Posted by: Anna
I don't know about you, but I find the Bible extremely confusing at times. Luckily, I have a great pastor who often explains things that I've been wondering about. So this post is basically a written and re-worded version of one of his recent sermons concerning this verse: "But where sin increased, grace increased all the more," Romans 5: 20 Isn't that (and a few other verses in the New Testament) kind of saying that sin. . . isn't bad? Because of grace, an increase of sin is okay since that result is an increase of grace? That it's okay to sin, because due to God's grace, He'll just keep forgiving us? Luckily, this is one of the places in the Bible where you don't have to go far to find the answer. "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning that grace may abound? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?" Romans 6:1-2 "By no means!" is aka "Are you kidding me?!" Paul is saying "Absolutely not!" to that idea. Which is fine and dandy, but what's the explanation? Verse 2 is: "We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?" How many here understand what death is? (I expect to see a decent showing of hands) When you die, are you still living? By no means! That's what Paul means: If we are dead to sin, we literally cannot keep living in it. Don't work that way. Alright. . . then how come we also cannot not sin? It gets a bit confusing here. I mean, we all know that its impossible for us to be perfect. But now we supposedly know that we died to sin, in which case, we would be perfect. Things aren't making sense. So let me ask another easy question: can you make a mistake without repeating it? Yes, yes you can. I think it is safe to say that now that I know what happens when I get distracted while there is popcorn in the microwave, I will always pay close attention to popping corn in the future. (in case that wasn't clear, think brown popcorn, brown bowl that is supposed to be white, and smoky/smelly kitchen) Now, can you accidentally get involved in a bad lifestyle without living it? Can you dabble in drugs but quickly find your path again and leave them instead of becoming addicted? Yes, you can. It's not always easy, but you can. Here's what I'm getting at. There's a difference between sinning and living in sin. It's kind of like the difference between stealing a box of gum versus actually stealing for a living. (Or trying to.) Due to our sinful nature, it is impossible for us to live without sinning. But -with God's help- it is possible for us to sin without living in sin. That's what Paul is saying. We have to die to sin, and live for God. That means we no longer respond (since dead people generally aren't responsive) to sin, but instead respond to God. Are you responding to God, or to sin?
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