Romans 5:12-21
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 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.
Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. You know, sometimes St. Paul can be a little confusing, especially when he is trying to be kind of literary. When you when you write, and you use a clever turn of phrase, it isn't always clear what someone is trying to say. And I think St. Paul's wording in Romans chapter five is kind of difficult. Sometimes. That's because he likes to toss around the one man phrase, referring to a bunch of different people, well, not a bunch two different people. There's the one man Adam, and the one man Jesus. And he says a lot of stuff about both of them, that is difficult to understand, especially if we just read through it quickly. So what I'd like to do today is take a look at our epistle, reading Romans chapter five, and go through it so that we can look at it slowly and understand what St. Paul is trying to say. Before we do that, we need to know what he has said up to this point. St. Paul, in the first five chapters of Romans builds an argument that leads up to Romans chapter eight. So here we are, in the beginning of Romans, he writes very simply, the Gentiles are sinners, which is something that the Romans would all have agreed about. Paul was writing to a group of Roman Christians that were looking at a country and a city that was kind of nuts, very sinful. And it would have been pretty easy for Paul to say, Do you believe these guys? They're really bad. Now, we, of course, have no idea. Since we're in such a very different situation right? Now, we're very much like that we can look out at a world and say, yeah, we can see the sin pretty clearly. But chapter two, is more difficult for the Romans. He says, it's not just the Gentiles that are sinners, but also the Jews. Even though they might not look as bad as those Romans, they still are judged maybe even more harshly, because they were given the law and have been unable to live up to it. When you get to Romans, chapter three, he comes to this conclusion for this first section. If Gentiles are sinners, even though they don't have the law, and Jews are sinners with the law, then no one is righteous. No one seeks God. Everyone is filled with sin, and cannot live up to God's expectations. And Paul ends chapter three, with a promise that the righteousness of God is not revealed through the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ, and that it's by Christ's death and resurrection, that sinners are saved. This would have been a challenge for the Jews who had been a long time in the faith. And so St. Paul in chapter four proves that this is always how God saved by going all the way back to Abraham. He says Abraham wasn't saved by obeying the law. He was saved by faith, just as we are. Then we finally get to the beginning of Chapter Five where Paul writes, therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. What he's saying is, even though you're all sinners, and you do terrible stuff, Jesus Christ has come to bring you peace, the By His death and resurrection, you have peace with God. And then in our section, Paul takes it a step further. He writes, therefore, just as sin came into the world, through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sin while is pointing us back to the the Old Testament reading, where the very two first people brought sin and death into the world. And we know that it happened. Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, committed that first sin by eating that forbidden fruit. And God brought about all of these curses. Paul continues, he says, and so death spread to all men, because all sin. So we can't just say, Adam, thanks a lot. It's all your fault. What a jerk. Right? Death is not just his fault. It is also ours. Because Adam isn't the only one to sin. You do it too. And so every person who participates in sin brings death on themselves because of that. Which is why he says that death reigned from Adam to Moses. And we know that it rains in our world, too. Why? Because you can feel it every day. Let's take a look at those curses that that God gave to the first man and the first woman. We know what they are. He says to the woman, having babies is gonna hurt. Thanks, Eve. Pretty awesome, right? That's a curse. Oh, yeah. And there will be conflict in marriage. Fortunately, all our marriages are perfect, and we never have to worry about that. To Adam, he gave something even more fun. He says work is going to be terrible. It's going to be hard. And when you work, it's not going to always turn out the way you want. That's the thorns and thistles that the ground will push for. So you're going to work a lot, it's going to be really hard. And then you're going to die. Sounds like life, doesn't it? A lot of work, and then you die. That's the curse of sin. Not only did Adam bring it into the world, but then we bring it on ourselves, every time we sin. And so we know that when we see that in action in our lives, whether it's in our bodies, or in our work, we know that it proves that we are sinners to that we need God's grace. It continues he says yet death reign from Adam to Moses, even over those who sinning was not like the transgression of Adam. What does he mean by that? What he's talking about is that there are sins that we don't know our sins until God explains it to us. Right? If someone grows up in a house with no rules, they won't know if they've broken some. Right? You have to teach people what the rules are. And when they know what the rules are, then it's more clear when they do something wrong. And that's one of the hardest things for kids in a house with no actual rules and routine is that they don't know the lines before they crossed them before they get in trouble. And so Paul is talking about that time between Adam and Moses, when God had not given his law to the world. There was still sin. But the law was not there to point it out. And so it was death that reigned over people who were sinning. Even though they didn't have that message from God to say, which sins are which. We continue. You had death rain from Adam to Moses, even over those who were sinning that was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who wants to come. This type points us to the two people that that St. Paul is trying to highlight here. In the world, there are two paths, two models two ways of life. There's the one that is the natural human that follows Adam, in his sin on the way to death. And then there is the one that follows Christ, the new creation, with the righteousness given to us from him that follows the path of life.
And St. Paul highlights that he says, but the free gift is not like the trespass, for if many died through one man's trespass. Much more have the grace of God and the free gift of grace of that one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of one's man sin for the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation. But the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. If because of one man's trespass, death, rain through that one man, much more will those who received the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. So St. Paul is setting up these two models in the natural man in Adam, death reigns is that death is their through sin, and that has been passed down to all of us and all of us sins, so we all die, and there are sins everywhere. In fact, so much sin in the world that it might as well be infinite. At the same time, there is a free gift. Following the new creation, Jesus Christ, he has followed the path of obedience, and that all who come to Him and through Him have His righteousness. And what this does is it points out something that we don't often talk about, we are used to talking about Jesus's death and resurrection for our forgiveness to wipe away the guilt of our sin. But we don't always talk about how how wonderful his life is for us, that Jesus came to be faithful for us. His obedience, his perfection, and everything that he did, becomes ours as a gift. That's why our gospel reading is paired. With the Old Testament reading today. Jesus is in the wilderness, being tempted by Satan, just like Adam and Eve. And yet he succeeds. And how different is this situation? Right? Adam and Eve are in perfection in the Garden of Eden, a wonderful place created to nurture them and be perfect for them. And Jesus is in the wilderness. He's hungry. 40 days no food. And Satan shows up and Tamsin and yet Adam and Eve cannot withstand this temptation, they fall right away. And Jesus, he steps in for us, and obeys God fully. Resist the temptation of the devil when we could not. And it isn't just that moment that Jesus is perfect for us. His perfection of resisting takes our becomes our obedience. And then when he goes out, and he heals people, and when he teaches people, and when he serves people, and when he loves people, and when he rejects in every single day of his life, that obedience, that perfection is for you. And it can be for you. Because the infinite God does it. A God who came to take our place to be perfect for us to fulfill God's law to never sin, and then take your place on the cross. And that is his gift to you. A gift given by faith and it is the answer to death. The abundance of grace Oh, those wonderful gift is easy to receive too. We're used to going to doctors to get our problems solved or at least our health problems. Sometimes it's really nice because they can solve it with just prescribing a few drugs. I remember the last time I had strep throat a while ago it was great. I mean, not the strep throat but solving it right. You go to the doctor they do the test a few minutes later they're like yep, strep. antibacterial drugs. You go you go to the pharmacy, you take them and after the course of drugs, it's gone. Like wouldn't wouldn't be great if all life's problems were like that. You go to the doctor, he's like, oh, yeah, you're feeling a little pain. Take a week of drugs. It'll be gone forever. Scared to death. Don't want to die. Okay, we got one for that. Here you go. Just take a few pills never die. Funny thing is that's actually what the church has. We can write a prescription for you to end the power of death over your life. fact we have it every day, every Sunday at least, that you can Get the medicine. That is Christ's life and righteousness given to you in Holy Communion. Because when you take in Christ in His Body and Blood, his life is given to you. His obedience is given to you, his righteousness is given to you, and death loses its power over. It's a simple prescription for everlasting life offered with the bread and the line. And how amazing is that that one man, Jesus Christ could come and live and die and rise and ascend into heaven, to give you exactly what you need to free you from death. St. Paul closes out. He says, Therefore is one trespass led to condemnation for all men. So one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. Whereas by the one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners. So by the one man's obedience, the many will be made righteous, righteous. That is the gift of Jesus Christ for all of us. We all are sinners following the model and pattern of Adam. But the curses of Adam are not our fate anymore. Jesus Christ has come to create a new Adam, a new human being. When we are in with him, his righteousness becomes ours, his perfection becomes ours, and all of those curses. We don't have to worry about them anymore. Jesus Christ has given us given us the medicine of life. All we need to do is take it in Jesus name, Amen.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai