Romans 5:12 (NKJV)
Our text if full of well-worn terms such as sin, world, men, and death, all of which suggest dry theology. But no man can have a heart aglow with the love of God until he senses what his nature is really like and what God has done for him. Freedom from the death penalty means nothing to a person until he understands that he is under the death penalty and can't save himself. This is why Paul, an earnest evangelist, repeatedly tried to help men see their awful condition and their utter helplessness to do anything about it. Then he would draw back the curtain and show his hearers the way out through Jesus Christ.
The "one man" Paul refers to is Adam. It is because of Adam's sin that we are born depraved and subject to sin's penalty -- death. I have nothing in me whereby I can say to the Lord, "I have my faults, but there is something in my favor that You should take into account when saving me." It sounds strange, but far too many are, in effect, telling this to God. When a man compares his guilty, dead-in-sin nature with the righteousness of God, he discerns that he has no righteousness of his own. It is in this sense that man is totally depraved. Truly our righteousness is as filthy rags.
If in us there is any good thing that recommends us to God or deserves credit in payment for sin, then salvation is built on another foundation than that of grace alone. It becomes an impotent mixture of man's work and God's work.
On the horizontal plane -- the plane of man's relationship with his fellow man -- there is a certain kindness and goodness. Many a godless individual has exhibited greater kindness at times than that seen among Christians. But all the goodness, all the kindness, all the generous deeds a person performs, cannot be accounted as righteousness. There is no way through sin, no way around it, no way above it or below it, except the one true way -- Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Christ by Himself, without our help, has rescued man from his frightful plight through the gift of His own life. Let Him be praised and thanked forever!
taken from: First Things First
February 28
by: Bob Spangler
