ROMANS 5:20

“The Law came in so that the offense would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,”

Have you gone into an old house that has been closed up for a while and turned on the lights in the kitchen? What is that scurrying all around on the counters and floors? It’s none other than those nasty cockroaches that can survive forever and wherever. The light exposes them, and they run for cover. They were there all the time, but you couldn’t see them until the light was turned on.

Paul describes a similar situation today in our verse when he says, “The Law came in so that the offense would increase;…” This does not mean that the law caused sin to become more. It means the law showed us our sinful state. We were already sinning before the law (just like the cockroaches were already in that kitchen). It just showed our filthiness and ungodliness. Light exposes things.

APPLICATION

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges says this about today’s verse. The phrase “[that the offence might abound] Q. d., ‘that the disease might be brought to the surface.’” That’s exactly what our sin is – a disease. It has been passed down to every generation from Adam and Eve. There is no cure besides Jesus and His shed blood on Calvary. All other attempts (religions) fall short of giving us freedom from these sins.

But… Don’t you just love that word in Scripture? Paul goes on to write in today’s verse, “but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.” Look at what Albert Barnes says about this. “Did much more abound – Superabounded. The word is used nowhere else in the New Testament, except in 2 Corinthians 7:4. It means that the pardoning mercy of the gospel greatly triumphed over sin, even over the sins of the Jews, though those sins were greatly aggravated by the light which they enjoyed under the advantages of divine revelation.”

Isn’t that great news? In 2 Corinthians 7:4 Paul uses this same word to say, “…I am overflowing with joy in all our affliction.” Shouldn’t that be the same for us? Because of the good news of the abundance of grace in our lives, we should be overflowing with joy even if our life circumstances say different. Choose the good news today, not the bad. Sin is still present in this world, and we must deal with it. But grace is bigger and better.

Father God, I praise You for the gift of grace that superabounds over sin.

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