Unlimited: The Incomparable Gift
Sep 21, 2022 705
Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin (Romans 5:16a)
While both the condemnation and the justification came through “one man,” Paul now emphasizes that the results of these cannot be compared. There is no comparison between the gift of God’s grace and the result of Adam’s sin.
We see the results of Adam’s sin everywhere around us. It shapes and taints every aspect of our lives, every relationship, and seeks to corrupt every pleasure. But the gift of God is not so immediately obvious to our physical senses.
The gift of God completely undoes the curse of sin.
God created humanity under his government of love. Because of his loving nature, God created our first parents in his image, with freedom of choice. The purpose of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was so that Adam and Eve might have a means to signal that they no longer wanted to be under God’s government.
When Adam and Eve chose to disobey God and they ate the forbidden fruit, they were signaling that they were placing themselves and this world, which God had put under their authority, into the authority of the serpent. As a result, sin and death came into the world, to control it and into the human heart.
However, the gift of God completely undoes the curse of sin:
…where sin increased, grace increased all the more (Rom. 5:20.)
Spiritual Application
Have you reflected on the reasons why you choose to follow Christ? Take some time apart to think of how your life would have been without him in it. Let that lead you into private prayer and praise.
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