May 10, 2011 – Romans 5:12 - 6:14

A friendly warning. I have a new toy. It is a voice recognition system so that I can talk and not have to type. So, some of these postings in the future might have some typos. I'm trying to correct them the best that can, but the typing is not as accurate. It is suppose to get better with time so we will see how all this works out .

One thing I found interesting was the time between Adam and Jesus. There is no salvation until Jesus comes and so you wonder why it took so long for Jesus to come. If all it took was Jesus dying to undo what Adam did, Jesus should have come right afterwards to do it. This goes back to all the traditions of laid down and all the sacrifices and history that was laid out to prepare the way for Jesus. Without this introduction to what Jesus was going to do it would not have made any sense. Jesus coming right afterwards and dying without the context of the Jewish sacrifices and will the Passover celebration and release from slavery would be empty and misunderstood. So even though it took so long, there is a reason why it took so long, and it doesn't take away from the idea that one man's sin causing everything allows for one man's redemptive act to of cover everything up.

We have talked in the past about Adam's sin and the effect that it has on all of us. That it has an effect on humans and because we're human it's part of our being. So we talk about the one act done by Jesus to take away that one act done by Adam, were talking about a very personal thing. It not only affects the world as a whole but the effect to each of us individually because we are individually affected by Adam's sin. We must except Jesus act on a personal level so that we can see restore that part of us that is affected by Adams act on a very personal level.

Chapter six talks about Baptisms and that through Baptism we are made a part of Christ or that we die with Christ or enter the tomb with Christ in order rise with him. It seems to assume that before your Baptism you're not a part of Christ, that this is the initial and first step to becoming a part of his church, one of his followers. It's always confused me why people wait for Baptism. That they think this is something that should be put off. In reading this, it seems an essential part of making a person a follower of Christ and that before Baptism there is a real danger or openness to sin, that without the grace from Baptism, you are vulnerable to a certain way of life. Catholics believe in infant baptism, in a baptism that happens as soon as possible. Catholics believe that Baptism washes away the stain of original sin and this belief, I think, is supported by these passages together. We have Paul talking about Adam' Sin and its effects on us, which is original sin, then we have a discussion of Baptism and its effect of bringing us into Christ. It appears that Paul sees a very close connection between original sin and Baptism. If that original sin makes a person vulnerable to Sin or lifestyle of Sin, regardless of age, and Baptism helps to protect them from that original sin and protect them from being vulnerable, wouldn't you want the protection as soon as possible. Infant Baptism seems to make all the sense in the world to me if you look at it like that.