Project 119: Heaven and Nature Sing | Romans 5

 |  Project 119  |  Dr. Wayne Splawn

Reading for Saturday, December 26: Romans 5

Come, Desire of Nations, come,
Fix in us thy heav'nly home;
Rise the Woman's conqu'ring seed,
Bruise in us the serpent's head.
Adam's likeness, Lord, efface,
Stamp Thy Image in its place;
Second Adam from above,
Work it in us by Thy Love.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the newborn King!"
-"Hark! the Herald Angels Sing"

How would someone describe you? Chances are, most people would use descriptors that would categorize you according to various groups that in some ways shape your sense of identity. For example, they might describe you as male or female, young or old, an Alabama fan or Auburn fan, etc. 

The Apostle Paul had an understanding of humanity that classified people using two groups. Each of us is either said to be in Adam or in Christ. Since the Fall in the Garden of Eden, we are all born in Adam and inherit a sinful nature that is prone to live in rebellion against the Lord and His ways; as Paul explains in Romans 5:14, “Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come” (Romans 5:14 ESV). 

However, when we come to a saving faith in Jesus Christ, we are given a new identity. Paul tells us in Romans 5:19 that even though by Adam’s disobedience we all came to share in Adam’s sinful nature, because of Christ’s obedience, those who trust in Him for salvation will be made righteous. Rather than being in Adam, we are now in Christ, and this transformation that happens when we come to faith in Christ is so radical that it is now the primary way we understand our identity. Paul also addresses this in Galatians where he writes, “For as many of you were baptized into Christ, have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:27-29 ESV). As the hymn states, the Lord Jesus has effaced the image of Adam and stamped His image in its place. Jesus took on flesh that first Christmas, lived a perfect life, and died in our place so that those of us who place our faith in Him might partake of the righteousness of Christ. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!