Read Romans 5 Without Making Adam and Christ Two Equal Sides

Identify the two figures in Paul’s comparison

Romans 5:12-21 compares what comes through one man with what comes through Jesus Christ. Read the whole selected passage before drawing two columns for children. Paul speaks of sin entering the world, death through sin and death spreading. He then speaks of grace, gift, righteousness and life through Christ. These are substantial claims about humanity and Christ, not two examples of people making equally influential choices.

A child may need help identifying Adam, whom the passage names, and following the repeated references to one man. Use the names where the text establishes them. Keep difficult questions about sin, death and the scope of the statements visible for responsible Christian teaching. A quick picture cannot carry every theological question in this paragraph.

Source: Romans 5:12-21, KJV; chapter context

Read the differences beside the likeness

The passage calls Adam a figure of the one to come, but it also repeatedly says the gift is not like the offense. Notice the language about one offense, many offenses and the abundance of grace. Then find the repeated much more statements. A retelling that makes both sides identical except for their direction loses the contrast Paul emphasizes.

Ask what the gift does in the argument and what language signals its abundance. The family does not need to solve every interpretation question before noticing those actual words. Avoid describing sin and grace as two equal forces waiting to see which will become stronger. The passage's language gives the gift a difference that an evenly balanced drawing can easily hide.

Source: Romans 5:12-21, KJV; chapter context

Keep the reigning images attached to their subjects

Paul speaks of death reigning and later of grace reigning through righteousness to eternal life by Jesus Christ. He also describes those receiving abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness. Read the subjects and outcomes carefully. A child can trace who or what is said to reign instead of receiving a vague lesson about keeping a positive attitude.

Do not use the comparison to diagnose why one particular person is ill or why a present family suffered a loss. This passage does not give you that private explanation. Questions about the statements concerning all people, condemnation, justification and obedience deserve careful study with the whole argument. Record them rather than answering with an illustration whose details you invented at the table.

Source: Romans 5:12-21, KJV; chapter context

Check the picture against the words

Our editorial application is a review of a teaching aid. Imagine a parent drawing an evenly balanced scale labeled Adam and Jesus. Before showing it to the child, the parent notices that the drawing suggests equal opposing powers. They replace it with a simple comparison that includes the explicit differences, the gift and the repeated much more wording.

Use the working notes to record each figure, the act attributed to him, the stated consequences and the words that prevent an exact symmetry. Mark the picture as your own aid, not an image supplied by Paul. If the child asks a question the drawing cannot answer, return to the passage and seek suitable teaching. A plainer diagram with an honest limit serves the reader better than a memorable image that changes the argument.

Source: Romans 5:12-21, KJV; chapter context

Put it into practice