Man, no longer under the loving rule of God, is now under the tyrannical rule of sin.  Sin not only “entered” and “abounded,” but it also “reigned” in man.

Romans 5:12

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—

Romans 5:20-21

²⁰ Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, ²¹ so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Man lives under a three-fold bondage from which he CAN NOT free himself.

Man is in bondage to sin.

John 8:34

Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.

Man is in bondage to self.

2 Corinthians 5:15

and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.

Man is in bondage to Satan.

2 Timothy 2:26

. . . and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.

The natural man is helplessly imprisoned by sin, self, and Satan. 

Not only were all men dragged into the whirlpool of sin but all of man was ruined by its corruption. Man’s personality was corrupted at the very center and the decay of sin contaminated his whole being from center to circumference. Death breathed upon man’s spirit, soul, and body its destroying fumes. Sin lurked over the human being, that beautiful being created in the image of God, and left its deadly trail everywhere, ruining it until barely a trace of Godlikeness could be found. Sin caused civil war within the human personality.

Source: “Life on the Highest Plane” by Ruth Paxson

John 8:31b-32

 . . .“If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. ³² And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

In Him,

Marion