Category Archives: Transgressions

Bible, Danger, Protection, Scripture, Sin, Transgressions

GUARDRAILS

ROMANS 4:15

“for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no violation.”

I live in Tennessee and often drive on roads that have guardrails that protect cars from steering into a gulley or drop off. Those guardrails are meant to protect, but you can still go over them if you are driving recklessly or at a high rate of speed. The best guardrails can’t protect you from your own stupidity. Pay attention to them.

Paul points out in today’s verse that the law played the role much like a guardrail. The word translated as “violation” is “parábasis (from pará, ‘contrary’ and bainō, ‘go) – properly, an ‘overstepping’; a deliberate going over ‘the line.’ parábasis  (‘a stepping over the line’) in the NT refers to the willful disregard (breaking) of God’s law which defies His drawn-lines (boundaries); an arrogant ‘over-stepping.’” (HELPS Word-studies)

APPLICATION

That’s the same picture as going over the guardrail. Listen, God gave the law to guide men towards Him, knowing they would buck against it. What happens when you tell a two-year-old not to touch something? He touches it, right? The guardrails of the law pointed us towards God, but since it was given to Moses men have rebelled against it.

Now, you can go over the guardrails accidentally. You may get knocked over by someone else. That’s where my analogy ends. (By the way, no analogy is perfect) But with the law, men have deliberately chosen to jump the rail. They have chosen the pathway of sin. Instead of staying on the road prepared by the Lord, they decide to take the route most traveled by other sinners, one in which there are major potholes and pitfalls.

1 Timothy 6:9 warns us of one particular problem men face. “But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap, and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge people into ruin and destruction.” The guardrail of reliance on God for our provision instead of chasing wealth is there for a reason. God knows what lies on the other side – ruin and destruction. He is protecting us against such transgressions.

The next time you see a guardrail on the highway, think about this verse and thank God for His guardrails He has given us to walk in. Thank Him for Jesus.

O Father, keep me inside the guardrails and away from danger.

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Bible, Death, Life, Scripture, Transgressions

FROM DEATH TO LIFE

COLOSSIANS 2:13

“And when you were dead in your wrongdoings and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our wrongdoings,”

Once you are dead, you are dead. Right? Well, maybe not. There have been thousands of individuals who have physically died but were brought back to life by CPR or through a defibrillator. Many tell of seeing a bright light while others talk about darkness and screams. One thing is for sure, though. If Christ does not return before we draw our last breath, we will experience that physical death here on earth.

Paul, however, tells us we were already dead in our wrongdoings. What does that mean? The Greek word translated as “wrongdoings” is paráptōma “(from parapíptō, see there) – properly, fall away after being close-beside, i.e. a lapse (deviation) from the truth; an error, ‘slip up’; wrong doing that can be (relatively) unconscious, ‘non-deliberate.’” (HELPS Word Studies). These wrongdoings, these slip ups had us heading straight towards damnation, but Christ intervened.

APPLICATION

Think about that for a minute. We were all doomed to both a physical and spiritual death in our sins. We had no hope. We could never do enough good to wipe away our failures. Romans 5:17 tells us these wrongdoings, these transgressions are the result of Adam’s fall. But if we “receive God’s abundant provision of grace and the gift of righteousness” we will have new life in Him.

Paul tells us He makes us “alive together with Him.” In yesterday’s verse we saw the same preposition that is used here. The Greek word here is suzóopoieó, which contains that preposition sun, the inseparable “with.” We have been made alive together with Christ and nothing can separate us.

Aren’t you grateful for the new life you have in Christ? Aren’t you grateful He saw your wretched state and gave you a way out. That way out is only found in Jesus. Don’t let anyone tell you any different. We were dead, and now we are alive forever more – all because of Him. Praise the Lord!

Thank You, Lord, for my new life in Christ.

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