Come and worship a holy God, the One and the Only.
”Your perception of Me as you try to imagine Me, falls far short of who I really am and how I manifest Myself. It is way beyond your reach to plumb the depths, heights, and width of Me and My love, yet through My grace I reveal enough of Myself to you so that you can know Me. Not just in a distant intellectual way, but in a personal, intimate way. And as you progress in your walk with Me I am continually revealing more of Me and my expectations of you. Beyond all this I am covering it all with My infinite love which will always protect you .”
Read Romans 5:12 -21. Paul has completed the preamble and starts the following section with a statement; vs 12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned. As he comes to the end of that verse, Paul pauses and in fact that verse is never completed. It’s as if Paul then realised the importance of that statement and wants to expand on it.
The question is, can the actions of one man have such a profound effect on so many? So there follows three paragraphs aimed at explaining how this can be. Each paragraph has a different point, but adding to the original argument.
Vv 13,14. Adam was the pattern of the one to come (14 c). His original sim resulted in everyone after him being under the reign of death. He alone was responsible and as such he represents a pattern of Jesus’ death which would reverse this for everyone who would believe.
Vv 15-17: Here the “gift” and the “trespass” are contrasted. Twice Paul uses the phrase How much more, to indicate the huge contrast between the awful sin of Adam which introduced death into the world and the gift that came by the grace of one man Jesus, overflow to the many. And later if death reigned through one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision …..reign in life through one man, Jesus Christ. Although Adam’s sin had devastating results, Jesus’ salvation act is much more powerful and worthy.
vv 18-21 Here Adam and Christ are compared. Three times Paul uses the phrase just as and a few words later so also. Just as one man’s sin resulted in condemnation for all men, so also the act of justification brings life to all men. Then just as the one act of disobedience made everyone sinners, so also many will be made righteous (note here, not all men).
Finally, vv 20,21, the law was added to make people more aware of their sinfulness and the fact that sin resulted in death, so also this caused the concept of grace to increase to show the value of the death that Jesus died on our behalf to bring us righteousness and eternal life.
The purpose of this section seems to be twofold. 1. To demonstrate the fact that one person’s acts can, in fact, have a lasting effect on many. And 2. To demonstrate again the value of Jesus’ death in saving us from eternal death and giving us righteousness and new life.
I must admit I struggled at first to see the relevance of this section till the reality dawned on me. We are all condemned to death aro. Adam’s sin, yet the work of Jesus in dying on the cross is so great that it is infinitely possible for every believer to have their condemnation removed and receive a new righteousness and life. What a great God we have, who thought out this plan. God bless till next week