Who is Your Representative?

In the weeks to come, our Wednesday Night Bible Study time will likely look a little different than it will tonight as I love to have discussion and have a little more interaction than we normally get to have on a Sunday morning. As a result, the plan for the new year is to be in the fellowship area and setup around the tables there. We’ll likely go through a Bible study book or use a new resource offered through Midwestern that is specifically designed for Bible study groups like ours.

Until that point, we’ll be in here and we’ll study some good passages of Scripture as a group and, hopefully, have some good discussion and application from each text that we can take and grow as individuals and as a group!

In praying about tonight there were so many different directions that my heart was going. Eventually I felt at peace with looking at the Christian hope. We are living in a world where many people are searching for hope in many different places. Some say that there is hope to be found in a thing or a place. Others say there is hope to be found in an idea or a principle. As Christians, we believe that there is hope that can only be found in a person and His name is Jesus Christ.

How has your faith in Jesus Christ given you hope in recent months?

Even in a time of chaos and unrest, I know that Jesus is my good shepherd and that He has a plan for my life. He is good and He is still in control of the situation - even if it doesn’t seem that way. He has provided in the past and I know He will continue to provide in the future.

In the Bible, one of the common themes of God’s people is that they are people who have hope in the midst of opposition and oppression. We see Abraham have faith in the Lord even whenever he was old and didn’t have a son. We see David have faith in the Lord even when he was a young man facing a giant in battle. We see Peter have faith to walk toward Jesus on the water even though there were waves around him. We see Paul have faith in the Lord even whenever he was imprisoned and about to face his death. Christians throughout the history books have demonstrated more of the same. How can Christians have this type of faith? Where does our hope come from? This is what we’ll study tonight in Romans 5:12-21 as Paul highlights how believers have moved from death to life because of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the founder and giver of our hope!

The Trespass (12-14)

Let’s start off this evening looking at the first few verses of our text, Romans 5:12-14. The Bible says

Romans 5:12–14 CSB

12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned. 13 In fact, sin was in the world before the law, but sin is not charged to a person’s account when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin in the likeness of Adam’s transgression. He is a type of the Coming One.

This isn’t a “fun” way to start off our Bible study. We read in our text that sin has consequences. Now, we all could give a personal illustration of a time in which we were punished due to our sinful actions - or at least I’d hope we’d be honest enough to admit to that! Think about such a time in your life where you sinned and there was a consequence. Any volunteers want to give an example?

Climbed on roof of FBC Ozark as a Jr. High student to play hide and seek after an evening choir/orchestra concert and got caught by my boss… I had a whole lot of explaining to do, apology letters to write, and mistakes to make up for.

Sin is serious. We see this throughout the Bible in both Old and New Testaments. Perhaps no place do we see that more clearly, though, than Romans 5:12-21 as Paul opens up with a loaded verse and says that sin entered the world through Adam and death through sin. What is the correlation here? That sin leads to death. We like to think that sin leads to consequences but not death. Yet, the Bible tells us otherwise. Look at James 1:15 with me

James 1:15 CSB

15 Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.

Romans 6:23 shares that the wages of sin is death.

What makes sin so serious?

God is holy and God hates sin because it goes against who He is

The really bad news about verse 12 is that Paul continues to share that death spread to all people because all sinned. This is where there can be some debate regarding something called Original Sin. Douglas Moo is one of the leading New Testament scholars of our time and has written 2 massive commentaries on Romans. While he might be the leading commentator on Romans, he isn’t perfect so don’t take everything he says as truth, but he is certainly a respected voice in the Christian world. Douglas Moo shares that there are 3 views on this subject:

Imitation View

Infection View

Inclusion View

The imitation view states that we imitate Adam but that Adam’s sin doesn’t impact us directly

The infection view states that Adam infected humanity with sin and therefore, we all sin as humans

The inclusion view states that whenever Adam sinned, he was the representative for all humans - just like Jesus is the representative for all Christians.

Both the infection and inclusion view are theologically sound - but this text seems to lean more toward the Inclusion view because of what Paul will share in the verses that follow.

Paul shares in these verses that this trespass has significant consequences for all of us. Whether we like it or not, whether we think it’s “fair” or not, we read that through Adam’s sin, death spread to all humanity because “all sinned.” In our world everyone likes to talk about what’s fair and what’s not.

Based on Romans 3:23, Romans 5:12, and Romans 6:23, aren’t you thankful that God isn’t “fair” with our sins? Aren’t you thankful that He is full of grace and mercy with us?!

Paul continues in our text and shares that sin existed before the law and that death reigned from Adam to Moses. What does this tell us? How do you know that you’ve done something wrong? You’ve been given a rule and you understand that you’ve broken it. Think of the 10 Commandments for a moment. The 10 Commandments tell us what God expects from us. What do we quickly realize whenever we look at the 10 Commandments? We realize that we’ve broken them. We realize that the law says to do these things and we realize that we “don’t” do those things that we should do and we do things that we shouldn’t do. Look at what Paul will explain in Romans 7 as he says

Romans 7:18–19 CSB

18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. 19 For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do.

Paul shares this back and forth and gets to this conclusion

Romans 7:24–25 CSB

24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself am serving the law of God, but with my flesh, the law of sin.

What does this tell us? It tells us that sin is serious and separates us from the Lord. Sin is so great, in fact, that it sets us off on a trajectory to death and destruction and we are powerless to change this trajectory by good works and good things. Left to our own power, we are powerless and hopeless. These opening 3 verses aren’t positive at all - until the end of verse 14 as Paul shares that Adam is a type of the Coming One...

What does this mean? Paul is making a comparison between Adam and the Coming One… This is called a typology and he’ll dive deeper into this in the verses that come.

The Gift (15-17)

In the verses that follow there are 6 specific comparisons between Adam and Jesus as you see on your outline and we’ll do our best to at least go over each of them! What Paul is hammering home in these 3 verses is that there is a difference between what Adam and Jesus did. Essentially you could summarize these next few verses with this statement: Where Adam failed, Jesus succeeded. Where Adam hurt humanity, Jesus redeems humanity.

Let’s read what Jesus has done

Romans 5:15–17 CSB

15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if by the one man’s trespass the many died, how much more have the grace of God and the gift which comes through the grace of the one man Jesus Christ overflowed to the many. 16 And the gift is not like the one man’s sin, because from one sin came the judgment, resulting in condemnation, but from many trespasses came the gift, resulting in justification. 17 If by the one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive the overflow of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

(Insert picture on these verses) This image is a good summary of what Jesus Christ has done. Adam’s sin impacts humans to this day and sin leads to death. Yet, we see that through Jesus’ gift there is grace.

Verse 15 - #1: Adam’s trespass = people died. Jesus’ gift = people receive grace.

Implication: Christ is much more powerful to save than Adam was to ruin!

Personal Application: How does it make you feel to know that Jesus’ grace is sufficient to save you from even your worst mistakes?

Verse 16 - #2: Adam’s sin = Condemnation. Jesus’ gift = Justification

Implication: We deserve destruction but through Jesus we receive deliverance!

Personal Application: Am I saved through personal works or by grace through faith in Jesus?

Verse 17 - #3: Adam’s trespass = Death reigns. Jesus’ gift = grace leads to life

Implication: Jesus’ grace gives us a new outlook on life as we reign with Him!

Personal Application: Sin distorts the truth and many are under its sway. How does Jesus adjust our lens?

Thoughts on these statements/comparisons between Adam and Jesus by Paul in this text?

One of the contested doctrines among some Christians based on this text is the idea of Universalism. Universalism posits that every human being goes to heaven and that there is no human who goes to hell. Everyone will be saved! There have been many people, Christians and non-Christians alike who advocated for this view and it certainly makes sense why. Who wants to think about someone we know spending eternity separated from God in hell? That’s not a good thing whatsoever. Therefore, some have tried to reason that everyone is saved and no one goes to hell. This is one of the texts where these proponents draw from. They see the following verses “grace overflows to the many” “the many will be made righteous” “justification leading to life for everyone” and you get the idea that many people will receive grace and righteousness. Some take it a step further and say that this means that every human will be credited with this righteousness.

That’s not what the text says. Look carefully at verse 17 as Paul argues from the lesser to the greater. Through Adam’s trespass death reigned… That’s bad… But, how much more will those who receive the overflow of grace reign in life through Jesus Christ. What is the present verb between these two clauses? Those who receive. What do we receive? Salvation! How does this happen? Paul shared this in the previous chapter.

Romans 4:3 CSB

3 For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness.

He believed in God and was credited with righteousness. Who is saved? Is everyone saved? No - the Bible is clear that only those who repent and call upon the name of the Lord are saved. We must receive the grace of Jesus Christ. We read in Ephesians 2 that we used to be walking in darkness under wrath. That’s who we all were because of our sin - as we’ve been discussing. Something has to change. We must receive the grace and righteousness of Christ. We must all be saved!

Baptist Press released findings about a decade ago that said that only 33% of Southern Baptists believe that faith in Jesus Christ is the only way to be saved. We must believe in Jesus Christ as Lord!

Christ Triumphs (18-21)

Let’s look at our last chunk of verses to see how Paul lands the plane.

Romans 5:18–21 CSB

18 So then, as through one trespass there is condemnation for everyone, so also through one righteous act there is justification leading to life for everyone. 19 For just as through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. 20 The law came along to multiply the trespass. But where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Verse 18 - #4: Adam’s trespass = Condemnation for All. Jesus’ obedience = Justification for All.

Implication: If you’re in Adam, you’re condemned. If you’re in Christ, there is no condemnation (Romans 8:1)!

Personal Application: Why do we, as Christians, not have to fear facing condemnation?

Verse 19 - #5: Adam’s disobedience = All sinned. Jesus’ obedience = All righteous.

Implication: All humans are sinners. All Christians are declared righteous!

Personal Application: Why did Jesus have to live a perfect life of obedience?

Verses 20/21 - #6: Purpose of Law = Awareness of Sin. Purpose of Jesus = Save us from Sin.

Implication: Works have not and will not ever save - only Jesus saves. His grace wins every time!

Personal Application: How can I live in light of verse 21 and live with an eternal focus?

In government, we elect representatives who are supposed to speak on behalf of their people and “represent” them. Even though you and I make our own choices, our representative makes choices on our behalf that impact us to some extent. In the Bible, we see that same idea apply. We see a representative idea show up in our text in Romans 5. We see two options in the text. Your representative is either Adam or Jesus. If Adam is your representative then yourself and everyone else under him will receive condemnation as verse 18 shares. Yet, if Jesus is your representative then yourself and everyone else under Him will receive justification.

Hebrews 10:14 CSB

14 For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are sanctified.

This is the good news of the Gospel. Not that you and I can save ourselves but that Jesus Christ, who never once sinned, died for sinners like you and I in order to justify us before the Father.

Thoughts on this concept of having a representative?

Again, some say that this isn’t fair to be held accountable for Adam’s sin/human nature. It’s also not fair to be credited with Jesus’ righteousness. This is where headship comes into play. This text clearly lays this idea out.

Millard Erickson, “If it is just to impute to us a righteousness that is not ours but Christ’s, it is also fair and just to impute to us Adam’s sin and guilt. He is as able to act on our behalf as is Christ.”

Application from this Lesson

Respond to Jesus’ gift of grace and righteousness

Rejoice in His gift

Reconcile relationships and tell others of what Jesus has done

Much more could be said from this lesson but the main points if you will are found above. We, as humans, are sinners. Our sin leads to death. Left to ourselves we will be separated from God for all eternity and stand condemned on Judgment Day. This is what we rightly deserve because of our human, sinful, nature. Yet, God didn’t leave us where we were at. He sent His Son to die for sinners (Romans 5:8). Through Jesus there is forgiveness, grace, mercy, and justification.