romans road: fire and brimstone
“Adam sinned, and that sin brought death into the world. Now everyone has sinned, and so everyone must die.” Romans 5:12
These are the words of Paul the Apostle in Romans 5:12. They are a bit harsh if I do say so myself. Paul definitely frustrates and confuses me with this verse, which makes the following thoughts come up in my mind,
“Why do I have to die because my dude Adam ate an apple? And specifically Adam, Eve isn’t included in eating the apple?”
“My friends and family have to die because of the actions of a human none of us have ever met? Seems unfair.”
“Die? Like a natural death or like… assassinated by the Holy Spirit?”
“Why do we have to go through life on earth in sin and death if we have already been forgiven by God?”
“Also, I don’t want to die anytime soon… so could all of this sin and death stuff calm down for a couple years so I can live a little bit?”
These are real questions I’ve had about this verse throughout my life. In the past, I believed the answer to all of these questions was merely “because God said so.” This belief- that made no sense to me and made me fear for the loss of friends and family- made me a very bad evangelist.
One day when I was about thirteen, I was walking around my neighborhood with my Bible and saw my friend, Steven. I immediately ran up to him and started berating him with questions about the Bible and his personal faith.
All these questions I asked thinking I was making a positive impact (I guess I may have in an alternate timeline) but they just confused him. The conversation eventually ended by him literally running away saying,
“I DON’T WANT TO BE A CHRISTIAN”
Which, now, is a very understandable reaction.
My fear of losing my friends to the fiery pits of hell did encourage me to get out and start talking to people about God. But I unknowingly did so in a toxic and hurtful way, similar to how Romans 5:12 is perceived when out of context.
As a kid I really wasn’t about preaching fire and brimstone. In fact, my family always talked about the love and forgiveness of God. And how it should motivate us in our walk through faith.
So how did I hear that love filled message as well as one that was so filled with anger and death? I don’t have a concrete answer to this, but there are a few things I have put together that add up to some of my beliefs.
I was a part of many different churches that saw asking questions about the Bible and God as weakness or doubtfulness. While they preached these toxic messages, they also preached God’s love and supplied me with a beautiful community. So I felt I could trust my church’s advice on not doubting the bible or their interpretation of scripture. Because of this, I accepted whatever was preached to me. Even if it contradicted what Jesus said- because it was in the Bible, and the Bible was never wrong.
Since then, I’ve learned how to continue my belief in the Bible and in God while also acknowledging when I doubt something or see a verse that conflicts with Jesus’ preaching.
One of the ways that have proven helpful to me when I’m confused with a particular verse of the Bible is to…read more Bible. Particularly the verses around the confusing part, that way I get the context in which the verse is being read.
“Even when we were God’s enemies, he made peace with us, because his Son died for us. Yet something even greater than friendship is ours. Now that we are at peace with God, we will be saved by his Son’s life. And in addition to everything else, we are happy because God sent our Lord Jesus Christ to make peace with us.” Romans 5:10-11.
Okay, so this doesn’t sound like the same God who Paul depicts as so willing to kill the whole human race over an apple in verse twelve. In this verse, God makes friends with his enemies (us) and also gives us something greater than friendship-which is peace between humanity and God.
I personally feel that if I was friends with someone and also held the power of life and eternity in my hands- I would help my friend out with their sin problem, rather than just condemn my friend to hell.
I feel the tension Paul is trying to explain is this: God sent Jesus to be our forgiveness and peace. Though this is true, it’s important to remember the pain humanity was in when we were not at peace with God and think of what it would look like if we didn’t try to be like Jesus to others. This pain reminds us to strive to be our best. But now, be even more so forgiving of ourselves and others because of Jesus’ death and resurrection.
This conclusion is summed up well by Paul in a later verse when he says;
What should we say? Should we keep on sinning, so that God’s wonderful kindness will show up even better? No, we should not! If we are dead to sin, how can we go on sinning? Romans 6:1-2.