Romans 5:12-21
With Thanksgiving now behind us here in the United States, we head into the hustle and bustle of the weeks before Christmas. We somehow have one less week between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, which means I have one less week to procrastinate! It also means many of us will be decorating, shopping, baking, cleaning, and attending all types of festive gatherings and events on a compressed timeline. “It’s the most wonderful time of the year!”
The Christmas shopping season is usually full of places advertising free gifts to entice you to shop there. It’s smart. Who doesn’t love free gifts? I especially love when a free gift is so good that I can give it to someone else as a gift (or in addition to a gift) and spread even more cheer. I am not above regifting! 🙂
Free Gifts in the Bible
Recently, I was reading Romans 5:12-21 (NKJV). I was struck by how the author, the Apostle Paul, advertises free gifts, too. As I continued to read, I began to reflect on this idea and each of the free gifts Paul mentions in these passages and how they are available to us through Jesus. Then more so, I began to reflect on how Jesus Himself is the ultimate and greatest free gift there is, and how He is the gift through which all these other gifts are bestowed.
So, I feel inspired to do a four-part series leading up to Christmas, first on the gift that is Jesus, and then one on each of the other three gifts Paul mentions here (there are so many others!):
- The Gift of Grace (Romans 5:15 NKJV)
- The Gift of Justification (Romans 5:16 NKJV)
- The Gift of Righteousness (Romans 5:17 NKJV)
The Gift of Jesus
John 3:16 is a verse that is often referenced and quoted because it is probably the quintessential verse that best summarizes why God the Father gave us the gift of His Son Jesus:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16 ESV
What that verse says is simply this: God loves people so much that He allowed people to put His Son Jesus to death so that people could be saved by believing in His Son. In my humanity, I can’t understand or comprehend that kind of love. Paul talks about this very thing in Ephesians 3:18-19.
18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully.
As a mom, I can’t imagine giving up one of my sons so that someone else – even my other son, for example – could live. But, let’s take that to an extreme. Imagine giving up your own child so that a murderer, for example, might have the opportunity to avoid jail or even the death penalty. Now imagine doing that same thing when the murderer is the very one who took your child’s life.
It’s unfathomable, right? No one would ever do or allow this with their own child. Even the thought of it offends common sense and decency, and everything we know about legalities and justice here in this world. And that’s actually the point. God did what none of us could or would do to save us. He sent His Son into the world to die a brutal death so we don’t have to. This is how much He loves us. It’s an incomprehensible, sacrificial love that we don’t deserve and could never earn.
This is why Jesus is such a gift to us. He came to earth fully man and fully God. As a man, He had the same free will we all do, and He therefore could have chosen differently. He didn’t because Jesus only ever did the will of His Father (John 6:38). He loved His Father so much that He wouldn’t choose disobedience, even when it meant losing His own life.
As God, He knew and also shared the Father’s love for us. He understood His assignment. He knew He was the single sacrifice required for the salvation of many. So, out of complete obedience and the purist of loves, He fulfilled His assignment. He became our salvation – the only name by which we will be saved (Acts 4:12) – for the glory of His Father.
I will close with this verse from Romans 6:23 (NKJV):
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Free Gift Opportunity!
If you have read this far, thank you and congratulations! In the spirit of giving and free gifts, I’d like to send you a free copy of the Born to Win Anthology. You can read more about this book project in my Shop.
The first person to email me at kamypuett@gmail.com with their full name and complete shipping address will get the free copy (shipping included) – my gift of Jesus to you. Your personal information will be kept private, safe and secure and will not be used for any purpose other than to send you your gift. **Free gift offer expires 25-Dec-24**.
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