"But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!” Romans 5:15.
There has been a 'trespass', which means, someone has been trespassed against. Someone has trodden on someone else. In this case someone has trodden on someone else's rightful glory - they have sullied it. The less glorious has made himself out to be the more glorious, and the more glorious has been robbed of his glory by the less glorious. The creature has trespassed on the creator.
Who was the trespasser? It was one man - the first man, Adam; made in the image of his creator God. He overstepped his allotted boundary and he trod on the majesty and the glory of his maker. That trespass resulted in death and, when he trespassed like that, he trespassed as the representative head of all his offspring, and so he brought death upon us all.
But, God, in his surpassingly great mercy introduced another man. A man like the first man, but a man incapable of trespass. A man who would never dream of robbing glory from his Father - Jesus. If the many died because of the actions of their representative head, then what will be the outcome of the actions of this man on behalf of those he represents?
The answer is, not just life, but more than life - life from the dead (Romans 11:15). And if the transgression of Adam resulted in so much death, then how much more will God's grace in the obedience of Jesus result in life from the dead for many people!
For surely, it is easier to lose something, than it is to have had it, and lost it and then to regain it. That means the effects of the work of the Last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45) are greater than those of the first Adam. And if the effects of the actions of the first Adam were the inheritance of his offspring, then the effects of the actions of the second Adam are the inheritance of his offspring also. They are freely inherited. They are freely received. They are a free gift. Life from the dead is a free gift of Jesus to all of his blood-bought people.
Without Jesus, no free gift of life from the dead. Without his birth, no hope of resurrection life!
Comments