Romans 5.14a-Spiritual Death Reigned From The Fall Of Adam To The Giving Of The Law To Moses
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday May 1, 2008
Romans: Romans 5:14a-Spiritual Death Reigned From The Fall Of Adam To The Giving Of The Law To Moses
Lesson # 162
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 5:12.
This evening we will continue with our study of Romans chapter five.
We noted in Romans 5:12a that the sin nature and spiritual death entered the human race through the disobedience of one man, Adam.
In Romans 5:12b, we noted that each and every member of the human race received the imputation of Adam’s sin at the moment of physical birth.
In Romans 5:12c, we studied that Adam is the “federal” and “seminal” or “natural” head of the human race.
Then, in Romans 5:13, we read that sin was universal prior to the giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai but was never charged to the sinner’s account.
This evening we will study Romans 5:14a, in which Paul teaches us that spiritual death reigned as king over the entire human race from the Fall of Adam to the giving of the Law to Moses at Mount Sinai.
In this passage, Paul teaches that spiritual death reign as a king over those who lived between the fall of Adam and the giving of the Law to Moses even though they did not disobey the same exact command given to Adam.
Let’s read Romans 5:12-21 and then concentrate on verse 14 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.”
Corrected translation of Romans 5:12-14:
Romans 5:12, “Therefore, based on this (principle), just as, through one man, the sin nature entered into the human race so that spiritual death entered through this sin nature. Thus, in this manner, spiritual death spread to each and every member of the human race without exception because each and every member of the human race sinned (the moment Adam sinned).”
Romans 5:13, “For you see, prior to the giving of the Law, personal sin was habitually taking place among the individual members of the human race however personal sin is never, as an eternal spiritual truth, charged to one’s account while the Law does not exist.”
Romans 5:14, “Yet, in spite of this, spiritual death reigned as king from the fall of Adam to the giving of the Law to Moses, specifically, over those who had not sinned according to the same exact transgression committed by Adam, who is, as an eternal spiritual truth, an illustration of the One destined to come.”
Let’s study in detail Romans 5:14.
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.”
“Nevertheless” is the adversative use of the conjunction alla (a)llav) (al-lah), which introduces a statement that stands in direct contrast with Paul’s statement in Romans 5:13.
In Romans 5:13, Paul teaches that personal sin was habitually taking place among the individual members of the human race however, he says, personal sin is never charged to the sinner’s account while the Law does not exist.
But then, in Romans 5:14, he employs the strong adversative conjunction alla in order to introduce a statement that emphatically rejects any idea that the people living between the Fall of Adam and the giving of the Law to Moses were exempt from being under the reign of spiritual death, which results in physical death.
Even though the Mosaic Law was non-existent between the Fall of Adam and the giving of the Law to Moses, spiritual death, just like a cruel tyrant reigned over the human race during this period.
“Death” is the noun thanatos (qavnato$) (than-at-os), which refers to real spiritual death.
“Real spiritual death” means that each and every member of the human race without exception is separated from a holy God in that the human race has absolutely no merit with Him and has absolutely no capacity whatsoever to establish and experience a relationship and fellowship with Him as well.
In the same way, a deadly contagious virus can spread completely throughout an entire population causing physical death so spiritual death spread throughout the entire human race resulting in physical death.
Spiritual death infected the entire human race because each person receives a sin nature that is received through imputation at the moment of physical birth and is passed down by the male in copulation (sex).
This sin nature is the result of Adam’s original sin in the Garden of Eden and manifests itself through the function of human volition.
Therefore, “real spiritual death” is result of the imputation of Adam’s sin to our genetically formed old sin nature at the moment of physical birth resulting in spiritual death or the total inability to have a relationship with God in time (Gen. 2:17; Prov. 14:12; Ezek. 18:20; Rom. 5:12; 6:23; 1 Cor. 15:22; Eph. 2:1, 5).
There are five major consequences for “Spiritual death”: (1) Slavery to the sin nature and the devil and his cosmic system. (2) Physical death (Genesis 5:5). (3) Imprisonment in Torments after physical death prior to the Great White Throne Judgment (Luke 16:19-31). (4) Eternal condemnation in the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:11-15). (5) Unique voluntary substitutionary spiritual death of the impeccable humanity of Christ in hypostatic union on the cross (Matt. 27:45-46; Mark 15:34; Phlp. 2:8; Hb. 2:9, 14).
Spiritual death in the human race resulted in the Father sending His Son to die spiritually as a substitute for members of the human race in order to deliver them from spiritual death.
The problem of “real spiritual death” is resolved when God gives life to those members of the human race who exercise faith alone in Christ alone (John 3:16-18).
Although, in Romans 5:14, thanatos is used of spiritual death, we must be aware of the fact that spiritual death also resulted in three other categories of death: (1) Physical death is the separation of the human soul (and in the case of the believer, the human spirit also) from the body (Matt. 8:22; Rom. 8:38-39; 2 Cor. 5:1-8; Phil. 1:20-21; 2:27, 30). (2) Second death is the perpetuation of spiritual death into eternity or eternal separation from God and it is the final judgment of the unbelievers in the human race and fallen angels whereby they are cast in the Lake of Fire (Matt. 25:41; Heb. 9:27; Rev. 20:12-15). (3) Unique voluntary substitutionary spiritual death of the impeccable humanity of Christ in hypostatic union on the cross (Matt. 27:45-46; Mark 15:34; Phlp. 2:8; Hb. 2:9, 14).
Christ’s spiritual death was needed to resolve the first three categories of death since physical death and the second death are the result of spiritual death.
The fact that the noun thanatos in Romans 5:12 and 14 is referring to “spiritual death” rather than “physical death” is indicated in that spiritual death is the root problem of the human race in relation to a holy God and not physical death since the spiritual death of Adam resulted in his physical death.
Likewise, the spiritual death of Adam resulted in the spiritual death and eventual physical death of his posterity.
Christ’s spiritual death resolved the problem of spiritual death in the human race that was the result of the disobedience of their progenitor, Adam.
As was the case with the noun hamartia in Romans 5:12, the noun thanatos, “spiritual death” resulting in physical death is being “personified.”
“Personification” is the ascribing of human characteristics or actions to inanimate objects or ideas or to animals.
In Romans 5:14, he ascribes the human action of a cruel tyrant reigning to spiritual death.
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.”
“Reigned” is the verb basileuo (basileuvw) (bas-il-yoo-o), which means, “to rule as a king” with the implication of ruling with complete authority in an absolute manner.
This word and the noun thanatos, which refers to spiritual death, together, paint a picture of spiritual death reigning over the entire human race as a cruel tyrant from the Fall of Adam to the giving of the Law to Moses at Sinai.
“From Adam until Moses” refers to the extended period of time from the Fall of Adam to the giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai.
Paul is saying in Romans 5:14 that spiritual death reigned as a cruel tyrant over the human race from the Fall of Adam to the giving of the Law to Moses even though personal sin was never charged to the account of any sinner during this period in which the Law was non-existent in written form.
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.”
“Over those who had not sinned” is composed of the preposition epi (e)piv), “over” and the verb hamartano (a(martavnw) (ham-ar-tan-o), “those who had sinned,” which is negated by the negative particle me (mhv) (may), “not.”
The preposition epi is employed with the accusative articular participle form of the verb hamartano as a marker of the individuals over which someone exercises a control or authority.
Therefore, the word marks the individuals that were under the authority or dominion of real spiritual death who did not live prior to the Fall of Adam but lived during the period between the Fall of Adam and the giving of the Law.
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 verb hamartano means, “to miss the mark,” and which mark is the absolute perfection of God’s character, which is His holiness.
Therefore, in our present context, the word denotes that each and every member of the human race that did not live in the dispensation prior to the Fall of Adam but lived during the period between the Fall of Adam and the giving of the Law to Moses, “missed the mark” of the absolute perfection of God’s character.
The verb’s meaning is negated by the negative particle me, which denies the idea of members of the human race sinning in the manner in which Adam did since they lived during the dispensations between the Fall of Adam and the giving of the Law to Moses.
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 the likeness of the offense of Adam” means that those who lived between the fall of Adam and the giving of the Law to Moses did not sin according to the same exact transgression as Adam did because unlike Adam they never received the command from the Lord to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
In fact, Adam and his wife and posterity were banned from the Garden of Eden and thus access to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 3:22-24, “Then the LORD God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever’ therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.”