Where Sin’s presence corrodes, Christ’s heals. Where Sin multiplies death, Christ overflows with life.
The epistles in Lent, Series A, are Romans heavy (4 out of 5). The only non-Roman’s reading is Ephesians 5 on Lent 4. This may suggest a series to you as a preacher. But this season, I think it would be best, if you have a creative bug, to reserve such series for special services, since the readings assigned all confess (as really their only common theme) justification by grace, through faith, for the sake of Christ. They jump around in Romans, so there is not really a patent, logical argument to trace out over five Sundays. They are certainly all rich passages that treat justification in Christ alone. They are great verses, filled with stuff to please dogmatics fans and exegetes alike, proof texts for major Christian doctrines, the distinction between Law and Gospel, the sedes of the Church. Great material to find verses to encourage your people to memorize and meditate on each week. But squeezing a series out of the variety would be artificially to import a patina, a lens, through which to treat each pericope (which cannot help but look contrived; for example, one Sunday on “by grace,” a second Sunday on “through faith,” and so on). I am a Lutheran sort of Christian, and most every traditional church I have attended does Wednesday evening “Lenten services,” which often employ series, and the preacher can get away with it on those occasions better than on Sunday mornings because of the limited scope. You might be able to stretch the epistles into a midweek series, as there are some loose character connections you can make among the readings, and deliver Christ as typological fulfillment of Old Testament (OT) history or OT promises.
Consider the following as a possibility for example:
• Lent 1 (Romans 5:12-19 - Adam and Christ) - Adam is quite directly the forerunner and contrast of the Savior.
• Lent 2 (Romans 4:1-8, 13-17 - Abraham and Promise) - Abraham was justified by faith, another direct OT figure.
• Lent 3 (Romans 5:1-8 - Access by Faith, Rejoice in Suffering: God demonstrates His love in this, that while we were yet sinners...) - This one is tougher. You would have to import a figure who works in the theme. I suggest Moses on the lines of “access to God” through sacrifice, tabernacle, and the like (refer to Hebrews 3:1-6).
• Lent 4 (Ephesians 5:8-14 – Awake, O Sleeper! Rise from the Dead) - This one is also tough. I suggest you import a death and resurrection figure; a great one to prefigure this is Jonah.
• Lent 5 (Romans 8:1-11 - Now No Condemnation: The Spirit Gives Life) - My gut says Ezekiel, particularly chapter 37 and the valley of dry bones, which, coincidentally, happens to be the OT lesson for that day as well!
This is, in fact, what I will be doing for my Lenten midweek preaching this season. These all may seem to you to be a bit too arbitrary or loosely connected to the readings they are prompted by. Indeed, the greatest criticism I would register against creating a series like this is how it employs a text as a vehicle to smuggle something in that may not belong there in the first place instead of preaching the text itself. Nevertheless, if you are looking for a series with a hook, you can do worse than preach the Gospels or the OT lessons on Sunday, and then actually preach the assigned epistles in a series like this for your midweek services. It provides variety (and salutary teaching!) for your listeners who would otherwise not hear these texts treated, if it is not your normal habit or practice to preach the epistles on Sunday. Frankly, I think it is great to do these sorts of things yourself as a creative sermon crafter, rather than pay some other outfit money for suboptimal sermons or series. I know such things are out there but do your own work this time. The best things in life are free. It will pay off!
On to some specific notes on Romans 5:12-19, namely, the Adam and Christ argument. The OT lesson is the history of Adam and Eve’s temptation and fall (Genesis 3:1-21) and the Gospel lesson is Matthew’s account of our Lord’s temptation in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11). Jesus cures what Adam screwed up, and the epistle nails that fact. Jesus becomes all men, all Israel reduced to one (as at His baptism), and, here in Romans, all humanity reduced to one. We find in Christ, who was tempted as Eve and Adam were, the one who overcomes sin for all people.
We find in Christ, who was tempted as Eve and Adam were, the one who overcomes sin for all people.
Or, perhaps, we should spell it with a capital letter: Capital “S” Sin. That is how Paul writes Romans 5, whether we notice it or not. I would not go so far as to say that he personifies Sin but notice how active it is. Sin is not merely a bad habit or a moral misstep. It is not simply something we do. Sin does something, a force of its own. It acts. It intrudes. It moves with agency (and if you study where “sin” is the subject of verbs, you will notice this is true through the next several chapters of Romans as well; see 5:21; 6:13-14, 16-17, 23; 7:8, 11, 13). Not quite a character with a face and a voice, but something close enough to knock on the door and then walk right in without waiting to be invited. Why not trace out the drama for your hearers by setting Sin and the other dramatis personae on the stage of a party gone wrong? Paul’s argument invites that kind of image.
And the image is pretty unsettling. Sin enters the world, and Sin does not come alone. Like the worst kind of uninvited guest, Sin brings a plus-one, and that plus-one is Death. Death does not arrive because each individual deserves it in some kind of tidy, moral calculus (that is not Paul’s argument here) so get this image. Death arrives because Sin has already crossed the threshold. Sin interrupts the whole household of creation, and Death follows it room to room, touching everything, sparing nothing.
This is what Adam represents for Paul; not simply the first sinner, but the first opening. The door cracked. The interruption allowed. Through one trespass, Sin gains access to everyone, everywhere (“many” and “all” are synonymous throughout Romans 5). Indeed, all creation, meant for communion, becomes a place of contagion (Romans 8:19-23). Even the good gifts of God get bent, misused, and turned against us. Sin reigns. Death reigns. That is Paul’s bleak honesty. The uninvited guests completely corrupt the nature of the party that had been prepared.
But, God knows a thing or two about interrupting the uninvited. If Sin is an uninvited interrupter, then Christ is the interruption of the interruption. Grace does not sneak in quietly behind Sin, hoping not to be noticed. Grace is not like the trespass, not like Sin (Romans 5:15). The free gift is not like the result of that one man’s Sin (condemnation and Death to the many, Romans 5:16). Grace arrives decisively, bodily, scandalously. Notice how Christ comes uninvited too. His own did not receive Him (John 1:11). Yet, His agency is nothing like Sin’s. Where Sin’s presence corrodes, Christ’s heals. Where Sin multiplies death, Christ overflows with life.
If Sin is an uninvited interrupter, then Christ is the interruption of the interruption
Preach the Christ faithfully here. One act of righteousness (Romans 5:18), one man’s obedience (Romans 5:19), these are the contrasts Paul sets against the trespass and disobedience of Adam. But these are not mere abstracts. The act of righteousness and obedience have a historic referent. Certainly, hook the temptation of our Lord into this in order to connect the rest of the lectionary emphasis for the day. But do not stop there. This is where the cross must be delivered to your hearers as the gift it is.
Pay careful attention to the verbs Paul uses here. It is a superabundance, an overflowing. There is no balance in Paul’s argument, as if Adam is A and Christ is B and it is now even stevens in the universe, everything in harmony. Nope, the work of Christ upsets everything, transforms everything, tips the balance in a lopsided, grace-filled, life and righteousness achieving act for all people. The grace of Christ is not a mere reversal, not a tidy undo button, ushering the uninvited guests out and making the best of the remains of the party. It is a brand-new fiesta. It is an excess. “Much more,” Paul keeps saying. Much more grace. Much more life. What Adam screws up, Christ does not merely unscrew, He remakes. He does it for you, He does it for your hearer, He does it for all people (Romans 5:19). Not as a distant representative, abstract personification, or disembodied force, but as a new head of humanity, a new beginning that actually holds.
Just as Satan in the Matthew 4 narrative of our Lord’s temptation believes he has the last word, so Sin thought it had the final interruption. Death thought it had the last reign. But Christ in His temptation has the last word. And in just such a way, Jesus steps into the room and will not leave. And where He stands, Sin loses its grip. Death loses its claim. Grace reigns. And it reigns not in theory, not in abstraction, but in reality. By the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous (Romans 5:19). This is the gospel for Paul.
Preach biblically, and it will be the Gospel for your hearer... and for you as well!
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Additional Resources:
Craft of Preaching-Check out 1517’s resources on Romans 5:12-19.
Concordia Theology-Various helps from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, MO to assist you preaching Romans 5:12-19.
Lectionary Kick-Start-Check out this fantastic podcast from Craft of Preaching authors Peter Nafzger and David Schmitt as they dig into the texts for this Sunday!
The Pastor’s Workshop-Check out all the great preaching resources from our friends at the Pastor’s Workshop!
