8.27 Shall we sin that grace may abound?

The Bible tells it as it as – clearly and without ambiguity. The abundance of grace is the key to reigning in life. It is the power of the cross made available to us when we were spiritual bankrupts.

So why are there so many who have reservations towards God’s grace. Why is the devil so afraid that the Church will rediscover the grace that the Bible talks about? If we take away grace, then the only substitute is to return to the law – the very system that resulted in failure in the Old Covenant.

The Bible tells us that the law is the tutor that brings us to Christ. When we have Christ, we no longer need a tutor. But what we see in some parts of the Church is the exact opposite. They seem to believe – “Christ is the tutor that leads us to the law, and with the law you don’t need Christ.” So often we see a crusade where Christ is preached and people received salvation. When they go for a follow up class, they are introduced to the law to guide them through the rest of their Christian life?

There are several popular arguments against grace. The key assumption or argument is, “Grace gives license to sin, but the law is the means to holiness.” “By preaching grace, it will encourage people to sin.” These are good arguments and I have talked to many friends who hold these arguments. But unfortunately they are not from the Bible.

In fact the same arguments were leveled by the Judaizers against Paul in the early Church when Paul preached so strongly the grace of God. Isn’t it interesting the Bible even pre-empts these arguments and addresses them? First they said that Paul’s message of grace was promoting evil deeds.

(Romans 3:8)
And why not say, “Let us do evil that good may come”?—as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say.

Others accused grace of giving license to sin. To counter the arguments against his message, Paul asks, “Shall we sin that grace may abound?”

(Romans 6:1-4)
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?

Then he launches into the answer that explained what Christianity is really about. He explains the mystery of salvation through the grace of God. His accusers were looking at the outside. They did not understand what happened to the believer on the inside. Religion is about what you do on the outside but Christianity is what happens on the inside. We shall explain the mystery tomorrow.