Romans 5:20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: 21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
Paul has shown us that before the law came, we were sinners. Sin came by Adam, not by the law. The law is there to point out our sin and further show our guilt before God.
Romans 7:12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. 13 Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
The law which was good could only condemn sinners. Remember, we sin because we are sinners. We are not sinners because we sin. We are conceived in sin and therefore all we can do is sin. There is no righteousness in us. The law points that out to us and in so condemns us. Thankfully we see those words in Romans 3 but now.
Romans 3:21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
Our solution has come. The law which once held us in bondage can do so no more. Sin had reigned unto death, but now by grace eternal life has come by Jesus Christ.
Romans 7:1 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? 2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. 3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. 4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. 5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. 6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
Paul uses the image of marriage to illustrate this very idea. Before Christ came, we were married to the law. The law was our only hope. The problem is that we were weak. We were sinners. We were ungodly. We were without strength. But now the law is dead to us and we are married to another. We are free from the law by our marriage to Him. We are dead to the law by the body of Christ. Not just that He had a body, but He had blood and that blood was shed. By that shed blood, by the body of Christ we are dead to our old husband. Previously under that old husband, all we did brought forth fruit unto death. All our works to commend us to God, all the conditions we place upon ourselves to make us right with God are unto death. Now by His blood we are delivered from the law. We are delivered from the law to the one who fulfilled the law and the one who earned all that was promised by fulfilling the law. Look at Galatians 3:
Galatians 3:22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. 24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
Here in Galatians 3 Paul uses the idea of a schoolmaster. The law is our schoolmaster. Until faith came, we were kept under this schoolmaster. We were kept under the law. What did man wait for? He waited for the revelation of the faith mentioned here. We waited for that faith that would make us dead to the law. When that faith, when Christ came, we were no longer under the law.
Do you see yourself participating in what Paul is telling us here in Romans 7 or in Galatians 3? The answer is no and that is how it can be said even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Grace would come through righteousness, the righteousness of God earned by Jesus Christ, which is unto eternal life.