Devotion #2: Desperate

Following his writing about how we have been saved by grace through faith, Paul jumps into discussing another important topic. In Romans 5:12, Paul gives an important reminder regarding the origins of sin.  

Understanding how we have been reconciled and saved through Jesus Christ is a key part of faith, but it is also crucial to understand the sin that we have been saved from. Paul writes regarding the importance of understanding that point in Romans 5:12, “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” From that moment of eating the fruit in the garden, sin has been in the world. Paul makes it clear that sin did not just enter the world when the Law was given many years later, but at that moment, we read about it in Genesis chapter 3.  

Paul also makes a second clarification in verse 14, “Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam.” This means that even if a sin was not the exact same as Adam’s sin, it was still sin.  

When we take the time to recognize the true depth (if we can even get to that understanding) of our sin, we begin to realize just how desperately we were and are in need of a Savior. In what may feel quick to us to read, these verses help illuminate the realities of what we have been saved from.  

Paul emphasizes that this sin entered the world through one man. Now, this fact in and of itself may not seem important, but in God’s bigger plans, what may seem at the moment like something trivial or unimportant can prove to not be the case at all. As we continue reading through Romans, we will see just how God knew exactly how the saving from our sins would be done. Even though sin entered the world through this one man, the story did not end there!