Romans 5.17b-Those Who Receive the Gift of Righteousness Through Faith Will Reign as a King By Means of Eternal Life Through Jesus Christ
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday May 15, 2008
Romans: Romans 5:17b-Those Who Receive the Gift of Righteousness Through Faith Will Reign as a King By Means of Eternal Life Through Jesus Christ
Lesson # 169
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 5:12.
Last evening we began to note Romans 5:17, which presents the contrast between the “consequences” of Adam’s disobedience and Christ’s obedience.
Last evening we studied Romans 5:17a, which contains the protasis of a first class condition that teaches that by means of Adam’s transgression, spiritual death reigned over the entire human race as a cruel tyrant.
This evening we will study Romans 5:17b, which contains the apodasis of the first class condition and teaches that those who receive the gift of righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ will reign as a king by means of eternal life through Jesus Christ.
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.”
“Much more” is composed of the adjective polus (poluv$) (po-loos), “much” and the comparative adverb mallon (mallon) (mal-lon), “more.”
These two words form the principle of a fortiori.
This expression emphasizes that the obedience of Christ not only cancelled the effects of Adam’s transgression but also it provided infinitely more than Adam lost or even possessed when he disobeyed.
In Romans 5:17, the expression pollo mallon, “how much more” introduces the grace policy of God towards sinners, which was expressed through the offer of the gift of righteousness to the sinner that is received through faith in Christ as Savior and was made available through the spiritual death of Jesus Christ on the Cross.
It emphasizes that the obedience of Christ not only cancelled the effects of Adam’s transgression but also it provided infinitely more than Adam lost or even possessed when he disobeyed.
In Romans 5:17, the expression pollo mallon, “much more” emphasizes that the obedience of Christ was infinitely more powerful than the disobedience of Adam in that it enabled God to offer the gift of righteousness to sinners, which is received by the sinner through faith in Jesus Christ as one’s personal Savior.
This expression also emphasizes that if Adam’s transgression resulted in spiritual death ruling as a cruel tyrant over him and his posterity, “how much more” then those who trust in Christ as Savior receive God’s transcendent grace as expressed by the gift of righteousness will reign in life through Christ!
Instead of spiritual death reigning over the sinner because of Adam’s transgression, the sinner who trusts in Jesus Christ as Savior reigns over spiritual death through Christ and will in fact reign with Christ during His millennial reign.
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.”
“Those who receive” is the verb lambano (lambavnw) (lam-ban-o), which refers to those who have been declared justified by God the Father as a result of receiving the gift of righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ.
“The abundance” is the noun perisseia (perisseiva) (per-is-si-ah), which suggests “the element of excess and fullness that overflows the set bounds. In this process of overflowing, the existing standards and rules are transcended and what was comparable becomes incomparable” (The New International Dictionary of the New Testament Theology, volume 1, page 729).
In Romans 5:17, the noun perisseia is used of God’s grace and means, “transcendent” since the word accurately reflects its meaning in this particular context.
Thus, the term “transcendent” accurately reflects the meaning of perisseia since it means “to go beyond ordinary limits of; overpass; exceed.”
“Of grace” is the noun charis (xavri$) (khar-ece), which refers to all that God is free to do in imparting unmerited blessings to those who trust in Jesus Christ as Savior based upon the merits of Christ and His death on the Cross.
“The gift of righteousness” emphasizes that the righteousness of God in the sense of His perfect “virtue” and “integrity” was given to the sinner as a gift the moment they exercised faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior.
1 Corinthians 1:30, “But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption.”
The Lord Jesus Christ manifested the righteousness of God during His 1st Advent, which was witnessed by the Law and the Prophets in the Old Testament Scriptures (Romans 3:21-26).
The Lord was made our Substitute in order that we might receive the imputation of God’s righteousness and live in that righteousness.
2 Corinthians 5:21, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
1 Peter 2:24, “and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.”
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.”
“Will reign” is the verb basileuo (basileuvw) (bas-il-yoo-o), which means that those sinners who have received the gift of righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ “will reign as a king” over spiritual death by means of eternal life through Jesus Christ.
The future tense of the verb is “gnomic,” which emphasizes the “certainty” that those who receive the grace of God in the form of the gift of righteousness through faith in Christ will reign in life through Jesus Christ.
Therefore, the “gnomic future” tense of the verb basileuo in Romans 5:17 emphasizes that reigning as king over the sin nature and spiritual death is the present experience of those who trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior.
“In life” emphasizes that eternal life is the means by which the believer will reign as a king over spiritual death that results in physical death.
In the protasis of the first class condition, the apostle Paul employs the articular dative form of the noun paraptoma to teach that “by means of Adam’s transgression” spiritual death reigned as a cruel tyrant over the entire human race.
Here in the apodasis, he uses the prepositional phrase en zoe to parallel this expression and to teach that “by means of eternal life” the believer will reign as a king over spiritual death.
Eternal life is an attribute of God and is thus the very life of God, having no beginning and no end and transcends time, matter and space.
God is an “ever present now” because He is by nature, eternal life.
Eternal life is received as gift from God the moment you believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior.
John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His uniquely born Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
The Lord Jesus Christ is the incarnate Son of God and therefore He is also the incarnate eternal life of God and to reject that He is God is to reject eternal life.
John 11:25, “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies.’”
The Lord Jesus Christ who is the incarnate eternal Word of life came into the world in order that He might give eternal life to men so that they could have fellowship with God (1 John 1:1-3).
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.”
“Through the One” parallels the prepositional phrase “through the one” that appears in the protasis and emphasizes that those who respond to the grace of God by receiving the gift of righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ will reign by means of eternal life “solely” through one person, namely, Jesus Christ.
“Jesus” emphasizes our Lord’s human nature and “Christ” designates the humanity of our Lord as the promised Savior for all mankind who is unique as the incarnate Son of God and totally and completely guided and empowered by the Spirit as the Servant of the Father.