We've been studying the greatness of the gift of grace. Adam was the first man to sin and everyone who has come after him has sinned. God could have concluded that we are a complete failure and He could have decided to put an end to our existence, but instead He made a way for us to be acceptable in His sight. Today Paul takes us even further into the mystery of grace by explaining to us that our old life is dead when we give ourselves to Christ. We are no longer our own, but His. We are no longer the old creatures, but new.
"The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 5:20-21) Earlier in the week we studied the fact that Adam sinned before the law was ever given because he disobeyed a direct order of God. Those who lived between the lifetime of Adam and the giving of the law were also sinners because they sometimes lived in ways that were contrary to the holy requirements of God. Ever since the law came we have been sinners because, in spite of knowing what God requires of us, we want to obey our fallen nature and go our own way and do our own thing. So now Paul tells us that the law was given to shine an even greater spotlight on our sin. The law laid down many specific godly principles. We did not keep these principles, and in this way the law clearly revealed the sinfulness of our hearts to us.
In the breaking of these laws our sin abounded all the more, but at the same time God's grace abounded all the more. He could have said, "No matter how carefully I instruct these people they continue to go astray. I don't think I could have made Myself any clearer about how they should live. The human race is hopeless!" But instead He said, "I will send them a Redeemer. He will be righteous where they are unrighteous. He will be strong where they are weak. He will do for them what they can't do for themselves."
Paul knows a question is about to arise at this point. Some of his readers are going to ask if we are free to live however we please after obtaining redemption through Christ. If sin abounded, but grace abounded even more, does it matter how we live? "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?" (Romans 6:1-2)
When our natural bodies die we don't live in this world any longer. In the same way, when we come to Christ we die to our old selves, so we can't live in sin any longer. Being of the Baptist denomination I've heard the accusation that Baptists (and many other denominations) believe in the doctrine "once in grace, always in grace", as if we can accept Christ and then live however we please. This is not the case. It would be more accurate to say we believe "once saved, always saved" or "once adopted into the family of God, always a child of God", but we don't believe it's alright to keep living in sin. When we come to Christ we become sons and daughters of God, and like any father who adopts a child, God has the right to discipline us when we disobey Him. Our Father will correct us when necessary. An earthly father who adopts a child doesn't "un-adopt" that child when that child makes mistakes, and God doesn't "un-adopt" us when we make mistakes. But when we become caught up in sin and don't quickly repent and turn around, God has the right to discipline us as His children. So no, once we are saved we don't have the right to live in sin, for we no longer belong to ourselves but to the Lord.
Grace is not permission to go on sinning. Grace is this: we who were once dead in sin are now dead to sin. Just as Christ died in His mortal body, we must die to our old selves. Just as Christ rose from the dead never to die again, we must rise with Him to a better standard of living---a standard that honors the immeasurable sacrifice He made for us. As Paul will say in his letter to the Corinthians, "You are not your own; you were bought at a price." (1 Corinthians 6:19b-20a) We who are in Christ belong to Christ. We thought we were free while we lived in sin, but sin is the cruelest slavemaster of all. Christ paid the price that bought our way out of slavery to sin, and now we are His, and we must live in a way that demonstrates to the world that we are His.
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