Romans 5.20-The Contrast Between the Significance of Adam's Disobedience and Christ's Obedience
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday May 22, 2008
Romans: Romans 5:20-The Contrast Between the Significance of Adam’s Disobedience and Christ’s Obedience
Lesson # 173
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 5:12.
This evening we will study Romans 5:20, which presents the contrast between the significance of Adam’s disobedience and Christ’s obedience.
The Law revealed the “significance” of Adam’s sin more clearly while on the other hand, God the Father’s gift of His Son to the entire human race reveals the “significance” of His grace more clearly.
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, “The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.”
“The Law” is the noun nomos (novmo$) (nom-os), which refers to the Mosaic Law since in context, in Romans 5:13-14, Paul clearly references the giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai.
Therefore, in Romans 5:20, Paul comes back to the Mosaic Law in order to address the issue of the purpose of Mosaic Law in light of the fact that the entire human race is condemned because of Adam’s disobedience and that sinners are justified by faith in One Person, the God-Man, Jesus Christ.
It seems out of place here that Paul would all of a sudden make a reference to the Law.
However, many who would read this Roman epistle would be Jewish Christians who would be asking themselves, if the human race was condemned through Adam and declared justified through faith in Christ, then what was the purpose of the Mosaic Law?
“Came in” is the verb pareiserchomai (pareisevrxomai) (par-ice-er-khom-i), which means, “to enter alongside, to enter in addition to, to introduce as an addendum”
The question arises, “what is the Mosaic Law entering alongside of?”
Or, “what is it an addendum to?”
The answer is given in Romans 5:12, which contains the verb eiserchomai, “to enter,” which is the root verb of pareiserchomai.
In Romans 5:12, eiserchomai is used in relation to the sin nature indicating that the sin nature “entered” the human race through Adam.
The use of eiserchomai in Romans 5:12 helps us understand the meaning of pareiserchomai in Romans 5:20 and to answer the question as to what the Mosaic Law was entering alongside of or was an addendum to.
In Romans 5:20, the verb pareiserchomai means that the Mosaic Law “entered alongside of” or was “an addendum to” the sin nature in that sense that it made the sinner aware that he was a sinner by nature and that God was holy, thus demonstrating his need of a Savior.
Men were sinners by nature long before the Law was given to Moses on Mount Sinai.
The verb indicates that the Mosaic Law was not of primary importance in God’s plan of salvation for sinful mankind and had in fact a subordinate role in the divine plan.
The Law was designed to demonstrate to mankind that they were sinners by nature and practice and that God was holy and was to lead them to the Savior.
Romans 5:20, “The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.”
“That the transgression would increase” means the introduction of the Law exposed man’s sinful nature to disobey the revealed will of God and in fact stimulated man’s sinful nature to disobey the revealed will of God.
The Law revealed the will of God and because of man’s sinful nature, the Law increased transgression of Adam since the Law exposes man’s sinful nature and his inherent propensity to disobey the revealed will of God.
The Law exposed the fact that the human race does not have the capacity to obey the revealed will of God since they are all sinners by nature due to being under Adam’s federal and seminal headship.
The Law stimulates in the sinful nature of man the desire to sin, thus the transgression of Adam that his posterity shared in, increased in the sense that it revealed that the human race sins against the revealed will of God like Adam.
Therefore, the transgression of Adam multiplied into innumerable transgressions because the Law exposed man’s sinful nature and stimulated in that sinful nature the desire to sin against the revealed will of God.
In Romans 4:15, Paul makes a similar statement regarding the Law.
Romans 4:15, “For, the Law, as an eternal spiritual truth, produces righteous indignation but where there is, at any time, the total absence of the Law, neither, is there, as an eternal spiritual truth, violation.”
In this passage, Paul teaches that the Mosaic Law “produces” righteous indignation from God since the purpose of the Law was to reveal man’s sinfulness and God’s holiness and the infinite gulf between the two.
Romans 5:20, “The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.”
“Sin” is the noun hamartia (a(martiva) (ham-ar-tee-ah), which this time does not refer to the sin nature but rather to personal acts of sin among members of the human race.
This indicated by the context since Paul is speaking of Adam’s transgression increasing due to the introduction of the Mosaic Law, which exposed man’s inherent propensity to disobey the revealed will of God and stimulated this sinful nature in man to disobey the revealed will of God.
“Grace” is the noun charis (xavri$) (khar-ece), which is 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.
Romans 5:20, “The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.”
“Abounded all the more” is the verb huperperisseuo (u(perperissw$) (hoop-er-per-is-syoo-o), which is used intransitively of God’s grace policy.
The word refers to degree rather than quantity since Paul is speaking of God’s grace policy towards sinners and this verb is simply an expression of abundant degree involved in such an activity as imparting unmerited blessings to the sinner based upon the merits of Jesus Christ and His death on the Cross.
In this passage, it means, “infinitely abounded” since the verb is used of God who is infinite and His grace policy towards sinners.
The English adjective “infinite” refers to something that is “immeasurably great, indefinitely or exceedingly great, unbounded, unlimited, endless or immeasurable, inexhaustible.”
Therefore, in Romans 5:20, the verb huperperisseuo refers to activity of God in imparting “immeasurably great, indefinitely or exceedingly great, unbounded, unlimited, endless or immeasurable and inexhaustible” benefits to the justified sinner based upon His grace policy towards sinners.
