The Abundance of Grace, Romans 5:12-17
Introduction
A philosopher was asked by a friend to show him the splendid garden of which he was always boasting. He led him to a bare rocky space behind his house. “Where is your garden?” the friend asked. “Look up,” said the philosopher; “heaven is a part of my garden.” Every good gift in the garden really comes from above; should God command the clouds to send no rain, the earth would soon be like iron.
Heaven shields, broods over, and enriches every fruitful plot of ground. Turn, then, your whole being fully toward the sunshine of God’s grace, and pray that the garden of your soul may always be as ready to receive heavenly blessing as is the garden around your dwelling.
When, by God’s enablement, you become a planter, remember that the seed is God-made, and when you become a waterer; remember that the water is also God-made.
Transition
Everything we have. Everything we are is the gift of God’s grace. The eternal salvation of Christ is not contingent upon our good works, but Christ work. The faith through which we enter into covenant with Christ is not even our own, but even our faith is the gift of God’s grace poured out to us.
Nothing we have, nothing we have done, and nothing we will ever do proceeds from us alone. Our very existence, our very being, the very breath of life which courses through us, all of this and more, are the gift of God. We, who were once dead in trespasses and sin, have been made alive through faith in Jesus Christ.
This morning my thesis is straightforward and plain; We, who were once found in the image of Adam, dead in trespass and sin, have been transformed according to abundance of God’s grace, into the image of the second Adam; Jesus Christ.
Where there was once a legacy of sin through disobedience to God, there is now available a legacy of life through the obedience to God of Jesus Christ. Philippians 2:8 says, “And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!” (NIV)
This morning, let us consider the overflowing superabundance of God’s grace that has been poured out to us, Solo Christo, that is, in Christ alone. As we do, I trust that we will begin to see ourselves in a new light; the light of Christ!
Exposition
Romans 5:12, the first section of today’s Scripture reading says, “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.” (NIV) There are two primary themes found in this passage that we’ll focus on this morning.
First, it was through Adam’s sin that death entered the world. It is important for us to realize that death was a part of God’s original design for this world. Death came through disobedience; disobedience sprung forth from the heart of Adam and Eve because they believed a lie.
In a very real sense, sickness, disease, and death – all products of the curse which sin brought upon the world – are the products of humanity having accepted a lie. In the garden the Satan, the serpent, sold humanity the greatest lie of all; “Surely God has not said. God does not want you to eat of the fruit because then you will be like Him.”
Vanity; Self-exultation; pride; laying aside worship of God worship and exultation of self; these are the driving forces of that lie. There is absolutely nothing in the text to indicate that when the Apostle Paul writes about the events of the Garden that he believes himself to be writing about anything other than historical events.
Paul is recounting to us in the book of Romans what was the common belief of his day. Sin entered the world through the sin of Adam, as He acted as our representative in the Garden. It may interesting to note that in the Hebrew language, in fact, Adam is both the name of the first man and also a word which speaks of all men. It is also the word for “human.”
Sins ultimate origin is to be found in the garden. When Adam sinned he did so as a representative of his progeny, his offspring, his descendants, us. But, we can not stop there. The second major theme in this passage is that sin reigned or ruled over the earth, because all sinned.
In the first half of this section of Scripture, the Apostle Paul is giving us the diagnosis of humanities “sin problem.” Sin entered the world through Adam and spread to all humanity; both in his acting on our behalf as the father of all mankind and also in his providing an example that we have all since followed.
You see, Adam was created Imago Dei, in the image of God. So, in a very real sense, we have all been created in the image of God as we are his offspring.
God created man in His image and then through the gift of co-creation, Adam and Eve had children, and their children had children until ultimately the earth was full and highly populated. Herein is an important truth. Adam was created in God’s image and we were created in Adam’s image.
Clearly the Imago Dei, the image of God has survived but it is diminished; intact but altered. A perfect copy of a perfect copy still holds the exact image of the original. But that is the problem; we were made from a diminished, fallen copy. Adam had sinned and because of this disobedience he suffered a change of state.
No longer would he and his offspring live forever in the garden in a perfect state of union with God. Now death, sin, the curse of separation from God had entered the picture. As children of Adam we are both the subjects of sin and prone to sin. The original “photocopy, reproduction, facsimile” of God, which was Adam, had been crumpled a bit, still in the image of God, but somewhat diminished, in a new state.
This is what the first half of today’s Scripture reading tells us. Were this the end of the passage, what a disheartening message it would be. The story of the garden is, in many ways, a story of dashed hopes, broken dreams, sin, and a curse. We have been born, created, in Adam’s image, and what a sad state of affairs we are in.
Thanks be to God almighty! That is not the end of the story. Verses 15-17 go on to say, “But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.” (NIV)
Speaking of this matter, Martin Luther, the great reformer, says, “Man is no helpless invalid left in a valley of total depravity until God pulls him out. Man is rather an upstanding human being whose vision has been impaired by the cataracts of sin and whose soul has been weakened by the virus of pride, but there is sufficient vision left for him to lift his eyes unto the hills, and there remains enough of God’s image for him to turn his weak and sin-battered life toward the Great Physician, the curer of the ravages of sin.”
We have been created Imago Dei, but sin has left us battle-scarred, tired, and weary, but the abundance of the Grace of God has come in the fullness of Christ to rescue us from this sad state of affairs. We look around us and we see the affects of Adam’s choice just as we see the affects of every individual human choice toward sin and away from God. The image of Adam is rampant in humanity.
All the while there is a table set with the abundance of grace. There are portions aplenty for as many as will come. While men and women look into the mirror each day and see a reflection of Adam’s sin and estrangement from God, God’s super-abundant, overflowing, overwhelming, healing grace is free and available.
Romans 8:28-29 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” (NIV)
You see, in referring to Christ as the second Adam and then later, in the same book, telling us that we are to be conformed into the image of Christ, the Apostle Paul is telling us that in Christ the perfect image of God, the Imago Dei, is being restored in us, the elect, those who have placed their trust in Christ atonement for the forgiveness and cleansing from sin and its effects.
This is an active ongoing process for the believer. We are ever receiving the “super-abundance” of the grace of God which enables us to live empowered God’s Holy Spirit within us. That is what the abundance of grace is all about; restoring God’s image in us by transforming us into the image of Christ, the second Adam, the perfect reflection of God’s love and grace to this world.
Some years ago in Dublin, a company of women met to study the Bible. One of them was puzzled by the words of Malachi 3:3, “And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.” After some discussion, a committee was appointed to call on a silversmith and learn what they could on the subject. The silversmith readily showed them the process. “But, sir,” said one, “do you sit while the refining is going on?” “Oh, yes, indeed” he said. “I must sit with my eyes steadily fixed on the surface, for if the time necessary for refining is exceeded in the slightest degree, the silver is sure to be damaged.”
At once they saw the beauty and comfort of the Scripture passage. As they were leaving, the silversmith called after them, “Oh, one thing more! I only know when the process is complete by seeing my own image reflected on the silver.”
Conclusion
That is what God’s grace is at work doing in our lives. In each of us God is restoring what was lost in Adam’s sin and past on to his descendants. Adam was made in the image of God and that image became corrupt by sin and selfish choice.
In a very real sense, we have been made in the image of Adam, as his descendants. The son always reflects the image of the father. In us, the image of God in Adam is reflected but also is the image of Adam’s sin.
In Christ, the God-Man, the second Adam, the Son bears the perfect image of His Heavenly Father. As we identify with Christ God works through the abundance of his grace in us to conform us into the perfect image of His Son.
This message has tremendous theological implications. In fact, Romans 5:12-17 is considered by many to be the most difficult passage in the entire Bible to exegete or to translate. The wealth of theological implications all point to one thing; the overwhelming superabundance of the grace of God in transforming us from the image of fallen Adam into the perfect image of Jesus Christ.
If we are found in Christ we are no longer found corrupt, but forgiven, we are no loner found frail, but strong in Christ, we are no longer crumpled, diminished copies of a crumpled diminished copy of the image of God.
We who are found in Christ have received a new inheritance, a new legacy, we are found in the image of Christ who is the perfect reflection, the perfect image, of Almighty God.
To apply this message is to learn to see ourselves no longer as reflections of Adam but reflections of Christ. There is a lot of talk these days about “self image.” How much greater would our self image be if we stopped looking at self according to self alone and looked at self according to Christ alone.
Romans 6:8-11 says, “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (NIV)
Amen.
