“A Tale of Two Men, and the Supremacy of Christ” Pt. 3
Romans 5:15-17
October 1, 2017
I suppose that I was 10 or 11 when my 4- or 5-year-old brother introduced me to the following lyrics:
One of these things is not like the others
One of these things just doesn’t belong
Can you tell which thing is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?
Did you guess which thing was not like the others?
Did you guess which thing just doesn’t belong?
If you guessed this one is not like the others
Then you’re absolutely…right!
And accompanying the song would always be some kind of image with three identical objects and one dissimilar object: the cookie monster with three plates containing two cookies and one plate with three cookies (I think they all ended up with no cookies); three lower-case letter r and one upper-case R; three saws and one shoe; three children right-side up and one child upside-down; three fireman’s hats and one party hat; three sets of glasses and one beanie hat.
The song and images were designed to make observations and cultivate discernment; what’s the same and what’s different and why?
In the passage before us in Romans 5, Paul engages in a more sophisticated argument of “one of these things is not like the other,” when he compares Adam and Jesus. No two men have ever exerted a greater or more extensive influence over mankind than these two men — one for ill and one for good.
In these verses, Paul says that,
Christ is greater than Adam because what Adam lost in disobedience, Christ superseded in obedience.
In amplifying that theme, these verses offer two primary reasons why Christ is greater than Adam —
- Christ is Greater Than Adam because of Grace (v. 15)
- Adam’s disobedience produced death (v. 15a)
- Christ’s obedience produced the free gift (v. 15b)
- Christ is Greater Than Adam because of Power (vv. 16-17)
- Adam’s disobedience brought judgment and condemnation (v. 16a)
- Adam’s disobedience brought in the reign of death (v. 17a)
- Christ’s obedience brought justification (v. 16b)
- Christ’s obedience brought in the reign of life (v. 17b)
Download the rest of this sermon on Romans 5:15-17.
The audio will be posted on the GBC website tomorrow morning.
Words of Grace 