The Reign of God’s Grace (Romans 5:19-21)

As we start our study in Romans, right off the bat I’m faced with an issue. The letter to the Roman church is pretty much one continuous thought, so if I don’t want to go all the way back to Romans 1:1, I’m going to have to pick SOMEPLACE to start. I’ve chosen the last part of chapter 5, so I hope that will be a reasonably logical place to start.

Fleeing the Light

Romans 5:19 “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.”

When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, sin entered the earth. It was a “done deal.” Man’s Perfect Walk with God (think of it, “Face-to-face” communication between God and man) would never be the same again. God is Light, and Light (by it’s very nature) dispels darkness. If God were to draw that close to man again, with man in his (now) unregenerate form, God’s Light would dispel the darkness that had become part of man. Man would be “dispelled”  …. Man would cease to exist.

His Light could have NO FELLOWSHIP with man’s darkness.

So God immediately set into motion a plan that would bring man back to the initial “pure and sinless” state that he experienced before the Fall. This would re-establish the lines of communication and fellowship between the Father and His children.

Over the course of time, the Father sent His Son to us, opening the Way back to His side so that we, His Children, could once again experience that Face-to-face fellowship. Some feel that we will not experience this awesome fellowship until Jesus returns, others (like me) believe it can happen in this life. Whatever your stance is on the subject, the Word says:

1John 3:2-3 “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.“

Notice that it doesn’t say that “God purifies him”? We’ll be addressing our “earthly/physical” role in drawing close to God later on in the study, but for now, just keep this in your thoughts.

Notice the latter half of Romans 5:19 is in the future tense … “will be made righteous”. This shows me that, after His Work on the cross, there is still a change in us that needs to take place, and that there is a possibility to “miss the mark”. I’m referring to our righteousness here on earth, not our “imputed righteousness” that Jesus accomplished on the cross. There is a connection between purifying yourself (1 John 3:2-3) and being made righteous (Romans 5:19) which we will address when we study Romans 6.

Drawn to the Light

Romans 5:20a “Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound.”

At the risk of going “off-topic”, I want to briefly address the church’s perception of the Law (Torah). Most of us have been taught that the Law has been done away with, and I do agree, certain scriptures (mostly in Galatians and Hebrews) seem to support that teaching. There are, however, many New (and Old) Testament scriptures that support the Law’s role in the life of a believer, and we owe it to ourselves to not just cast it aside, but to look at it a little deeper. That’s all I have to say about that … for now.

The verse above mentions the Law “entering in” so that “the offense might abound”. So, as far as verse 20 is concerned, we see the Law as a means of exposing sin, showing us where we fall short in our Walk with God. This is actually a GOOD THING, but the type of person who doesn’t like their deeds exposed, looks at the Law as a bad thing. Jesus said:

John 3:20-21 “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. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

In fact, the Law is a means to draw unregenerate people TO the Light:

1 Timothy 1:9 “knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for [the] lawless and insubordinate, for [the] ungodly and for sinners, for [the] unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,”

The Way Back to the Light

So, as we close Romans 5 and “spring board” into Romans 6, we see Paul getting ready to show us the Purpose of Jesus being born of a virgin, living a pure and sinless life, dying on the cross for our sins and rising from the dead.

Romans 5:20b-21 “But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

The Whole Purpose of Romans 6-8 is to show us the Way to let God’s Grace (His Favor) REIGN in our lives. We can allow God’s Grace to reign, and through disobedience, we can hinder it from reigning. Either path we choose will affect our Eternal Destiny. As for me and my family? We want God’s Grace (His Favor) to reign in our lives. Walking and talking with our Father is a priceless privilege and we are only beginning to discover what this really means.

Do you want to join us on our Journey?

Blessings & Peace,

Kevin Kleint
Email: kevin@honorofkings.org