Genesis 4
It’s truly amazing how much grace God extends to us in the midst of our sin.
It was grace when God performed the first sacrifice to make garments of skin to clothe Adam and Eve in their shame (3:21).
It was grace that God sent them out of the garden so they would not eat of the tree of life in their sinful state and remain in it forever (3:22).
It was grace that God accepted an offering by faith (Heb. 11:4) from their son Abel, who inherited his father’s sinfulness.
And it was even grace when his murderous brother Cain, who brought an unacceptable, faithless offering, was protected with a mark so that he would not be struck down (4:15).
Despite Adam’s rejection, Eve’s deception, Abel’s inherent sinfulness, and Cain’s manifest wickedness, God’s favor, completely unmerited, was still abundantly apparent.
There were consequences for sin: shame (3:7), curse (3:17; 4:11), pain (3:16), unfruitfulness (3:18), and ultimately death (2:17; 3:19; 4:8; 4:23). But in the midst of all of it was grace beyond measure.
12...through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—
-Romans 5:12 (LSB)
Adam’s sin was typological. It represented, and passed down to, all generations born of him. This inheritance is just, because we all would have done the same, and so we do.
But thanks be to God that His grace was greater than our sin.
15But the gracious gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. 16And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the gracious gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification. 17For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
-Romans 5:15-17 (LSB)
It was grace when God performed the first sacrifice to make garments of skin to clothe Adam and Eve in their shame (3:21).
It was grace that God sent them out of the garden so they would not eat of the tree of life in their sinful state and remain in it forever (3:22).
It was grace that God accepted an offering by faith (Heb. 11:4) from their son Abel, who inherited his father’s sinfulness.
And it was even grace when his murderous brother Cain, who brought an unacceptable, faithless offering, was protected with a mark so that he would not be struck down (4:15).
Despite Adam’s rejection, Eve’s deception, Abel’s inherent sinfulness, and Cain’s manifest wickedness, God’s favor, completely unmerited, was still abundantly apparent.
There were consequences for sin: shame (3:7), curse (3:17; 4:11), pain (3:16), unfruitfulness (3:18), and ultimately death (2:17; 3:19; 4:8; 4:23). But in the midst of all of it was grace beyond measure.
12...through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—
-Romans 5:12 (LSB)
Adam’s sin was typological. It represented, and passed down to, all generations born of him. This inheritance is just, because we all would have done the same, and so we do.
But thanks be to God that His grace was greater than our sin.
15But the gracious gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. 16And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the gracious gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification. 17For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
-Romans 5:15-17 (LSB)
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