There’s a difference between ignorant disobedience and informed disobedience. Actions of ignorant disobedience are the rules I break while unaware those rules exist in the first place. I’ve been in countries where the expected customs were solemn and very different than what I expected or practiced. I’ve been reprimanded in airports where policies change, and I was unaware. I’ve been reminded of specific driving laws as I prepare my kids for obtaining their licenses. I was ignorant, but that doesn’t mean I was obedient. I was unaware that my decisions were inviting punishment.
Informed disobedience is a different thing. It’s an attitude that you know what the rules are, and you don’t care. The willful rebellion of communicated expectations is a resolved disobedience. While the attitudes may differ, the result can be the same: If you break the rules, you will suffer the consequences.
20 The law came along to multiply the trespass. But where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death,so also grace will reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 5:20-21.
The Apostle Paul said that “the law came along to multiply the trespass” (Rom. 5:20). What does he mean by that? When you read all the rules, you come to grips with how many you have disobeyed and how often you have disobeyed them. I talked with a recent convert once who said after reading the Bible, he realized how sinful he had been.
The commandments in Scripture educate us on how sinful we truly are. But instead of leaving us in our rebellious despair, we learn of something that is even more numerous than our trespasses—it is God’s grace (Rom. 5:20). The grace available to us is multiplied to cover our multiple sins, those ignorant and those informed. Sin once reigned in our lives, but due to His grace, righteousness has now taken over.
God’s grace means that we can live free of guilt in this life and free from consequences in the life to come (Rom. 5:21). The law tells us how helpless we are, but grace reveals how far Jesus was willing to go to help us. As you consider the depth of your sin today, thank Jesus for His abundant grace, which can even overshadow something as great as our disobedience.
Travis Agnew serves as the Lead Pastor of Rocky Creek Church in Greenville, SC. His most recent book is Just (About) Married.
