day no. 14,539: without the Law

Romans 5:12-14
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. 

In talking with Paige this morning this verse came to mind. We were discussing Leviticus and life before the Law. We were talking about how sin was in the world before the Law was written down. There were sacrifices (Abel, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, etc...) of various kinds and types being offered at various times for various reasons. There was continuity in seeing that blood was connected to sin and death was needed to atone for the transgression of the living. But what had never occurred to me before was that grace and favor were also present during that time WITHOUT THE LAW. People were dying without the Law and this makes sense because sin was present. But people were being blessed and pursued by God without the Law because grace was present. Anyone who found favor with God before the Law was found by God by His prerogative. They were not found because they had been doing works of the Law. They were blessed by the free gift of God. And just as the weight of sin and death came to be visible through the written Law, so too the weight of grace and life came to be visible through the Word made flesh and put to death.