It is once again time to celebrate American independence. Throngs across the nation will inevitably don red, white, and blue and will express their profound patriotism for the good ole U. S. of A. Many will remember how our founding fathers risked their lives when they banded together with their ideas, fortunes, and honor for one purpose—to ensure that every individual was afforded the opportunity to pursue life, liberty, and happiness. It is their sacrifice that we today remember and it is the fruits of their indefatigable labors that we to this day so richly enjoy—and often take for granted.

But while we celebrate God’s goodness to this nation, there is a different type of freedom that no man can ever achieve by himself—the freedom from spiritual bondage and death. The apostle Paul tells us that through one man sin entered the world and death spread to all because all sinned (Rom 5:12). That is to say, Adam’s sin was imputed to humans in some profound yet real way. In Ephesians we read that, "you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind" (Eph 2:1–3). This is the unfortunate reality under which mankind lives and operates.

The good news, however, is that Paul does not just leave us with just this worrisome tale of reality but provides the good news of hope and redemption through the second man, the last Adam—Jesus Christ. "For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ" (Rom 5:17).

Death is inevitable for each and every one of us since we died in Adam, but the "reign in life" is a choice each possesses. The one who receives the grace of God or rejects it does so on the basis of personal choice. Only those who actually respond to the gospel will reign in life, but that does not begin until the gift of righteousness is received. That all sinned in Adam, and by comparison and contrast, life was spread to all through the one man Jesus Christ because of His righteousness imputed to them is the heart and sole of the reformation principle of justification by grace alone through faith alone. We are accepted in the beloved because we are cloaked in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. This is what the apostle meant when he spoke of the "abundance of grace."

Therefore, we would all do well to remember the grace of God. It could easily be pointed out that Paul makes the demonstration of God’s goodness and mercy in Ephesians 1:6, Romans 8:20–21, and again in chapter 9:22–23. Paul continually stresses that when God acts, He does so in order to demonstrate His holy wrath but also to manifest the depths of His love and mercy. We must also not forget from these passages that Paul displays God’s sovereignty as He triumphed over many sins. Adam committed one transgression and it plunged mankind into a state of sin, misery, and death. Christ took not only that one transgression from Adam but also the sins of many and reversed the spiritual effects of the fall.

So in the final analysis, the good news Paul presents in the gospel cannot be over-stated. The apostle shows us how we have been redeemed and reconciled to God and how God’s love was so great that He gave us His only Son. Perhaps John Calvin summed it up best when he wrote, "however great our wrongs may be, they are swallowed up by the infinite goodness of God." The goodness of God indeed. May we all be compelled to remember that final sola of the Protestant Reformation—soli deo gloria!