The human race fell from grace because of one unrighteous act. We will take a look at just why Adam's sin was so awful, and we will look at how much greater the actions of Christ are than the actions of Adam.
Paul has been telling us that the gift of God is greater than the wages of sin. We earned condemnation because we trespassed against the Lord, but God freely pours out His grace on all who believe in the One who gave His life to make peace between man and God. "But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of 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!" (Romans 5:15)
In order to break sin's hold over us, something more powerful than sin had to come into the world. In order to save us from wrath, a grace too great to describe had to be poured out on us. As Bible scholar William Barclay says in his commentary on Romans 5: "Mankind was involved in a situation from which there was no escape; sin had man in its power and there was no hope. Into this situation came Jesus Christ, and He brought with Him something that broke the old deadlock. By what He did, by what He is, by what He gives, He enabled man to escape from a situation in which he was hopelessly dominated by sin."
Paul continues, "Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of 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 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!" (Romans 5:16-17) Scholars and theologians have attempted to explain and understand the deep mystery of just how the entire human race fell through one man, our forefather Adam. One man's sin infected every man to come, and one man's sin brought a curse on the perfect paradise this world once was.
We cannot fully understand the deep mystery of how Adam's sin brought about the fall of all humanity, but I think maybe the reason Adam's one sin was so awful is because he had the least excuse, of all human beings who have ever existed, for his sin. He lived in a perfect environment, he lived in constant communication with the Lord who would come down and walk in the garden and talk with him, he lived in unbroken peace with God, and he lived in circumstances where his every need was met and he had no worries or cares. Yet he deliberately disobeyed God's command. We sometimes hear the argument made that man could live a perfect life if he lived in a perfect world, but Adam's sin proves that this isn't so. There was no valid reason for him to make a choice that would lead to a fracture in his relationship with the Lord, but he made the choice anyway, and we've been making those same type of choices ever since. Adam committed the first sin, and somehow that makes it the worst sin, and ever since he sinned we've been following in his footsteps.
Because Adam's sin was so great and had such far-reaching consequences, a righteous act had to be performed that was greater than sin. A means of redemption had to be given that was capable of rescuing us from the clutches of the death that results from sin. The only way to accomplish this was for the Lord Jesus Christ, the perfect Son of the living God, to give Himself as an atonement sacrifice. Because Jesus is who He is, anything He does is greater than anything man can do. Therefore the gift of grace through Him is greater than the wages of sin through Adam. "Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous." (Romans 5:18-19)
Adam's disobedience caused a distance to emerge between man and God, and his disobedience brought death to man. But Christ's obedience brings man and God together, and His obedience brings us life. We can never thank the Lord enough for such a gift, but we say along with the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 9:15, "Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!" Thank You, Lord!
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