Death Through Sin | Romans 5:12–21

ADAM: Our Ruinous Representative

When God created the world, he created with it a representative for all mankind. That representative was Adam. He was the federal head of mankind. The word federal head is the basis for our form of government. Each year we elect congressmen and senators to represent us in congress. They purpose is to vote in our place for us.

Adam is that representative. He was given a perfect place to live, he was given all his needs. He was given companionship and purpose, and he was called to reject sin. When God made him he gave him a choice to either live for God or reject his leadership and the result of that decision, of that choice would be felt by all of his children.

When Adam sinned he represented us. He was our candidate, chosen by God, to represent all of humanity before God. When he failed then his sin in the garden was imputed upon all of us.

The word impute means ascribe to someone guilt or righteousness by a representative. It is a legal term.

"In Hebrew “Adam” means mankind. People in Bible times understood that the human race has a corporate solidarity in Adam. Thus all mankind was present and actually sinned in Adam. Adam was not a mere representative for mankind showing what we would do if we had the same temptation. We were Adam. “Adam is mankind,” as F. F. Bruce says, and as Adam we sinned."

Hughes, R. K. (1991). Romans: righteousness from heaven (p. 114). Crossway Books.

In Adam we were all represented before God.

Adam acted for me far more capably than any human being that I might select on my own. Because Adam sinned, we all suffer the consequences of sin. Because Adam sinned, sin came into the world, and with that sin came death. Because Adam died, I am under the death sentence of God. I will be executed in this world. Yes, I will live for ever, I will be raised from the dead, but I must pass through the vale of death because I am a child of Adam. It is because I am a child of Christ that the sting of that death will be removed and that I will be raised again to eternal life.

Sproul, R. C. (1994). The Gospel of God: An Exposition of Romans (p. 104). Christian Focus Publications.

JESUS: The Redeeming Adam

But Paul notes that in Christ we have not the imputation of sin, but rather the imputation of something else, Christ's righteousness. Just as death spread to the world through the sin of Adam, now salvation spread to men through the death of Christ.

Romans 5:16–17 ESV

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. 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.

"Imputation most often refers to the legal (or forensic) crediting of Jesus’s perfect righteousness to believers by faith for justification (another important theological term). Imputation communicates that believers are made right with God (or justified) on the basis of the obedience of Christ (both active and passive—again, key theological terms). By Jesus’s active obedience he meets the demands of perfect righteousness God has always required of humanity. By Jesus’s passive obedience, he pays the penalty due to humanity on account of sin. Additionally, beyond the imputation of Christ’s full obedience to believers, imputation may also refer to the counting of believers’ sins to Christ as the sin-bearing substitute."

The Scriptures tell us that God appointed one man to represent us, that he perfectly represented us and hence we are held responsible. Notice that the way in which original sin comes upon me is through representation and through the imputation of Adam’s guilt to me. There are Christians who object to that, and I want to speak to them.

If you are objecting on the grounds that the principles of representation and imputation are wrong in and of themselves, then you must realize that you have just taken away the ground basis for your salvation. It is only by representation that you are saved, and only by imputation that you are redeemed. If it is right for God to save a man on the basis of another man’s work, it is also all right for God to punish us on the basis of another man’s work.

Sproul, R. C. (1994). The Gospel of God: An Exposition of Romans (p. 104). Christian Focus Publications.

Grace: Christ Reigning In Me

Finally, we find the truth of the text in vv. 19-21.

Romans 5:20–21 ESV

Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Notice the truth: The law was never meant to save us. Instead the law was given and it’s purpose which was to show us how we could “please God” like Adam in the garden instead served to show how deeply Adam’s sinful seed dwelled in us. Like Adam, when given the way to please God we only fell deeper into sin. But in Christ, we find instead the grace reigning in us.

Colossians 1:27 ESV

To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

As Christians we are no longer bound to the sinful seed of Adam, but are instead children of Grace. We have Christ living in us. Grace must reign over sin, and in fact where sin increased grace increased all the more.

Where there is law, we sin more. But where there is grace, grace grows.

Romans—Righteousness From Heaven The Reign of Mankind (vv. 20, 21)

This was the experience of Mel Trotter, who was such a great influence for Christ in Chicago and in fact the entire nation during the first half of this century. As an alcoholic he had fallen so low that on the evening he finally stumbled into the Pacific Garden Mission and found Christ, he was under the influence of alcohol he had purchased with the shoes taken from his little girl’s feet as she lay in her coffin. So wondrous was the effect of God’s abounding grace in his life that eight years later he was ordained to the Presbyterian ministry, became an outstanding evangelist, and founded more than sixty-seven rescue missions from coast to coast. “But where sin increased, grace increased all the more.” There is always more grace!

In the words of an old hymn:

Have you on the Lord believed?

Still there’s more to follow.

Of his grace have you received?

Still there’s more to follow.

Oh, the grace the Father shows,

Still there’s more to follow

Freely He His grace bestows,

Still there’s more to follow.

More and more and more and more,

Always more to follow;

Oh, His matchless, boundless love,

Still there’s more to follow!

No matter how great your sin—in quantity or depth, God’s grace superabounds to you! No one is beyond the grace of Christ.

But what about those of us who are struggling in sin? For those who find ourselves in the pattern of ruin. How do we experience victory?

Recognize Your Ruin

First we must recognize the ruin we are living in. Grace is offered, but so often we as Christians live in defeat and not victory.

Repent of Your Wrong

Second we need to repent of our wrongdoing. When we sin, we sin against God and him alone.

Rejoice in Your Rescue

Romans—Righteousness From Heaven The Reign of Mankind (vv. 20, 21)

The profound contemplation of our ruin and our rescue can restore us so we will reign properly. At the risk of making this too simple, I believe this can all be summed up in one word—LOVE. Our healing and subsequent reign in life come as we contemplate and receive God’s love.

Knowing God loves us, allowing his affection to permeate every corner of our lives, we will reign in life to his glory.