Reading for Thursday, 3rd Week of Lent

Romans 5:12-21

“Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.” (Rom 5:20). Paul has spent nearly five chapters of his letter to Jewish and Gentile Christians in Rome explaining the supreme importance of trusting in God’s grace for our salvation. At the end of chapter 5, he now begins to speak directly to those Jewish Christians who are, at the least, confused about his attitude toward the law given by God to Moses and handed down to his descendants. If the law has nothing to do with salvation, then why was it given in the first place, and what place does it have in the life of the New Covenant?

And by the way, what exactly does Paul mean by “increase the trespass”? Did the law actually make our situation with God worse? No, that is not what Paul meant. This is a theme that Paul has sounded before. In his letter to the Galatians, Paul wrote: “the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith” (Gal 3:24). Once we had chosen distrust of God over trust, we needed a custodian to remind us of the difference between good and evil, right and wrong.

Now in this letter, Paul expands on the argument he started in Galatians. The law, as Paul explains it here, was put in place as the first step in our journey to the redemption of our sin. How does the law help us in this journey? By rubbing our noses in the realization of our need for God alone. How many centuries had the people of Israel had the law as their guardian? How faithful had they been to the law of God? The only honest answer that anyone could glean from the Old Testament was, not much. The longer that God’s chosen people tried, and failed, to keep the law of Moses, the more they would realize how far they were from God, and how much in need of God’s sheer grace.

Patty Loveless once sang this song of grace for an alcoholic: “And you know that you're gonna find me / If you keep on drinkin' fast / 'Cause honey I'm right there waitin' on you / At the bottom of your glass.” I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this in every case as the best response to someone you love suffering from addiction. We human beings have the right to protect ourselves. But it does summarize how God has responded to our sin. God has always been present to fallen humanity, by his law that shows us how far we have fallen, and by his Son who goes with us to the “bottom,” wherever that personal “bottom” is for you and me.