What Paul wants to do in these verses is to tell how it is possible that we could be turned from enemies to friends of God by the death of his Son. What circumstances could make such a situation possible? Paul’s answer: Christ got us out of the mess Adam got us into. What Adam did, Christ undid; where Adam failed, Christ succeeded. The stories of the temptation and fall of Adam (Gen. 2:5–3:24), and of the temptation and triumph of Jesus (Matt. 4:1–11; Luke 4:1–13) lurk in the background of Paul’s
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