Daily Gospel: 4/6/11

This is the great glory of Christ—he vastly outshines the first man Adam. The spectacular sin of Adam is not as great as the spectacular grace and obedience of Christ and the gift of eternal life. Indeed, God’s plan from the beginning, in his perfect righteousness, was that Adam, as the representative head of humankind, would be a type of Christ as the representative head of a new humankind. His plan was that by this comparison and contrast, the glory of Christ would shine all the more brightly.

Verse 17 puts the matter to you very personally and very urgently. Where do you stand? “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.” Notice the words very carefully and personally: “those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness.”

 - John Piper, preaching on Romans 5:12-21, italics original.

Via Desiring God