One For All!

1st Sunday in Lent, 3/13/11
Romans 5:12-19


One For All!
I. Adam’s sin condemns all.
II. Christ’s righteousness justifies all.


Occasionally you run across a product, usually an article of clothing, that’s promoted as “one size fits all.” As we read those words, we hardly give them a second thought. We assume the words to be true and, therefore, that the product will indeed fit one and all. Somehow the manufacturer has found a way to make the product expand or contract to fit the individual, no matter what the size. And in that instance, we don’t mind being lumped together with the rest of humanity. We appreciate the fact that we don’t have to make sure we purchase the correct size and can avoid the hassle of returning an article that doesn’t fit.

But our willingness to be mixed in with the rest of humanity begins and ends there. After that, we want to be evaluated and recognized for our individuality. We don’t want our job performance rating to be adversely affected by the slackers who are our fellow-employees. Likewise, we don’t want to be stereotyped no matter what the situation. Get to know us individually and then make your assessment. And for goodness sakes, don’t blame us for something that someone else did. That’s their problem, not mine. Do you agree with me on this?

If you do, then it’s going to be hard for us to swallow what our God tells us through his inspired apostle Paul this morning. To be sure, our God wants us to know that he knows us as individuals. He calls us by name. He knows us better than we know ourselves.

And yet he lumps us together with the mass of humanity. He begins with our first father, Adam, and he continues that line of humanity right down to you and me and even to our children and grandchildren yet to be born. And what he sees fills him with sorrow and dread, for the mass of humanity is sinful. And the wages of sin is death—eternal death in hell.

But in that line of humanity is one other person—the Victor over sin and Satan, Jesus Christ. And therein lies the solution to our sinful condition.

Paul masterfully presents both views to us this morning—Adam’s sin and what it has done to us and Christ’s righteousness and what it does for us. In both cases it’s a situation of one for all. One for all. May the Holy Spirit enlighten us with that truth about ourselves and our Savior this morning.

Part I.

Although guilt by association isn’t a legal reality as far as I know, it’s certainly a reality in our society. For instance, when Bernie Madoff’s ponzi scheme came crashing in on him, many wondered what his wife knew about his criminal activity. She certainly didn’t mind spending the illegal money. And during the last presidential election, much was made about the remarks of a preacher at a church our president attended. Those weren’t the president’s remarks, but he attended church there. Guilt by association.

But when we’re on the receiving end of that guilt, then that’s another matter. We’re not responsible for what a loved one or a friend of ours said or did. That’s all on them; not on us.

But listen to the opening words of our text. “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.” Paul paints with the widest of spiritual brushes. One man sins and it affects us all.

Paul explains how that happened. Adam had a specific command of God. Do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That was it. That was the only command God gave him. Sounds pretty simple and basic, doesn’t it? But you know what happened. We heard about it earlier. Satan tempted and misled him. Adam disobeyed that one command of God.

And when he did, the whole world was plunged into sin. Again, Paul explains what happened. He makes mention of the fact that everyone after Adam didn’t have the same command of God not to eat from that tree. That’s because the damage had already been done. The whole world was affected by Adam’s sin.

And every person living after Adam showed it by breaking God’s holy law written in their hearts. Adam’s son Cain broke Commandment One when he rejected the Lord and Commandment Five when he murdered his brother. And Cain wasn’t alone. Every other person on the face of the earth failed to keep any of the Commandments.

And the proof of it? The proof that every one of them was a sinner? Paul tolls the death bell with these words, “And in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.” There you have it. The sin or Adam eventually caused the death of all people. That sounds like the height of injustice and it would be if not for the fact that all have sinned themselves.

And thus the whole world is condemned. God doesn’t sort through humanity one by one declaring this one deserving of death and this one deserving of life. He condemns the whole human race.

One for all. Adam’s sin condemns all.

That condemnation is universal. That means there are no appeals. There are no exemptions. It means it will do us no good to compare ourselves with others and try to find some goodness in ourselves. Nor will it do us any good to offer God some good deed, some act we feel merits his favor. None of these things matter in the face of universal condemnation.

The season of Lent calls for us to realize it. If there were some way to escape the condemnation, if there were some good deed we could offer, if there were some exemption or loophole, then Jesus wouldn’t have been necessary. But universal condemnation leaves us no wiggle room at all, no hope at all. And that means Jesus wasn’t just a good story about how much he loves us. It means Jesus was absolutely necessary. Lent screams for us to recognize and believe it. Lent leads us to see our own acts of rebellion. Lent exposes our selfishness and our lack of love for others. And those sins are the damning evidence that God’s condemnation is just and right. One for all. Adam’s sin condemns all.

Part II.

Several state legislatures are embroiled in budget debates as we speak. Several more aren’t engaging in the debate but still face the same demise—either make some drastic cuts or face insolvency. Everyone realizes that cuts have to be made, but no one wants to suffer. They want someone else to suffer.

We just embraced the painful truth that Adam’s sin brings condemnation to all. That means all should suffer. But thanks be to God, God decided that Jesus should suffer. That’s the other aspect of one for all. Paul says it like this, “Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. 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.”

The righteousness or holiness of Jesus brings justification. Justification is the opposite of condemnation. Justification means that God declares the whole humanity of condemned sinners to be holy or righteous. How does that work? It doesn’t sound just or possible.

To answer that objection, Paul refers to the obedience of Jesus. That wasn’t a one-time, momentary obedience, such as when we find ourselves obeying the speed limit. Christ’s obedience was perfect and complete. He lived a perfectly holy life.

God now credits that holiness of Jesus to us. Many of the words Paul uses in this portion of his letter come from an accounting background. Imagine a two-columned ledger. In one column is a list of your sins and what they cost. In the other column is the holiness of Jesus. God’s balances the ledger by crediting Christ’s holiness to you.

But what about the payment for sins? That’s what Jesus’ death on the cross was all about. There the payment was made in full for all sins.

That means God is perfectly just in declaring sinners to be righteous. What Adam did Christ has undone. And he did it for all. The holiness of Jesus and the forgiveness of sins are for all sinners, the whole world full of sinners.

That holiness and forgiveness become ours by faith in Jesus. It’s just that simple. It doesn’t come to us because we’re worthy of it nor because we’ve earned it nor because God saw some good in us. It comes to us solely by faith in Jesus, a faith that is worked in us by the Holy Spirit. What Jesus won for all becomes ours personally by faith in Jesus.

One for all. Christ’s righteousness justifies all.

Adam and Christ. What they did affects all people, but Paul doesn’t place them on the same plane. Jesus far surpasses Adam. That’s what Paul means when he writes, “But the gift is not like the trespass.” They aren’t the same. That’s true because Jesus not only removed the condemnation that was rightly ours, he replaced it with life—life with him forever. You see, Jesus just didn’t wipe Adam’s stain from us and tell us, “Now try hard to be holy.” He wiped away Adam’s stain and all of our own sins and then he gave us life with him. And that’s what makes him the Victor, the truth we celebrate on this Sunday.

One for all. Both Adam and Christ. But praise be to God, Christ is the eternal, saving one for all. Amen.