Understanding Original Sin and Salvation
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· 19 viewsPaul details for the reader how all sinned in Adam, therefore all receive death through sin. In contrast, many receive life in Christ, the new Adam who accomplished what Adam never could.
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TITLE: Understanding Original Sin and Salvation
Last Week: Romans 5:1-11
We looked at the beginning of Romans 5 where Paul presented the result of our justification by faith in Christ —> We have peace with God.
Through Christ alone, we have access to God!
Knowing that our justification is only the beginning, we rejoice in our trials and sufferings. Through such things, God produces endurance -> character ->hope.
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Paul highlights our weakness in the flesh, our sinfulness. EVEN SO, God has reconciled us by the death and life of his Son.
REJOICE IN THE RECONCILIATION OF GOD
This Week: Romans 5.12-21
Original Sin and Salavation
STORY: Infield in High School, Poor Freshman
I played baseball for most of my youth. Baseball is a team sport that when played at a high level requires much skill, group coordination, and understanding. At any point in time, there is a place on the field both you and all your teammates are supposed to be. You area team, but you also bear the failures of individuals as a team.
There are many different drills and tasks we would during during practice just like any other sport. One beautiful spring day in Hazel Green, all 3 teams were taking infield together (Freshman, JV, V). Infield - everyone in their position with the Coach hitting a series of ground balls or fly balls to be acted on….. PERFECTLY.
Yes, PERFECTION was the standard for the team in this drill. Coach even had this song he loved to play during this drill…..Mony Mony by Billy Idol.
The Problem: One mistake by anyone meant the drill stops, all people run, and then the drill restarts.
Poor Freshman….. 3 mistakes = Curses from all others
As a member of this team, we all bore the responsibility of each other’s failure.
When a single player failed, we failed. When the coach failed, we failed.
So it is with the Fall of Mankind in Genesis 3. In light of what we have seen in Romans thus far (especially the beginning of Romans 5), today we will be looking at the Doctrine of Original Sin.
What happened?
What are the effects of it?
Who is responsible?
At the same time, we will fix our gaze on the person of Jesus Christ and rejoice in the free gift of salvation. He is the new Adam, the better Adam, and in Him alone is eternal life.
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.
PRAYER
1. We receive death in the first Adam (v12-14)
1. We receive death in the first Adam (v12-14)
After using the beginning of the chapter to describe our peace and reconciliation with God through justification by faith, Paul describes here how one man’s death can provide salvation for many.
Paul begins a series of comparisons and contrasts here in v.12 that will be carried in theme throughout the entire section.
Again we are talking about “sin” this morning, but more specifically we are discussing “How did we become sinners?” This is known as the Doctrine of Original Sin.
To begin in v.12, Paul takes us back to the beginning of time and the Fall of Mankind.
“sin came into the world through one man” (v.12a)
At the beginning of time, the Creator God made all things including man and woman (Adam and Eve). He made mankind in His likeness (Gen1.26) and He gave them dominion over all creatures on the earth. God blessed them (v.28) and commanded them to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth.
God puts mankind in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. He then gives them one command.
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
What God had commanded them to uphold was for their good! Like you and me, Adam and Eve existed to glorify God, and living within this singular boundary would preserve their perfect relationship with God and protect them from the consequences of disobedience.
God promised their disobedience would lead to death.
So…what happened? (v.12a)
Adam, our representative, failed.
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
Back to Romans 5, Paul recounts the history of how sin was ushered into the world through the failure of Adam. Adam, as the head of humanity, set aside the commandments of the Lord, rejecting God and His authority, and endeavored to be like God knowing good and evil.
Eve was deceived but Adam transgressed the commandments of the Lord. This is how sin entered the world.
What are the effects? (v.12b)
Through sin, DEATH entered the world.
This was promised by the Lord if Adam and Eve disobeyed the Lord’s command in Genesis 2. Created to live in perfect union with God, Adam and Eve were not originally limited by death.
Because of sin, death became a reality of human life ever since. Apart from some very unique situations in the scriptures, death has come to all of humanity without exception.
To reckon with death is no more than sober realism, since death is life’s one and only certainty.
J. I. Packer
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
This is what happened at the Fall of Mankind! God and His word was rejected and mankind elevated himself to the place of God.
Much like we see from Israel in 1 Samuel 8, our representative Adam agreed that the Lord’s position as King and ruler of all was not enough. Mankind wanted someone more like themselves as king.
Thus, sin and death enter and infect all of creation.
Spiritual Death (Ephesians 2:1-2)
Physical Death (Heb 9.27)
Eternal Death (Rev 20.11-15)
Who is responsible?
This is the question that changes how we understand this section as a whole.
“so death spread to all men because all sinned” (v.12)
We see and understand there are consequences to Adam’s failure, but then Paul opens our eyes a little more to see the effects of this on a much more grand scale.
With Adam as the representative of all humanity, “all of humanity sinned in our past action” (Tim Keller, Romans commentary).
We all sinned in Adam, and death spread to all because all sinned. You may be thinking “Yes, we do have a sinful nature”, but that is not what the apostle is saying here. It is similar, but distinct.
WE ALL ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ADAM’S SIN. We are not merely conceived and then born with a sinful nature, but even further we are conceived and born as SINNERS.
You may be thinking this is unjust for you or I to bear the results of another person’s actions. Shouldn’t Adam and Eve bear the results of their actions and we do the same?
This position is not surprising and likely is natural to how we think. Living in the American culture, it is likely hard for us or others to accept that we all sinned in Adam.
Is this actually true?? What evidence do we have of this? Let’s consider a difficult example together.
EXAMPLE: Death reigns over all
Why do infants experience death in this world?
This is a hard subject to discuss, but we must consider something like it to get a full picture of the doctrine.
Adam’s sin was a sin of transgression: disobedience towards a direct command of God that was known to him.
Infants have no ability to commit sins of transgression against clear commands from the Lord, and yet death still tragically finds infants here and around the world each day.
Infants tragically experience death because like us because they also sinned in Adam and bear that responsibility with us all. They have committed no sin of transgression, but according to Paul here in Romans 5 the effects of Adam’s sin are universal.
What about their eternity?
This is a common question surrounding this topic, and Paul does not address questions like this in Romans 5 but instead focuses on the origin and effects of original sin.
That being said, we are not left hopeless. Consider what David, a man after God’s own heart, said in 2 Samuel 12 following the death of his son.
21 Then his servants said to him, “What is this thing that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive; but when the child died, you arose and ate food.” 22 He said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, ‘Who knows whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ 23 But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.”
David had confidence in seeing his son again! In these situations, we cling to the truth of the scriptures. We remember the Lord’s goodness, graciousness, and mercy.
APPLICATION
Let us not treat our sin and sinful nature lightly!
Instead of putting our sin to death through the power of God’s Word and Spirit that dwells with us, we casually keep it around for a rainy day.
Sin only brings death!
Do you mortify; do you make it your daily work; be always at it while you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin or it will be killing you.
John Owen (Puritan Divine and Statesman)
It is the Spirit alone that can mortify sin; he is promised to do it, and all other means without him are empty and vain. How shall he, then, mortify sin that has not the Spirit? A man may easier see without eyes, speak without a tongue, than truly mortify one sin without the Spirit.
John Owen (Puritan Divine and Statesman)
As Sinners saved by grace through faith, let us pour out our hearts to God in prayer asking Him by his Word and Through His Spirit to put present sin in our lives to death.
(v.13-14)
Let’s not forget that Paul is still addressing a Jewish audience in some capacity. Paul continues in v.13 arguing that sin was not birthed through the giving of the law. Sin was in the world long before the Law was given to Israel.
The Flood
Genesis 6:5–7 “5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.””
The Tower of Babel
Genesis 11:3–4 “3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.””
“but sin is not counted where there is no law” (v.13)
Paul reminds his Jewish audience why the Law was given.
Romans 3:20 “20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”
The Law was gracious given to Israel not as a means of self-earned salvation, but to reveal their sinfulness to them!
From Adam to Moses, people were born and then died apart from the Law because they too sinned in Adam like we did. They too stood condemned before a Holy God in their life and death apart from having saving faith like Abraham (Romans 4).
The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 10: Romans through Galatians E. The Universal Applicability of Justification (5:12–21)
Men did not have a charge from God similar to that which Adam had and violated. But the very fact that death was regnant during this period is proof that there was sin to account for it, seeing that death is the consequence of sin.
“Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.”
As a TYPE, Adam ultimately points us forward to Christ. In his failure, he foreshadowed and symbolized one who was to come!
As our representative, Adam failed and we all failed In him
Thus, we needed another head! Another, greater man to be our representative before the Father! More than just a man, we needed the Creator of all things and the Giver of the Law to free us from the bondage and slavery to sin.
We needed a new Adam that brings us from death in sin to life (1 Cor 15.45)
2. We are offered the free gift of salvation through the last Adam (v15-17)
2. We are offered the free gift of salvation through the last Adam (v15-17)
To further expand his position, Paul used the next three verses to bring forth a glorious contrast between what we receive in the first Adam and the last Adam.
Christ Described as the Last Adam Who Gives Life
45 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
“But the free gift is not like the trespass” (v.15)
Though Paul has connected Adam and Christ by the fact that their acts affected many others, this is where Paul puts a fork in the road to highlight a wonderful reality for sinners: What Adam has lost, Christ has restored (CCE).
The free gift of salvation by grace is altogether different than the inherited trespass of Adam. The effect of Adam’s trespass is that all receive death through it because all sinned.
The use of the word “many” here does not indicate an internal contradiction by Paul. A quick look at Rom5.12 and Rom5.18 clearly shows that this effect is universal to all people.
“much more”
In contrast to Adam’s one act of condemnation, the act of the God Man (Jesus Christ) was immeasurably greater and brought about redemption and reconciliation to many through the free gift of salvation by grace. This is exactly what we saw last week in the beginning of Romans 5.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
The grace of God has abounded through the one man Jesus Christ! The rejection of God and His Word from the very beginning and the evil in this world as result of sin could not thwart the redemption plan of our God.
The free gift of salvation has abounded for many among the nations, and it will continue.
If a man delights in free grace, and in the ‘free gift’, you can be sure he is a man who has seen his utter sinfulness and hopelessness and helplessness.
Assurance, 256
David Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Welsh Preacher and Writer)
Condemnation vs Justification (v.16)
The result of Adam’s sin was universal! The Lord was right to judge the head of mankind and us in our sin. Our Holy God judges all things perfectly accordingly to the perfect standard found only within Himself.
CONDEMNATION - Penalty
In Adam, we bear the penalty of original sin and all additional sins of transgression in our lives.
John 3:17–18 “17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
BUT in Christ, we receive the free gift while we are still sinners! Our God has declared us justified one and for all! REMEMBER: Justification is the gracious act of God by which he declares a sinner righteous solely based on faith in Jesus Christ.
21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
We stand before the Father confident not in ourselves, but in the declaration of God that we are righteous in Christ alone!
Death vs Life (v.17)
In Adam, we have recieved spiritual and physical death. Death has reigned ever since through Adam’s trespass. This was the exact opposite of what Satan promised in his deception.
5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
In his lies, Satan promised the benefits of knowing good and evil like God does. He promised perfection, but this only led to corruption.
In Christ, the last Adam, we receive the abundance of God’s grace! Grace that is greater than all our sin.
In Christ, we receive the gift of the righteousness of Christ, which is needed to be justified before God the Father.
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.
The free gift is not like the trespass, for its effects are far greater! In the first Adam, there is only sin and death. In the last Adam (Jesus Christ), we have a new representative that ushers in new life and the free gifts of righteousness and grace.
(v.18-19)
These verses area perfect summary of this section as a whole.
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.
We do not want to reject the idea of bearing the results or consequences of someone else.
In rejecting this idea, we reject the good news of the gospel.
GOSPEL
3. We have life eternal in Christ (18-21)
3. We have life eternal in Christ (18-21)
In v.20, Paul says the Law was given to Israel in order to increase the trespass. This does not mean that Israel suddenly began sinning more once the Law was received, but instead their awareness of their failure and inability to keep God’s perfect standard was increased.
This was actually a gift of God’s grace! Their newfound awareness of sin was always meant to lead them to repentanc.
7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”
APPLICATION:
The commandments of God are often seen by those outside the church (and even in the church) as limitations. We all look around at the world at times and see the pleasure in which some are living, and at our worst we potentially envy their enjoyment and freedom.
The problem with this viewpoint is our understanding of joy and freedom are tainted by sin. This view is the same lens of deceit that Satan slipped over the eyes of Eve and is what the first Adam failed to understand.
Our sin has been graciously revealed to us so that we would no longer live in it! God desires for us to cherish His word and trust in Him that He knows what is best for us today and for all eternity.
7 The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple;
8 the precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
9 the fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules of the Lord are true,
and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.
11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
Do you desire for your soul to be revived today? Do you seek wisdom?
Are you looking for joy? Do you want your eyes opened to the truth?
Do you want to cling to something that will never fail? Something so sweet and so valuable that nothing in this world can compare to it?
This is the Word of God. This is the good news of God’s grace and eternal life through faith in Jesus.
Where sin increased, Grace abounded all the more! There is no one far enough from the Lord that He is unable or incapable of saving. Certainly, the effects of sin and death in the world bring great heartache. Our sins they are many, but His mercy is more.
The last Adam brings eternal life to sinners!
12 I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, 13 though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. 16 But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.
In Christ, grace reigns over death! This grace will be made known known among the nations through the church.
A day is coming, when all nations tribes and tongues will no longer seek to earn their salvation through works or seek deliverance from this present world of suffering, but instead we will all join together in crying out to the King of Kings in worship everlasting (Rev 7.9-17).
He will be our God and we will be His people for all of eternity. Sin will be no more. Death will be no more. All the effects of the Fall will be made right once again, and God will receive the glory.
50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55 “O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
APPLICATION:
All of humanity is either in Adam or in Christ. There is no middle ground.
Those in Adam will receive judgment, but those in Christ have received life eternal with Him
20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
