“But the gift is not like the trespass. For if by the one man’s trespass the many died, how much more have the grace of God and the gift which comes through the grace of the one man Jesus Christ overflowed to the many. And the gift is not like the one man’s sin, because from one sin came the judgment, resulting in condemnation, but from many trespasses came the gift, resulting in justification. If by the one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive the overflow of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.” (CSB – Read the chapter)
While he was alive, Steve Jobs was Apple. It really wasn’t possible to think of one without the other. Today, Tesla or SpaceX are Elon Musk. When you think of either of those companies, his is the first name that comes to mind. There’s a reason, after all, that Tesla dealerships and vehicles have been the recipients of violent protests recently as Musk has risen to the status of public enemy number one for the political and cultural left. There are some people who serve as representative heads of an organization. Sometimes that’s on purpose on their part. Other times it’s just how things happen to fall out. In this next part of Paul’s letter to the Roman believers, he’s talking about two people who became representative heads of something much bigger than a single organization. Let’s unpack what he’s saying together.
The first of these two people was the first man, Adam. We spent time yesterday examining Paul’s argument that upon his sin, humanity’s very nature was broken. Now, at first glance, this is a hard idea to stomach. After all, why should we be blamed or bear the guilt of something someone did thousands of years before we lived? There are several responses to this.
For starters, this isn’t an idea that Paul is introducing out of nowhere. There are at least two of David’s psalms that create a context for what Paul is arguing here almost a thousand years later. There’s also something in Jeremiah that adds to the wonder of God’s response to it. In Psalm 139, David establishes God’s perfect knowledge of us before we are even born. “My bones were not hidden from you when I was made in secret, when I was formed in the depths of the earth [he’s speaking metaphorically about a mother’s womb]. Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my days were written in your book and planned before a single one of them began.”
Earlier, in Psalm 51, David’s eloquent confession after his sin involving having an affair with the wife of one of his military officers (which possibly involved rape), and the subsequent engineering of his murder, the great prophet and king said this: “Indeed, I was guilty when I was born; I was sinful when my mother conceived me.” So, the stain of sin affects us in utero. It is somehow passed from one generation to the next. It is part of our spiritual DNA. And God is fully aware of this.
This is where Jeremiah 1:4-5 come so powerfully into play. God may be aware of our brokenness before we are even born, but that doesn’t stop Him from making plans for us to accomplish great things to advance His kingdom with His power working through us. Listen to what He said to Jeremiah when calling the young man to serve Him as a prophet: “The word of the Lord came to me: I chose you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart before you were born. I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah may have been one born into sin just like you and me because of Adam’s foundational transgression, but God planned to invite Him into His great work anyway.
The point here is that the ancient Israelites understood the linger, corrupting impact of Adam’s sin long before Paul wrote about it for the Roman believers. Still, though, how is it fair for Adam’s sin to be imputed to us? Well, how is it fair that a parent’s poor choices can affect their children from out of the womb? When a mother drinks while she’s pregnant, her children can be born with fetal alcohol syndrome which causes a variety of physical effects, but also leaves them predisposed toward their own struggles with alcohol later on. When a child, now grown, acts on this predisposition, whose fault is that choice? He may have been conditioned toward it from birth, but he nonetheless is the one who ordered the drink and drank it. And the next. And the next. And the next. It’s a both-and. The condition was there from the parents, but the child makes the meaningful and consequential choice to act on it.
The effect of Adam’s sin on the rest of humanity is like that. Our very nature, our spiritual DNA, was broken by his decision to sin. And, yes, Eve was the one who ate the fruit first and actually committed the first sin, but Adam is held responsible as he obviously didn’t properly pass along God’s one command to his wife or act to lead her away from such a fateful decision. And, as soon as she handed him the fruit, he promptly took a bite of his own. His guilt is in some ways worse than hers. Sin corrupts and destroys. Those things are its nature. As soon as Adam allowed sin in the door, his nature was corrupted, and that corruption has been passed down ever since like a gene that unfailingly expresses itself in every single person without fail, save Jesus. This is the trespass Paul mentions here.
But God wasn’t willing to leave things like this any longer than they needed to be. When the time was right He sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons and daughters of God. Jesus became a second representative head. He came to be the representative head of a new humanity, one that can live free from the stain of sin and live instead with the righteousness of God. God took on human flesh, He was incarnated, to use the more accurate, Latin-rooted word, lived perfectly in line with the Law throughout His life, fulfilling that covenant, and then laid down His life as a sacrificial offering to pay the price for our sins by offering in our stead what our sins demanded: a life returned fully to God. This allowed Him to pass along a gift of grace to all of humanity, to any who would willingly receive it.
What Paul is doing in these verses is to contrast these two representative heads and the impact of their work. The two are not the same. The latter is the superior to the former in every way. “For if by the one man’s trespass the many died, how much more have the grace of God and the gift which comes through the grace of the one man Jesus Christ overflowed to the many.” Adam’s sin brought death to all humanity. Jesus’ righteousness, brought life.
The idea of one person’s trespass overflowing to many, causing them to suffer as well, is not an unheard of idea to us. Imagine the classroom where one misbehaving student results in the whole group losing a privilege of some kind. The reverse of this is the harder to imagine. When has one person’s goodness spilled over to so many others like that? Maybe a student does something respectful or thoughtful enough that the teacher extends a reward to the whole class, but that’s much rarer than the first situation.
Yet this is exactly what Jesus accomplished on a cosmic scale. “And the gift is not like the one man’s sin, because from one sin came the judgment, resulting in condemnation, but from many trespasses came the gift, resulting in justification.” Adam’s one sin brought condemnation on all of humanity since. But out of all that sin, Jesus came, got it right one time, and now everyone can receive justification for their sins in Him. The grace of God here is impossible to get our minds fully around it is so immense.
And there’s still more: “If by the one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive the overflow of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.” Adam may have served as a representative of humanity, delivering all of us up to condemnation and judgment, but in Christ, there is a new head. And all who are willing to go to Him in faith can receive justification from their sins because of the greatness of His goodness and the grace of God. Covered by His righteousness and overflowed by His goodness, we can walk in the newness of life He brings for all of eternity in God’s righteous kingdom.
All it takes to receive this incredible gift is the decision to follow Him. I hope you’ll make it.
The Nexus 
The idea of indoctrinating children with the vile notion they are sinners, no matter how you try to sugarcoat it, truly is the epitome of mental abuse and when such indoctrination is successful(sic) the long term damage is so often there for all to see.
Reading posts like this is akin to reading a treatise on lies.
I suppose to blame you for promoting this filth is pointless as you are just as indoctrinated, and of course you are paid to do it.
We all have to eat and a man must put food on the table for his family. One reason there are members on the Clergy project who have completely lost faith but still maintain the charade.
However, at some point even a person like you must stand up an take responsibility for pushing this supernatural rubbish and take steps up make amends.
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You might want to rethink your theory on lies. For example, you mentioned watching a video by Sean Carroll. Not interested. Why? Because he would only be joining a long list of physicists who have deemed their ideas the gospel (no pun intended) only to be proven wrong later on down the line. Check out this list of “proven” theories in physics and astronomy:
Physics:
Corpuscularianism, Emission theory of vision, Aristotelian physics, Ptolemy’s law of refraction, Luminiferous aether, Caloric theory, Contact tension, Imponderable fluid, the Emitter theory, Electromotive force § History, Line of force
How about the structure of the atom? These have all been disproven
John Dalton’s model of the atom, Plum pudding model of the atom, Rutherford’s model of the atom, Bohr’s model of the atom with quantized orbits, Electron cloud model of the atom
Astronomy:
Ptolemaic system, Geocentric universe, Copernican system, Heliocentric universe, Aristotelian Dynamics of the celestial spheres, Tychonic system, Luminiferous aether theory, Static Universe theory, Steady state theory
What exactly gives you any inclination that what Sean Carroll is spouting in 2025 will be relevent in 20 years? Or 10? Maybe even 2. Lol.
I found it humorous that athesits for years have been saying there is no God but none of them can come up with a better theory on how the universe was formed that holds water for more than 100 years.
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@Thomas.
Of course you are not interested in science, Thomas. That is why you are an indoctrinated Christian who accepts the drivel of the Bible and very likely rejects evolution.
And I stand firmly by my assertion this post is like a treatise of lies.
And if indoctrinated into children, mental abuse.
If you have issues with Carroll feel free to present evidence of your god, Yahweh as the creator behind it all.
Atheists do not have to come up with an alternative theory of the origin of the universe as the answer is currently unknown and honest people will acknowledge this fact and simply say “I don’t know.”
As a theist, you on the other hand have the responsibilty to provide evidence of your god and not only that, to provide evidence that Jesus of Nazareth is the sane creator.
So, away you go Thomas.. the floor is yours.
Let’s see how honest you are.
I’ll be honest, I don’t hold out much hope of an honest reply but you never know, right?
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I digress. I was mistaken. I did watch Sean Carroll outstanding take on the multiverse universe concept. I was confused as it was a different video than you shared
He looks different with a goatee.
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I shared a Carroll video?
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As I wrote. Not much chance of you showing any honesty.
However, it does seem that behaving like an Arsehat might be something you are quite good at.
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I’m not astrophysicist and don’t claim to be. Don’t know a lot about physics, not my cup of tea.
But here’s a story you might enjoy.
Let’s say when you were 20 you were trying to get into Oxford and the board of regents are interviewing you for a spot at the university. One of the regents says,
“Ark, you have one final question. If you get this question right, welcome to Oxford.”
“What is 4 times 5?”
You are incredulous. 4 times 5? You were told this answer when you were in the 3rd grade. You memorized it. You’ve read the answer in a several math books. You have literally known that answer for 12 years, more than half your time on Earth.
4 times 5??? Seriously?
“20”, you responds in about 3 tenths of a second.
“Oh, no.”the regent responds. “So close, sorry!”
You’re dumbfounded. You know it’s 20. It’s always been 20.
“Excuse me, sir. But if 20 is the wrong answer, what is 4 times 5?”
The regents all huddle together for 5 minutes, animatedly in discussion. Finally the main regent speaks
“We don’t know”
Sorry that what I’ve known since childhood, the God I pray to everyday, the Bible I read every day, sorry if you are unable to change my mind with the argument that when I ask if not God then what, you answer “We don’t know.”
As great as that logic is, I think I’ll pass and stick with what I do know.
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As I thought… Dishonesty.
And as I also noted a genuine Arsehat in the making. We’ll done.
Carry on Sergeant!
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You offend me calling me an Arsehat in the making. I am 65 years old and card carrying Arsehat for at least 23 years.
At ease, General Nonsense.
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Apologies. I should have realized as an indoctrinated god botherer you have had ample years to practice.
Maybe it’s time you had a go at being honest?
I realize this is a novel idea for you, but you might just find it to be refreshing.
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Lol. If you’re attempting to get under my skin don’t bother. I work with the public every day and have for 31 years. I’ve heard and been called pretty much every word in the book. Arsehat is a compliment compared to some of my monikers over the years.
You want some honesty? Here goes. Your comments are getting repetitive. You’ve become a one trick pony. You’re a billy goat butting your head against a brick wall and the wall is winning.
A novel idea for me is “The Shining”. I’ve read it twice, so I guess you could say yes, it was refreshing.
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Surely, by now, if you have been called “pretty much every name in the book” you should have questioned your approach to dealing with the public?
Maybe the most important question being: What am I doing wrong that is causing people to react this way toward me?
Just a thought.
As the Christian script has been the same dishonest, vile rubbish since the first perhaps you are simply unable to recognise real honesty anymore?
Another reason people call you all those “names in the book. “?
You must understand that the reason you defend such nonsense is because you are indoctrinated. And let’s be frank here, in any other scenario you would almost certainly condemn it.
And for the record, this is not simply me spouting off either, but the verdict of every former Christian of whom I have asked this question.
I never engage Christians with the object of de-conversion.
Good heavens’, that would be the height of arrogance, something the average believer is very familiar with. No, my reason for engaging is at least threefold.
1. I always learn something. Always.
2. There is always the chance that some ‘lurkers’ may be reading along.
3. To this end, I enjoy exposing the complete lack of evidence, the disingenuity, and with posts such as these, highlighting just how abusive your faith-based religion truly is.
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The customers who hate me are upset that our website is too hard to navigate. They fail to realize that safeguards are in place to protect the customers banking information. The most abrasive have read a thing or two about website security, know a few words of the terminology and then proceed to blast me with criticism of how stupid our company is about website navigation. Hmmmmm
It’s good you’re not trying to convert Christians to atheism. You’ve already admitted that atheists don’t know how the universe was created, only how it was not. You need a plan B. It would be like telling me to pull my retirement money out of my 401k as it was useless and not worthy of my investment. Then when I take it out and ask how I should invest it your response is “beats me, I just know 401ks stink” You need a plan B.
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The customers who hate me are upset that our website is too hard to navigate. They fail to realize that safeguards are in place to protect the customers banking information. The most abrasive have read a thing or two about website security, know a few words of the terminology and then proceed to blast me with criticism of how stupid our company is about website navigation. Hmmmmm
It’s good you’re not trying to convert Christians to atheism. You’ve already admitted that atheists don’t know how the universe was created, only how it was not. You need a plan B. It would be like telling me to pull my retirement money out of my 401k as it was useless and not worthy of my investment. Then when I take it out and ask how I should invest it your response is “beats me, I just know 401ks stink” You need a plan B.
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Again, if you are still getting blasted by your customers perhaps you need to put aside your arrogance and develop better people skills?
This way you would not only be helping your customers but also your bank.
Christians don’t know how the universe was created but like you they claim they do, then indoctrinate others. That is dishonest.
Worse, they assert non-believers are sinners and doomed if they refuse to accept who this creator is.
Of course, when you say such things to rational stable adults you just come across as a bloody idiot.
When you preach such nonsense to children and others who are vulnerable you are nothing but an abuser.
I don’t know how the universe was not created and never suggested otherwise.
The current answer is we don’t know. Period.
Perhaps you should focus on being honest about the claims you make and stop trying to sound clever, as you just sound rather foolish.
Hmmm.
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For the record I don’t reciprocate when members blast me for not know how to navigate the website. I am always patient and nice. I understand that people get frustrated when they don’t understand the way things work and it’s not their fault they let their emotions get the best of them.
Have a pleasant day Mr. Ark.
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Again, there is a message being the blasting. Perhaps you need to take the time and solve the problem rather than continue to justify it?
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Your problem is you don’t read other’s replies evidentally. Our website is fine. We had to make it more secure by govenment mandate to handle financial transactions. It’s nicknamed “the red flag rules” and is basically an audit that can occur at any time to make sure our webiste is secure when handling cc payments and checking. There are continuous secure protocols that have to be enacted to follow the guidelines.This newest procedure incurs the website to make the customer change their password once a year, which many of them are not happy about. We don’t need to fix anything. Read my posts, for goodness sakes.
And the customer don’t hate me, figure of speech. No more than any customers you ever had who hated you when your cakes did not satisfy their expectations.
And please don’t try to tell me that you’ve never had that occur. I may have been born at night, but it wasn’t last night.
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I did read your post… For goodness’ sake, and I am aware of the need for banking safety protocols.
Again, you need to relook at your arrogance (intransigence) and also why you claim some of your customers “hate” you.
There is always an opportunity somewhere.
Maybe you could pray to your god, Yahweh for an answer? After all, if he chooses to cure cancer victims solving your customer “hate ” issues should be a walk in the park. Or in his.. Oops.. His case.. a walk in the garden.
And no, I have never had a customer say they hated our cakes or our service. Trying to project any shortcomings on your end might be something else you need to look at?
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“And no, I have never had a customer say they hated our cakes or our service. Trying to project any shortcomings on your end might be something else you need to look at?”
Are you sure about that?
You might want to check your Google reviews.
You don’t work with the public for too long and not have customers disatisfied for various reason, many not of your fault.
But maybe this will help you.
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Crumbs, yes there were a couple.
Even one from someone who had obviously got the wrong company.
Though none said they hated us.
What was odd about the The Capital letter lady was her suggestion about a lack of response on our part.
We confirm all orders by text and keep all dialogue thus avoiding any chance of mix ups.
We did discuss this with her and while she finally acknowledged we never received her order she never once phoned or offered to correct her review.
Shit happens as they say…
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So let me get this straight….your negative reviews were actually the customer’s fault?
Methinks I may not be the only arrogant one on this blog.
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Yes.
Did, you not read my reply?
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We seem to have drifted far from the abuse that is a major feature in your religion.
😊
However, I guess failed customer expectations are a major feature of Christianity.
Fortunately in both our lines of work neither of us is inclined to lie to our customers so I reckon that is in our favour.
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Yep, failed customer service is a backbone of Christianity.
Proverbs 11:13 Thou shalt not provide superior services to customers at the local bazaar unless thou customers are believers in Yahweh.
I always ask our customers if they are Christians to gauge how good of service they will be receiving.
Fortunately I live in the “Bible Belt”.
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You should have stopped after your initial paragraph. You acknowledged everything in nine words.
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I guess I’ll stop on this thread now. I’m going to be busy the rest of the day providing crappy service to our hateful customers.
Go ahead and show your superior intelligence by responding with some witty comeback.
Be sure and include some derogatory remark about me and Christianity. I love those the most. And you rarely use them anymore.
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My superior intelligence?
Hmmm… Okay…I am not a Christian.
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This might be worth a read.
https://www.agroup.com/blog/7-reasons-your-website-is-not-working
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I’ll share this with our web design team. They enjoy a chuckle while they’re drinking their coffee.
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Remember the quip I made about your arrogance?
The link/article I sent you came up quite by chance on a gardening feed I was browsing about building different kinds of trellis for climbing vegetables. Not being tech savvy myself and one who sometimes has difficulty navigating websites I thought it might contains some helpful information.
However, by your reaction I am beginning to see why some of your customers “hate” you.
I would be appalled if anyone in our business were to say this about any customer.
A term , by the way, any self – respecting individual should never have to use about the people who ostensibly are the ones who put food on your table.
But then… you know best, right?
All down to faith, yes?
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