Sermon Tone Analysis

Wenstrom Bible Ministries

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

Tuesday May 13, 2008

www.wenstrom.org

Romans: Romans 5:16-The Contrast Between the Verdict Following Adam’s Disobedience and Christ’s Obedience

Lesson # 167

Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 5:12.

This evening, in Romans 5:16, we will note the contrast between the “verdict” following Adam’s disobedience and Christ’s obedience.

The former was judgment and condemnation whereas the latter was justification.

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.”

Paul’s statement in Romans 5:16 is not new in relation to his previous statement in Romans 5:15 but rather is connected to it and in fact explains further this statement and completes the idea.

In Romans 5:15, Paul employs a first class conditional statement, and the a fortiori principle to teach us that Christ’s act of obedience produced infinitely superior results than Adam’s act of disobedience.

He teaches us that the gift of righteousness has been generously and graciously offered by God to the entire human race on the basis of His grace policy and specifically, on the basis of Christ’s obedience.

Then, here in Romans 5:16, Paul completes this thought by explaining that entire human race was condemned because of Adam’s transgression.

Therefore, in Romans 5:16, Paul further explains why there is no comparison between Adam’s disobedience and Christ’s obedience and the consequences that resulted from each act.

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.”

“The gift” is the noun dorema (dwvrhma) (do-ray-mah), which refers to the gift of righteousness itself with no emphasis upon the nature or basis in which it is given.

“Through the one who sinned” indicates that the first man, Adam, was the personal intermediate agency by which all of his posterity was condemned by God.

Romans 5:16, “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.”

This statement “explains why” the condemnation through Adam’s sin is absolutely not like the gift of righteousness.

“On the one hand…but on the other hand” demonstrates the contrast between the verdict that resulted from Adam’s transgression and that which resulted from Christ’s obedience.

“The judgment” is the noun krima (krivma) (kree-mah), which refers here to the verdict that God pronounced upon Adam and all of his posterity as a result of Adam’s disobedience to the prohibition to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

“Arose from one transgression” indicates that the guilty verdict that the Lord pronounced upon Adam and all of his posterity “arose from” Adam’s act of disobeying the Lord’s command to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

“Resulting in condemnation” indicates that the divine verdict that originated from Adam’s disobedience to the Lord’s command to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil resulted in eternal condemnation for both Adam and all of his posterity.

God rendered this penalty to all of Adam’s posterity as a result of his disobedience to the command to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

This condemnation is accomplished in three stages: (1) Real spiritual death: The total inability to establish and experience 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).

(2) 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).

(3) 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).

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.”

“The free gift” is the noun charisma (xavrisma) (khar-is-mah), which appeared in Romans 5:15 and appears here in Romans 5:16 with reference to the obedience of Christ to the Father’s will in going to the Cross and dying a substitutionary spiritual death of all of sinful mankind.

This is indicated in that the noun is used in contrast with the noun paraptoma, “the transgression,” which refers to Adam’s act of disobedience to the Lord’s command to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Christ’s act of obedience is the foundation or the basis for justification of sinners.

“Arose from many transgressions” indicates that the gracious act of Jesus Christ dying a substitutionary spiritual death on the Cross for each and every member of the human race “arose from” the sins committed by every person in human history-past, present and future.

“Resulting in justification” indicates that the gracious act of Jesus Christ dying a substitutionary spiritual death on the Cross for all of sinful mankind that arose from innumerable sins committed by sinful humanity resulted in making available to the entire human race justification through faith in Jesus Christ.

The noun dikaioma, “justification” refers to the legal status of the sinner being righteous as a result of God declaring them righteous after imputing His righteousness to them the moment they trusted in Jesus Christ as their Savior.

The word refers to the doctrine of justification, which by way of definition, is a judicial act of God whereby He declares a person to be righteous as a result of crediting or imputing to that person His righteousness the moment they exercised faith in His Son Jesus Christ.

Consequently, God accepts that person and enters that person into a relationship with Himself since they now possess His righteousness.

The mechanics of justification are as follows: (1) God condemns the sinner, which qualifies them to receive His grace.

(2) The sinner believes in Jesus Christ as His Savior.

(3) God imputes or credits Christ’s righteousness to the believer.

(4) God declares that person as righteous as a result of acknowledging His Son’s righteousness in that person.

Justification is God declaring a person to be righteous as a result of acknowledging or recognizing His righteousness in that person, and which righteousness He imputed to that person as a result of their faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.

Justification causes no one to be righteous but rather is the recognition and declaration by God that one is righteous as He is.

To be justified by God through faith alone in Christ alone means that God can never condemn us for our sins.

It means that a believer can never lose his salvation because of any sin since God, who is a perfect judge, rendered a perfect decision when he declared righteous the person, who exercised faith in His Son Jesus Christ!

Thus, Paul declares the following in Romans 8:1:

Romans 8:1, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Romans 3:24 teaches that justification is a gift of God’s grace and is made possible by the work of redemption that Jesus Christ accomplished with His voluntary, substitutionary spiritual death on the Cross.

Romans 3:23-24, “For each and every person has sinned consequently, they are always failing to measure up to the glory originating from God with the result that they might, as an eternal spiritual truth, be undeservedly justified based upon His grace by means of the redemption, which is by means of the spiritual death of Christ who is Jesus.”

Paul is attempting to strengthen his readers’ faith in Romans 5:16 by accentuating the greatness of God’s grace policy towards sinners demonstrating how it goes far beyond God’s display of judgment.

God’s grace has triumphed over the sins committed by the entire human race because He provided a substitute for sinners and a substitute righteousness for sinners in the Person of Jesus Christ.