Life through Christ

ROMANS 5:12–22 “Death through Adam, Life through Christ”

Death as the wages of sin does not just refer to my personal sin, but also to the original sin of Adam: the sin of the human race. Compare this to salvation in Christ, which while personal, is not singular. Just as Adam’s sin was passed on to many, Christ’s obedience justified many. Studying this passage forces me to consider in a new way that because of Adam, I need Christ.

As someone who has often struggled to personalize Christ’s sacrifice for me because I masterfully rationalize that my sin is not so great that He should have needed to suffer the agony of the cross; because believing in some version of good works is so much easier for me, the control freak, to reconcile as fair; and because I foolishly continue to believe I control in some substantial measure the outcomes in my life, this passage forces me to see that it isn’t about me (never has been … never will be …) and how good or worthy or not good or not worthy I am. It’s about my belonging to God’s creation of the human race. Simply because I was born—not because I am weak, or disobedient, or searching for something of purpose—simply because I was born, I need Christ.

--Leigh