Romans 5: 12-21
Therefore, just as through one
man sin entered into the World, and death through sin, and so death
spread to all men, because all sinned--
Adam's DNA was damaged when he ate that piece of fruit, and because he was disobeying the commandment, he would now have to be subject to death in order to be redeemed.
Because his DNA was changed, he passed on that damaged gene to every person born since then in his genetic line.
And God cursed the Earth because of his sin, so that now everything winds down and wears out. This extended to the whole Universe, the neighborhood the Earth resides in.
And because all humanity has that damaged DNA, now our ability to choose what is right has been bent toward the wrong decision, and the compass that our conscience needs to be is not accurate, but it still works.
for until the Law sin was in the World, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
If there's no rule to break, it can't be broken.
Nevertheless
death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned
in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to
come.
Everybody died, even though they didn't disobey a specific commandment like Adam did. But everybody was aware that they weren't perfect, they made mistakes, they did wrong; so they all deserved to die, so they died.
Adam is called a "type" because what he did affected everyone after him, just like what Jesus did also affects everyone, also. So Adam had the first chance, and blew it, and Christ gives us all another chance to get it right.
But
the free gift is not like the transgression.
A gift must be received by choice, but the transgression that damaged Adam affected all of us automatically.
For if by the
transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God
and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the
many.
If all people have to die now, it's the common thing that happens to everybody. But when people come to God and accept the gracious gift He offers through His Son, then how much greater that is, in comparison to what will naturally happen.
The gift is
not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand
the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation,
but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions
resulting in justification.
Another difference is that the condemnation on everyone was a result of just one disobedient transgression, but God's gift of redemption comes to justify many disobedient transgressions.
For
if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much
more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of
righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
Through one man, Adam, death was inflicted on all humanity. How much better and greater is the abundance we all can receive in the gracious gift from the one Man, Jesus Christ, applied to all of us who will receive it, to claim the victory over death and instead live forever.
So
then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all
men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted
justification of life to all men.
And the one act of disobedience resulted in condemnation of death to everybody, so now the one act of obedience results in the justification to give life to everybody.
For
as through the one one man's disobedience the many were made sinners,
even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made
righteous.
So through one man's one act of disobedience, all Mankind became rebellious beings; now through one Man's act of obedience, all Mankind can be made into righteous beings. A complete turn-around and remolding of our very beings.
The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,
Then God gave the written Law, so that people would have a set of rules to give them a definite path to walk, and they could know when they missed the mark. Then they could count specific transgressions, instead of experiencing a general feeling of anxiety and guilt, and be able to confess the individual sins.
The more sins we are aware of, the greater is the graciousness of God in forgiving them; the higher the debt, the greater the amount of payment is required to pay it off.
so
that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through
righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Jesus came to be our Christ and our Sacrificial Lamb to break the hold that sin has on all the human race. He paid the ultimate price, the full amount of the payment we all owe, buying us out of the slave-market of sin. Now we don't have to die, we don't have to fear death, because we can know that we will live forever with Him. If we decide to believe.
O my Father, the enormity of it all! That the whole human race would be enslaved to the bonds of sin and death, being totally helpless to do anything to free ourselves; and You have made the Grand Gesture in sending Your own Son, to take upon Himself the burden of this whole World, to break us out of bondage and set us free!
Father, Jesus' payment is more than enough to pay off the debt of every person who ever lived! You are not willing for any to perish, and we were all perishing! So You sent Jesus to release us!
Please send out Your workers to tell everyone they can be free, and not have to struggle any more, only to end up destroyed! O Father, they all need to hear! Every living person needs to understand how much You Love them!
You will be sending Your Son back very soon, as You have been preparing this World for the final showdown, when He will defeat all the forces of evil, and the evil one's minions, and set up His Kingdom of Righteousness, to give this Earth its Golden Age!
And every eye will see, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess in every language that Jesus is our Christ, our Lord God Almighty, the King of the Universe, to the eternal glory of Almighty God the Father, forever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
