Romans 5V21

Romans 5:21, “Even So Might Grace Reign”

The Bible says in Romans 5:21, “That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Jesus Christ loves lost souls and wants to save them. 2 Corinthians 13:4 says, “For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God…” Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the world and He rose from the grave through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Sin hath reigned unto death the Bible says. The end of sin is Death. Death comes because of sin both physical and spiritual death. Romans 3:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

When we study the phrase sin hath reigned unto death… what does that mean? The word reign means to rule like a king. When Adam disobeyed God and ate the fruit, sin entered the world. Romans 5:12, “Wherefore, as by one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Sin ruled over man. Man has a sin nature. Man is born in sin and man is prone to sin and enslaved to it.

Psalms 51:5, Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” Job 5:7, “Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.” Romans 6:18, “being then made free from sin…”

If people are made free from sin, then that means they were once without freedom or slaves to sin. That is why the word redemption is such a great word.

Galatians 3:13, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree.” Romans 6:18, “being then made free from sin…”

Jesus became sin for us. 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For he that made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”

Jesus became a curse for us. Jesus suffered for us. Is the law sin? God forbid. Romans 7:7, “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” Yet Jesus became sin and a curse for us. What is the curse of the law? The curse, you could say, is the opposite of the blessing of the law.

In other words Jesus suffered the consequences for us breaking the law. That is why He became sin. That is why he became the curse. He died on the cross so that we do not have to go to hell forever and be separated from the love of God. Jesus became sin and He became a curse for us.

It is interesting to think about these two facts that Jesus became sin and a curse.

Hebrews 4:15, “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”

Hebrews 9:28, “So Christ was once offed to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.”

When the bible teaches that Jesus became sin for us it also says he bore the sins of many. Jesus bore our sins on the cross. Jesus did not sin. Jesus is Holy. The way to say it is this way: Jesus did not sin. Jesus became sin. Jesus fulfilled the law. He never sinned. We have sinned.

If God is holy, and God became sin for us and a curse for us and bore our sins on the cross of calvary, then the way to respond in your heart and in your mind is to understand and to realize and to appreciate the forgiveness of Jesus Christ for your sins.

The Gospel is about the love of God. Therefore, the gospel is about the forgiveness of sins through the blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus shed his blood on the cross. His blood is holy.

If you understand the gospel, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ then you grasp how Jesus suffered for you, died and shed his blood. I Corinthians 15:3-4, “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”

The Bible says in Romans 5:21, “That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Sin reigned unto death. What is more powerful: sin or the grace of God? When Jesus died on the cross, he defeated sin and destroyed the works of the devil. We live in the age of grace. It began when Jesus Christ did his work on the cross. Jesus is the author of salvation.

We live in a strange world to think that Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the world and became a curse for us. Yet the world uses Jesus’ name in vain all the time as though it were a curse word. Jesus is the author of Salvation, and the world, instead of valuing the bible, uplifts the foolish books of men. Yes, Jesus cares about peoples’ sufferings but the world doesn’t value the cross.

Why is that: because the world is blind to the truth and lost in sin. But the Church is not blind. The Church loves Jesus. The Church thinks about the suffering of Jesus on the road to Calvary and on the Cross. The Church uplifts the Bible above all other books.

The world does not really understand forgiveness. If a person says they forgive someone when they are offended or hurt by the words of another or by someone cheating on their spouse or disrespecting them, it’s not really forgiveness. There is no such thing as true forgiveness from one man to another unless that person first accepts Christ’s forgiveness for their own sins. Then they have the power to forgive another.

The world is a failure when it comes to forgiveness. The Church is not. The most famous symbol in the world is The Cross. The Gothic culture wears a cross. Rappers wear gold chains with crosses on them. People wear a cross for ear rings and necklaces. They sign about the cross sometimes and don’t even understand what it means. Do you understand what the cross means?

When you think about the cross, think about the forgiveness of Jesus Christ.

Sin entered the world through one man, Adam. But all have sinned, not just Adam. Sin reigned unto death. In other words, sin had victory over man.

Notice that the word is past tense. Sin does not reign anymore because of Jesus’ death on the cross. This is why the word reign is past tense. When Jesus died, he defeated sin. When he rose from the grave, he defeated death.

The Bible says in Romans 5:21, “That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.” Sin does not reign anymore because Jesus died on the cross already. Grace reigns. It reigns through righteousness. Grace is not a license to sin. The very next verse in Romans, Romans 6:1 talks about this. But if grace reigns, how does it reign? By Jesus Christ because righteousness comes from God. God’s grace is Holy. When God gives grace, He gives saving grace and serving grace. By grace ye are saved through faith.

There is a great contrast made in this verse. The Bible says in Romans 5:21, “That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.” Sin reigned unto death: even so might grace reign. This does not mean that grace might possibly reign. When it says, “even so might grace reign” it means that grace does reign. God’s grace is greater than all our sin.

I John 3:21, “For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.” Jesus said, “what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” Forgiveness is everything. You must understand God’s forgiveness. The people who want God’s forgiveness are sinners who repent of their sins to God. Forgiveness is everything. If you forgive someone, then you will love them.

Ephesians 1:7, “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.”

God uses His Word to give people faith. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. If you want to understand forgiveness and if you want the forgiveness of God, then you must believe His Word. Life experience can be used by God and circumstances can be used by God because God works in peoples’ lives, but a person could be locked in a little room all their life and even kept in a straight jacket, and if they had the Bible, read it and believed it, then they would have all they need to fully understand God’s forgiveness.

Sometimes it seems like the worst sinners are the ones who appreciate God’s forgiveness the most. But you do not have to sin to appreciate God’s forgiveness. You have to think about and understand the Word of God through the Spirit of God. It is God’s Word more than anything that will help you to understand and value God’s forgiveness.

We need God’s forgiveness whenever we sin. No one is as forgiving as God is.

Romans 5:8, “But god commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” God hates sin. God loves judgment. If God hates sin, how does he love lost people? Because Jesus died for them: that is how. God is love. The Gospel is Eternal. Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega. Before the foundation of the world….I Peter 1:18-20, “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.”

Foreordained means to foresee or know beforehand. God knows all things. God is all powerful and all knowing. The Gospel is eternal. God is the Alpha and Omega. How God planned out the gospel in eternity past might be hard to fully explain when we think about the fact that God is eternal, and it might be hard to understand if we think in terms of human time. But a day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day.

If God can author the everlasting gospel and He has, then obviously he can forgive you of your sins. How impossible is it for man to fulfill the law! How often does man plan out things in the future and they don’t work out or come to pass. What ever God says and wills to do, does happen, always, every single time. God does not fail. God is not man. God’s forgiveness is certain for those that repent to him in faith.

The most important thing to know and understand in life is that God is love and that God forgives sins. There are situations where God gives people over to their sin when they turn away from the cross. Don’t turn away from the cross and the love of God.

A person’s opportunity for salvation is determined by God not by man or how long a person lives. He that letteth will let until he be taken out of the way. God lets and does not let. God has given man the freedom to make choices and to desire things. If a person desires forgiveness for their sins, it is because somehow God has worked in their life to convict them of their sins and to get them to want God’s forgiveness.

As famous a symbol as the cross is, think about this verse. 1 Timothy 3:16, “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”

God was believed on in the world and still is believed on in the world. The church believes in Jesus, the world does not. The church is the organization that shows God’s forgiveness to the world.

The Bible says in Romans 5:21, “That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Don’t forget about the suffering of Christ. That is what lays between the lines of the contrast between “sin reigned unto death” and then “grace reigned through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.” Christ suffered for you therefore you should appreciate God’s forgiveness. If you want to see forgiveness in action, then think about the church. The church understands forgiveness because the church is the body and bride of Christ and it is made up of individuals who have Christ’s forgiveness. Thank God that we can have forgiveness for our sins. You can only appreciate God’s forgiveness if he lets you.

All men are sinners. You can study your own life and if you are honest with yourself, then you will think about things you have done wrong. There is forgiveness through Jesus Christ and eternal life because grace reigns through righteousness by Jesus Christ.

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