Remembering Romans Chapter 5
Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2019 1:21 pm
Blessings!
Hello Christianity Oasis, All...
Happy New Year!
Rom.5
[16] And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.
[18] Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
There have been many times in my life as a Christian that I've stumbled over certain passages in the Bible, probably chief of those stumblings being certain parts of Romans Chapter 5...well...to be honest...every verse. The chapter can't be interpreted properly unless we have experienced all the truths Paul expounds here. That, my beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord, doesn't happen until we become fully grown mature Christians. And it is for that reason we need a strong reminder of just how powerful the grace of God is.
Kenneth Copeland advised us to run to God rather than away from Him when we sin. D.M. Lloyd Jones advised us that grace is much, much more powerful than sin. Such truths are never more evident than they are in Romans Chapter 5. But how many of us recognize such when we mess up in our adult lives? Are we quick to understand that when we mess up we must run to God for His grace or do we stumble over that wonderful reality and spend a long time bemoaning the fact we believe we have fallen into a state of disrepair? I've had conversations with many adult Christians that confess to me that they have sinned so greatly they can find no room to forgive themselves. But such misses the point of grace all together. The grace of God is given to us no matter how great we believe our sin is. Such brings us to a reality check.
I mentioned earlier that I have often stumbled over all the verses in Romans Chapter 5. Well...how so? Let me illustrate.
Here are some examples of how I stumbled over verses in that chapter. First of all...Romans Chapter 5 verse 1. Peace with God? I thought peace with God was a feeling. If I didn't feel that I had peace with God then I didn't have peace with God. But such wasn't the case then and isn't the case now. Peace with God is the disposition of God that He has with us when we receive Jesus. We always have peace with God whether we feel like it or not.
Romans chapter 5 verse 5...love of God in my heart? If it was there I certainly didn't know it...in truth having the love of God shed abroad in my heart didn't become a reality to me until years after I was born again.
Romans Chapter 5 verse 10...life? What life? Saved by His life? I thought the life of Christ in me was the pursuit of the riches of this world rather than the pursuit of being made perfect in His love.
Romans Chapter 5 verst 15...could that possibly mean what I thought it meant? Was I supposed to apply that analogy to myself or was it talking about the likes of King David or other of the great men of the Bible? Was I supposed to believe that the grace of God abounded toward me as it did toward those great men? I was so carnal I had trouble believing that to be the case.
Romans Chapter 5 verse 16...many offenses unto justification of life?...I thought once we were saved if we messed up there wasn't any hope...sort of like the unpardonable sin...I didn't understand that of many offenses unto justification of life applied to my entire existence...I didn't understand that as Christians we do have those sins that so easily beset us and we are supplied with the riches of God's grace to keep us in His camp.
Romans Chapter 5 verse 21...eternal life? I didn't have a clue what eternal life was...I didn't understand that eternal life is knowing the love of God the Father...that He is love...and that we have eternal life when The Holy Spirit comes to us and sheds the love of God in our hearts and we come to know that God is our love, the origin and perfect essence of all that is love or ever will be love...when we have His love in our heart then we know that we have eternal life and that life is His love which is imparted to us by the Holy Spirit not once but continually forever and ever.
Blessings!
Love, in Christ Jesus, Saint701.
