November 12

Read: Romans 5:18-20

For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gilt in the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many (Romans 5:15, R.S.V.).

Grace Did Much More Abound

Last Sunday morning our Sunday school teacher sought to express an average man’s reaction to the fact of our depravity because of Adam’s fall. He asked, “Who is that guy? I didn’t even know Adam. How come I am involved as a result of his sin?”

There are disturbing questions when we probe the facts of sin, but there are satisfying answers as we explore the grace of God. As Paul wrestled with these questions, God gave him some of the answers for his own peace of mind — and for ours.

As I reflect on my human situation I remember that I am the inheritor of all that is good and glorious in the nature of man; I can think, I can choose, I love, and I am loved. Paul’s words, “So death passed upon all men” (Romans 12:5), remind me that I am also somehow the inheritor of the evil that is common to men. But I am more than an inheritor. Honesty compels me to admit that I am also the creator of much of the evil that I wish were not a part of my life. I have sinned and this sin separates me from God. Paul declares in

same verse 12, “Death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” I have an acquired depravity as well as an inherited carnality.

But whether inherited or acquired, sin and carnality are not the final words in my life. Sin abounds, but grace much more. In Adam’s fall depravity came. Because of my own sin more was acquired. But in Christ all can be removed, overcome, cast out.

The crucial question is not, Who is to blame for my sin? The important question is, How can I be delivered from it? To that question God has given a glorious answer, “Sin shall not have dominion over you.”