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That Trespass may Increase

Words of Faith Final

That Trespass may Increase
Words of Faith 8-24-2021
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2021
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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Romans 5
    [18] Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. [19] For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
    [20] The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, [21] so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

     Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you had to have a point really driven home before you could get it?  In the midst of the wonderful theology of God's grace and justification by faith, Paul gives us a quite different look at the Law: "The law was added so that the trespass might increase." That is one that we need to unpack.
    Paul wants us to know that while the Law functions in other ways-- giving order to society and creating an identity for God's people-- it most certainly does not justify us.
    Rabbinical Judaism had identified 613 separate commands in Torah, the first five books of the Bible. Obedience to those 613 commands is impossible, but even striving for that goal misses the point already made-- that death has entered into human experience because of sin and nothing we do can change that.
    We cannot justify ourselves, and that's all there is to it.  So, in fact, the Law functions to "increase trespass." The harder we try to justify ourselves by the Law, the more we fall short. The Law serves to point out just how far we fall short. The Law drives home the point that we desperately need grace, and there is no other way. "The law was added so that the trespass might increase."
    Part of the function of the Law is to serve as a perfect mirror we look into so that we the sin in our lives.  In the mirror of the Law, we can see just how dirty our face is, but the mirror can never clean our face! In fact, as trespass does increase, so also does grace increase all the more. This is the "reign of grace" through the righteousness of Christ in which we find eternal life.
    Sometimes we just "don't get it." So, the Law brings us to that place where we "get it."  

    Lord, I am ready to get it.  Law cannot give life; only You can.  By Your grace, may I walk in the newness of life that You have planned and designed for me.  In Jesus' name.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2021
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)        
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2021 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.