Romans 5:12-21

Contrasts Between The first And Last Adam

Romans 5:12–21 ESV

12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. 15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. 18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 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. 20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Main Proposition:

Statement of Doctrine or Application

Just as Adam brought sin and death into the world Christ brought life and righteousness

Intro:

Statement of proposition

Leading up to this we discussed the benefits of coming to that true saving faith in Jesus Christ. We read over seven benefits that the true believer gets when he comes into Christ’s fold

This week we are going to talk about the person that brought us into the life of sin and the man that will take God’s elect out of it.

Paul is going to take us through the journey from Adam to Christ and in a sense from death to life.

Other texts that support

Why does this matter?

This is important for the Jews of Rome during Paul’s time as well as for our time today to fully understand what was lost with Adam, but more importantly what was gained with Christ.

By means of this comparison he illustrates that the methods of justification and condemnation are the same in principle.

Sinners are justified through the imputation of Christ’s righteousness just as they were condemned through the imputation of Adam’s sin.

The point of this passage tells us that just as the race was lost through the representative act of the “first” Adam even so believer’s are saved through the representative act of the “last” Adam

As we see in Genesis 3 how it plays out for Adam and Eve. Because of Adam’s inability to keep God’s law sin has fallen on all of mankind. From the time of conception we have a sin nature and it takes Christ dying at the cross, descending into death and raising up and ascending to the right side of the father for any of us to have a shot at eternal life.

The parallel between Adam and Christ is drawn by the apostle for the sake of confirming, establishing and making plain the truth that he has been developing , the truth being that our righteousness in Christ by faith without the works of the law.

He is continuing the theme of Faith through Christ alone

Now in verses 12-21 Paul is showing us the two main enemies that threaten to kill the hope of believers and that is sin and death.

These powers were introduced into the world through the sin of Adam and has dominated the human race ever since

BUT because of the fact that Jesus Christ has conquered both death and sin his impact on history is greater than Adam’s and because of that the hope of believers will never be killed by sin or death.

In this passage we see the “Total Depravity” of humans and the need for the last Adam.

Main Point #1: The Condemnation of Adam

Romans 5:12–14 ESV

12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

Statement:

Through Adam’s sin, everybody that has ever existed after is born into a sin nature that only the righteousness of Christ can get us out of.

Prove:

Here we have Paul outlining how the alienation, the separation between us and our creator started. Paul is tracing out the specific root of human sin which has affected every single one of us.

Once again we see Paul linking the previous passage to this one. In the last passage he tells us the benefits of being a true follower of Christ and now we see why we needed to be justified in the first place.

What was so important that God had to send his only begotten son to save us? Why? Because that was the only way.

An important word to look at here is the word “sin” notice that it is not “sins” plural. Why is that? Because even though after eating from the forbidden tree he committed many other sinful acts. This wasn’t like a one and done type of event. Paul is talking about a very specific action that caused a domino affect for all of mankind.

Because Adam is the representative for all mankind the sin nature that he picked up spread to all of his offspring. We all inherited that sin nature.

If Adam sinned then the rest of us would have sinned as well.

The logical question to ask and answer is: When was it that we all sinned in and with Adam? When did all humanity sin collectively?

The second Adam ate from the tree we all sinned.

When someone is born, he is already born with death, because he contracts this sin nature from Adam.

Adam’s hiding from God and his expulsion from the garden signal his spiritual separation from God.

We must not just focus on one side of death that we usually think of: Physical and focus on the other death “Spiritual”

We are talking about the physical and spiritual death for those that remain unsaved

Sin and death are two words that are woven together in Scripture.

You cannot mention them apart. Where there is sin there is death.

Like Law and Judgment

As we have seen in chapters 1-3 of this epistle not only are we sinners by inheritance we are also sinners by practice.

We didn’t just inherit this sin nature and that is the end of it. Lets be honest before people are saved they love their sin.

I have yet to meet an unbeliever that is forced to sin

In verses 13-14 we see Paul bringing in another heavy hitter from the Jewish history books Moses.

We see God reveals the 10 Commandments to Moses, sin was in the world at the time and we must be held accountable for the laws that we break.

Even though men were still guilty of sin, there was no standard or legal assessment officially existing in this physical form to set it forth.

People leading up to this time were still guilty of sin, but now is when we can physically see that we are sinful people.

“Yet death reigned” this is the sign of a fallen, sinful world.

When did sin come into the world? Many would say that it arrived with the law and not earlier, So Paul intentionally says that sin proceeded the law.

Paul is trying to provide an explanation for the death of those who do no possess the Mosaic Law.

People have the understanding that where there is no law there is no transgression or sin against the law as we saw in Romans 4:15

Romans 4:15 ESV

15 For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.

So the connection here is that there was sin between Adam and Moses and because of that sin existed from Adam’s transgression onward.

What is the point of the law? The law is suppose to point us back to Christ. We can now physically see that we are unable to keep the laws and the only way that we can become justified by the law is to come to saving faith in Jesus Christ.

And Christ is going to point us to God.

Everything is going to start and end with God. It should never start or end with us.

Flowers in texts

1 Corinthians 15:21–22 ESV

21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

It is so important to search scripture to find where we can backup our claims and here is one of the more popular verses in 1 Corinthians. We have Paul describing to the Corinthians the same thing that he is describing to the Romans.

Death and Sin came into this world through one man and eternal life came from another.

Illustrations

There is a saying that in order to make it in Hollywood, music industry, etc that you need to sell your soul

You need to compromise your morals and ethics

I have friends that gave up on their morals and ethical compasses in order to make it in professional sports. I was lucky that God was watching over me during those times.

They’ve been saying that for years and it is not until recent times where we are really starting to see the results of that.

People selling their soul for wordly success and riches

Everywhere we look we see satanic worship in pop music, Super Bowl Commercials etc.

People have sold their souls for a lot less than Adam so what makes us think that we are any better? According to God we are ALL on the same playing field.

We are all sinful in Adam and need an external force to take us out of our sin and the worlds pollution.

Main Point #2: The Commendation Of Christ

Romans 5:15–17 ESV

15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

Statement

What we get from Christ is not like what we get from Adam. In Adam we got eternal death and God’s wrath and with Christ we are given the free gift of God’s grace.

Five times between verses 15 and 19 we see Paul contrast Christ and Adam

Now we are ready to work out the comparison which Paul makes between our relationship with Adam and our relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

Prove

In verse 15A we are going to see the contrast between the transgression of Adam and the grace of Christ

Once again this free gift is unmerited, undeserved and unearned and is given to us through the representation of Jesus Christ.

“By one mans trespass many died”

Spiritual death and eventually a physical death

The word many in Greek word “Polloi” that is used here means “All”

BUT because of God’s incredible grace the fact that Christ is much more powerful to save then Adam is to destroy

Because of Christ’s work on the cross our offenses that we have committed have been forgiven and we have been given His righteousness, we are now in good standing with God, we have been acquitted from our actions, pardoned before Him.

My expectation when reading this is that Paul is going to say “many come to life”, but his focus is on God’s grace so that the readers will be able to appreciate the cost of the gift and how magnificent it truly is

Paul use the Greek words “Pollo mallon” meaning “much more”

Because of Adam’s transgression death reigned definitively as a malicious tyrant

Some have been given the grace of Christ not just as merely undeserved favor.

It is also a power that reverses the consequences of Adam’s sin and as a result believers’ who have received this grace, can be certain that sin and death will never triumph over them.

Notice what we are saying: For those that receive the gift meaning that not everybody is going to receive the gift of God’s grace. For those that receive the gift

We do not work for it or obtain it from meeting certain preconditions

The apostle never leaves the idea out of this matter concerning Christ

As we have seen in every single part of his letter to the Romans we see him redirecting their thoughts, emotions, heritage and directing them back towards Christ and this is no different.

There is one incredible and essential truth in this passage and it is: We were in Adam once, and we fell in him. His sin brought death on the human race, but what happened next? The Good News! We can escape the death of the human race. More than that, we can above the position that Adam once stood.

We can stand in a divine righteousness, which as we know is eternal and that can never be taken away. It allows us to triumph over sin.

It is the only way that we can break out of our sinful lives, our sinful habits and patterns.

2 Timothy 2:12 ESV

12 if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us;

Once we reign with Christ that is a permanent position

but if we deny Christ is worthy place in our lives than when we see Him he will also deny us and he will say

Matthew 7:21–23 ESV

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Illustrations

Main Point #3: The Contradiction between both

Romans 5:18–21 ESV

18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 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. 20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Statement

As Paul winds down this part of his letter we are going to see him set up parallels between Adam and Christ and compares how they operate and the impact between the two

Prove

Paul leads us off with Adam: By one man’s offense judgment came to all mankind, all people, all humanity connected to him by natural descent resulted in condemnation

In the same manner Paul introduces the second part through Christ: By one man’s righteous act, that act being perfect obedience to the Lord, to His Father in offering himself up for a sacrifice for our sins

This single action by which Jesus overturned the disastrous effects of Adam’s single action

For all people that who are spiritually connected to Christ, who abide in Christ, who come to Christ to lift up their sins. Those are the people that Paul is talking about.

We are from a long line of “Miss the markers” starting with Adam

As Paul gets into verse 20 we see him go back into the law, The 10 Commandments came in alongside the sin in the world.

The purpose of the law was to show people in fact that they are indeed fallen people, that they cannot be righteous on their own accord, they need help and the only person that is able to help us fulfill the law is Christ.

At this point you can physically see that you are breaking God’s laws and by defining what those laws are we now know that there are consequences for breaking those laws.

Paul is trying to show people that the law was not meant to show people how they can become righteous or made right before God.

It was given so that it might show how much that they are not right with God and how desperately we were and are in need of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior

The law shows that we are completely helpless without God’s grace

To close things out Paul tells us that yes sin goes incredibly deep, but God’s grace is so much wider and deeper.

There is no sin that is a match for God grace because when sin was running our lives that God’s grace through Christ did so much more

Thomas Brooks who was a Puritan put it like this: “The imputed righteousness of Christ is the only true basis for a believer to build his happiness, joy, comfort, peace and quiet of his conscience upon.”

Martin Luther: “Lord Jesus, you are my righteousness, I am your sin. You took on you what was mine; yet set on me what was yours. You became what you were not, that I might become what I was not.”

Illustrations:

Without Christ we are slaves to the world

There was an interview with Shaq where he was talking to someone about his retirement. He said that along the way throughout his career he made a lot of mistakes, lost his entire family and when he retired he had a 100k sq ft house, all the money he could want and was absolutely miserable and sad.

When you are of the world there is only one ending in life and that is sadness and disappointment.

Application Points:

We must learn the importance of growing in genuine humility

According to this passage, we are not only rebel sinners in ourselves, but we are also ruined sinners in our first father Adam

Learn the importance of rejoining in God through Christ our Lord and Savior who has delivered from our fallen condition and has given to us justification, righteousness and eternal life.

For anyone that is not a believer in Christ yet: Learn the importance of being justified in Jesus Christ. Without Christ you will forever be a slave to this world and your sin.

Only through Jesus can you have any hope for an eternal future with God.

Discussion Questions:

What is the point of the law? Why did God physically show us his laws? Were people sinful before the law?

Paul makes the distinction between “all in Adam” and “many in Christ”. What is the importance of that as believers and nonbelievers?

Why do the faith and hope in Christians stand or fall on the reality of Adam and Christ?

What did you learn in Romans 5:12-21 tonight that will help you further glorify God and enjoy Him forever?