Romans 5:12-17 (NASB)
12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned— 13 for [
a]until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a [
b]type of Him who was to come.
15 But [
c]the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. 16 The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from ontransgression[
d]resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions [
e]resulting in justification. 17 For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
18 So then as through one transgression [
f]there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness [
g]there resulted justification of life to all men. 19 For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.
This is my favorite passage regarding the divine exchange. But, if I was being honest, I could acknowledge a possible asymmetry there.
In this passage, Paul is saying that all of us, having descended from Adam, are born in sin.
We didn’t have a choice there, it is enough to be a human being for us to be born in sin.
Yet, in order to be saved, Jesus being our substitute is not sufficient in itself, we need to receive it by faith (v17), in order to be righteous.
No doubt you just need to receive this free gift by faith so Jesus made it very easy for us to be saved, he has done all the work.
But from this acknowledgement, I do understand why some people might find the concept of limited atonement appealing.
It will solve the asymmetry problem. If Adam sin is indeed so powerful that it condemns all human beings to be born with sin, not giving us any choice, it may make sense to also believe that Jesus, being the final Adam, did at least an equally powerful work, by making this salvation irresistible to those who are elected by God.