“For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:17)
Many years ago I counseled a man struggling with drug and alcohol addiction. He was in the depths of despair because he believed he had committed the unpardonable sin. He felt that God was angry with him. I tried to help him understand that his guilt was leading him to repentance, that God would forgive him. Yet he had fallen victim to one of the most effective weapons of the devil: despair. When we are in despair we think that God is angry at us, that He has condemned and abandoned us.
But in our battle against despair, in fact in our battle against temptation and sin, God Himself has given us weapons that help us overcome Satan: faith and the Word of God. Paul in this passage from Romans assures us that God’s love reaches out to us to enable us to trust and hope in Him. He tells us that the essence of God’s grace is that Christ died to justify us, to make us righteous so that we may be saved from His just wrath against sin. We do not deserve His grace because we were His enemies, alienated from and hostile to Him. Even so, God sent Jesus to die for us. There was nothing worthy or desirable in us, yet He loved us so much that He showered His grace on us and reconciled us to Himself.
And though we know we are justified by God’s action in and through Christ, we have difficulty appropriating, understanding or believing it. We must always bear in mind that salvation comes all by God’s grace and His work. And so we have an obligation to share God’s grace and pour it out upon others as the Lord has poured it out on us. This is so that all may know the truth and come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who has bought us reconciliation with His own blood.