Live in Triumph Over Sin and Death

Tuesday, July 02, 2013      Live in Triumph Over Sin and Death

“For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.”

Romans 5:17

In Romans 5: 12-21, the Apostle Paul deals head on with two of the most crucial doctrines of the Christian Faith: Original Sin and Atonement. Original sin deals with who needs to be saved, and atonement deals with who gets saved.

Paul argues that Adam’s legacy to the entire world is that all people have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There have always been some dissenting views that Adam’s sin is not inherently passed on to each generation.  However, this view was not widely accepted until the Age of Enlightenment. Since then, the dominate worldview of secular Western culture has replaced the concept of original sin and embraced the belief that humanity is not inherently at odds with God. This worldview believes that to the extent some in society are bad, they can be fixed through better education and through forming good habits. Nevertheless, the core of the Christian faith is that because of original sin, all people stand in need of a savior.

There are some who say the saving work of Christ is universal, and thus all people are already saved, even if they do not know of or accept their salvation. Others say that the saving work of Christ is predestined, or limited, to only those elected, or chosen by God. However, the majority of Christian churches teach that while the saving work of Christ is universal, in that all can be saved, a person must ask God in faith for forgiveness in order to be saved. Five times between verse 15-17, Paul uses the word ‘gift’ to describe God’s grace. Reconciliation with God is neither a right, nor can it be earned. Right standing with God is a gift from God, which is received through faith in what Christ has done to set us free from sin and death: “Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory” (Romans 5:1-2).

The concluding verses in this chapter help us know that God’s gift is sufficient to make us complete in Christ. That is, we are saved for all eternity; we don’t drift in and out of a state of grace based on our good behavior, or lack thereof:

“. . . all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ . . . but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone . . .  many will be made righteous . . . now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 5:17-21, selected verses, emphasis mine).

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  In addition to this BLOG they are distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com. The Kindle version will follow soon.

·        The second edition First Think – Then Pray has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.