has been given to the western world - biblical freedom and truth. In Psalm 2.3 it says, “Let us break their bonds in pieces and cast away their cords from us." The leaders of the nations of the world are speaking in this Psalm and that is exactly what is happening. In New Zealand there's a move away from the light which has been given to us. As soon as you move away there is a vacuum replaced by materialism, worldliness, and a rise of Māori animistic beliefs which are becoming prominent again in our society here.
It’s about your position
All the world lies in a condemned state. Everyone born after Adam is under condemnation by a holy God. Now contrast this with what we receive as believers.
Romans 5.16 And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification.
Paul contrasts those in Adam and those in Christ. Believers are justified in the Lord Jesus Christ which is a wonderful truth. The Lord Jesus Christ has taken our sin on Himself. He was born under the law, lived by the law, fulfilled the law, and was judged by the law for you and me. Justification means we are declared righteous before a holy God. It is nothing in and of yourself that you can attain. God declares you to be righteous in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a gift. Part of that righteousness is that you no longer stand in a condemned state. Romans 8.1 says, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Most of the condemnation we experience as Christians is what we put on ourselves. When we get to Romans Chapter 8 we will spend more time on it.
Romans 8.1 says that there is therefore now no condemnation, so we need to remember Chapter 7 which is about what Paul was going through. He saw himself as a complete failure, O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? Then Paul came to the realization that there was no condemnation for those that were in Christ Jesus. Initially he was unable to get his eyes off his own condition to see the great, glorious, wonderful position that God had placed him in, a risen Christ.
It's only in that risen Christ that there is no condemnation for every believer. It's not about your condition, it's about your position. Because of what Jesus Christ has done we are not condemned. Some of the condemnation we put on ourselves is legalism. If you're in a legalistic church they will tell you what you should and shouldn’t be doing and the result is condemnation. You can always tell legalism because in the end your eyes are toward yourself, your failure and your shortcomings. Legalism brings this out but grace on the other hand turns your eyes toward heaven, toward the Lord Jesus Christ and the great and glorious position He has placed you in. It frees you.
Romans 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
If God is for you, who can be against you? No one else can condemn you because God is on your side. The real truth about condemnation is that Christ has been condemned in your place by the Father, so that now the Father is free to pour out His love and grace on you. Christ has been judged for sin so that God can no longer condemn mankind. The fact that He rose from the dead is proof that your sins are gone.
Rom 8.35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? …37, Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Incredible words. It doesn't matter what has been created, it's all been created by Him. Nothing will be able to separate you or condemn you because you're in a risen Lord Jesus Christ. God the Father has already condemned His Son in your place. All those that are in Adam lie in a condemned position and need to receive the Lord Jesus Christ. If you are a believer don't let anybody condemn you because God doesn't. Don't allow a church to put heavy shepherding on you. Quite often condemnation is from Christians. It's funny how we put Christians in boxes and judge them harshly at times. Those who are of the Word, those who are of the Spirit, and those who are of the gifts. It's like some groups look down on others as if they're not spiritual enough. But we all take our position in the Lord Jesus Christ at the same level and we're all accepted by God at the same level. He loves us and accepts us in His grace. We should never look down on another believer as not as spiritual or in the same position. But unfortunately it happens all the time.
Romans 5:17 For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)
I'm glad Paul put the word ‘receive’ in there, because there is some talk about universalism, that all people will be saved because of what Christ has done. It's based on receiving the free gift.
Romans 5:18 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. 19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous.
I want to spend the rest of my time looking at verse 20 and 21. In Romans 5.13 Paul talked about the law, now he comes back to it again at the end of the chapter.
The purpose of the law
Rom 5:20 Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound.
What? Some versions say that sin may increase. Now that sounds really backwards. To the Jew this would have been incredibly hard to understand and it also took a long time for Jewish believers to comprehend the purpose of the law in the overall plan of salvation. To the Jews the law was sacred and separated them from all other nations and peoples, which it does. To understand its purpose and the whole plan of God for salvation was something they struggled with. Paul expounds the truths about the law and writes that the law entered so the offence might abound.
In Romans 5.12 Paul wrote of how sin entered the world. The same word ‘entered’ is used here in Romans 5.20 but with a different meaning - to come alongside of. The law didn't come to replace sin, it runs next to it. So what is the purpose of the law? To shut every mouth so everyone stands convinced of what the law is. In Romans 3.20 we read, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. When Adam transgressed he broke a command but as Romans 5.13 says, between Adam and Moses there were no commands from God for the people to transgress or break. From Moses onwards the law runs alongside sin so the law brought about a knowledge of what sin is and defines it.
I'll give you an example: Let's say I'm at work and I’m sowing a new area of grass. The grass has just popped up and the golfers walk right across it. Their conscience might say, ‘I shouldn't really be doing this’ and they might know it’s wrong. If I put a stake in the ground with a sign saying, ‘Do not walk on the grass!’ That's a law so now they know the command is to stay off the grass. Many people don't want to know the law, because as soon as they know it they are accountable just like the ‘keep off the grass’ sign.
The law shows you the standard. Do people stay off the grass? Some do and some don't. Some people think, ‘Stuff that’, and away they go. Other people have a conscience so they'll go around. Other people are like, ‘Oh, I'm not taking any notice of that!’. And they go straight through. They are now breaking a law because they know they're supposed to keep off the grass. The law defines them, doesn't it? It exposes our weaknesses but does nothing to empower us to fulfill its demands.
Have you ever seen parents on the side of the soccer field? Some are quite exuberant about the game. They say something like: “Get up, get up, get up there. Get back, get back, get back. Stick on them, stick on them. Bring yourself wide. Give yourself space. Stick on them, come wide, go up, go back. If someone takes the ball off you chase them! Follow them, follow them. Give yourself room. Aww, ref! Do you know, to my shame, I was like one of those parents. I would give instructions to my boy as though I had played the perfect game as a kid! He stopped midway in his game of soccer one day and turned to me and said, “Shut up, I'm trying!”. All the parents' heads from both teams turned to look at me. ‘What is he going to do? I told a good friend of mine this story and he said to me, “If that was my kid, I would have dragged him off the field”. But I think I was the one with the problem, not my son. This is a picture of what the law is like. I'm telling my boy what the standard is and continually exposing his weaknesses. What did it produce? Anger, frustration, and rebellion against me. He was truthful though, he was trying.
It’s the same for those who are trying to live up to God's standards. They genuinely try, but all it can produce is frustration. I can do nothing for my son, all I'm telling him is what the standard is. Go there, come here, do this, do that, try harder, but I do nothing to empower him to meet those standards. The reaction I got was a normal one - ‘I'm trying’. After a while of effort to meet those standards and out of exhaustion and frustration, he saw that he couldn't do it. This happened after years of me telling him what to do on the sideline. It got to the point where he didn't want me to come to soccer anymore. Legalism is like that; it will just make you frustrated with your Christianity if you're trying to attain a standing with God by trying to be good and meet the law's requirements. You can't.
It's a little bit like the poultices my grandma used which would draw out the infection, it would come to a head and then pop. The purpose of the law is to come alongside sin and draw it out where it can be seen and expose it for what it is.
That sin might become exceedingly sinful
Let’s have a look at what Paul says about it in Chapter 7 which we will look at more closely when we get there.
Rom 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, "You shall not covet." 8 But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. 9 I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. 10 And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. 11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. 12 Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. 13 Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.
This was Paul's experience, as soon as the law said, don't covet, he found that his life was full of coveting. He saw it everywhere and in everything that he wanted to do. It brought it up and exposed it in his life so much so that it brought him into death. The real purpose of the law is that through the commandment sin might become exceedingly sinful and draw out the hidden satanic nature we have in our lives and make it known and then repulsive to us. There's nothing wrong with the law, it is holy and good, it just can't enable you to live the Christian life. Its purpose is to show sin for what it really is and draw it out into the open just like the sign on the grass did.
When you talk with people who are non-Christians use the law because that's the true plumb line. A lot of people say they're not that bad or they’re good people. Good according to what plumb line? As soon as you apply God's plumb line, which is the law, they don't measure up. Saying they are good and not a bad person means they are using a humanistic plumb line. Anyone can measure themselves against a crooked plumb line. But when we use God's plumb line we fall short. The law shows us what God’s character is like - righteous and holy, and it might cause us to go toward the One who can straighten us.
The Seed
Gal 3:19 What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. 20 Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one. 21 Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. 22 But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed.
The law had a timeframe and a purpose. It was added and came alongside until the Seed should come - the Seed of Abraham, of the promise, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Gal 3.24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Then we have this great statement in verse 24. Some versions say tutor or a schoolmaster. The Greek word is paidagōgos which means a servant or slave. Paul is talking about the Roman context. There were about 120 million people in the Roman Empire at that time and about 60 million, half of them, were slaves. Paidagōgos was normally a servant or slave and some of them would look after the children of the wealthy. They would wipe their noses, wipe their backsides, change their clothes and do all the mucky stuff. Eventually the time would come when the slave handed the child over to be taught by a teacher. This is a picture of the law as our tutor which brings us to Christ. The purpose of the law is to expose the muck. The slave brought the child to the teacher who could then teach them in a way that the slave couldn't. That is like the Lord Jesus Christ. The law can only condemn you and teach you about sin, death, the righteous standard, and the plumb line that we talked about earlier. The teacher can teach you much more than that; justification, righteousness, acceptance, His will for us, and His plan for us now that we are no longer an infant. It's the teacher we need to come to and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. The final thing He can teach us about is grace.
Super abundant grace
Rom 5:20 Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more,
It's not as though grace equaled it out, Paul is saying that God super abounded, He went way over the top. This is the wonderful thing about grace, God does things far and beyond what we can even imagine in grace. Donald Barnhouse, an American preacher, once stated that, “Where sin reached a high watermark, grace completely flooded the world”. Sin caused decay and ruin, but grace goes way over the top in the way that God now deals with those who have sinned. So where did grace come from?
1Pe 1:18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. 20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.
It's amazing when you think about it. Before anything was created there was a plan made between the Trinity. The Father came up with the plan that grace would super abound and it pleased the Son. The Son said to the Father, ‘If this is our plan, I'm willing to take on humanity and pay the price so grace can come forth’. The Holy Spirit is the active force throughout this plan. They were all willing and there was complete unity between the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has been left on earth to reveal God’s will and conform believers to the image of God’s Son. He also loves to give Christ the preeminence and exalt the work of Christ.
This plan was formed before the foundation of the world so that grace could exist. It's incredible. God in His wisdom thought it was worth going through even though we live in the world that we do. He was foreordained before the foundation of the world, this Lamb, by whom the blood we sang of this morning, would take away our sin.
Rom 5:21 so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Grace reigns through the finished work of Jesus Christ. Jesus was born of a woman, born under the law (Gal 4.4). He lived His whole life completely fulfilling the law because He was without sin. He was judged by the law - the Father didn't hold back and He cursed the Son and all the sin of the world was poured out on Him. He was punished in such a way so we would receive the benefits of His righteousness and His righteous act toward us.
Grace was also added to the throne. We think of the throne of God as a place of judgment but grace has now been added to it. Hebrews 4.16 tells us, Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace. Yes, the throne is holy, yes it is righteous, and yes the throne is all the attributes of God, but grace has now been added to it. Access is now open to whomsoever will may come. Come to a throne of grace the veil has been torn. The writer of Hebrews bids people to come with boldness because access has been made possible through the Lord Jesus Christ.
In Rom 6:1 it says, What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? We'll talk about that in more depth when we get to Chapter 6, however some people think that they can now do whatever they want because of grace. That tells you they’ve forgotten about the throne which has two sides. The throne is holy, God is holy and righteous but He is also a God of grace. It doesn't mean you can do whatever you want knowing you can get away with it. That's abusing grace. You have forgotten about the throne. One last thought about grace is from Titus which shows us that it is active all the time.
Tit 2:11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.
Not only is grace favor, acceptance and a completely new standing in righteousness because we are in Christ, but grace is also active. The Holy Spirit is in us teaching us to step away from the world and pursue that which God has planned and prepared for us - His will in our lives. We should take account, not abuse grace, but live soberly and righteously and godly in the present age. Not forgetting that we should always be looking for that wonderful blessed hope, the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.