3 Day Bible Reading Plan - “Romans: Two Men, Two Destinies”
Big Idea: Born as hostages, reborn as royalty.
Day 1
Featured Verse: Romans 5:12–14
How do you understand the claim that sin entered the world through one man and that death spread to all because all sinned, and what does this suggest to you about your own connection to Adam’s fall?
What does it mean for you personally that Adam is described as a type of the one who was to come, and how does this typology shape your view of Christ’s role in reversing the effects of the fall?
Considering that death spread to all men through Adam’s sin, how do you wrestle with the implications of this inherited reality for your sense of personal responsibility and your need for divine grace?
“All, I say, had sinned, for sin was in the world long before the written law. … Death reigned — And how vast is his kingdom! ... Even over them that had not sinned after the likeness of Adam’s transgression — Even over infants who had never sinned, as Adam did, in their own persons; and over others who had not, like him, sinned against an express law. Who is the figure of him that was to come — Each of them being a public person, and a federal head of mankind. The one, the fountain of sin and death to mankind by his offence; the other, of righteousness and life by his free gift.” -John Wesley
Day 2
Featured Verse: Romans 5:15–17
How do you understand the apostle’s claim that the free gift is not like the trespass, and what does this contrast reveal to you about the nature of God’s grace in relation to human failure?
What does it mean that the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, while the free gift following many trespasses brought justification, and how does this reshape your view of God’s response to sin?
How does the promise that those who receive the abundance of grace will reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ shape your hope for the present and the future in light of the reign of death introduced by Adam?
“Adam’s fall was terribly effectual, it has brought death upon the human race age after age; and Christ’s death is wonderfully effectual, for on behalf of all those for whom he died his atonement so prevails as to put their sins away for ever.” -Charles Spurgeon
Day 3
Featured Verse: Romans 5:18–21
How do you understand the parallel that one trespass led to condemnation for all men while one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men, and what does this reveal to you about the scope of Christ’s work?
Reflecting on the movement from condemnation through Adam to justification and life through Christ, in what ways does this passage challenge or deepen your understanding of God’s justice and mercy?
In what ways does the reign of grace through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord invite you to live differently in the face of the lingering effects of sin and death?
“What grace has done is not merely to counteract exactly what sin has done. If grace had done that, and that alone, it would still be something wonderful. If the effect of grace had merely been to wipe out, and to cancel, all that had happened on the other side, we should have had a theme for praising God sufficient to last us through all eternity. But, says the Apostle, it is not an exact counterbalance; what I have on the right side does not exactly tally with that I have on the left. In fact there is no comparison; it is a superfluity, an abounding, and engulfing, it is an overflowing on the side of grace. We must hold on to this truth at all costs and get it clear in our minds. The point is that grace does not merely exactly balance, it does not just undo what sin has done; it does much more.” -Martyn Lloyd-Jones
“But where sin abounded, Grace did much more abound. Blessed be God for that! Sin may be a river, but Grace is an ocean. Sin may be a mountain, but Grace is like Noah’s flood which prevailed over the tops of the mountains fifteen cubits upward.” - Charles Spurgeon
