February 22, 2026
"By One Man Life Has Come to the Human Race"
Romans 5:12-19
It amazes me how just one person can cause widespread problems for many people. Just one person can make life difficult for lots of people.
I think of Hitler in WWII. He caused the death of millions of people. It blows my mind that people carried out his evil orders to destroy other people. This one man was responsible for making the lives of millions miserable. It took just one man to do this.
One man caused a bridge in Baltimore to collapse. His irresponsible decision regarding his ship caused the death of about half a dozen workers and an inconvenience for thousands of drivers. This was the result of one man.
The decision of one terrorist to destroy the Trade Center buildings in New York 25 years ago changed the lives of millions. I realize this terrorist didn’t destroy these buildings by himself, but he issued the order to do it. Ever since then, the lives of millions have been affected. Whenever we travel by airplane, we have to go through a rigorous check before we can board a plane. Our bags are checked for destructive devices. Our bodies are scanned and checked as well. The decision of this one terrorist has caused these procedures to be put into place. They make travel by plane a little inconvenient. His decision caused the death of thousands of people as well.
Do we see the many problems that just one person can cause others to experience? I’m sure we might have caught ourselves saying, “Just one person has ruined it for everyone.” The truth is one person can cause problems for many.
In our reading from Romans, Paul touches on this very same thing. He says that the problem of sin entered the world through one man named Adam. This explains where all of the world’s problems come from. They all stem from sin. And what is sin? Sin is rebellion. It’s going against a command from God. That’s the simple definition.
It’s hard to believe that all the problems of the world are the result of just one man’s disobeying God. We all are paying the price for his disobedience. In a sense, he ruined it for everyone.
I believe we all are familiar with Adam’s disobedience. God had commanded him and his wife not to eat fruit from a particular tree. They could eat the fruit from any other tree but not from this one tree. Well, they made the fateful decision to eat from the tree God had commanded them not to. At that point, sin entered our world. Since then, life has been full of problems.
The reason we die is because of sin. Just think of the sadness countless numbers of people have experienced on account of losing someone close to them to death. Sadly, death is a reality we all face, and sin is the cause.
Paul makes it clear that one person brought this all on the entire human race. This is why our world is the way it is. The sinful condition of people and our world didn’t happen by chance. It didn’t evolve this way over time. Instead, it happened at a point in history, in time. The Bible says that sin came into the world at the beginning of time, and it came into our world as the result of disobeying God’s command.
Some may have the opinion that punishing the entire human race for the sin of one man is unfair and extremely harsh. “Why should we have to pay for the sin of our first parents?” My question to us is why should others have to suffer because of our mistakes and disobedience? Let’s be honest here. We have caused others to have to deal with the consequences of our sinful decisions. That’s not fair. So, our having to deal with the consequences of Adam’s sin is really what we deserve, if we really think about it. We all are going to make sinful decisions and our living in an imperfect, sinful world is God’s way of chastising us.
We can’t put all the blame of Adam. We have the free will to sin or not to sin. We could avoid some of our problems if we made the right choice. But we don’t, and so we deserve some of the hardship we face in life. Would life be a little easier for us if we didn’t make sinful choices?” I’m sure it would. I’m not suggesting all our problems would disappear, but we could avoid some if we made fewer sinful choices.
If we think about it, the fact that we still experience the consequences of Adam’s sin ought to cause us to put our hope in another place. The place I’m referring to is heaven. In heaven we won’t encounter the consequences of sin. This is God’s way of getting us to loosen our connection to this life. I know this sounds counterintuitive, but in a way the hardships and problems we face in this life could be construed as a blessing. They turn us away from this sinful, imperfect world. It doesn’t make sense to hang on to this imperfect world.
Up to now, the focus has been on the problems one person can cause others to experience. But let’s look at the flip side of the coin. One person can cause others to experience much good.
I think of Louis Pasteur who invented penicillin. This one man saved the lives of millions of people. We all know what penicillin does: it fights bacterial infections. Many people would have died had it not been for this life-saving drug. Just think, this one
person made a huge impact on the world in a good way.
What about Alexander Graham Bell who invented the telephone? His invention has allowed billions of people to communicate with each other. Members of families who live far from one another can stay in touch. Because of this one person, the world in one sense has been brought closer together.
Thomas Edison has made life easier for many, many people. He, more or less, invented machines and devices to bring electricity into our homes. We can do things at night as a result of his inventing the light bulb. With a flick of the switch, the light goes on. This one person made life easier for countless people.
So, we see that the reverse is true as well. One person can cause much good in the world. We laud these people for trying to make life better for us.
In our reading from Romans, Paul touches on this very thing. He says that by the one man, Jesus Christ, grace entered our world. Salvation came to us because of Jesus Christ. He took on all our sins and freed us from their eternal consequences. This one man did this for the entire human race.
God’s grace is the greatest contribution ever to all people. I mentioned a few moments ago that a lot of good has come about in our world because of individuals who put their talents to use by making life easier for people. But their discoveries and inventions do not compare with the gift of salvation. God’s gift of salvation gives us an eternal rest. God’s gift of salvation will allow us to be comfortable forever.
The contributions of the men I mentioned were great to society. We deeply appreciate them. But those men’s discoveries and inventions do nothing more for humanity beyond this life. They are limited. They will do nothing for us in heaven, in God’s kingdom.
But God’s gift of grace through Jesus Christ has a much broader scope. It benefits those who believe in Him for all time. This is God’s contribution to the human race.
The consequences of Jesus’ grace are just the opposite of the consequences of sin. The
consequences of Jesus’ grace are eternal life in a sinless world to come, hope, love, a clear conscience, a sanctified life, heaven, goodness, and so on. We can see that these aren’t at all like the consequences of sin.
Just think, by the one man, Jesus Christ, the entire human race has been blessed. This is the result of God’s grace and its consequences. This one man has done more good for the world than all the great men and women of the world combined.
May God be praised for having rescued us from the consequences of our sin and allowing us to be the recipients of His grace.