Romans 5.12c-The Federal and Seminal Headship of Adam
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday April 29, 2008
Romans: Romans 5:12c-The Federal and Seminal Headship of Adam
Lesson # 160
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 5:12.
This evening we will continue with our study of Romans chapter five.
Wednesday we presented 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.
Thursday evening we studied Romans 5:12a, which teaches that the sin nature and spiritual death entered the human race through the disobedience of one man, Adam.
Sunday we noted Romans 5:12b, which teaches that each and every member of the human race received the imputation of Adam’s sin at the moment of physical birth.
This evening we will study Romans 5:12c, which teaches that Adam is the “federal” and “seminal” or “natural” head of the human race.
Let’s read Romans 5:12-21 and then concentrate on verse 12 this evening.
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
Let’s study in detail Romans 5:12c.
Romans 5:12, “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.”
“Because all sinned” is composed of the preposition epi (e)piv) and the dative neuter singular form of the relative pronoun relative pronoun hos (o^$) (hos).
Together, these two words function as a causal conjunction emphasizing that God considered the entire human race as sinning when Adam committed his act of sin in the Garden of Eden.
Romans 5:12, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.”
“All sinned” is composed of the adjective pas (pa$), “all” and the third person plural aorist active indicative form of the verb hamartano (a(martavnw) (ham-ar-tan-o), “sinned.”
The adjective pas is again used in a distributive sense referring to “each and every” member of the human race without exception, both Jew and Gentile.
The verb hamartano is used intransitively (without a direct object) and refers to any mental, verbal or overt act of sin that is contrary to the will and law of God.
The distributive of pas along with this constative aorist tense of the verb hamartano indicates that Paul is teaching that each and every member of the human race sinned when Adam sinned.
Adam is both the “federal” and “seminal” head of the human race, we thus became sinners by nature, the moment Adam sinned.
The verb hamartano means, “to miss the mark,” and which mark is the absolute perfection of God’s character, which is His holiness.
Each and every member of the human race has missed the mark of the absolute perfection of God’s character, i.e. His holiness that was perfectly manifested by the Lord Jesus Christ during His First Advent.
The aorist tense of the verb hamartano is a “constative” aorist describing in summary fashion that the entire human race without exception or distinction sinned the exact moment Adam disobeyed the Lord’s prohibition to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and which disobedience involved his posterity.
The active voice emphasizes the entire human race without exception and distinction sinned the moment Adam sinned because Adam is the seminal and federal head of the human race.
The indicative mood is “declarative” presenting as an unqualified assertion of Bible doctrine that each and every member of the human race sinned when Adam sinned.
This interpretation emphasizes that Adam’s sin brought condemnation upon Adam’s posterity and the only way to be delivered from this condemnation is through One Man, Jesus Christ.
So when Paul says that “all sinned” he is referring to the fact that when Adam sinned, he not only died spiritually and then eventually physically but also his posterity did the same.
Therefore, in Romans 5:12, Paul is saying that because of Adam’s act of disobedience each and every member of the human race possesses a sin nature, which through the function of human volition produces mental, verbal and overt acts of sin resulting in spiritual death.
In Romans 5:12-21, Paul presents Adam and Christ as “federal heads” of two groups of people.
God condemned the human race through one man so that He could save the human race through one man.
Dr. Thomas L. Constable commenting on the headship of Adam and Christ, writes, “The apostle viewed Adam and Christ as federal heads of two groups of people. A federal head is a person who acts as the representative of many others and whose actions result in consequences that the individuals he represents inevitably experience. Examples of federal heads include a king, a president, a member of congress, and a parent, among others. In this section Paul was not looking primarily at what individual sinners have done, which had been his interest previously. Rather he looked at what Adam did in the Fall and what Jesus Christ did at the Cross and the consequences of their actions for humanity. Adam's act resulted in his descendants sinning and dying. We inherit Adam's nature that was sinful, and this accounts for the fact that we all sin. We are sinners not only because we commit acts of sin but also because Adam's sin corrupted the human race and made punishment inevitable for his descendants as well as for himself. However, Christ's act of dying made all who trust in Him righteous apart from their own works.” (Constable's Expository Notes on the Bible; page 54)
Bible Knowledge Commentary writes, “The federal headship view considers Adam, the first man, as the representative of the human race that generated from him. As the representative of all humans, Adam’s act of sin was considered by God to be the act of all people and his penalty of death was judicially made the penalty of everybody.” (New Testament Edition, page 458).
There is also the “seminal” or “natural” headship view.
Bible Knowledge Commentary writes, “The natural headship view, on the other hand, recognizes that the entire human race was seminally and physically in Adam, the first man. As a result God considered all people as participating in the act of sin which Adam committed and as receiving the penalty he received. Even adherents of the federal headship view must admit that Adam is the natural head of the human race physically; the issue is the relationship spiritually. Biblical evidence supports the natural headship of Adam. When presenting the superiority of Melchizedek’s priesthood to Aaron’s, the author of Hebrews argued that Levi, the head of the priestly tribe, ‘who collects the 10th, paid the 10th through Abraham, because when Melchizedek met Abraham, Levi was still in the body of his ancestor’” (Heb. 7:9-10) (New Testament Edition, page 458).
Both the “federal” and “natural” headship views are present in Romans 5:12-21.
In Romans 5:12, the expression “because all sinned” emphasizes that Adam is the “federal” head of the human race in that he is the representative of the human race that generated from him so that God considered his act of sin to be the act of all people and his penalty of death was judicially made the penalty of everybody.
The constative aorist tense of the verb hamartano along with the distributive use of the adjective pas and Paul’s statements in Romans 5:15b, 16a, 17a, 18a and 19a, which we noted earlier, support this interpretation.
The expression “because all sinned” also emphasizes that Adam is also the “seminal” or “natural” head of the human race in that the entire human race was seminally and physically in Adam so that God considered the entire human as participating in the sin Adam committed and receiving the penalty he received.
Paul’s statement in Romans 5:12 that “through one man the sin nature entered the human race so that spiritual death entered through the sin nature” supports this view as well since the sin nature has been passed down through the male in copulation.
The question arises, would other members of the human race not sinned like Adam if given the same chance as him.
The answer is no.
If God had tested every member of the human race like Adam, each one would have disobeyed like Adam since mankind does not have the capacity to perfectly obeyed God until he receives a resurrection body to go along with a new divine nature that is composed of a human spirit with eternal life in it.
The soul life of man and the function of his volition make it impossible for him to not sin and yet once a man has received eternal life and a human spirit, which composes the divine nature to go along with a resurrection body, then he will be able to obey God perfectly.
Therefore, a person must be “trichotomous” in order to possess the capacity to be perfectly obedient meaning they must have a resurrection body, soul and spirit.
Adam was “dichotomous” meaning he possessed only a body and a soul.
The Lord Jesus Christ was not only trichotomous but also had a divine nature since He is infinite and eternal God.
In 1 Corinthians 15:45, Paul’s statement that the first Adam, “became a living soul” clearly indicates that God did not create Adam with a human spirit since if He did create him with a human spirit, the Scriptures would not have called him a “living soul” but rather a “spirit” as they state of the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:45-47, “So also it is written, ‘The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A LIVING SOUL.’ The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven.”
Also further indicating that Adam was created dichotomous is the plural form of the abstract noun chayyim in Genesis 2:7.
Genesis 2:7, “Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”
The word “life” is the masculine “plural” form of the noun chayyim, which is an “abstract” noun that are frequently expressed by a plural, emphasizing the state of Adam meaning God breathed into his nostrils “soul life.”
So although the word is plural in Genesis 2:7, it should be translated into the English in the singular form since the plural form of the word is referring to the state of Adam possessing soul life.
Therefore, Adam was “dichotomous” meaning he was composed of physical or biological life, and soul life and not “trichotomous” meaning, body, soul and spirit.
Adam and the woman’s relationship and fellowship with God was based upon their perfection since they were created perfect.
As long as they maintained their perfection, they could maintain their relationship with God but the moment they failed though they lost their fellowship with God.
Thus, the means of Adam and the woman’s spirituality was based upon their perfection of the soul life and not upon eternal life, which is not given until regeneration.
Their spiritual relationship with the Lord ended with Him the moment they disobeyed the command not to eat from the knowledge of good and evil.
The Lord Jesus Christ died spiritually on the Cross in obedience to the Father’s will to reconcile us to God so as to enjoy and experience an eternal relationship and fellowship with God.
