Two Men, Two Histories

Paul compresses the story of the world into two names. Through one man, sin entered the world, and death through sin, and death came to all people, because all sinned. That is the first history, and every one of us was born into it. We did not choose Adam. We inherited him, the way a child inherits a family name and a family debt at the same time.

Then there is a second history. Through one man's act of righteousness, justification and life come to all who receive the gift. This is Christ, whom Paul calls a pattern of the one to come, meaning Adam was the pattern and Christ the fulfillment. Where Adam disobeyed, Christ obeyed. Where Adam's act made many sinners, Christ's act makes many righteous. Two heads, two families, two outcomes.

The one idea to take from this passage is that no one is ever merely an individual before God. We belong to one of these two men. This is offensive to a culture that prizes self-definition, but it is also the best news in the world, because it means salvation does not depend on your individual performance any more than condemnation did. What you could not fix alone was fixed by another. You are simply asked to receive it, which is what verse 17 says: those who receive the abundant provision of grace will reign in life.

The turn toward life is a question of identity. Which history are you living out of today? Adam's history says you are defined by your failures and they will have the last word. Christ's history says you have been transferred, that grace reigns through righteousness to bring eternal life, as verse 21 puts it. Both histories are real. Only one of them is yours if you belong to Jesus. Wake up tomorrow as a member of his family, not the other one.