Romans 5.17-The Contrast Between the Consequences of Adam's Disobedience and Christ's Obedience
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday May 18, 2008
Romans: Romans 5:17-The Contrast Between the Consequences of Adam’s Disobedience and Christ’s Obedience
Lesson # 170
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 5:12.
This morning we will complete our study of Romans 5:17, which presents the contrast between the “consequences” of Adam’s disobedience and Christ’s obedience.
Spiritual death reigned as king over the entire human race as a result of Adam’s disobedience whereas eternal life will reign as king 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.”
Romans 5:17 is divided into two sections: (1) Protasis (2) Apodasis.
The protasis: Romans 5:17a, “For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one.”
The apodasis: Romans 5:17b, “much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.”
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 was infinitely more powerful than the disobedience of Adam in that it enabled God to offer the gift of righteousness to sinners.
This expression emphasizes if spiritual death reigned as a cruel tyrant over Adam’s posterity because of his transgression, “how much more” certain it is that the justified sinner will reign with Christ because of Christ’s obedience.
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.
Christ’s act restored mankind to the position that God designed for him originally, which was to rule over the works of His hands, i.e. creation (Genesis 1:26-31; Psalm 8) whereas Adam’s sin resulted in his posterity being subjugated to sin, Satan and death.
Christ’s act enables the sinner through faith in Him to rule over sin, Satan, death and creation (Hebrews 2:5-15)!
The apodasis: Romans 5:17b, “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” 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 (Romans 3:21-4:25).
Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
“The abundance” is the noun perisseia (perisseiva) (per-is-si-ah), which is used of God’s grace and means, “transcendent” indicating that God’s grace “goes beyond ordinary human limits of or what could be expected.”
The noun charis, “grace” refers to God’s grace policy towards sinners, which by way of definition is all that God is free to do in bestowing unmerited benefits to the sinners, both temporal and spiritual, based upon the merits of Jesus Christ and His substitutionary spiritual death on the Cross.
The noun dorea, “the gracious gift” refers to the gift of righteousness that the sinner receives through faith in 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.”
“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 and physical death by means of eternal life through Jesus Christ.
“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.
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 apodasis: Romans 5:17b, “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, Jesus Christ” emphasizes that the gift of righteousness has been generously and graciously offered to the entire human race on the basis of God’s grace policy, which is specifically, on the basis of Jesus Christ’s act of obedience.
It emphasizes that the believer will reign as king over the sin nature and spiritual death by means of eternal life “through the personal intermediate agency of” Jesus Christ.
Romans 5:17 presents a difference in kind since the passage contains the parallel between thanatos, “spiritual death” in the protasis and zoe, “eternal life” in the apodasis.
In the protasis and apodasis of Romans 5:17, Paul employs the verb basileuo, “will reign.”
The protasis: Romans 5:17a, “For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one.”
The apodasis: Romans 5:17b, “much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.”
In Romans 5:17a, the verb basileuo, “reigned” in the protasis emphasizes that spiritual death reigned as a cruel tyrant over the entire human race by means of Adam’s transgression.
In Romans 5:17b, basileuo, “will reign” in the apodasis emphasizes that the believer will reign as king over spiritual death by means of eternal life through Jesus Christ.
This passage emphasizes the contrast between the consequences of Adam’s disobedience and Christ’s obedience.
In the former, spiritual death reigned as a cruel tyrant over the entire human race.
In the latter, by means of eternal life and through the personal intermediate agency of Jesus Christ, the believer in Jesus Christ will reign as a king over spiritual death.
The consequences of Christ’s obedience are superior and infinitely beneficial to the human race since it not only restores God’s original design for mankind, which was for man to rule over the works of His hands (Compare Genesis 1:27-31; Psalm 8) but it also gave him more than he lost through Adam’s disobedience.
Prior to the fall, Adam possessed his own perfect righteousness that enabled him to fellowship with God but when he sinned, his righteousness no longer gave him the capacity to fellowship with God.
So Adam did not possess divine righteousness before his sin whereas the believer in Jesus Christ possesses divine righteousness.
Prior to the fall, Adam did not possess eternal life but the believer in Jesus Christ does.
Prior to the fall, Adam was under God’s grace policy but in the sense that his entire being and his environment were given to him by God.
Prior to the fall, Adam was not under God’s grace policy in the sense of his being undeserving and helpless and hopeless and having no merit with a holy God since he was sinless.
However, when Adam fell and his posterity with him, he was now helpless and hopeless and undeserving and having no merit with God because they were sinners.
The believer is under the grace policy of God and the recipient of it since he recognizes he has no merit with God and can only approach a holy God based upon the merits of Jesus Christ and His death on the Cross.