Romans 5:10-17

Living Bible

¹⁰ And since, when we were his enemies, we were brought back to God by the death of his Son, what blessings he must have for us now that we are his friends and he is living within us!

¹¹ Now we rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God—all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done in dying for our sins—making us friends of God.

¹² When Adam sinned, sin entered the entire human race. His sin spread death throughout all the world, so everything began to grow old and die,^[a] for all sinned. ¹³ We know that it was Adam’s sin that caused this^[b] because although, of course, people were sinning from the time of Adam until Moses, God did not in those days judge them guilty of death for breaking his laws—because he had not yet given his laws to them nor told them what he wanted them to do. ¹⁴ So when their bodies died it was not for their own sins^[c] since they themselves had never disobeyed God’s special law against eating the forbidden fruit, as Adam had.

What a contrast between Adam and Christ who was yet to come! ¹⁵ And what a difference between man’s sin and God’s forgiveness!

For this one man, Adam, brought death to many through his sin. But this one man, Jesus Christ, brought forgiveness to many through God’s mercy. ¹⁶ Adam’s one sin brought the penalty of death to many, while Christ freely takes away many sins and gives glorious life instead. ¹⁷ The sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to be king over all, but all who will take God’s gift of forgiveness and acquittal are kings of life^[d] because of this one man, Jesus Christ.