While Reading Romans chapters 5 & 6 I got to thinking about the obedience of Jesus.
Paul is talking about how Jesus overcame all our sins/faults so that we can live in the Father’s abundant grace.
Verse 5:17 says ‘If, because of the one man’s trespass (sin), death reigned… much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.’
Verse 18-19 say, ‘then as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to acquittal and life for all men. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous.’
As I understand it, this means, because of the sin of *Adam, death came into the world, as punishment for sins, Righteousness came into the world through the one innocent man, Jesus Christ, as a free gift .
Adam brought Condemnation into the world. Jesus bought acquittal and life for all men.
One man’s disobedience made sinners. One man’s obedience bought righteousness. The law came in to show up the trespass and therefore increase it. But where sin increases grace abounds all the more… (5:19-20)
I think that means when man learned what sin was, it showed up how far we fall short, and this in turn shows us how much we need Christ’s intervention to overcome it.
Through Christ, sin has no dominion over us since we now live under grace.
Verses 6:15-20 say, (roughly), If we are living under God’s grace, does that mean we can carry on sinning? No! If we know that Christ was obedient even unto death, and we want to be followers of him, we must follow his example. Where we were once slaves to sin, we have now become slaves of righteousness.
If I understand correctly, through Jesus we have become obedient from the heart and he has set us free from sin and its consequences. Where we once craved sinful things, now we crave to be righteousness, and where we received shame, we now receive sanctification and eternal life.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (6:23). The obedience of Christ bought Grace into the world for us all to share in, if we choose to.
So, I say, thank God for Jesus! Who knows where we’d be now without him, he removes all the bad in us and replaces it with his goodness, just because the Father loves us - how great is that! I hope I’m not waffling too much and you understand what I’m trying to say. Because Jesus was obedient to the Father, we have his grace if we want it.
This is how I understand my God.
Read for yourself, see what you think.
*I think Adam being the man, and made first by God, was the head of the family and so was supposed to stop Eve from sinning, not join her in it, and that is why Adam is counted as responsible for the fall. See what you think.