Christ And Adam
CHRIST AND ADAM
ROMANS 5:12-14
Paul writes about the devastating effects of Adam’s sin on the whole human race.
Pause now, as Paul does, to take stock. The relation of Christ to the human race has been expounded in the argument from 3:21 to 5:11, The first eleven verses of this chapter sum up the whole of this passage, and 5:11 is a summary of the rest. “Therefore” can refer to the larger passage, or to either of the summaries. Paul might have ended 5:14 with a sharper reference to 5:12, and said: “so also by one Man righteousness entered into the world, and life by righteousness.” This is what he virtually says. He is contrasting Adam and Christ. In the former the human race finds a unity in the flesh, and in the sin and death to which sin is heir. In Christ the human race could find unity again, a unity in the spirit, and in righteousness and life to which the spirit by faith can be the heir (1 Corinthians 15:21f.,45-49).
The argument is theologically less potent in modern thought than in ancient and Jewish thought. The involvement of group and family in the sin of the individual was demonstrated grimly in the tale of Achan (Joshua 7). On the other hand there is truth which might even find genetic confirmation in the argument. Adam admitted a force of death into the world of humanity. The fatal principle gained entry into the world, and it was impossible to exclude it save by an extraordinary act. The communicability of sin, in our close-knit society, is demonstrable. As John Donne said centuries ago: “No man is an island, entire of himself.” And do we have any need to prove or to demonstrate the indissoluble link between sin and death?
Thought How much do we contribute this day to the world’s total of good or evil?