Romans 5:12-18

THESE ARE THE TIMES that try men's souls. The Spirit has spoken expressly that in the latter times some should depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron. Those days are upon us and we cannot escape them; we must triumph in the midst of them, for such is the will of God concerning us.

Strange as it may seem, the danger today is greater for the fervent Christian than...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ephesians 2:1-10

We are acknowledging that in order to understand "grace" we must see it in relation to a Sovereign. As one writer puts it: "Grace is bound to be sovereign since it cannot by its very nature be subject to compulsion." That is why we often refer to it as free grace. There is no reason for grace but grace. I believe the...

For Reading and Meditation:     Romans 5:6-21

An ancient theologian - St. Augustine - suggested that "the answer to the mystery of the universe is God and the answer to the mystery of God is Christ." If this is so then I would like to make a further suggestion: the answer to the mystery of Christ is to be found in His sacrificial spirit, the supreme evidence of...

In Romans 5:12-21, Paul contrasts the two federal heads of the human race, Adam and Christ. Adam was the head of the first creation; Christ is the head of the new creation. The first was natural; the second is spiritual. Three times Paul uses the words "much more" to emphasize that the blessings flowing from Christ's work superabound over the losses incurred by Adam's sin. He is saying that "in Christ the sons of Adam boast more blessings than...

The object is to show that Christ has much more than repaired the ruin wrought by Adam, in the case of all those who avail themselves of the salvation wrought out by him. Instead of the one throne where Death sat and swayed the destinies of man, there are now myriads, millions of thrones, on each of which a believer is to sit and give the universe a visible demonstration of what Christ can bestow upon the soul that comes to him.

First, he is to receive abundance of grace, and of the...

Jesus … was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death … that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. § One died for all. § As by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.“The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit … However the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. § God said, “Let Us make man in Our image,...

God commanded the man, … “In the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” § She took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. § If by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. § Since by man came death, by Man also came...

Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. § I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins. Put Me in remembrance; let us contend together; state your case, that you may be acquitted. § I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions, and like a cloud, your sins. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.God so loved the world that He gave...

Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? § Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.Dead in trespasses and sins … by nature children of wrath, just as the others. § I am carnal, sold under sin … What I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do … For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells.Through one man sin entered the world … by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners. § If by the one...