Hi haz,
Do you understand what Paul is saying in Romans 5? I think not, so, I'm going to share from Young's Literal Translation.
Romans 5:12 '... even as through one man the sin did enter into the world, and through the sin the death;
and thus to all men the death did pass through, for that all did sin;
13 for till law sin was in the world: and sin is not reckoned when there is not law;
14 but the death did reign from Adam till Moses, even upon those not having sinned in the likeness of Adam's transgression,
who is a type of him who is coming.
Looking at verse 13 first, Paul is repeating what he mentioned in
Romans 4:15 for the law doth work wrath; for where law is not, neither [is] transgression. So, I agree with you that Paul did say that where there is no law, no sin is being recorded against us.
Happy now?
Here's the bad news.
If you read Rom 5:12 and Rom 5:14 properly, you will note that
the whole of mankind was dead in sin -
dead to God - during that era. Paul is not talking about Christians at all!!
Still happy?
Hopefully, you are beginning to see a problem with using Rom 4:15 and Rom 5:13 to back up the claim you and others (notably Kidron) have been making - that
because the
Mosaic Law has been abolished (I'm just restating your case. Don't mistake that for
agreement with your reasoning.) -
no Christian can be convicted of sinning anymore. I hope you will never again be quite as misinformed as you have been to date.
To recap the key point in Rom 5:12: it states that through one man - Adam -
the sin entered the world. At the moment he died through having eaten the forbidden fruit, all Adam's unborn children died 'in his loins'. Young gives this death the definite article, because it's a noun.
Thus,
when we are born, we are (as good as) dead with respect to
the [eternal]
life.
Adam lost for us all, the freedom to eat of the tree of
the life (and live for ever).
You will note as you read Paul, that he often mentions the resurrection of Christ, or, the resurrection which we hope to attain to, just after he's mentioned the cross. The two are inextricably linked, and Paul is looking ahead to the resurrection of believers, and, that if we are truly identified with Christ in this life, that we will face tribulation and suffering for His Name's sake. This is the gospel.
Acts 26:6, 7, 8; Matt 16:25, Mark 8:35, Luke 9:24, Luke 17:33, Rom 8:17, 18, Phil 1:29, 1 Peter 1:11, 1 Peter 4:13, I Peter 5:1.
Now, let's look at
Romans 6:
1 What, then, shall we say? shall we continue in the sin that the grace may abound?
2 let it not be! we who died to the sin--how shall we still live in it?
3 are ye ignorant that we, as many as were baptized to Christ Jesus, to his death were baptized?
4 we were buried together, then, with him through the baptism to the death, that even as Christ was raised up out of the dead
through the glory of the Father, so also we in newness of life might walk.
5 For, if we have become planted together to the likeness of his death, [so] also we shall be of the rising again;
6 this knowing, that our old man was crucified with [him], that the body of the sin may be made useless,
for our no longer serving the sin;
7 for he who hath died hath been set free from the sin.
8 And if we died with Christ, we believe that we also shall live with him,
9 knowing that Christ, having been raised up out of the dead, doth no more die, death over him has no more lordship;
10 for in that he died, to the sin he died once, and in that he lives, he liveth to God;
11 so also ye, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to the sin, and living to God in Jesus Christ our Lord.
12 Let not then the sin reign in your mortal body, to obey it in its desires;
13 neither present ye your members instruments of unrighteousness to the sin,
but present yourselves to God as living out of the dead, and your members instruments of righteousness to God;
Paul has just explained how to get free from 'the sin' so as to become free from 'the [eternal] death'. Can you see that?
Moving on -
14 for sin over you shall not have lordship, for ye are not under law, but under grace.
Here we have law and grace in the same sentence. What do they have to do with getting free from the sin and the death?
As you know, the Mosaic Law brought sins to the conscious attention of Israel. Nevertheless, it was possible to acknowledge one's sins - the outworking of 'the sin' in one's life - by making certain sacrifices and keep many commandments.
These rituals were supposed to make a person understand their
incapability to overcome 'the sin' which they found in themselves. The Mosaic Law existed to show them their deadness in 'the sin', and that it was impossible to escape from 'the sin'.
Even those who committed sins which incurred the death penalty under the Mosaic Law, only hastened the
natural outcome of their life (being dead in 'the sin') - namely,
'the death'.
So.... what is the grace?
According to Paul, it is a
quality of
the life in Jesus Christ, which, when
He interacts with us personally,
enables us to be changed or to change.
Let's think about changing for a minute. Why should we change at all?
The simple answer is, because Adam changed the parameters of our relationship with God, and we
need a way to remove those changes, so we are
not facing God's wrath for 'the sin' in our lives any more; ideally, we'd also receive freedom to eat of the tree of life again.
What I mean is, we need to find ourselves changed so radically, that we no longer have not alternative but to commit sins. Thus we would find ourselves in favour with God again, just as Adam had been before he sinned. Is that possible?
Well, if it would be possible to escape God's wrath against sinners, it would indeed seem like an irresistable offer. But how?
How do I get
that grace to be
effective in
my life?
What I'm trying to show you is, if you understand the problem thoroughly, then you will understand the thorough solution to the problem. Let me rephrase Young's translation of
14 for sin over you shall not have lordship, for ye are not under law, but under grace.
For the sin shall not have lordship over you once you are - not under law, but - under grace. 2 Timothy 2:5
What Paul tried to show in the first part of Rom 6, is that Christ took 'the sin' of the whole of mankind to the cross, and through His own death, He slew it for ever. It is finished. HE remained under the Mosaic Law
on our behalf,
taking the penalty for our sins.
In this respect,
the law of the death for the sin became abolished
only for those who choose to receive His death against their own sinful nature. Rom 6:3, 4, 6, 7.
2 Cor 4:10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus,
that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
Where the grace of God comes in is, that as He raised Jesus Christ from the dead by His awesome power, He is equally able to raise us from 'the death' which through Christ's death is made null and void to us, that His life may be made manifest - seeable, knowable.
Ephesians 1:19 'and what the exceeding greatness of His power to us who are believing,
according to the working of the power of His might 20 which He wrought in the Christ, having raised him out of the dead,
Paul refers to this grace in Eph 3:7 again, explaining that it is the power which enables him to fulfil God's calling on his life.
Paul returns to the rhetorical question he asked at the start of the chapter -
15 What then? shall we sin because we are 'not under law but under grace'? let it not be!
In the next part, he makes the case for actively living in the ways which please God to demonstrate that the principle of 'the sin', which had held us bound to 'the death', has not just been destroyed Heb 2:14,15, but has
dynamically replaced by the power of Christ's eternal life.
16 have ye not known that to whom ye present yourselves servants for obedience, servants ye are to him to whom ye obey, whether of sin
to death, or of obedience to righteousness?
17 and thanks to God, that ye were servants of the sin, and--were obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which ye were delivered up;
18 and having been freed from the sin, ye became servants to the righteousness.
19 In the manner of men I speak, because of the weakness of your flesh, for even as ye did present your members servants
to the uncleanness and to the lawlessness--to the lawlessness,
so now present your members servants to the righteousness-- to sanctification,
20 for when ye were servants of the sin, ye were free from the righteousness,
21 what fruit, therefore, were ye having then, in the things of which ye are now ashamed? for the end of those [is] death.
22 And now, having been freed from the sin,
and having become servants to God,
ye have your fruit--to sanctification,
and the end life age-during;
23 for the wages of the sin [is] death, and the gift of God [is] life age-during in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul fully expects to see a dynamically changed lifestyle once a person is 'under grace'. It is most certainly not a notional righteousness.
The believer who has genuinely been grafted into the death of Christ,
is free from the law of sin and death.
But, unless they
live as if they are free from the law of sin and death,
by not sinning - as a practical expression of having been filled to overflowing with the resurrection life of Christ, not only God, but anyone who knows them, is fully entitled to form their own conclusions,
that ... they are still in bondage to sin.