Romans 5

Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Rom. 5:18–21)

Sin and death came into the world through one man, Adam. While Adam’s one act led to condemnation for all people, Paul says Jesus’s one act of justification leads to life for all men. We know Paul cannot mean that all humans are universally saved through Christ’s work on the cross, because he is clear in many other places in this letter and others that we are justified by faith alone. Jesus’s gift of justification is for all men and women who believe. 

Adam’s one trespass is no match for Jesus’s one act of righteousness. On the cross, Jesus undoes all that has been done in Adam—for those who believe. What a comfort to know that your many sins and mine are erased and forgiven by the obedience of Jesus, who died in our place and paid the penalty for our sin. 

When we take stock of our lives, thoughts, words, and deeds—our very identities—may you and I who are in Christ see ourselves in Jesus more than we see ourselves in Adam. The work of Christ in our lives overcomes the work of Adam. We are in Christ, and he alone gets the last word! 

When Paul says that “the law came in to increase the trespass,” he means the law helps us be aware of our sin and be sensitive to it. The law makes clear exactly when you and I trespass against our holy God. With God’s standard made clear, we cannot explain away the sin in our lives. Our awareness of what sin is helps us acknowledge the hard truth that we are more sinful than we’d like to admit. Further, Paul is likely pointing to the observable reality that when we sinful humans know what a law or rules says, we often want to break it, just because we know it. A toddler who reaches out to touch a hot stove often becomes more determined to touch it when her parent shouts, “No!” Paul even writes about how our “sinful passions [are] aroused by the law” (7:5). 

But where there is sin, there is still more grace. We cannot out-sin our God’s mercy! There is nothing any Christian can do to make God love them more or love them less. Our standing is certain in Jesus because of his free gift. Grace reigns. We have eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. This is such good news. May we make it our own. We live in dark days, but the work of Adam does not prevail. Jesus’s grace and kindness is so much more!
Jen Oshman is an author, speaker, church planter’s wife, and mom of four teen and young adult daughters. She has served as a missionary and church planter for over two decades on three continents. She currently resides in Colorado, where she is the director of women’s ministry at Redemption Parker, which her family planted in 2017. You can keep in touch with Jen at jenoshman.com.