Romans 5:18,19 - One act of sin, one act of obedience

5:18

All our problems stem from Adam’s sin, from the sin of one man. As an aside, this makes it almost certain that it is necessary that there was indeed an original Adam. Now this does not necessarily mean there has to be a young earth, nor does it necessarily mean that there were not any material (as opposed to spiritual) ancestors of Adam. There are debates that can be had about these matters, but this is not the time to be going into them. However, it seems clear that one trespass was the result of all our problems. We might wonder how this can be so. Well one could think of someone taking drugs once and as a result of that one action heading down a road of addiction, with all that that entails. Everything can be traced back to that one act, even though many subsequent acts of sin would have followed.

The converse is that one act of righteousness has resulted in justification and life for all who believe.

5:19

Adam’s act of sin has clearly led to all being sinners. We can see the results all around us, and throughout history. Likewise the obedience of one man leads to many becoming righteous. The subsequent acts and decisions matter, they all count, but the source, the starting point is one act by one man.