Chrissy's Day 9: "The aggressive force of grace"

I had trouble understanding this passage in both the NIV and NRSV but then I opened up The Message. Wow! The words just jumped out at me and grabbed my heart. So my summary will probably be more in the words of The Message than in my words...

Summary of Romans 5: 12-21

Sin came into the world through one person, and then sin and death spread to everyone. Sin and death separated us from God from the time of Adam to Moses. "But Adam, who got us in to this, also points ahead to the One who will get us out of it."

"If one man's sin put crowds of people at the dead-end abyss of separation from God, just think what God's gift poured through one man, Jesus Christ, will do!... The verdict on that one sin was the death sentence; the verdict on the many sins that followed was this wonderful life sentence."

"Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it... One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one man said yes to God and put many in the right."

"But sin didn't and doesn't, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it is sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. All sin can do is threaten us with death, and thats the end of it."

Reflection

Aren't those words cool?

• "One man said yes to God and put many in the right."
• "When it is sin versus grace, grace wins hands down."
• "All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that's the end of it."

In this passage Paul is comparing and contrasting Adam and Jesus. Adam did one thing wrong and put us all in the schtuck but Jesus did one thing right and got us out of trouble. But more than that, Jesus didn't just neutralise the situation, he gave us abundant life, everlasting life, free access to God!

And I love the idea of 'the aggressive force of grace'. How cool is that? Grace is so strong and all-encompassing that all sin does is threaten us. That's so affirming and reassuring.

Verse 20 puzzles me though "The law was added so that the trespass might increase." It sounds mean to me and is a concept I've always struggled with. Why does God allow sin? And why do we all have to pay the price of Adam's sin?


Prayer

Dear Lord,

Thank you for the aggressive force of grace.
Thank you for sending Jesus to rescue us.
I love the symmetry of your work Lord, it makes it easier to comprehend.

But Lord, there are still so many things I just don't get.
Why even allow sin in the first place?
Why did the rest of us have to be born sinful? Why didn't we get a chance?
Or am I misunderstanding?

Please continue to teach me throughout this lenten period.

I want to be your servant, your vessel.
Amen