And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, 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. (Romans 5:16-17)
Halfway through
Romans 5 we come to Paul’s elaborate contrast between the “first Adam” Jesus created
and Jesus the “second Adam”. These two men have had the most profound effect on
the world of anyone else, and understanding what Jesus did to redeem what Adam did
is indispensable to the justification that is by faith.
The part of this
that stood out the most to me this morning was the contrast between how “death
reigned” through the first Adam, but believers “reign in life” through the
second Adam.
My first thought
was one of fascination. It was like my mind expected “death reigned” to be
matched by the rhyming thought of “life reigned”. But the contrast is that “death
reigned” on Adam’s side, but on Jesus’ side it is “those who receive the
abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness” who “reign in life
through the one man Jesus Christ.” Yes, very fascinating!
The next thing I
wanted to know is, which kind of life is Paul talking about. The Greek of the
New Testament has three words for life. One is our physical/biological life;
one is our soul-life, and one is eternal life, or the life that is in God. Obviously
reigning in “life” would have different connotations depending which of the
three words is used!
Because Paul is
using the word that speaks of the life that is in God, or eternal life (zoe),
we get the distinct picture of how all believers in Jesus Christ are alive in
Christ in a world where everyone else is dead (in relation to eternal/God
life). In that sense, we can already see the amazing contrast. A world full of
dead people; a kingdom full of alive people, and the alive people in Christ
reign over the dead world through Jesus Christ.
I think the biggest
part of this for me is that we are living in a world that is constantly trying
to demoralize God’s children with dire warnings. Evil worldlings are inventing
ways to kill people. The dead people of the world are making laws to punish
living people from talking about the good news of eternal life. Churches are
being infiltrated with the weeds of false teachers, false prophets, false
worship leaders, all adding enough poison to the mix that you can’t be sure
people could actually be made alive through the “gospel” they preach.
And then there’s us
little guys. The everyday kind of church member. The God-lover with a small
voice. One of the “few” who tremble at the word of God while the “many” trample
it underfoot or tamper with its glorious message.
And what God
ministered to me is to let myself feel the wonder of being one of the people
who received the good news of grace, who received the free gift of
righteousness, and now “reign in life” through Jesus Christ our Lord.
What I mean is that
I don’t need a left-brain explanation as much as a right-brain attachment. I
don’t need to stop and study everything the Bible says about believers ruling
and reigning with Christ.
What I need is to
stop myself on the path of worry and despair about our time in the world, throw
off the baggage of self-deprecating messages, and stand up, do my part to put the
full armor of God on the one new man, and live with other believers as the “more
than conquerors” we are in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Today, simply
knowing that all Jesus’ true disciples have been born again into eternal life
so that we reign in THAT life over the cemetery of the world encourages me to
act like I am a priest in Jesus’ kingdom where Jesus is opening the seven seals
to fulfill God’s eternal will over this sin-ravaged planet.
And, because Jesus is
King of kings and Lord of lords, we who are priests in his kingdom (meaning, all true believers) ought to be
all the more energized to stand before God with the needs of this dead world on
our hearts, and stand before the world with a message of good news of great joy from the one who sits on the throne,
always watching for the sheep who will hear Jesus’ voice and follow him
straight into this kingdom.
© 2026
Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8
Email: in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the
English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text
Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of
Good News Publishers.)
