Romans 5.12-21-Paul Presents The Basis for Justification Through A Comparison of Adam's Disobedience With Christ's Obedience
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday April 23, 2008
Romans: Romans 5:12-21-Paul Presents the Basis for Justification Through a Comparison of Adam’s Disobedience with Christ’s Obedience
Lesson # 157
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 5:12.
This evening we will continue with our study of Romans chapter five in which the apostle Paul presents a two-fold explanation of the believer’s justification: (1) The spiritual benefits of the believer’s justification (5:1-11). (2) The basis for the believer’s justification (5:12-21).
Romans 5:12-21 completes the third major section in the book of Romans, which began in Romans 3:21.
Romans 5:1-11 address the fact that God dealt with our personal sins through the death of His Son and that through faith in His Son the believer has been justified before God and has been reconciled to Him as well.
Romans 5:12-21 addresses the fact that God dealt with the root of personal sins, namely, the Adamic sin nature through the obedience of the Last Adam, which brought blessing and eternal life.
This evening we will present a broad overview of Romans 5:12-21, in which Paul presents the basis of the believer’s justification through a comparison of Adam’s disobedience with the obedience of Christ.
The former resulted in condemnation to the entire human race whereas the latter brought blessing and the availability of justification for the entire human race.
Romans 5:12-13, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.”
The statement “just as through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin” refers to Adam’s disobedience to the Lord’s prohibition to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which resulted in spiritual death.
Genesis 2:16-17, “The LORD God commanded the man, saying, ‘From any tree of the garden you may eat freely. But from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”
When the Lord said to Adam that he would “surely die” if he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the Lord meant that he would enter into “real spiritual death,” which is separation from God.
When the Lord says you shall surely die He does “not” mean he would die physically since Adam lived to be 930 years old according to Genesis 5:5.
Genesis 3:1, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”
Genesis 3:2, “The woman said to the serpent, ‘From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat.’”
Genesis 3:3, “but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’”
Genesis 3:4, “The serpent said to the woman, ‘You surely will not die!’”
Genesis 3:5, “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Genesis 3:6, “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 desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.”
Genesis 3:7, “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.”
Genesis 3:8, “They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.”
Genesis 3:9, “Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, ‘Where are you?’”
Genesis 3:10, “He said, ‘I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.’”
Genesis 3:11, “And He said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?’”
Genesis 3:12, “The man said, ‘The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.’”
Genesis 3:13, “Then the LORD God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ And the woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.’”
Romans 5:12-13, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.”
The statement “so death spread to all men, because all sinned” refers to the imputation of Adam’s sin in the Garden of Eden that every member of the human race receives at the moment of physical birth.
The Bible teaches that every person born into the world without exception received the imputation of Adam’s original sin in the Garden of Eden to the genetically formed old sin nature that is passed down by the father in sex, thus making every member of the human race physically alive but spiritually dead.
Imputation is the function of the justice of God in crediting something to someone for cursing or for blessing.
There are two categories of imputations: (1) “Real”: crediting to a person something which belongs to him. (2) “Judicial”: crediting to a person something which does not belong to him.
Real Imputations: (1) Imputation of human life at the moment of physical birth (Genesis 2:7). (2) Imputation of Adam's original sin in the Garden of Eden at physical birth (Romans 5:12-19). (3) Imputation of eternal life to the sinner when he exercises faith in Jesus Christ as his or her Savior (John 3).
Judicial Imputations: (1) Imputation of sins to impeccable human nature of Jesus Christ on the Cross (2 Corinthians 5:21). (2) Imputation of divine righteousness to the sinner through faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 4:3; Genesis 15:6).
The first judicial imputation, the imputation of personal sins to Christ, made possible the second judicial imputation, the imputation of divine righteousness.
These two judicial imputations produce an exchange: (1) The sinner’s sins go to Christ (2) The righteousness of God goes to the sinner.
At the moment of physical birth, every member of the human race becomes a sinner because he has received the imputation of Adam’s sin in the garden.
Adam’s original sin plus Adam’s sin nature equals “real spiritual death,” which means that every member of the human race is separated from God and has absolutely no capacity to have a relationship with God who is holy.
Therefore, everyone in the human race needs to become born-again by believing on the Lord Jesus in order to have a relationship and fellowship with God and avoid eternal condemnation.
The imputation of divine righteousness at the moment of spiritual birth is made possible by the imputation of Adam’s sin in the garden at the moment of physical birth (Romans 5:12-19).
The imputation of Adam’s sin at physical birth results in every person having the nature of Adam, which resides in the genetic structure of the physical body and can never please God but is selfish and self-centered and always disobedient to God.
This imputation means that every person born into the world is born physically alive but spiritually dead, but qualified for the imputation of divine righteousness through faith alone in Christ alone.
The imputation of Adam’s sin in the Garden also resulted in the imputation of the sins of the world to Christ on the Cross.
The first man, Adam, brought sin and death into the human race resulting in a curse whereas the “Last Adam,” Jesus Christ, brought life and blessing to the human race and so therefore, the entire human boils down to these two men.
1 Corinthians 15:22, “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.”
The reason why God imputed Adam’s sin in the garden to every member of the human race at physical birth is given in two passages of Scripture:
Galatians 3:22, ‘But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.”
Romans 11:32, “For God has shut up all in (Adam’s) disobedience so that He may show mercy to all.”
Therefore, God imputed Adam’s sin to the entire human race in order that He might show mercy to the human race by making the promise of justification by faith in His Son Jesus Christ and the blessings that result from it.
Romans 5:12-13, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.”
Romans 5:14, “Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.”
In Romans 5:14, Paul teaches that spiritual death reigned from Adam to Moses who was given the Law even though members of the human race did not commit the same sin as Adam because of the imputation of Adam’s sin to the human race.
Romans 5:15, “But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.”
“The free gift” refers to the Lord Jesus Christ’s obedience to the Father’s will by voluntarily dying a substitutionary spiritual death for all of sinful mankind, which propitiated the Father and reconciled the entire human race to God.
“The transgression” refers to Adam’s disobedience to the Lord’s command to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
“The many died” means that Adam’s sin was imputed to the entire human race, placing the entire human race under real spiritual death and condemnation.
The a fortiori statement “much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many” means that Christ’s obedience not only negated the effects of Adam’s disobedience upon the human race but also provided more than Adam lost or even possessed, namely, the righteousness of God.
Romans 5:16, “The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification.”
Paul teaches in Romans 5:16 that Adam’s disobedience brought condemnation upon the entire human race but Christ’s obedience made justification possible for the entire human race.
Romans 5:17, “For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.”
Once again, Paul uses the a fortiori argument to teach his readers that the believer gained much more in Christ than he lost in Adam in that they gain the righteousness of God and will reign by means of eternal life with Christ.
Romans 5:18, “So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.”
In Romans 5:18, Paul teaches that where Adam’s disobedience brought condemnation to the entire human race, Christ’s act of obedience to the Father’s will resulted in the availability of justification and eternal life for the entire human race.
Romans 5:19, “For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.”
Paul contrasts the effects of Adam’s disobedience with the effects of Christ’s obedience by saying that the former made the members of the entire human race sinners whereas the latter made members of the human race righteous through faith in Christ.
Romans 5:20-21, “The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
The statement “The Law came in so that the transgression would increase” refers to one of the purposes of the Mosaic Law, which was to make men aware of sin and that they are sinners by nature.
The statement “as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” teaches that as Adam’s sin resulted in spiritual death, in the same way the grace of God reigns through the gifts of righteousness and eternal life, which are given to members of the human race through faith in Jesus Christ.