Romans 5:12-19
The following are text excerpts from Volume II, chapter 1: “Out of Eden and Into Occupied Israel,†pp. 36-37.
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Paul and Luke
In Church tradition, Luke-Acts is based on the apostolic authority of Paul. Paul was the most visionary figure of the early church on the question of including Gentiles. He saw clearly the universal nature of Christ’s mission. True to his insight, Paul abolished the time-honored but hide-bound distinctions among peoples. He states in chapter 3 of his letter to the Galatians:
28There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. 29And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.
In Romans 5, Paul expounds upon how all sinned in the first Adam, but how all are justified in Christ, the second Adam:
18Therefore just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all. 19For just as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.
As with Paul’s letters, Luke’s genealogy reminds us that Adam and Jesus are both connected to all of humanity; God’s redemptive work is universal. Our fellow travelers are not limited to those we see Sunday morning. All are included—the sick and the healthy; the joyful and the mourning; the devout Christian and the one who has never heard of Jesus or begun to understand him; those freely attending church and those living under persecution for their faith. All are paradoxically united in Adam the sinner and Christ the redeemer:
[God] has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, 10as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth (Eph. 1:9–10).