Skip to main content

The Sin and the Gift

Romans 5:16 Again the gift of God is not like the result of the one man's sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.

The sin of Adam brought death.  We are born into this condemnation by no choice of our own.  Judgment followed Adam's disobedience and therefore has affected the nature of all mankind.  Paul says that the gift is not like the trespass.  This threw me because I was thinking they were similar in the "once for all" way.  While there is truth in that statement, there is more depth to the difference between the sin and the gift.  The sin affects our very nature, we have no choice.  The gift, though, comes through our acceptance, our choice to claim Jesus' death as our own and to be justified through him.  Grace is a gift.  A life-changing, life-giving gift.  Once we accept this gift, we are free of the condemnation from our sin nature.  While death comes as a result of our sin nature, the gift comes from a living source, Jesus.  As Paul says, "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." (Romans 15:17)  Jesus is alive and the Spirit changes the very nature of our being!  We are no longer under the yoke of slavery.  "So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature." (Galatians 5:16)  We have been given the gift of life, free from condemnation, accept this gift through Jesus Christ and live in Him!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Dry Bones

Ezekiel 37:14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land.  Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord. This is God's word through Ezekiel in the Valley of the Dry Bones.  There are a couple of thoughts that come to mind with this verse.  First, I have to admit that sometimes I feel as though I have dry bones.  I continue on my path and lose sight of the One who brings life. At times I am surrounded by things, people, or situations that suck the life out of me and I need the breath of life from the Spirit again.  It is a conscious effort for me to not involve myself in things that are life taking.  I make the decision to spend alone time with Jesus in order to experience His life giving power.  Second, one word in particular stands out to me in this verse.  It is the word settle.  It is speaking to me today of a peace and calm that is ahead.  Things ha...

By Grace

Romans 11:6 And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace. Works and grace are two terms that are so difficult to grasp in the Christian walk.  We know that if we are living by grace then works should be seen.  The issue is that we often times try to do the works on our own rather than letting the works be a by-product of the Spirit within us.  We take over our own lives trying to do good and be good rather than letting the grace of God work in us to transform us into the new creation that is good. Instead, we like to list off all of the ways we have shown God's goodness to those around us, or how we've conquered a sinful habit, or how we've been nice to someone who was not.  Unfortunately, these are what become the "works" Paul wrote about.  We completely remove God's grace from our lives and therefore lose sight of what is most important, the Spirit working in us to transform us.  It is a tricky concept and ...

My Lenten Journey

2 Corinthians 7:1 Since we have these promises, dear fiends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God. As I have pondered the journey I am to take this Lenten season, this verse has spoken.  God's promise is for us to become sons and daughters through the removal of "unclean things" and separation from unbelievers.  My prayer through Lent is that the Spirit will reveal those "unclean things" in me that I may ask Jesus to step in and begin to cleanse me of them.  As for the unbeliever part, Paul was referring to being "yoked" with an unbeliever.  Since I am not yoked with an unbeliever, I feel called to journey in a different way with unbelievers.  There is a verse in chapter 5 which says, "So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view."  Paul is speaking about believers looking at one another.  When I read it today, it spoke to me of unbelievers. (...