How is God's grace greater than the failures of the people in Jesus' genealogy?
God's grace surpasses human failure because Paul writes that where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Even when people in the genealogy fell low or directly opposed God's instructions, His grace went beyond their sin, bringing the four women into renown by placing them in the genealogy.
Les explains from Romans 5:20 that sin is seen in all its awfulness, yet where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. He applies this to the genealogy: as low as some of those people may have fallen, God's grace was able to go beyond it. Even though we are not under the program of grace, God's grace has always been evident. When Adam sinned, Adam and Eve did not run looking for God; God went looking for them on the basis of grace and brought them back into relationship with Himself. Israel repeatedly turned their back on Jehovah and went to the depths of rejecting Him, yet God always went back to them because of His grace. In the same way, the four women in the genealogy were in direct opposition to everything God had instructed, yet in His mercy and grace He was able to bring them into a place of renown by being in the genealogy.
Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
More Questions
Why does the speaker appeal to Romans 5:20 when discussing Jesus' genealogy?
Les says Romans 5:20 best explains the surprising inclusion of these people in Jesus' genealogy, because even though this is back in the Jewish economy under the Law, it is still the same God.