One Carrier, One Cure

In 1906, health inspector George Soper traced a mysterious outbreak of typhoid fever across several wealthy New York households to a single source: their cook, Mary Mallon. She had never shown a single symptom, yet everywhere she worked, people fell ill. Mary carried the disease in her very nature — she could not prepare a meal without passing it along. By the time authorities intervened, she had infected dozens of families simply by being who she was.

Half a century later, Jonas Salk stood before the world with a different kind of gift carried in a single pair of hands. His polio vaccine would rescue millions of children from paralysis and death. When asked who owned the patent, Salk replied, "The people. Could you patent the sun?" He gave it freely, refusing to profit from what he believed belonged to everyone.

Paul saw this same pattern woven into the deepest fabric of human history. Through one man, Adam, a contagion entered the bloodstream of the entire human race — not typhoid, but sin and death, passed along through our very nature. We did not choose it any more than Mary Mallon chose hers. But through one Man, Jesus Christ, a free gift entered the world that far outweighed the damage. Where Adam's trespass brought condemnation to all, Christ's obedience brought justification and life — offered freely, like Salk's vaccine, to every person willing to receive it.