Mr. Baxter remarks, It is indeed interesting to compare, on Scripture authority, Adam as the root of sin and death to all, with Christ, who is to all true Christians the root of holiness and life.

Horatius Bonar, the nineteenth-century Scottish hymn-writer, expressed it well:

‘Twas I that shed the sacred blood;

I nailed him to the tree;

I crucified the Christ of God;

I joined the mockery.

No matter how devastating the sin of the first, the redemptive work of the second reverses the consequences of that sin and restores people to the favor of God. Only by grasping the seriousness of the first is one able to appreciate the remarkable magnanimity of the second.

The differences concern the nature of the two actions (15), their immediate results (16), and their ultimate effects

First, the nature of their actions was different. But the gift is not like the trespass (15a).

It is not that (in Winston Churchill’s famous saying) so many owe so much to so few; it is rather that so many owe so much to only one person

Secondly, the immediate effect of their actions was different. Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man’s sin (16a).

Thirdly, the ultimate effect of the two actions is also different (17).

Here we have the idea that there is a parallel of imputation and representation. Our salvation rests upon this. It is through the first Adam that we are plunged into the ruin, by representation and imputation; by the Second Adam we are redeemed through representation and imputation. Jesus Christ represented me on the cross. On that cross, Jesus Christ paid the penalty for my sin. And not only was my sin imputed to him, but his righteousness was imputed to me.

Death is something we earned; salvation is something that we receive as a gift.

Formerly death was our king, and we were slaves under its totalitarian tyranny. What Christ has done for us is not just to exchange death’s kingdom for the much more gentle kingdom of life, while leaving us in the position of subjects. Instead, he delivers us from the rule of death so radically as to enable us to change places with it and rule over it, or reign in life. We become kings, sharing the kingship of Christ, with even death under our feet now, and one day to be destroyed.

‘Look at yourself in Adam; though you had done nothing you were declared a sinner. Look at yourself in Christ; and see that, though you have done nothing, you are declared to be righteous. That is the parallel.’

Heb. 5:8; [Phil. 2:8

There is a greater measure of grace in this world than there is of sin and of evil. Think about the implications of that

Nothing could sum up better the blessings of being in Christ than the expression ‘the reign of grace’. For grace forgives sins through the cross, and bestows on the sinner both righteousness and eternal life. Grace satisfies the thirsty soul and fills the hungry with good things. Grace sanctifies sinners, shaping them into the image of Christ. Grace perseveres even with the recalcitrant, determining to complete what it has begun. And one day grace will destroy death and consummate the kingdom. So when we are convinced that ‘grace reigns’, we will remember that God’s throne is a ‘throne of grace’, and will come to it boldly to receive mercy and to find grace for every need. And all this is through Jesus Christ our Lord, that is, through his death and resurrection. The same reference to the mediation of Jesus Christ also concluded the previous paragraph (verse 11) and will conclude the next three chapters (6, 7 and 8) as well as this one.

Nothing could sum up better the blessings of being in Christ than the expression ‘the reign of grace’. For grace forgives sins through the cross, and bestows on the sinner both righteousness and eternal life. Grace satisfies the thirsty soul and fills the hungry with good things. Grace sanctifies sinners, shaping them into the image of Christ. Grace perseveres even with the recalcitrant, determining to complete what it has begun. And one day grace will destroy death and consummate the kingdom. So when we are convinced that ‘grace reigns’, we will remember that God’s throne is a ‘throne of grace’, and will come to it boldly to receive mercy and to find grace for every need. And all this is through Jesus Christ our Lord, that is, through his death and resurrection.

Because Adam sinned, we all suffer the consequences of sin. Because Adam sinned, sin came into the world, and with that sin came death. Because Adam died, I am under the death sentence of God. I will be executed in this world. Yes, I will live for ever, I will be raised from the dead, but I must pass through the vale of death because I am a child of Adam. It is because I am a child of Christ that the sting of that death will be removed and that I will be raised again to eternal life.