By One Man’s Obedience

For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous. 

Romans 5:19 

Humanity has never been able to successfully obey God. Much of the discussion of Romans 5 revolves around Adam’s failure to obey God’s command and the disastrous results of that failure. Adam was acting on behalf of all his natural descendants. Because he fell, we fell. Our text summarizes that discussion. It says, ‘By one man’s disobedience many were made sinners.’ We are the inheritors of Adam’s status because he was acting as our representative. Thus, we enter the world sinners by nature and in time by choice. This is a universal state and condition. We cannot avoid it, or by our own efforts reverse it. Paul spent the first two and a half chapters of Romans explaining to us the condemnation under which we are naturally abiding. In chapter five he traces the status we hold from the historical perspective of our first parent’s sin. Christ is the One Who has done what is necessary to reverse Adam’s failure. The second portion of our text sets it forth with the words, ‘So also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.’ This summarizes Christ’s active and passive obedience. His life was His active obedience. His death was His passive obedience. He has successfully reversed all that was lost in Adam.  

Our Good and Loving Savior, 
we rejoice in Your perfect obedience. 
We praise You that You have done all that is necessary 
to bring us to God. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning