Through one man sin entered the world,
and through sin, death,
and thus death came to all men, inasmuch as all sinned.
Adam bore the responsibility for the first sin against God, yet the consequences did not stop with him alone. Though he did not immediately die physically he did die spiritually at that very moment, losing the supernatural life within him. Physical death would follow later as a symptom of that more significant lose. Adam and Eve were meant to be the father and mother of the living, but their children would now, as a consequence of this sin, be born deprived of the grace of a supernatural life. The consequence of this was that although men and women were meant to be born to live lives of righteousness it instead became the case that sin spread to all of them as a consequence of this spiritual death which they inherited. They lacked the supernatural life they needed to consistently resist temptation and choose the good.
Still, the transmission of original sin is a mystery that we cannot fully understand. But we do know by Revelation that Adam had received original holiness and justice not for himself alone, but for all human nature. By yielding to the tempter, Adam and Eve committed a personal sin, but this sin affected the human nature that they would then transmit in a fallen state. It is a sin which will be transmitted by propagation to all mankind, that is, by the transmission of a human nature deprived of original holiness and justice. And that is why original sin is called "sin" only in an analogical sense: it is a sin "contracted" and not "committed" - a state and not an act.
It wasn't until Jesus came to save us from the consequences of the fall that Paul was able to discover just how deep those consequences had been. Before Jesus it was known that physical death was a result of the fall in the garden. But only by reflecting on his saving act did Paul realize the deeper spiritual death and condemnation came upon all men. He recognized this because he recognized that Jesus was healing something much deeper than the physical body. He saw in Jesus a new Adam, and reflecting on his sacrifice of love he recognized something like Adam's fall from grace in reverse.
If by that one person’s transgression the many died,
how much more did the grace of God
and the gracious gift of the one man Jesus Christ
overflow for the many.
Just as Adam brought spiritual death to mankind by his sin so did Jesus' self-offering provide new life "to those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of justification". Just as the children of Adam were made subject to the evil serpent by Adam's decision to sin so Christians were made free in Christ, not just to live, but "to reign in life through the one Jesus Christ".
Adam really did cause mankind to be born in a state of spiritual privation. The symmetry in Christ was equally real and not merely a legal fiction. Because of his obedience "many will be made righteous", not merely by fiat, but in actual fact.
It might have seemed that the sin of Adam rendered the whole project of creation as a failure. It opened the door to sin and suffering and all the horrors of our history. If we were to decide from our limited perspective we might never have begun a thing which would have gone so far off the rails. But God alone knew that this sin could one day be called a "happy fault". He already had a plan for blessing that far surpassed the curse.
Where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more,
so that, as sin reigned in death,
grace also might reign through justification
for eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
We need to remember that this need not only be true in the case of our redemption in Christ. Wherever we see sin increasing there is always grace waiting to be unleashed. The North American martyrs were able to recognize precisely that and were therefore able to become conduits of that grace.
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Gird your loins and light your lamps
and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding,
ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks.
In the night, when times are difficult, when there are challenges on every side, we should not just shut our eyes and ears, nor fall asleep. Neither should we focus merely on our own fear of the darkness. Rather, we should await our master's return. It is he and he alone who can bring grace where we see only the darkness of night.
Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself,
have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them.
Jesus truly does wait on us at table in every Eucharistic feast. Grace in abundance is already beginning to be unleashed and to overflow even before the morning has fully dawned. Already we are given access to eat the fruit of the tree of life, that is the cross, of which the tree from which Adam and Eve were banished was merely a shadow.
May all who seek you
exult and be glad in you,
And may those who love your salvation
say ever, “The LORD be glorified.”
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