Book of Common Prayer
The big picture in shorthand: Adam and the Messiah
12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one human being, and death through sin, and in that way death spread to all humans, in that all sinned . . . 13 Sin was in the world, you see, even in the absence of the law, though sin is not calculated where there is no law. 14 But death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over the people who did not sin by breaking a command, as Adam had done—Adam, who was the imprint of the one who was to come.
15 But it isn’t “as the trespass, so also the gift.” For if many died by one person’s trespass, how much more has God’s grace, and the gift in grace through the one person Jesus the Messiah, abounded to the many? 16 And nor is it “as through the sin of the one, so also the gift.” For the judgment which followed the one trespass resulted in a negative verdict, but the free gift which followed many trespasses resulted in a positive verdict. 17 For if, by the trespass of the one, death reigned through that one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace, and of the gift of covenant membership, of “being in the right,” reign in life through the one man Jesus the Messiah?
The triumphant reign of grace
18 So, then, just as, through the trespass of one person, the result was condemnation for all people, even so, through the upright act of one person, the proper verdict is life for all people. 19 For just as through the disobedience of one person many received the status of “sinner,” so through the obedience of one person many will receive the status of being “in the right.”
20 The law came in alongside, so that the trespass might be filled out to its full extent. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more; 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, even so, through God’s faithful covenant justice, grace might reign to the life of the age to come, through Jesus the Messiah, our Lord.
From below or from above
21 So Jesus spoke to them once more.
“I am going away,” he said. “You will look for me, and you will die in your sin. You can’t come where I’m going.”
22 “Is he going to kill himself?” asked the Judaeans. “Is that what he means when he says we can’t come where he’s going?”
23 “You come from below,” Jesus said to them, “but I come from above. You are from this world, I am not from this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins; you see, that’s what will happen to you if you don’t believe that I am the one.”
25 “Who are you?” they asked.
“What I’ve been telling you from the beginning,” replied Jesus. 26 “There are plenty of things I could say about you, yes, and against you too! But the one who sent me is true, and I tell the world what I heard from him.”
27 They didn’t understand that he was talking about the father.
28 So Jesus said to them, “When you’ve lifted up the son of man, then you will know that I’m the one, and that I never act on my own initiative; I say exactly what the father taught me. 29 And the one who sent me is with me. He hasn’t left me alone, because I always do what pleases him.”
The truth will make you free
30 As Jesus said all this, several people believed in him.
31 So Jesus spoke to the Judaeans who had believed in him.
“If you remain in my word,” he said, “you will truly be my disciples. 32 You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.