Random Blog Clay Feet: July 24, 2007
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Tuesday, July 24, 2007

The Gift is not like...

But the free gift is not like the transgression. (Romans 5:15)

I am struggling to understand the real meaning of this, so I need to compile a comparison of the similarities and differences to flush out what he is really trying to say here. The chart is extracted from Romans 5:12-21.

Through one man sin entered into the world

Through sin death entered and spread to all men because all sinned

Sin was in the world before “the Law”

Sin is not imputed when there is no Law

Death reigned over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam

Adam is a type of Jesus

By the transgression of one many died

The grace of God abounds to the many by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ

Judgment arose from one who sinned

The free gift arose from many transgressions

– Resulting in condemnation

– Resulting in justification

By the transgression of one death reigned through the one

Much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ

Through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men

Through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men

Through one man's disobedience the many were made sinners

Through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous

The Law came in so that the transgression would increase

Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more

Sin reigned in death

Grace reigns through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord

My mind must not be perceiving correctly here and must be missing something. Even after lining up all these things side by side it seems to me like they are more parallel than different. I am sure that it has a lot to do with my culture and its effect on how I perceive the concept of “contrast” and “comparison” in contrast to the culture that formed the mind of the Hebrews that is confusing me. When I look at this chart it strikes me as being very parallel instead of being different. Of course the parallels are from opposite extremes, but they seem to be opposite parallels if that makes sense. So I am still musing over what is meant by “the free gift is not like the transgression” and “the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned”.

Maybe I need more time and more insight from others. I suppose I could go research a commentary but that is about the last thing I want to do. It feels like being programmed to simply reflect someone else's thoughts and beliefs instead of discovering truth myself. But on the other hand it could offer some suggested ways of viewing things that I have not yet thought of, so in that way it might prove useful.

Any input?

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