Romans 5:6-21 (Life in Christ)

This passage can be daunting and difficult, when we get caught up in the comparison Paul is making between Adam and Christ. That is not exactly the point of the chapter. Part of the idea is that Adam and Christ are not equivalent. They are, however, both the beginnings of humanity. Adam is the father of all sinners. He sinned and all his descendants have too. Christ is the father of a new humanity, one that is the way God intended it to be.

Paul has waited until this point to go back and describe the origins of sin. In chapters 1-3 he simply described sin as we all know it. That is a better way of approaching sin with most people. Up until a person is saved the ideas of origins and “sin nature” may only cause confusion and debate. Now that Paul has moved on to describe the life in Christ, the comparison between fallen humanity and saved humanity is helpful.

All humanity are sinners, through Adam—not because he sinned, but “because all sinned.” It is as though we are seeing a glimpse of history through God’s eternal perspective. When Adam sinned it was a done deal that all of humanity through all history would sin…

…save one man. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was really a new Adam because He had the opportunity and the ability to live a life without sin, and He did it. Now all those who have faith in Him have their sins wiped clean and can live a life the way God intended. This whole chapter, in the end, is about the life in Christ that we now have available to us.

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