But law came in, in order that the offence might abound; but where sin abounded grace has overabounded,
Paul has just set Adam beside Christ: two men, two acts. So where does the law of Moses fit? The answer here is startling. The law came not to fix the problem but to make the problem visible. And the grace that followed rose higher than the sin it met.
The law slipped in alongside God's promise. It came after that promise, and before He kept it.
The law "came in" as it were, "by the way," between the promises and their fulfilment. (It was, of course, perfect in itself.) It came to show what man's condition would be if he stood on his own ground before God. The law was not before the promises, the apostle argues (Gal. 3), "that it should make the promise of none effect." God gave the promise first.
The wording can be misread, as if God gave commands to manufacture sin. But sin was already there. The law's work was to expose it. These writers use the older word "offence" where the ESV says "trespass."
But law did come: why it entered, and as it were, by the way, the apostle answers in verse 20. It was that (not sin, but) "the offence might abound." God forbid that we should say anything God gave creates evil! Sin was already there. The law came to bring out sin's real character — a direct breach of God's command, once He gives one.
A command does not cure sin. It stirs sin up, and it makes sin worse.
The law made the offence abound. By forbidding sin it stirred up sin; and it added to the evil of sin by making it transgression.
So the law never improved anyone. A standard given to someone who cannot meet it does not reform him. It exposes him.
Suppose I bring a right and true measure to a man who is in the habit of using a wrong measure, what do I do it for? Not to make him honest, but to prove his dishonesty. It is useless for him to say, I will change my character; the thing is already done.
The verse changes its word halfway through. The first half speaks of the offence; the second half speaks of sin. That change decides how far grace reaches.
Suppose He had said, "where the offence abounded grace did also abound." That would have limited grace to those under the law. But He was showing the opposite. Christ's work reached out beyond, as wide as Adam's in scope and effect. Grace overrode the whole, though people might reject it.
Sin reached its worst at the cross. That is the very place where grace answered it.
God has shown abounding grace, for He gave His own well-beloved Son. And He allowed sin to rise up to its full wickedness, even in putting Christ to death. Then, to show how powerless sin is in the presence of God's grace, that very act — where sin's greatest evil showed itself as hatred against God — is the thing that puts it all away. God's grace rolls over it all, yet in righteousness. So He has shown the utter helplessness of sin in His presence.
Sin's grip is stronger than any human effort to break it. So this verse promises power, not permission.
"Sin abounded" — not only in the number of its acts, but in its overwhelming force, since it overcame all human efforts to subdue it. Sin's power to overcome man is greater than man's power to resist sin. Man cannot put out the pull of the evil nature within him. But thanks be to God, "where sin abounded, grace did much more abound."
This grace never caters to the flesh. It changes the master the believer lives under.
It is pure, and real, and powerful. It carries with it the perfect love and holiness of God, unstained by the human taint of self-indulgence or loose living. It does not cater to the evil of the flesh. Instead it transfers the believer out from under the authority of sin, into the freedom of being subject to Him whose yoke is easy and His burden light.
- Inserted — The law came in alongside, between the promise and its fulfilment. It is not the ground on which God blesses.
- Exposed — God did not give it to produce evil. It forced the sin already there into the open, as defiance of a known command.
- Measured — Like a true weight brought to a cheat, it does not make a man honest; it proves what he already is.
- Exceeded — The word shifts from "offence" to "sin." So grace is not limited to those under law. It reaches every child of Adam.
- Overpowered — At the cross sin rose to its worst, and grace rose higher. Its power is greater than sin's grip.
in order that, even as sin has reigned in [the power of] death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Paul closes his great comparison of Adam and Christ with a picture of two thrones. Sin once ruled, and its rule ended in death; now grace rules, and its rule leads to eternal life — through righteousness, not around it.
Sin's reign was a real kingdom. It had subjects, and they were all heading the same way.
We understand the reign of sin. Its kingdom is a kingdom of bondage with death for all within it. All the activities of men within that kingdom lead to death, because God is not their end and aim. But grace reigns. That means God reigns as His own heart desires, in full and eternal agreement with His righteous character. The end of that is eternal life and the glory that belongs to it by Jesus Christ our Lord. God is greater than the devil, and grace is greater than sin.
If grace reigns, someone else has lost the throne. One writer asks who holds it now.
Grace came in the Person of Christ, and as a result of His death, what do I find now? I find grace is reigning. Who is on the throne today? Christ. Later He will be the judge. The day of judgment has not come yet. Who is on the throne today? If I may use the figure — Grace. The apostle is careful in this same chapter to point out that sin and death have reigned. I might add another — Satan. There was a fearful group of three evils reigning — Satan, sin, and death — up to the coming of Jesus. What since then? They have been deposed.
The wording matters. Paul does not write that righteousness reigns.
It is not said that righteousness reigned. If it had, it would have been for the eternal condemnation of all. Righteousness will reign when He comes in judgment. But now grace reigns. Grace goes on despite all the neglect in men's hearts towards it — it reigns. It does not give up its ways and purposes. Grace reigns over sin. Man cannot master Christ's love, but Christ's love overcomes man. It overcame everything that stood in the way of His doing His Father's will, and His obedience overcame everything. Grace reigned on the cross, yet righteousness was there. Grace reigns in the subjection of our hearts — where sin once reigned, grace reigns. Grace means love working where there is evil. How? By the obedience of One — and so it is through righteousness.
"Through righteousness" is not a limit on grace. It is what makes grace's rule possible.
Grace reigns on the principle of righteousness. It reigns through what God has done by the cross and resurrection of His Son. Righteousness has put grace on the throne and given it the sceptre and the right to rule. The very being of God is now glorified by the satisfaction Christ made for sin. So He sets aside nothing of the eternal claims of His throne of justice. God's heart of love can still go out in grace to the vilest of sinners and the most determined of His enemies.
Sin's reign had an end, and so does grace's. Grace reigns "leading to eternal life," and one writer pictures that movement as water finding the sea.
In the Gospel grace not only over-abounds, it reigns. We who have believed have come under the kind rule of grace. This grace reigns through righteousness, since the cross was above all a work of righteousness. And the glorious end and completion of the story is eternal life. Here the boundless view of eternity begins to open before us. We see the river of grace. We see the channel of righteousness, cut by the work of the cross, in which it flows. We see finally the boundless ocean of eternal life, into which it flows.
Grace, righteousness and eternal life are not three separate blessings loosely stacked. The closing words of the verse tie them.
Sin and death have indeed been a powerful combination, but grace has infinitely surpassed them, while remaining perfectly consistent and united with righteousness. And it is not only a two-fold cord, but three-fold. Grace and righteousness are closely connected with eternal life. Christianity has made these three stand out in matchless glory, a glory heightened by the Name of "Jesus Christ our Lord," the Name by which these things are accomplished and bound together.
The reign of grace is not only a doctrine to admire. It settles the conscience of a believer who has sinned.
God could not be indifferent about sin. His holy character has been fully exercised in putting sin away. He has dealt with Christ about it, according to all that He is. I may have to taste the bitterness of its fruits. God may make me feel the effects of my sin, because He is not going to judge me for it. Grace now reigns through righteousness, to eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. My conscience is fully cleansed through the blood of Christ, shed in perfect love. The righteousness of the One who bore my sins is mine.
- Reigned — Sin was a king, not a mood. Its kingdom was bondage, and every subject inside it moved toward death.
- Deposed — Sin, death and Satan held power until Jesus came. Now they are off the throne, and grace sits there.
- Through — Righteousness is not a limit on grace but its throne. It gave grace its sceptre, so God can bless the vilest sinner without setting aside His justice.
- Not righteousness — If righteousness reigned, all would be condemned. Righteousness will reign when Christ comes to judge; grace reigns now.
- Leading to — The river of grace runs in the channel of righteousness. It empties into the ocean of eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.