The Law

When it comes to topics of sin, the law, and salvation, there can be some confusion. For example, how is it fair that because of one man and one woman’s sin, all men afterwards are born into sin? The quick answer is that because we come from man, we inherit man’s sinfulness. The good news is, as sin entered through one man, salvation is also given by one man, the God-Man Jesus the Christ. Romans 5:15, “But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.” Yes, sin came through one man, but salvation came through one Man.

Then comes the topic of the “Law.” Is the law good or is it bad? Again, the Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 7:7, “What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “You shall not covet.” The law was given so that we would have a clear picture of what sin is. You can take the ten commandments and really boil them down to two topics. How we sin against God, and how we sin against other people. It is the spiritual measuring stick that we compare ourselves to, and it always shows us that we do not measure up. The law was never meant to save us, but to shout to us that we need a Savior.

Paul then goes on to explain that when we give our lives over to Christ, we are now in right standing with our Lord God. Romans 8:1, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Through the sacrificial blood of Jesus Christ, we can now stand before a Holy God and no longer must fear retribution because of our sin, for the blood of Christ has washed our sin record completely clean. When this happens, we will notice that the old self, who we used to be, is no longer in control. We are now allowing the Spirit of God to control us. We have a completely different mindset than we once had.

Romans 8:9, “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.”  In closing, the most important thing we must understand is that when we finally accept the free gift of salvation, the old self is put to death.  Romans 8:37-39, “But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, or height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”