Where Sin Increased, Grace Overflowed...

Dear steemit friends, have you ever thought about what Paul shared about Sin VS Grace?
I will like to introduce a thought of Luther who understood better than most ministers in his generation, the personal implications of Romans 5:20–21. Let's look what he shared...

"Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that as sin reigned in death, grace might also reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ."

Paul in this chapter of Romans 5 has been showing the cause and consequence of rebellion, sin, and corruption.
All humanity has been born “into Adam” — heirs and perpetuators by nature of the sinful rebellion that turned the world upside down. Through Adam’s act of rebellion, all men stand under the power of sin and the corresponding judgment of death. The many “have died” because of the rebellion of “this one” [Adam], Read Romans 5:15...

However, humanity is so poisoned by sin that even the sinfulness of sin is opaque. While mankind realizes that something is amiss [Romans 1:21–32], we don’t sense the urgent severity of our dying condition. This, according to [Romans 5:20], is where God’s law figures in redemptive history — shining the noonday sun of God’s revealed will into our dark lives. The law’s arrival is not the solution; it is unable in itself to improve our serious situation. In fact, it shows that sin is not simply “doing bad things.” Sin is rebellion — deliberate offense against a righteous God. The law causes us to see our sin clearly and to realize that our problem is far more serious than we thought. The law shows sin for what it is, and where it is — everywhere. Anything not done from grace & faith is sin (Romans 14:23). Hallelujah...

• Totally Undone by God’s Love

What about Luther’s own experience testified to the role that the knowledge of God’s law plays in highlighting human sin?

Pay attention of His words:
"I, blameless monk that I was, felt that before God I was a sinner with an extremely troubled conscience. I couldn’t be sure that God was appeased by my satisfaction. I did not love, no, rather I hated the just God who punishes sinners. In silence, if I did not blaspheme, then certainly I grumbled vehemently and got angry at God. I said, “Isn’t it enough that we miserable sinners, lost for all eternity because of original sin, are oppressed by every kind of calamity through the Ten Commandments?” (Preface to Luther’s Latin Works")-

I am sure we will all agree that we all had at least once similar experiences. We read or hear a text from the Bible and realize a habit of heart that we have been cultivating is not only unhelpful, it is explicitly forbidden. Or we identify in ourselves a pattern of life described as rebellious by Scripture, seeing for the first time the depth of offense it is against a holy God. We see our sin as transgression. We are undone. But that, is not the final word: “where sin increased, GRACE abounded all the more, so that as sin reigned in death, grace might also reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:20–21). Praise The Lord God...

• Totally Ushered into Grace

The point is that, no matter how deep in the power of sin we have sunk, God’s grace is deeper still. The condemnation that Adam brought by rebellion, Christ has overcome by his perfect obedience (Romans 5:19). No matter how deep in the power of sin we have sunk in the rebelliousness of our lives, in Christ grace abounded all the more in order that righteousness, rather than sin (and life, rather than death) might have the final word (Romans 5:21).

What about the Law?
It's a mirror to show a person what he is like, a sinner who is guilty of death, and worthy of everlasting punishment. What is this bruising and beating by the hand of the Law to accomplish? This, that we may find the way to grace. The Law is an usher to lead the way to grace. God is the God of the humble, the miserable, the afflicted. He will always love you.

When the Law drives you to the point of despair, let it drive you a little farther, let it drive you straight into the arms of Jesus who says: “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

Now we find that the Law keeps slipping into the picture to point the vast extent of sin. Yet, though sin is shown to be wide and deep, thank God his grace is wider and deeper still! The whole outlook changes—sin used to be the master of men and in the end handed them over to death: now grace is the ruling factor, with righteousness as its purpose and its end the bringing of men to the eternal life of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. [Paul the Apostle]

The greater the sin, the greater the Grace. His Grace is enough for you...

Content source: http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/where-sin-increased-grace-overflowed