Angelic Conflict part 304: Reigning in life – Rom 5:20-21; Neh 8:9-10; Psa 1:1-2; Col 1:13-14; Luk 15:12, 21; 1Jo 4:9-10.

Title: Angelic Conflict part 304: Reigning in life – Rom 5:20-21; Neh 8:9-10; Psa 1:1-2; Col 1:13-14; Luk 15:12, 21; 1Jo 4:9-10.

 

 

 

Rom 5:20 And the Law came in that the transgression might increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,

 

Rom 5:21 that [in order that], as sin reigned in death [spiritual death], even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

Initially, instead of detail, I’d rather reverence. It is better to first adore our God for doing what He has done than get theological.

 

Sin reigned in death over the whole of creation but God had something else in mind and so He gave His only begotten Son so that grace might reign through righteousness and eternal life to us who deserved none of it.

 

Neh 8:9

Then Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, "This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep." For all the people were weeping when they heard the words of the law.

 

Neh 8:10

Then he said to them, "Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, and send portions to him who has nothing prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."

 

The word of God is to be heard and studied and also delighted in.

 

Psa 112:1

Praise the Lord!

How blessed is the man who fears the Lord,

Who greatly delights in His commandments.

 

Psa 1:1-2

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,

Nor stand in the path of sinners,

Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!

But his delight is in the law of the Lord,

And in His law he meditates day and night.

 

The believer who has tasted the joys of salvation and the triumph of being fully possessed by the Holy Spirit can never be satisfied with anything less.

 

Rom 5:21 that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

God the Father laid on Christ the curse due to our iniquities and enabled Him to:

 

Dan 9:24

to bring in everlasting righteousness

 

Well worn words can fall into dry theology. Sin, grace, righteousness, and eternal life can all mere categories in our minds that are attached to dry definitions. There is nothing wrong with categorizing doctrines, but there is everything wrong with those doctrines not being precious and joyful and full of life.

 

"When they [Rom 5:20-21] welled up from the Apostle's glowing heart they were like a fiery lava stream. But the stream has cooled and, to a good many of us, they seem as barren and sterile as the long-ago cast-out coils of lava on the side of a quiescent volcano. They are so well-worn and familiar to our ears that they create but vague conceptions in our minds, and they seem to many of us to be far away from having a bearing upon our daily lives." [Alexander Maclaren]

 

Paul is not a mere theological writer. He is an evangelist, trying to draw men to love and trust in Jesus Christ. His writings are throbbing with life. Latent in them are the truths that belong to all ages and places [progressive ideology calls for changes in doctrine to fit the times], and which are to be integrated into every believers very being.

 

If we only look at spiritual truths, especially as profound as these, as theologians then they are only fit for dry minds that love to argue doctrinal points but do not allow the words of God to root and flower in their hearts and to warm their lives.

 

1Co 13:2

If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

 

Having God's love in your heart is a transformation from doctrine and therefore steps beyond mere knowledge. Knowledge is necessary and the first step, but knowledge of doctrine must be mixed with faith and applied in life and then it will transform the heart into conformity with the heart of Christ.

 

Eph 3:19

and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fulness of God.

 

The Lord is our bridegroom. His word is Him, Joh 1:14. The word is our bridegroom and so it must adorn our lives with fruit.

 

Like the perfect Prince adorns His bride and she becomes a reflection of Him, so in time, Christ adorns His bride with His word. It is the word of God that is going to make the bride's life beautiful.

 

I believe that part of our adornment for the rest of our earthly lives should be Rom 5:12-21.

 

Rom 5:20 And the Law came in that the transgression might increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,

 

Rom 5:21 that [in order that], as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.


"grace super-abounded all the more so that grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

 

The purpose of super-abounding grace was not that it should be neglected, apathetically and superficially known of, or ignored, but that it should reign in our lives in righteousness and eternal life.

 

If grace reigns in our life then we will reign in this life, despite all circumstances.

 

It is like repeatedly saying to ourselves, “God gave, God gave, God gives, thank you Lord for Your gifts. I will use that and enjoy this and be thankful for it all. Thank You Father. Thank You my King. Thank You Holy Spirit.”

 

The tomb is empty. There is no longer any death for the believer who will drink his fill of God's amazing grace.

 

Joh 5:24

"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

 

Col 1:13-14

For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

 

Notice that both these and so many others in the NT about the believer's death and life are in the past tense.

 

The use of the past [aorist] tense shows that God considers the reign of death to be over forever for those who are in Christ Jesus.

 

And that their life, resurrection life, they stand in forever, unchangeable, and everlasting, complete in Christ.

 

Unfortunately, for many believers, that resurrection life will not be experienced until the rapture of the Church when all CA believers will receive their resurrection bodies. Those who do understand the reign of grace in their lives will live that life in time, even in the midst of a corrupt and depraved world.

 

In verse 21 sin and grace are both personified as monarchs or those who reign. Feminine nouns - queens. One gives death. The other gives righteousness and eternal life.

 

God paints them as such opposites and at such enmity with one another as if to appeal to us plainly, “Which would you rather choose?” We have seen that God separates believers into two categories, those who set their minds on the flesh and those who set their minds on the Spirit. Though dead and crucified we can still set our minds on our old husband, and God is appealing to us through love, “Look what each of them offers.”

 

Rom 5:21 that [in order that], as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

The queen of sin gives the gift of death. The queen of grace gives the gifts of righteousness and eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

Each recognize that they are the enemy of the other. One, sin and death, has established her reign over all of mankind. The other, grace, is fighting to establish hers in the life of every man (might reign, subjunctive). The struggle has gone on between them since the resurrection, ascension, and session of Christ in the wide field that is the world and more narrowly in the hearts of each man, both believer and unbeliever.

 

No matter how good a man may be according to world standards, not divine good, which for him is impossible without God’s supernatural effects, or how good a government or nation may be sin has completely established her reign amongst mankind.

 

In the summing up of all of man's actions against God, whether it is criminality, or vices, or lusts, or ignorance, or pride, all sin is against God.

 

All sin is against God.

 

Psa 51:4

Against Thee, Thee only, I have sinned,

And done what is evil in Thy sight,

 

What is it in our actions and in our thoughts considered in reference to God that makes our actions sins and ourselves sinners?

 

All sin originates from independence from God. The prodigal son stated his desire for independence from his father as sin.

 

This is a wakeup call to all believers who are now not alienated from Him and that is to no longer depend on ourselves or anything in the world and to completely and fully depend upon Him in everything and in every moment.

 

Luk 15:12 and the younger of them said to his father,' Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.' And he divided his wealth between them.

 

Luk 15:21 And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

 

All sin originates here. The sin nature in all men through Adam originated in the same fashion. To claim myself for my own, to act independently of, or contrary to, the will of God, to try to shake myself clear of Him, to have nothing to do with Him, even though it be mere forgetfulness and negligence, and in all my ways to conduct myself as if I had no relations of dependence on and submission to Him - this comprises all sin.

 

Many things are loudly proclaimed as sins by mankind like murder, theft, assault, abuse, etc. But there are many things under the radar of man's cloudy vision that are sin against God and are even thought to be noble and pure. If there is an assertion of self or a desire to fulfill the flesh in anything it is evil and of the old sin nature of man.

 

I'm sure the Tower of Babel was beautiful to the eye and in the minds of those who adored it, it was a tremendous accomplishment, but it was evil and originated from the OSN and personal sin.

 

Isa 53:6

All of us like sheep have gone astray,

Each of us has turned to his own way;

But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all

To fall on Him.


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