‘That, as sin reigned in death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.'

For God came to a world where sin reigned in death, where all men were subject to death because of sin, and He acted in totally unmerited favour. He provided a means of righteousness, a gift of righteousness, freely given to the undeserving, so that He was able through His grace to give men and women eternal life as a consequence of that gift. He was able to give them ‘justification of life' (Romans 5:18). And all this was through what our LORD Jesus Christ has wrought for us and provided for us.

Thus the end result is that His people can reign in life now (Romans 5:17), and can, through reigning grace, enjoy eternal life in the future in all its fullness. These two aspects will be underlined in what follows.

But as we come to the end of this passage let us pause to consider the wonder of these words, ‘grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life, through Jesus Christ our LORD'. The whole hope of eternal life for all God's people is the result of the grace of God (God acting towards men in unmerited favour) ‘reigning' on behalf of men, a reigning which is made possible by the righteousness of Christ being made available to us. And it is all ‘through Jesus Christ our LORD'.

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