Romans 5.14b-Adam Is An Illustration Of Christ
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday May 6, 2008
Romans: Romans 5:14b-Adam Is An Illustration Of Christ
Lesson # 163
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.
Last Thursday we studied 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 reigned 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.
This evening we will note Romans 5:14b, which teaches that Adam is an illustration of Christ.
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.”
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.”
“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.
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 the 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).
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).
“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 king 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.
“Over those who had not sinned in the likeness 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 since they never received the command to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
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.”
“A type” is the noun tupos (tuvpo$), which is used to describe Adam as an illustration type of Christ.
Many expositors interpret Adam as a type of Christ but this is not entirely accurate.
Roy Zuck commenting on the subject of typology, writes, “A type may be defined as an Old Testament person, event, or thing having historical reality and designed by God to prefigure (foreshadow) in a preparatory way a real person, event or thing so designated in the New Testament and that corresponds to an fulfills (heightens) the type. An illustration, on the other hand, may be defined as a biblical person, event or thing having historical reality that pictures or is analogous to come corresponding spiritual truth in a natural and unforced way and is not explicitly designated in the New Testament as a type.” (Basic Bible Interpretation, page 176; Victor Books; A Division of Scripture Press Publications Inc. USA Canada England).
He writes that “a type must have at least five elements; a notable resemblance or correspondence between the type and the antitype, historical reality in both the type and the antitype, a prefiguring or predictive foreshadowing of the antitype by the type, a heightening in which the antitype is greater than the type, and divine design” (Basic Bible Interpretation, page 175; Victor Books; A Division of Scripture Press Publications Inc. USA Canada England).
Commenting on Romans 5:14, he writes, “What about Adam? Why is he not included as a type of Christ? It is true that Adam was a tupos of Christ, according to Romans 5:14. But as we have seen earlier, the word tupos does always refer to an official type. It is not a technical term to designate types since it often simply means an example, pattern or analogy. Adam was analogous to Christ in some ways but did not point predictively to Christ. Adam’s life, in view of his fall, hardly predicted or prefigured Christ. Romans 5:14 is simply affirming that Adam was an example or illustration of Christ in that they had one thing in common: both were the head of a race of people-Adam the head of humanity, and Christ the Head of the church” (Basic Bible Interpretation, page 181; Victor Books; A Division of Scripture Press Publications Inc. USA Canada England).
Therefore, in Romans 5:14, the noun tupos does not denote that Adam was a type of Christ in the truest sense since he did not point predictively to Christ because of his act of disobedience as stated by Zuck.
Rather the word denotes that Adam was an example or illustration of Christ in that Adam was the head of the old creation and Christ, the head of the new creation.
Also, Adam was an example or illustration of Christ in that his act of disobedience in the Garden of Eden had universal impact in that it brought a curse and condemnation upon his posterity, i.e. the entire human race.
Christ’s act of obedience to the Father’s will in going to the Cross and dying a substitutionary spiritual death for all mankind also had universal impact in that it brought blessing and justification to all those who trust in Him as Savior.
Therefore, tupos denotes that just as Adam’s act of disobedience had universal impact so Christ’s act of obedience had universal impact.
Adam’s act of disobedience, which had universal impact prefigured Christ’s act of obedience, which also had universal impact.
Adam and Christ are similar to each other only in the sense that what each did affected others.
Therefore, in Romans 5:14, the noun tupos draws a parallel between Adam and Christ, not in a comparative sense but rather in a contrastive sense.
The entire human race is under the corporate or federal headship of Adam by virtue of physical birth whereas those members of the human race who have been declared justified by means of faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior are under the corporate or federal headship of Christ by virtue of their spiritual birth.
Adam brought a curse and condemnation to the entire human race, i.e. his posterity whereas Christ brought blessing and justification.
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.”
“Of Him who was to come” is the verb mello (mevllw) (mel-lo).
In classical Greek and the Septuagint, the verb mello means, “to be destined” or “likely to” and indicates that something is about to be done with a strong probability in the present or the future.
In the Greek New Testament, the verb is used in such a way that the degree of probability of something happening is so great that it can be spoken of as inevitable and it also can denote intended action.
In Romans 5:14, the verb mello means, “to be destined to.”
It is used in such a way that the degree of probability of something happening is so great that it can be spoken of as inevitable.
In Romans 5:14, the verb mello is a clear reference to the Lord Jesus Christ since Romans 5:12-21 presents a comparison between the results of Adam’s disobedience and Christ’s obedience.
Furthermore, a comparison of 1 Corinthians 15:22 and 45-49 also indicates that the participle form of the mello in Romans 5:14 is a reference to Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:22, “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.”
1 Corinthians 15:45-49, “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. As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.”
Therefore, in Romans 5:14, the verb mello is used from the perspective of Adam and refers to the inevitability of Christ’s first advent and His becoming the head of the new creation.