Bible Studies

If Sin Has Dominion in Your Life, You are Living Under the Law, Not Grace

by Michael Edwards 
12/22/17
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The author is against sin and believes that Christians are looking for the way out of sin, not the way into sin.

Does an abundance of grace increase sin? According to the Bible, it is not grace that increases sin; it is the law.

1) When the law came, it aroused our inherited Sin nature and gave it dominion in our lives to kill, steal and destroy.

But Sin used this command to arouse all kinds of covetous desires within me! If there were no law, Sin would not have that power. Rom 7:8 NLT (Sin in this verse is our inherited Sin nature, a noun, not the verb for sin.) 

Our inherited Sin nature rebels at being told what it cannot do. God gave the law to reveal this inherited nature knowing that it would be aroused and reveal itself through the law.

What do you want to do when you see a sign that says – Don’t touch wet paint? We want to touch it. That is our inherited Sin nature of unbelief. Paul talks about his struggle with his Sin nature in Romans 7 and other places.

2) In the following verse, we see that the law came to increase the trespass, sin. But when sin increased, grace abounded all the more.

Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, Rom 5:20 ESV.

3) The Bible teaches if sin has dominion over a person, it is not because they are living under grace. Under grace, sin will have no dominion over you.

For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. Rom 6:14 ESV

4) Those who receive the abundance of grace, and the free gift of righteousness, reign in life - Rom 5:17.

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. Rom 5:17 ESV

But he gives us even more grace to stand against such evil desires. As the Scriptures say, "God opposes the proud but favors the humble." James 4:6 NLT

For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. John 1:16 ESV

5) It is the grace of God that trains and transforms a believer, not the law.

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, Titus 2:11-12 ESV

6) The only way we can fall from grace, give sin dominion over us, is to place ourselves back under the law in our thinking.

You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. Gal 5:4 ESV

7) The only place Sin (our inherited Sin Nature a noun not the verb for sin) has no power over us and lies dead, is apart from the law. 

…for apart from the Law Sin (noun) is dead. Rom 7:8 NASB

Sin is not counted against us when there is no law to violate.

for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no violation. Rom 4:15 NASB

…but sin (verb, the act of sinning)) is not imputed when there is no law. Rom 5:13 NASB

8) If you are a Christian and sin still has dominion in your life, these verses tell us that you still believe you are under the law, even if you claim to be under grace. Examine yourself to see if you are in the faith and take to heart what God’s word is telling you in this message. You are a righteous, holy, sanctified, and perfected child of the living God and you are called to walk in love that fulfills God’s law (Rom 13:8-10, Gal 5:14), not sin that harms us and others. Pray and ask God to reveal where you have placed yourself back under the law and let God’s grace set you free.

On the other hand, if you are a Christian who is embroiled in sin and thinks it is okay to sin all you want because you are under grace, you are deceived and not under grace. If you were under grace, that sin you see in your life would not have dominion over you as it does right now.

Read More New Covenant Studies HERE.