Representative Heads in Contrast

One man can have a tremendous effect on many. One act can transform history.

The apostle Paul considers the effect of two men who lived several thousand years apart on you and me in two great New Testament passages about the two heads of the human race: 1 Corinthians 15 and Romans 5.

In Adam all die. In Christ all shall be made alive.

However, whereas 1 Corinthians 15 is primarily a discussion of the mechanism and effects of death and resurrection, the Romans passage sets out the differences between Adam’s act of disobedience in the Garden of Eden, by which sin entered the world, and Christ’s act of obedience all the way from Gethsemane to Golgotha, by which eternal life became freely available to all.

These differences are worth noting. Naturally, there are seven. Why wouldn’t there be?

Adam vs. Christ: Seven Differences

1/ A Different Cause

“For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.” (5:15)

In each instance, one man acted, impacting all men. In these two respects at least, we may call Christ and Adam two of a kind.

What distinguishes them is the action and its underlying motive. Paul’s first contrast is between the trespass of Adam and the free gift of Christ. Adam acted selfishly, with only his own interests in view. Jesus Christ acted with boundless generosity, the interests of others trumping his own. One man’s violation of God’s command resulted in eternal separation from God for all who followed him. One man’s gracious gift brings life to all who believe.

2/ A Different Slate of Charges

“For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification.” (5:16)

We will consider the outcomes of the actions shortly, as Paul repeats them. The most obvious point of distinction between Adam and Christ in this verse is that the judgment that fell on Adam came from a single trespass. It would have been difficult for it to happen otherwise, since at the Fall the human race had only one rule to observe. However, the free gift that came by the grace of Christ followed “many trespasses”, not merely one.

Much might be said about this, but in it we see simultaneously the toxicity of sin and its offensiveness to God (“one trespass brought condemnation”) along with the grace that delayed judgment for so long (“the free gift following many trespasses”). Moreover, Christ dealt not merely with one sin, but with all sin for all time.

3/ A Different Beneficiary

“For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, 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.” (5:17)

When Adam fell, he took our entire race with him, and death became the ordinary outcome of human existence, its ruling principle. It is no exaggeration to say death reigned through Adam. When Christ sacrificed his own life for us, he did so not merely to pay the penalty for our sins and to restore the former edenic state, but in order that we might reign in life through him.

Through Adam death reigned. In Christ we do.

4/ A Different Verdict

“Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.” (5:18)

In God’s court, the verdict on Adam was judgment and its resulting condemnation. The verdict on Jesus Christ did away with every charge against those who belong to him for all time, and the power that raised him from the dead raised us with him. This was no mere acquittal for lack of evidence or a sentence retroactively fulfilled for time served. No, Christ’s act of righteousness resulted in justification and life for all. There could be no better outcome for the sinner.

5/ A Different Mechanism

“For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.” (5:19)

Adam had one rule he couldn’t keep, and all the generations of his children followed him across the line. Christ never met a law he could not fulfill, and everyone who puts their faith in him becomes righteous as he is righteous. The one who practices righteousness, who makes it his standard, John says, shows himself to be living in the righteousness of Christ.

6/ A Different Force Multiplier

“Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.” (5:20)

Under Adam, a proliferation of rules only led to a greater number of violations. It turned out there was nothing magical about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that made it the moral inflection point for humanity. Any rule God had made for us would have produced exactly the same result in time, as the accumulation of laws eventually demonstrated. Today, we are still making new laws and still breaking every one of them. Law is a force multiplier for trespass.

In stunning contrast, under Christ even accumulated violations of law became an occasion for the display of the unbelievable, limitless grace of God. Under Adam, something good became the cause for something bad. Under Christ, something bad became the cause of something wonderful. Transgressions are a force multiplier for grace.

7/ A Different Governing Principle

“As sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (5:21)

Death became the ruling principle of human existence when Adam fell, and sin with it. “Sin reigned in death,” Paul says. Apart from Christ’s intervention, sin and death would have had every one of us. In Christ, grace reigns through righteousness. Sin and death have lost their sting, and we look forward to life eternal through Jesus Christ our Lord.