A Continuing Study of Romans 5:20-21
See the original post for all the questions we will look at in this study...
“20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 5:20–21, ESV)Today we look at the manner that sin reigned in death in order to understand the comparison that Paul is wanting us to see. There must be something in this reigning that teaches us about the way grace reigns through righteousness. Grace abounded over the increasing sin to accomplish this "reigning" so let's understand the reigning and then look at the "abounding" to accomplish it later.
So the question...
- How was sin reigning in death?
Some scripture to help us see the manner in which sin was reigning in death...
“12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.” (Romans 5:12–14, ESV)
“8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. 10 The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.” (Romans 7:8–11, ESV)
“19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.” (Romans 7:19–23, ESV)
“5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.” (Romans 7:5, ESV)
The passages in Romans above give us the picture that sin existed first and it brought death by the power of the law's condemnation. Then this spiritual death spread to all of us because we are untied with Adam by birth into the human race. We did not start with spiritual life and freedom like Adam did and our sin is only our own since we are not the head of humanity. This is how our sinning is different than Adam's. Adam fell but we just continue in the fallen state. We have been in bondage to a will that is bent on sin since we were in the womb. We all walk in our choices and are responsible for them but we suffer from the way sin works in us automatically and drives our choices. Notice how Paul makes the point that now when he sins it is not him (his heart and his true desire) that sins, but it is this old nature that still resides within him battling against his mind. We once served sin unwittingly as our master due to this death that was in our soul. Our actions showed the fruit of this abiding death that was the source of our sin. So some categories to understand how this sin reigns in death-
- Sin was responsible for the death
- Death guarantees the continued sinning
- The disobedience comes as a fruit of death (automatic- not requiring my effort)
- Sin battles against me through this death in my body
So then, what does this teach me about the reigning of grace through righteousness and why "through" instead of "in"?
This will be for next time..
- What doe this mean in relation to grace reigning through righteousness?
- Why does sin reign in and grace reigns through?
Soli Deo Gloria!
