Read: Romans 5:12-21
The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45)
As I taught a group of Sunday school students about Jesus’s genealogy, one boy had an “Aha!” moment. “Was Jesus descended from Adam?” the ten-year-old asked, eyes wide with sudden understanding. “That makes so much sense!”
Paul thought it made sense too. In his letter to the Romans, Paul explains that “sin came into the world through one man,” Adam (Rom. 5:12). In the same way, grace also came through one man, Jesus. How “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” (v. 17)! Because Jesus was the Son of Man, he should have shared in the sin that became the birthright of every other descendant of Adam. Instead, because Jesus was human yet did not sin, he was able to open the door for all human beings who trust in him to receive the gift of righteousness. He “came . . . to give his life,” as he says in Mark 10:45, “as a ransom for many.”
Have you received the free gift of righteousness from the one who gave his life as a ransom for you? How are you trusting Jesus, today, to open the door for you into a whole new way of being human? As we receive the free gift of grace from the Son of Man, we can rejoice in our new humanity.
As you pray, ask God to give you the free gift of righteousness through Jesus Christ.
About the Author
Sarah Sanderson is the author of The Place We Make: Breaking the Legacy of Legalized Hate. She lives with her husband and their four teenage children in Oregon.
