Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
The law came in to make wrongdoing stand out clearly and to show how great the offense against God truly is. Where wrongdoing grew great, God's favor grew far greater still, overwhelming both its abundance and its power. Law and good news belong together as one complete whole, for the law exposes guilt but cannot save its breaker, while Christ met its demands by bearing its penalty and satisfying justice. The wrongdoer may now receive Christ's righteousness by faith and stand right with God through Him. This overflowing favor does not excuse going on in wrongdoing or lower the law, but sets it firm and carries its receivers through right living to everlasting life through Jesus Christ.
Law Exposes Sin, Grace Exceeds
The verse holds law and gospel together as one perfect whole, bound up inseparably. The law entered to make transgression plain, to expose sin and make the offense abound by awakening awareness of its strong claims. To grasp those claims without acknowledging the grace that abounds much more alongside them is great loss to the soul. Where sin abounded, grace abounded far more, greatly surpassing both the abundance of sin and its power.
Though sin leads to death, grace reigns through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ, giving hope to sinners and removing the sin of the world through Christ's death. The law cannot supply what is needed for salvation, for no flesh is justified by deeds of law and it has no power to save its transgressor. God will never bring the law down to human standard, and even utmost human energy after transgression can never lift a person to its claims of perfection, which is why Jesus had to die. Disobedience to God's commands brought humanity under condemnation of the law, and that fall called for grace to appear on behalf of sinners.
Grace is learned and given only where sin exists, for without the fall its meaning would never have been learned. Sinless angels who serve God in obedience are loved by Him but are not given grace, because having never sinned they have never needed it and know nothing of it. Grace is God's favor toward undeserving human beings, sent unsought in search of sinners, and God rejoices to bestow it on all who hunger for it not because they are worthy but because they are utterly unworthy, so that human need itself is the qualification giving assurance of receiving the gift. The verse stands in the contrast between Adam and Christ: Adam's disobedience in believing Satan's falsehood above God's word brought abounding misery, wretchedness and death and cost the life of the Son of God.
Christ's humiliation and death bring life and immortality to light, with grace overcoming sin. Because grace exceeds that abounding sin, the love and goodness of God shine forth brighter after sin than even at the first creation. This greater grace leaves no excuse for continuing in sin but calls to the perfect love that is the joy of heaven.
Christ Satisfies Law's Claims
The law is the foundation of government in heaven as well as on earth, so not one of its precepts could be abrogated or changed to meet humanity in its fallen condition. Even the life of an angel could not be accepted as a sacrifice for its transgression, and only the Son of God who created humanity could make atonement for it. Christ came to pay the sinner's debt, to suffer the penalty for transgression of the law, and to satisfy justice. The sinner may now claim the righteousness of Christ by faith, appropriating to his own case the merits of the blood of a crucified Redeemer, with Jesus as the Lord his righteousness.
This abounding grace does not excuse continuance in sin, and does not weaken, lower, or detract from the law, but establishes the law as changeless in its character. Grace reigns through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ, yet this abundance of grace does not permit continued sin, for those dead to sin cannot go on living as sinners. This greater grace leaves humanity with no excuse for continuing in sin.
The superabounding grace is seen at the cross of Calvary, where mercy and truth meet together and righteousness and peace kiss each other. There God is satisfied as He looks upon His dying Son. Because grace exceeds abounding sin, the love and goodness of God shine forth brighter after sin than even at the first creation.
Grace Renews and Is Proclaimed
Whenever the law is presented, the fact that grace abounds far more than sin must be proclaimed, with Jesus Christ kept central and never made secondary. The superabounding grace is seen at the cross of Calvary, where mercy and truth meet together and righteousness and peace kiss each other. To grasp the strong claims of the law without acknowledging this much more abounding grace is great loss to the soul. That abounding grace is the marvelous, unfathomable love of God laid open as treasure before the church and the world, seen in Christ dying for people while they were yet sinners.
This testimony of law and gospel bound together as a perfect whole must go throughout the length and breadth of the world. It will be impressed upon every heart opened to receive it, giving light and understanding to the simple who are contrite in heart. God teaches those who seek Him sincerely to lay hold of His promises, and He strengthens them so that His grace can abound in the soul. The verse calls the sinner to look ever to Calvary and with the simple faith of a little child to rest in Christ's merits, accepting His righteousness and believing in His mercy.
Christ works against the power of sin, and abundant grace is provided to keep the believing soul free from sin. There is no deficiency that prevents wholehearted seekers from overcoming, for Christ is a perfect Saviour whose grace sanctifies life, brings appetites and passions under the Holy Spirit's control, and shapes character to reflect Christ. Where sin and human weakness abound, grace abounds far more to meet an unsanctified character marked by lack of self-discipline and self-control, bitter feelings, hatred and selfishness toward an erring brother, and ignorance of one's own nature. That greater grace gives assurance of conversion and becoming as a little child, hiding self with Christ in God, gaining self-control, overcoming hatred and selfishness, manifesting Christ's righteousness in words and spirit, cultivating heavenly graces, and being sanctified.
Where sin abounded, grace much more abounded as daily renovating grace that gives a converted life and puts the soul in harmony with God's laws. It keeps believers on the path of implicit obedience close to the Redeemer, makes them rich by title to an immortal inheritance, and gives through Christ's righteousness a claim to eternal life that will stand the test of law. It brings full and free salvation, imperishable wealth, and a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory on the overcomer's path. Though sin leads to death, grace reigns through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ, giving hope to sinners, and Christ's death removes the sin of the world.
God's grand design in giving Christ was to inspire fallen humanity with hope and enable remedy of the defects caused by self-indulgence and sin. Where sin increased, He purposed grace to increase far more, to redeem from all iniquity and purify a peculiar people zealous of good works. Thus people need not remain hopeless in unbelief but cast themselves upon the Saviour's strength and joyfully accept power to become sons of God. Through faith, as Christ in His humanity grasped divinity, human nature can grasp the divine nature, having overcome as He overcame.
The promise applies to the earth itself, the place where sin spread and brought its curse. The world marked by sin and its curse is not only ransomed from ruin but exalted above all other worlds. Because the Son of God lived, suffered and died here, the renewed earth will become the place where God dwells with His people. There the redeemed will praise Him through endless ages for His gift, Immanuel, God with us.
The law came in to make wrongdoing stand out clearly and to show how great the offense against God truly is. Where wrongdoing grew great, God's favor grew far greater still, overwhelming both its abundance and its power. Law and good news belong together as one complete whole, for the law exposes guilt but cannot save its breaker, while Christ met its demands by bearing its penalty and satisfying justice. The wrongdoer may now receive Christ's righteousness by faith and stand right with God through Him. This overflowing favor does not excuse going on in wrongdoing or lower the law, but sets it firm and carries its receivers through right living to everlasting life through Jesus Christ.
Law Exposes Sin, Grace Exceeds
The verse holds law and gospel together as one perfect whole, bound up inseparably. The law entered to make transgression plain, to expose sin and make the offense abound by awakening awareness of its strong claims. To grasp those claims without acknowledging the grace that abounds much more alongside them is great loss to the soul. Where sin abounded, grace abounded far more, greatly surpassing both the abundance of sin and its power.
Though sin leads to death, grace reigns through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ, giving hope to sinners and removing the sin of the world through Christ's death. The law cannot supply what is needed for salvation, for no flesh is justified by deeds of law and it has no power to save its transgressor. God will never bring the law down to human standard, and even utmost human energy after transgression can never lift a person to its claims of perfection, which is why Jesus had to die. Disobedience to God's commands brought humanity under condemnation of the law, and that fall called for grace to appear on behalf of sinners.
Grace is learned and given only where sin exists, for without the fall its meaning would never have been learned. Sinless angels who serve God in obedience are loved by Him but are not given grace, because having never sinned they have never needed it and know nothing of it. Grace is God's favor toward undeserving human beings, sent unsought in search of sinners, and God rejoices to bestow it on all who hunger for it not because they are worthy but because they are utterly unworthy, so that human need itself is the qualification giving assurance of receiving the gift. The verse stands in the contrast between Adam and Christ: Adam's disobedience in believing Satan's falsehood above God's word brought abounding misery, wretchedness and death and cost the life of the Son of God.
Christ's humiliation and death bring life and immortality to light, with grace overcoming sin. Because grace exceeds that abounding sin, the love and goodness of God shine forth brighter after sin than even at the first creation. This greater grace leaves no excuse for continuing in sin but calls to the perfect love that is the joy of heaven.
Christ Satisfies Law's Claims
The law is the foundation of government in heaven as well as on earth, so not one of its precepts could be abrogated or changed to meet humanity in its fallen condition. Even the life of an angel could not be accepted as a sacrifice for its transgression, and only the Son of God who created humanity could make atonement for it. Christ came to pay the sinner's debt, to suffer the penalty for transgression of the law, and to satisfy justice. The sinner may now claim the righteousness of Christ by faith, appropriating to his own case the merits of the blood of a crucified Redeemer, with Jesus as the Lord his righteousness.
This abounding grace does not excuse continuance in sin, and does not weaken, lower, or detract from the law, but establishes the law as changeless in its character. Grace reigns through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ, yet this abundance of grace does not permit continued sin, for those dead to sin cannot go on living as sinners. This greater grace leaves humanity with no excuse for continuing in sin.
The superabounding grace is seen at the cross of Calvary, where mercy and truth meet together and righteousness and peace kiss each other. There God is satisfied as He looks upon His dying Son. Because grace exceeds abounding sin, the love and goodness of God shine forth brighter after sin than even at the first creation.
Grace Renews and Is Proclaimed
Whenever the law is presented, the fact that grace abounds far more than sin must be proclaimed, with Jesus Christ kept central and never made secondary. The superabounding grace is seen at the cross of Calvary, where mercy and truth meet together and righteousness and peace kiss each other. To grasp the strong claims of the law without acknowledging this much more abounding grace is great loss to the soul. That abounding grace is the marvelous, unfathomable love of God laid open as treasure before the church and the world, seen in Christ dying for people while they were yet sinners.
This testimony of law and gospel bound together as a perfect whole must go throughout the length and breadth of the world. It will be impressed upon every heart opened to receive it, giving light and understanding to the simple who are contrite in heart. God teaches those who seek Him sincerely to lay hold of His promises, and He strengthens them so that His grace can abound in the soul. The verse calls the sinner to look ever to Calvary and with the simple faith of a little child to rest in Christ's merits, accepting His righteousness and believing in His mercy.
Christ works against the power of sin, and abundant grace is provided to keep the believing soul free from sin. There is no deficiency that prevents wholehearted seekers from overcoming, for Christ is a perfect Saviour whose grace sanctifies life, brings appetites and passions under the Holy Spirit's control, and shapes character to reflect Christ. Where sin and human weakness abound, grace abounds far more to meet an unsanctified character marked by lack of self-discipline and self-control, bitter feelings, hatred and selfishness toward an erring brother, and ignorance of one's own nature. That greater grace gives assurance of conversion and becoming as a little child, hiding self with Christ in God, gaining self-control, overcoming hatred and selfishness, manifesting Christ's righteousness in words and spirit, cultivating heavenly graces, and being sanctified.
Where sin abounded, grace much more abounded as daily renovating grace that gives a converted life and puts the soul in harmony with God's laws. It keeps believers on the path of implicit obedience close to the Redeemer, makes them rich by title to an immortal inheritance, and gives through Christ's righteousness a claim to eternal life that will stand the test of law. It brings full and free salvation, imperishable wealth, and a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory on the overcomer's path. Though sin leads to death, grace reigns through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ, giving hope to sinners, and Christ's death removes the sin of the world.
God's grand design in giving Christ was to inspire fallen humanity with hope and enable remedy of the defects caused by self-indulgence and sin. Where sin increased, He purposed grace to increase far more, to redeem from all iniquity and purify a peculiar people zealous of good works. Thus people need not remain hopeless in unbelief but cast themselves upon the Saviour's strength and joyfully accept power to become sons of God. Through faith, as Christ in His humanity grasped divinity, human nature can grasp the divine nature, having overcome as He overcame.
The promise applies to the earth itself, the place where sin spread and brought its curse. The world marked by sin and its curse is not only ransomed from ruin but exalted above all other worlds. Because the Son of God lived, suffered and died here, the renewed earth will become the place where God dwells with His people. There the redeemed will praise Him through endless ages for His gift, Immanuel, God with us.