Grace reigns to eternal life.

Romans 5:20b-21 …grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. In this last verse of chapter 5 we discover God’s plan of salvation through Jesus Christ. He planned that as sin reigned over all mankind from the beginning with Adam’s sin, His grace would reign over sin and death through His righteousness giving and securing eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Are you relying on the righteousness of Jesus Christ for eternal peace with God? Do you believe God’s grace has triumphed over and reigns over your sin and the resulting curse of death? These words from Rom. 5:21 encourage us because they reveal the security we enjoy because of the grace in which we stand. We have eternal peace with God because the righteousness we have received is the righteousness of Jesus. Let’s not miss the fruit of His righteousness—eternal life. Jesus defined eternal life in His priestly prayer recorded by John in chapter 17, verses 1-3 of his gospel. John 17:1-3 “Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.’” Who does Jesus give eternal life to? To those the Father gave to Him before the foundation of the earth. What is eternal life that He gives to them? The ability to experientially know God, the Father, and God, the Son. How did Jesus give them eternal life? Through His righteousness that He performed in the 12 hours after He prayed those words in John 17. “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). If you know the Father and the Son, then you have eternal life. If you have the Son, then you have the life, wrote the apostle John in 1 Jo. 5:12. If you have Jesus’ life in you, then you have the love of God in you. If you have the love of God in you, then it’s intended to pour out on everyone He puts in your path, for His glory.