"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

"By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

"And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;

"And patience, experience; and experience, hope:

"And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

"For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

"For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.

"But God commandeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

"Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

"For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

"And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

"For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.

"Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.

"But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.

"And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.

" For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. )

"Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.

"For. as by one mail's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

"Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:

"That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord."— Rom. 5.

This chapter begins on justification by faith, yet, as we pass on down the chapter, we find a regular ascending or descending stair in the deep things of God. The climax is reached in the last verse. The first verse sets forth justification.

There is a second verse to this chapter. A great many persons do not seem to know there is a second verse, which presents a higher phase of experience than the first. "By whom also The word "also" means, "in addition to what has gone before." Here it means in addition to justification. The word "access" means an entrance way. We are not only "justified by faith," but by faith we have access — a doorway — into this establishment. The "grace wherein we stand" is the rooting and abounding grace. So we are justified by faith; but lest somebody think we are sanctified by development, the apostle says, "by faith " also "we have access " into steadiness and firmness.

Then he goes on to present to us, from the ninth verse down, what he means by the grace of establishment, the different phases of saving faith. The words "much more" are Paul's mode of arguing. It is arguing from a stronger to a weaker point. The argument here is: If a man can raise a hundred pounds, how much more can he lift twenty pounds.

This is Paul's favorite mode of arguing. This chapter is a masterly pile of arguments on this line. The first "much more" is on justification; second, on regeneration; third, on removal of original depravity; fourth, on the baptism of the Holy Ghost; fifth, on the abounding of divine grace over and above all the elements of sin. The words "much more" occur five times in this chapter. Now the first two "much mores "refer to the negative and positive side of conversion, in the ninth and tenth verses; the second two " much mores " to the negative and positive side of entire sanctification (vs. 15, 17), and the fifth (v. 20) to the superabounding of divine grace over sin.

Look at verses nine and ten. "Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath." The first and negative part of conversion is pardon, saving from wrath. "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life."

In the ninth verse, "saved from wrath "; in the tenth, "saved by his life." Thus there are two parts to conversion, and in these verses we find the negative and positive side of conversion.

The first thing that God does for us is to remove our guilt and the divine wrath, and save us from going to perdition. Justification saves us from the curse of the law, removes the penalty, but justification by itself does not change the heart. If God were to only justify and not regenerate the heart, we would immediately drift back into sin, as the prisoner who may be liberated from the law. There is no power there to change his heart. Justification must come first, the removal of all guilt, thereby removing the legal barrier and clearing the way for God to change the heart. Now if Jesus suffered and died for us, how much more shall we be saved from wrath through Him!

The next "much more" refers to our positive renewal of life. To be saved by the life of Jesus is regeneration. It was not only that we are pardoned and saved from wrath, but we are saved by having His life imparted in us. The word "regeneration" means, to "begin to live over again "; so that in regeneration God restores the lost life to us — the life and love of God. The love of God is His life; and when the Holy Ghost sheds abroad the love of God in the heart, He sheds His life. This is regeneration; saved, not only from going to hell, but from the power of sin, "by his life."

Here is the mode of argument: If Christ died, how much more will he remove my guilt and save me from wrath? and if when I was in open rebellion against Him He will save me, how much more will He impart His life as soon as I am justified? There is the argument. We find here a tremendous argument in favor of God pardoning our sins and changing our hearts, and if He will do this for us, how much more will He do a lesser work for us? The death of Christ is a great deal larger than conversion; and if He has done the greater thing, how much more will he do the lesser? God always begins at the big end. If He will do the infinite thing, how much more will He do what is less?

The fifteenth verse refers to entire sanctification. If by one man depravity abounded, much more by one man, Jesus, does grace abound to reverse the death principle inherited from Adam.

Verse seventeen says that "if by one man's offense death reigned, . . . much more they which receive abundance of grace . . . shall reign in life."

In these two verses, these two "much mores," there are points brought out not even hinted at in the first two. The first part of sanctification is the cleansing of the soul from hereditary depravity, and then comes the filling. The negative side of it is the cleansing, and the positive side the filling.

In verse fifteen the apostle touches on the law of heredity. The law of heredity was not mentioned in the first, nothing but your own sins; but he now comes down to the basement story of man's nature. How much more shall believers, through Jesus, inherit grace to remove depravity! He presents here one of the strongest arguments in favor of human depravity. One of the greatest barriers in the way of getting some people to seek for heart purity is, that human depravity is such a tremendous thing that it cannot be destroyed until they die. The apostle offers a sledge-hammer argument against that doctrine. If Adam had the power to transmit depravity, how much more shall the grace of Jesus Christ, the second Adam, abound "unto many." Jesus is our second Adam. We have inherited our depraved nature and its weaknesses from Adam, but so soon as we believe in Jesus we become in spirit members of a new race. Those who belong to Jesus are as much a distinct race of beings in spiritual things as those born of Adam are distinct from angels. You are physically the same, but spiritually you belong to the Christian race, so that when "born again" of the Holy Ghost yon belong to the new Adam, which is Jesus Christ.

Now the first Adam was finite; the second is infinite. If the first Adam had power to make you depraved, shall not the second have power to make you clean? Has not Jesus as much power as Adam? If we inherited sin from the first Adam, how much more power in the second, now, to take the curse, the inbred sin, out of us? It is almost blasphemy to say that Jesus Christ has not as much power as Adam. If Adam had the power to deform us, has not Jesus Christ power to transform us into His own image?

But the removal of this inbred sin is only the negative part of sanctification, the emptying us of all the image of the old Adam. But not only does the apostle argue that God will cleanse us from all hereditary sin, but in verse seventeen he argues the positive side of sanctification. The word "reign" is another added word in this list.

Paul begins this grand picture of salvation at the very gates of hell, saving from wrath, and adds new colors and puts on the light. First, we are saved from wrath; second, salvation by His life — that is a new word; the third touches on inherited sin; and in the fourth he introduces still another word; "For if by one man's offense death reigned, . . . much more they which receive abundance of grace . . . shall reign, etc." Every verse becomes richer and richer. This fourth "much more" speaks of the victory of the reigning power. The third says, If Adam had power to bring in depravity, how much more shall Jesus Christ be able to purge you of it? Now he says, If Christ had power to' remove human depravity, how much more shall He be able to fill you?

The abundance of grace means the flood of grace — grace at high tide. Jesus says, " I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." The abundance is the Pentecostal bestowment. The same argument is used here, — first, grace, then the abundance of grace. That is what Christians everywhere need, — not only grace to keep from God's penitentiary, but the abundance of grace, so that the soul triumphs in the love of God.

The law was not given until the days of Moses. Paul says that the law was given "that the offense might abound" (v. 20). The law was given in advance that the disease of sin might be developed. You can't cure a disease so long as it is latent. You might offer a man salvation and he would not receive it; he does not think he needs it. The law is itself essential to every one's salvation. The law cannot save, but it shows a man what he is. If you want to clean a house, you cannot begin until you turn on the light, to show where the dust and dirt is. The light does not clean the house, but it shows where to clean. You never can get one soul to come to Jesus until you show them hell fire; and when you show them, by the law, what sin is, then they will accept salvation. So it is with believers. You can't get believers to surrender themselves for cleansing until you show them by the law the internal, inbred depravity. When the law develops our latent depravity, then we want the cleansing blood. The Lord puts in the law as a plow. After the soul is plowed up, you can bring in full salvation. This law is the blister to bring out the disease. God's law brings out our disease; and then grace comes, and where "sin abounded, grace" doth "much more abound." God's grace is bigger than the disease, than human depravity.

It is impossible for the law to develop a state of soul that God's grace cannot cleanse and save. The blue sky always goes beyond the green earth. It looks as though it rested on the earth, but if you go anywhere on or around this earth you will find the sky ever above and beyond. So you take a human heart in any aspect and you will find the grace of God as far beyond the sin as the sky is beyond the earth. It is absolutely impossible to find a human soul that God cannot save and make clean. A sinner too big for God to save! I know there are a great many persons who go on about the "unpardonable sin," that is, to call the Holy Ghost a devil. Not many commit that sin. But in all little sins, — gilt-edged depravity, refined depravity, — where sin has darkened and polluted the soul, there " grace " doth " much more abound."

These five "much mores" are like a temple, the first two corners being the negative and positive of justification and regeneration, the other two corners are the negative and positive of the removal of hereditary sin, and entire sanctification; and then with the fifth "much more" God makes and spreads a great roof, and says, now "where sin abounded, grace" doth "much more abound." None need be discouraged. The weaker, the more helpless and unworthy you are, the nearer you are to full salvation. This grace can abound in your own heart. Beginning with justification by faith, you can take this whole chapter as your legacy. Are you willing to take it "by simple faith"? That is the only way you get it. You belong to Him by conversion. Let Him fully save you now, and learn that where thy depravity abounds, grace shall "much more abound."