Fifth Sunday in Lent (3)

Made, Unmade, Remade, by Michael Cook

Romans 5:12-21

12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned. 13 To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. 14 Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come. 15 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! 16 Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. 17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! 18 Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. 20 The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

It’s a strange move, when you think about it, to use sin as a way of explaining grace. I think perhaps only Paul could pull this off (or only Paul would try to!). And he does so with gusto in this epic passage from his letter to the Romans. Here, Paul uses something we have experience of – that we live with the outcome of Adam’s sin – to try and explain something that is, by its very nature, beyond our full understanding – the grace of justification in Christ.

Connecting the gift of God’s grace to Adam’s sin reminds us of some fundamental truths about what it means to be human. First, we are reminded that it is in our very created nature to be with God, to walk with him in the cool of the day. We are also reminded that, just like Adam and Eve, we turn away from this relationship and that, when we do, we turn away from our own nature, a move that can lead only to death (physical and spiritual). When we turn away from our relationship with God, we turn away from who we were created to be and all the life and goodness that comes with that creation.

But God will not let his image be lost in his creation. By comparing Christ to Adam, Paul implies that our salvation is a restoration of our created nature. Christ is like a “second Adam”: just as sin entered the world through one person, Paul tells us, so too does grace enter the world through one person. Justification is also, in a way, an act of creation, the re-grounding our lives in the image of God that cannot be lost – the image of the Father in Christ himself. We are adopted as children of God through Christ; our relationship with God is made secure in Jesus’ relationship with the Father.

But the grace we receive through Christ is also quite unlike the sin that comes to us through Adam: the gift is not like the trespass. God does not just restore us to our original creation, for where sin increased, grace increased all the more. God does not just seek to fix that which was broken, but, incredibly, uses our brokenness as an opportunity to love us all the more, a truth we see in this passage through the repetition of the phrase, how much more:

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!... For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!

This is a truth and a mystery that is beyond our capacity to fully understand - what can we do except hold open our hands to receive this free gift in gratitude and awe?

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have established;
what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
mortalsthat you care for them?

Yet you have made them a little lower than God,
and crowned them with glory and honor.

Thanks be to God! Amen.

- Gillian Breckenridge