Read: Romans 5:12-21
As one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. (v. 18)
N. T. Wright tells the story of a sculptor who was commissioned to sculpt a statue in the small town where he lived. One day a gang of rowdy youth smashed the statue to pieces. The townspeople were horrified. The sculptor decided to re-sculpt the statue, only now he vowed to make it stronger and even more beautiful than before.
In this part of Romans, Paul tells the story of two “Adams” and how the divine Sculptor goes to work to restore a ruined humanity. Sin and death entered the world through the disobedience of the first Adam (see Genesis 3). All humanity has sinned through this first Adam and stands condemned. But now there is a last Adam, a new Adam: Jesus himself. Through his perfect obedience, Jesus has re-done what went wrong with the first Adam. In other words, Jesus has re-written the human story.
Just as the first Adam was our representative and we are in bondage to sin because of him, so now Christ (the new Adam) will be our representative and justify us before God. Like the sculptor who restored the damaged statue, Jesus restores us to what God intends us to be. The good news of the gospel is that in Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection, your story can be rewritten. Regardless of your past, in Christ you can be made new.
As you pray, thank God for rewriting your story in Jesus, and ask the Spirit to help you live as God’s new creation.
Brian Keepers has been an ordained pastor in the Reformed Church in America for more than 20 years. He is currently serving as the lead pastor of Trinity Reformed Church in Orange City, Iowa. Brian is married to Tammy, and they have two daughters and a granddaughter.
