For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:19)
Ready for some eye-popping scripture twisting? If you read the above verse in context you will understand the following:
1. The one man who is disobedient is Adam.
2. Because we are all his progeny, we are all made sinners by birth.
3. The one man who is obedient is Jesus Christ. All have sinned, so he is the only one who ever was obedient to God's law.
4. All those who are born again are now Christ's progeny, and so they are made righteous, not by their own work, but by Christ's work on the cross. His righteous and perfect life is imputed to his flock, those who put their faith in Christ alone.
This is the only meaning of this verse. Now, hear a shocking interpretation from an actual pastor:
When anyone is obedient to God's law, he or she will make many righteous. We have now moved from Christ's perfect obedience to the law for our salvation to our obedience to the law for others' salvation. We are put in Christ's office and Jesus is marginalized to a spectator, the distinction between the Father and Son blurred.
I never thought I would put these words down, but when I heard this interpretation, after I got past the shock and disillusion (at first I was in denial that anyone could so mishandle scripture and so I pondered what else he could have meant for weeks), I had to write this brief post. I pray that you will never be led astray by anyone and that scripture twisting like the above will cease.
