Romans 5:12-19 Failed. Restored.

Romans 5:12-19 (Evangelical Heritage Version)

12So then, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, so also death spread to all people because all sinned. 13For even before the law was given, sin was in the world. Now, sin is not charged to one’s account if there is no law, 14and yet death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those whose sin was not like the transgression of Adam, who is a pattern of the one who was to come.

15But the gracious gift is not like Adam’s trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of this one man, it is even more certain that God’s grace, and the gift given by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ, overflowed to the many!

16And the gift is not like the effect of the one man’s sin, for the judgment that followed the one trespass resulted in a verdict of condemnation, but the gracious gift that followed many trespasses resulted in a verdict of justification.

17Indeed, if by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through the one man, it is even more certain that those who receive the overflowing grace of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ!

18So then, just as one trespass led to a verdict of condemnation for all people, so also one righteous verdict led to life-giving justification for all people. 19For just as through the disobedience of one man the many became sinners, so also through the obedience of one man the many will become righteous.

Failed. Restored.

I.

Paul takes you back to the very beginning of time, so picture it. Or try to picture it. You’re in the Garden of Eden. It’s literally Paradise. Everything is perfect.

There in the perfect setting stood one man, Adam. He was standing next to his wife, Eve. Everything was beautiful. It was more than awesome, it was flawless.

Then the serpent slithers in to the picture, right up to the two of them as they stood not far away from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The serpent suspected what Eve later admitted: she could be deceived. He directed the full force of his lies first toward her. “Has God really said?... 4 You certainly will not die... 5 In fact...you will be like God” (Genesis 3:1, 4-5, EHV).

Adam stood there passively, just listening, not directing the conversation, not stopping it. Suddenly perfect wasn’t as perfect as he thought perfect could be. It felt like something was lacking. God-like knowledge. That sounded incredible. That was something he coveted.

Later, when God spoke to the woman and asked what she had done, Eve replied: “The serpent deceived me, and I ate” (Genesis 3:13, EHV). In another of his letters, Paul tells the sad reality about Adam: “It was not Adam who was deceived, but it was the woman who was deceived” (1 Timothy 2:14, EHV). Adam understood what the slithering serpent was saying. He wasn’t deceived. He didn’t care. He coveted the god-like knowledge the serpent offered. You can see his hand eagerly reaching for the fruit Eve plucked from the tree; he couldn’t wait to get his hands on its juicy goodness and eat.

Paul tells the whole sordid story with one sentence: “So then, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, so also death spread to all people because all sinned” (Romans 5:12, EHV). Adam failed spectacularly. Think about how Paul described the failure throughout the Reading: one sin; one trespass; a verdict of condemnation. But right here in this verse, Paul already announced the sentence: death!

Admit it, it was hard to picture paradise, perfection, wasn’t it? We don’t live in that world. We are locked in the world that came immediately after. Adam and Eve tried to hide. They covered themselves with fig leaves in shame. When God tracked them down, they tried to put the blame anywhere but themselves: “The man said, ‘The woman you gave to be with me...’ 13 The woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me’” (Genesis 3:12-13, EHV).

When confronted with our own sins—our own misdeeds, no matter how small we might think they are—we respond the way our first parents did. We keep silent about sin. Guilt weighs heavily on us; it eats us from the inside. Fear grips us, and life feels like the earth is dissolving and the mountains are tumbling into the heart of the sea, as the Psalm of the day said.

The temptations keep coming. The devil hit Jesus out in the wilderness with the same lies Adam and Eve couldn’t withstand. “Turn some stones into bread; you don’t have to be hungry anymore.” “If you are godlike, prove it—jump off the highest point of the temple.” “There’s an easier path to glory—just bow down and worship me.”

Adam failed in the perfect world of paradise. We fail every day in our own wilderness. We grasp; we doubt; we compromise.

“Sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, so also death spread to all people because all sinned... 14 death reigned” (Romans 5:12, 14, EHV). One man’s sin doomed the entire human race. No human fix can reverse it—no morality, no religion, no self-improvement schemes.

II.

Did you catch Paul’s twist to the plot? “Adam... is a pattern of the one who was to come” (Romans 5:14, EHV). The footnote in the Evangelical Heritage Version says that “pattern” might also be translated “type.” What!? Adam a “type” or “pattern” of Christ? The bringer of death foreshadows the bringer of life?

The EHV study Bible continues with an explanation about the pattern or type. “What Adam did set a pattern for what Christ would do (often by being the opposite).”

That’s exactly what we see when Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness. Adam just listened to the slithering serpent, and then took it to heart and coveted. In contrast, Jesus responded, using the Word of God to counter every one of the devil’s lies. “It is written,” says Jesus, again and again.

Paul says it this way: “But the gracious gift is not like Adam’s trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of this one man, it is even more certain that God’s grace, and the gift given by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ, overflowed to the many! 16And the gift is not like the effect of the one man’s sin, for the judgment that followed the one trespass resulted in a verdict of condemnation, but the gracious gift that followed many trespasses resulted in a verdict of justification” (Romans 5:15-16, EHV).

One trespass led to a verdict of condemnation. Generation after generation that followed was born with sin we inherited from our first parents. Generation after generation sinned just like they did. Every sin boils down to wanting to be our own gods, wanting ourselves to top everything else in the world.

Then came the one man, Jesus Christ. What Adam shattered in the Garden, Jesus restores. He brings a gracious gift. It results in a verdict of justification. Justification means a verdict of “not guilty.” Not guilty for Adam’s sin. Not guilty for the inherited sin passed down from one generation to the other. Not guilty for all the trespasses, all the wrong things each one of us does every single day.

Even beyond “not guilty.” The verdict of justification means that when we stand before the judgment throne of God, every instance of sin disappears, and he sees only the righteousness of Jesus in place of all our sins.

III.

How can this be? “For just as through the disobedience of one man the many became sinners, so also through the obedience of one man the many will become righteous” (Romans 5:19, EHV).

The verdict is announced because of the obedience of one man—Jesus. That word, obedience, holds so much more than you might think at first glance. Not long ago we watched and marveled at what John called “The Word made flesh.” Jesus, God himself, was born of Mary without sin. His obedience to the Heavenly Father’s will caused him to take human flesh into the Godhead and live as a human being. Obedience includes much more than becoming truly and fully human. Jesus lived under the law of God in obedience to every one of the Ten Commandments—not just obeying the letter of those commands, but the full spirit God intended in every one of them.

Jesus’ obedience goes still further. It continued when he came down from the Mount of Transfiguration to walk the path to the cross, following the Heavenly Father’s plan. It continued as he hung on the cross, refusing to take the bait and come down from the cross, but stayed up there, receiving in himself the full penalty deserved by every single sin from every human being.

This is why we can sing so exuberantly the Psalm of the Day. “God is our refuge and strength, a helper who can always be found in times of trouble. 2That is why we will not fear when the earth dissolves and when the mountains tumble into the heart of the sea... 6Nations are in turmoil. Kingdoms fall. God raises his voice. The earth melts. 7The LORD of Armies is with us. The God of Jacob is a fortress for us” (Psalm 46:1-2, 6-7, EHV).

This isn’t abstract poetry. Because of Christ, because of Jesus’ obedience to fulfill God’s plan of salvation, God isn’t distant. He is our refuge in the chaos sin unleashed. The earth is filled with problems from the fallout of Adam’s fall; nations are in turmoil, kingdoms fall. But the Lord of Armies is with us.

In Christ we hear the Lord say: “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10, EHV). Your sins are covered—not by your efforts, but by Jesus’ blood, by Jesus’ righteousness, by Jesus’ obedience. The verdict of condemnation Adam brought is gone. “Where sin increased, grace overflowed much more” (Romans 5:20, EHV). You are no longer defined by Adam’s failure. You are in Christ. You are forgiven, righteous, secure.

IV.

Because all this is true, life looks different—even in Lent. The Sundays in Lent are like a mini-Easter. We already know what is coming; we know what is already ours in Jesus.

Paul said it: “It is even more certain that those who receive the overflowing grace of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ!” (Romans 5:17, EHV). We reign in Christ. Not just someday in heaven, but now. We face temptations knowing that Jesus has already won—that he has already restored us. His Word is our weapon to fight back against Satan, just as he did in the wilderness.

We confess our sins freely, without fear, without terror. God is our refuge, not our accuser. We live unafraid amid trouble—the earthquakes of life, the roaring waters of uncertainty—because the Lord of Armies is with us, he is our fortress.

Walk with Jesus into his victory during this Lenten season. He is the Champion we need. Where Adam failed, where we failed, he has restored us. Hear him declare “It is finished...” for you.

Go out into this week as people who reign in life—people who are restored by Jesus. Go rejoicing, until we see the One who has restored us face to face. Amen.