T here are many ways to describe the Christian life. One of the most exciting is to define it as a reigning life as is suggested in Ro mans 5:17. We need to have a proper perspec tive of what this means. This same verse talks about “death reigning.” Then in Romans 5:21 we read that “sin reigned,” and following that we learn about “grace reigning.” So, I suppose in this section of the Epistle we find four monarchs on thrones. What does the Bible mean when it speaks of sin reigning? Verse 12 talks about sin entering the world, then how it abounds (vrs. 20) and finally its reign (v. 21). Sin entered the world by the disobedience of one. Man in his original creation rebelled against God. Once started, it spread in an alarming fashion. Man did not reproduce in the image of God but rather in the image of himself. The very first human being bom in the world was a murderer and a liar. Before long, the whole human race had been gripped in a deadly grasp of sin. Sin continued to exercise its tenacled con tro l over individual lives. Actually, it is the reign of sin which will not enable us to be the sort of people we personally desire. Because of this sheer power of sin, we cannot do the things
know we should do. It would be im possible for sin to reign in dynamic fashion in our lives if it hadn’t en tered initially and abounded continu ally down to our generation. The second sovereign mentioned here is death which is simply the fruit or outgrowth of sin. How strange that death is able to touch all men regardless of their back ground, power, color, environment, or anything else. If death reaches out its icy hand, no one can stay its power. Yet, there is an even stronger power that breaks the force of sin and death as it seeks to reign. This is just simply grace. This is the greatest majesty to rule. In Romans 5:20 we discover that “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” What a power so mighty that wherever sin and death abounds, grace super-abounds. The bigger the sin, the bigger the grasp of death, the greater the potential of grace. Too often we are satisfied with liv ing any kind of life, just so we get along and exist. We are conformed in far too many ways with the things of this life. God says that we are to reign in life victoriously, and nothing less is required. Is your life so dynamic and overwhelming that you are capable of making an impact n those you meet, regardless of dif
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