The Superabundance Of Grace

The Superabundance of Grace

Romans 5:12-19

We are now come to the first Sunday of Lent which is a Christian season of reflection. It is a time of introspection in which we examine our hearts in light of Scripture. It is a time we remember who God is, who Jesus is, and what Jesus did for us. So it is also a time of extrospection as well, a time we look past ourselves. We remember that we are not what we ought to be. We don’t find the answer to our sense of dis-ease within ourselves. Instead, we look to Jesus who is our hope.

The text for this Sunday in the epistles comes from Romans 5:12-19 which admirably fits this combination of introspection and extrospection which is Lent. Romans 5 and 8 are the two mountain peaks in Romans. The first four chapters of Romans sets this climb to the top of the book. Paul shows our dis-ability. We cannot be saved by the Law. It never was the purpose of the Law to save. We cannot be saved by Greek wisdom either. We cannot rely on our morality. We are not righteous but vile sinners. Paul tells us that God had chosen a better way from the beginning, even before there was the Law. The Law served its purpose, of course. It was not to save directly, but rather to prepare us for saving grace. God sent His Son, born of a woman to save us. We are saved by faith in Christ who justifies us.

In the 5th chapter, Paul draws out what this justification by faith in Christ means. It means we have peace with God. Some texts use “let us have peace” as though we don’t actually have peace now but need to. But the best evidence is that it reads “We have peace.” This peace is a fact rather than a wish. This is similar to the end of the first chapter of 1 Corinthians where it says “We have the mind of Christ” and not “Let us have the mind of Christ.” God has already provide us with a new Christian mind and with it peace. But like a newborn, this mind needs development. The same is true for peace. The deed is done. We already have all the peace we will ever need. What we need to do it to appropriate it. The money is already in the bank. It is ours. But if we don’t take the opportunity, the money sits idle. The same is true of peace.

Paul goes on to show us the ramifications of justification and just what the peace of Christ means. All four of the themes we remember at Advent are here. Peace, love, joy and hope are all here. The profound statement “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Sin puts us at war with God. We see God as an enemy. People might dare to die for a good cause or a good person. It does happen. We think of the recent death of an 89 year old school crossing guard who was killed when he pushed two young children out of the way of a speeding car. His death was rightly honored. We think of soldiers who cover a live grenade to save his comrades. Soldiers win the Congressional Medal of Honor for such things. But how many soldiers at war would cover a grenade to save the life of an enemy soldier. But in a figure, this is what Christ did when he died for us. It became the means of our reconciliation to God. The war is over. We are now at peace. We can now boast in Christ who has become the means of our reconciliation. This is an enormous gift which is not to be taken lightly.

Now, when we come to verse 12, it begins with “wherefore” or “because of this.” This causes us to look back to the ground of our boasting. We have been reconciled. It also introduces us to new information. It adds specifics to what was just taught in concept. Why was this radical means of reconciliation necessary? It is because of the sin of Adam. Adam and Eve represent all of humanity. They were the first couple. So when they sinned, all of humanity that lived then sinned. As a result of this sin, they were cursed and banished from Eden. The curse of death was the worst of the several other curses of the ground, desire of the woman in subjection to man, and pain in childbirth. So not only man but all the earth became subject to decay and death. There is a lot of controversy over the doctrine of original sin, which some say are remedied in baptism. The vast number of translations for the Greek preposition “epi” makes the verse difficult to precisely determine, although the idea of “in who all sinned” is one of the possible translations. This was the understanding of Augustine and should be taken seriously. Others object on the grounds that one is responsible to God for his own sin. Why should we be held liable for sin someone else did? Surely the children should not be punished for the sin of the father is Biblical. Do we not see this in Ezekiel?