32. Paul gives us the same thought in Romans 5, 17-18, where he
compares Adam and Christ. Adam, he says, by his disobedience in
Paradise, became the source of sin and death in the world; by the sin
of this one man, condemnation passed upon all men. But on the other
hand, Christ, by his obedience and righteousness, has become for us
the abundant source wherefrom all may obtain righteousness and the
power of obedience. And with respect to the latter source, it is far
richer and more abundant than the former. While by the single sin of
one man, sin and death passed upon all men, to wax still more
powerful with the advent of the Law, of such surpassing strength and
greatness, on the other hand, is the grace and bounty which we have
in Christ that it not only washes away the particular sin of the one
man Adam, which, until Christ came, overwhelmed all men in death, but
overwhelms and blots out all sin whatever. Thus they who receive his
fullness of grace and bounty unto righteousness are, according to
Paul, lords of life through Jesus Christ alone.