The first eleven verses of Romans chapter 5 transition us from the theme of justification to the nature of the new life that believers enter into as a result of that justification…and the gifts that accompany that justification.
God dealt with our human cluelessness by doing the gracious thing of sacrificing Himself to rescue those who were so lost they didn’t even realize they were lost.
Somehow in the midst of our ignorant lives God came and rescued us not by scaring us…frightening us…but by demonstrating His love for us by offering up His Son as the only sacrifice that could satisfy God’s anger because of sin.
Paul has made it clear in Romans 1:18 to 3:20 that the whole world is guilty before God…that no one can be saved by living a ‘righteous’ lifestyle.
It’s impossible to earn a righteous standing before God through personal obedience…Old Testament prophet Isaiah declared it in [Isaiah 64:6]…a verse we’ve probable all heard before… ‘your righteousness is like filthy rags’ …that’s exactly the way God sees any efforts on our part to earn salvation.
The problem is we don’t have a good understanding of how repugnant that verse really is…at times translators soften what was really written in Scripture…Isaiah, wanting to show how foolish it is to assume you could work your way to God by doing good things, expressed it in more graphic wording…not translated accurately in any translation…the wording ‘filthy’ is a toned down meaning of the actual Hebrew word.
We generally think about filthy rags as those used in the garage when working on the car…or the rags used for cleaning around the house…BUT…because the word ‘filthy’ is so revolting it’s used only one time in the entire Old Testament.
In wanting to show the futility and foolishness in trying to work to please God by our own efforts…wanting to emphasize the repulsiveness of any attempts to be righteous on your own before a holy God, Isaiah uses the word ‘filthy.’
The actual meaning of ‘filthy’ is referring to the rags a woman used during her menstrual cycle…probably a little more graphic than what we want to hear this morning but that’s how God sees any attempt by us to be righteous on our own.
God’s plan for salvation has always been by God’s grace through faith…in Chapter 4, Paul introduces us to Justification, the righteousness of God apart from the Law…beginning in Chapter 5 he reveals nine benefits as the result of being justified…nine benefits we have looked at in depth.
—We have been declared righteous by faith – Romans 5:1
—We have peace with God – Romans 5:1
—We have obtained access by faith into His grace – Romans 5:2
—We rejoice not only in hope but in affliction – Romans 5:2-3
—We have God’s love poured out in our hearts – Romans 5:5
—While we were still sinners Christ died for us – Romans 5:8
—We have been declared righteous by His blood – Romans 5:9
—We have been saved from God’s wrath – Romans 5:9
—We have been reconciled – Romans 5:10-11
The follow on to those 9 blessings is in [Romans 5:12-21] …something about these verses…Paul’s thoughts are complex and difficult to follow… reviewing the text reveals that Paul is taking us deep into the very structure of humanity …into salvation and God’s deity.
As you read verses [12-21] Paul is speaking on the topic of humanity’s relationship with Adam and its relationship with Christ…a topic that can be very complex and difficult to understand.
The difficulty with the text is not with the main idea…which is fairly clear…if you’ve been in church any length of time the idea is relatively simple…BUT… because of the many details…just about every word or phrase generates pages of discussion and debate among scholars.
Paul begins this section with a common expression in Greek (Διὰ τοῦτο) meaning ‘so then’ or ‘on account of this’ …can be translated ‘therefore’ indicating that what follows [12-21] is a conclusion based on preceding material…something we’ve previously looked at.
As an inspired apostle I don’t think Paul is confused or befuddled…instead he is dealing with the saving work of Jesus at a level at the time it was written pushed the limits of the human mind.
12Therefore, through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned
13 sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone when there is no law.
14 Nevertheless death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who had not sinned by breaking a command as Adam did who is a type of Him who was to come.
15 But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of one many died, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many.
19 For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One many will be made righteous.
Don’t be discouraged if you find the flow in these verses difficult to follow… they are difficult…but this should encourage us to linger over these verses and meditate on them to understand the full meaning of what Paul is wanting to share with us.
That’s the importance of the first eleven verses in chapter 5…that because of justification and reconciliation the Christian can be certain of TWO THINGS… 1) being delivered from the wrath of God…2) stressing eternal security for the believer.
Being reconciled to God is the highlight of that entire 11 verse discourse…the message of the gospel is the message of reconciliation.
Reconciliation is the restoration of the favor of God to sinners who repent and put their trust in Christ.
The only way that reconciliation can take place – is if the barrier, the offense, which in our case is sin…is removed…but it must come from the offended.
The connection between 5:1-11 and 5:12-21 can be summarized as such…since Christians have been completely delivered from God’s wrath…as outlined in verses 1-11…then Christ must have completely overturned the effects of Adam’s sin as revealed in verses 12-21.
In [v12] Paul begins a comparison between the effects of Adam’s sin and the effects of Jesus’ obedience…as Christians it is imperative that we have an understanding of that comparison.
Here’s where the whole thing of sin and its consequences is explained…where did sin come from…why is it here…why did God allow it…whose fault is it.
Adam represents the entire human race that descended from him…when Adam sinned, all mankind sinned….and the sin of Adam was passed on… or as some translate it…imputed…to all of his descendants.
[1 Cor. 15:22] –“In Adam all die”…“
[Romans 5:12] “death spread to all men, because all sinned” no exception.
These verses actually validate the accuracy of the Genesis story of creation… leaving no room for the idea of gradual evolution from one (non-human) species into another (human) species…that man evolved from an ape….that there was a time when Adam, along with his wife Eve, were the only human beings in a perfect world accountable to God in which neither sin nor death were present.
Paul’s teaching in this chapter and for his whole argument depends on the premise that the entire human race was the descendant of the one man, Adam.
There was no sin in the world when God created it. There was no death in the world…when Adam chose to disobey God it brought death to himself and every one of his descendants…each one of us is trapped under the power of sin and the consequent death that entered the world through Adam’s original sin.
Sin brings three kinds of death:
First kind of death is SPIRITUAL…separation from God’s spiritual presence …Adam experienced this immediately after his disobedience.
Second kind of death is PHYSICAL death… the cessation of all vital functions of the body.
Third kind of death is ETERNAL…referred to in Scripture as the second death…this death is eternal separation from God’s presence.
Notice…Paul does not speak of sins…plural…but sin…singular…Paul is not referring to any ‘specific acts of sin’ he doesn’t go down a laundry list of all the possible sins that could be committed…he doesn’t list the Ten Commandments…but rather focus on the principle of sin.
That single sin is what separates us all from God…but if you look at this verse it doesn’t say that God punished the human race because of their sins…plural… but the sin nature that is inherent within every person who has ever lived.
Specifically, the ruling power that all humans are subjected to is the single sin of the deliberate and determined independence from God.
Which leads us to say… “my claim to my right to myself”…self-sufficiency…“I am my own god”.
This whole sin thing can be confusing…Paul is not saying that sin originated with Adam…sin was in the world prior to man’s fall…even before they ate the fruit…sin existed in the form of Satan. God is not the author of sin.
Gen. 1:27 states that “God created man in his own image,” that image implies personal holiness and righteousness which means Adam and Eve who were made in God’s image were absolutely sinless.
When Adam succumbed to temptation in the garden, he willed to sin in his heart…that is the KEY…every person since Adam does exactly the same thing…they ‘will’ to sin in their heart.
The hearts of all people are full of evil, and there is madness in their hearts during their lives—then they die. [Ecclesiastes 9:3].
Sin did not originate in human nature as God originally made man…it resulted when Adam was tempted…gave into temptation…and sinned.
Once Adam had sinned, the entire human race fell with him, losing the original righteousness in God’s image [Gen 6:4] whereby we share in Adam’s sin [Rom. 5:12,18] so henceforth each individual human originates as a sinner [Ps. 51:5].
People do not become sinners by sinning…but as members of the human race. We do not become a sinner when we sin. We sin because we are already a sinner.
In verse 15 Paul answers a question that people were asking…how could there be sin if people don’t know what sin was…the same question Paul asks back in 4:15 where he states…where there is no law there is no violation.
If there’s nothing that says stealing is wrong, how can I be charged with stealing …how can you break a law if there’s no law to break?
Before Moses there was no law…the law came along in order that we might see how far we missed the mark…that’s what the word sin means…a Greek term in archery meaning to miss the bullseye.
But if you can’t see the mark or know what it is…how can you know how far you have missed it? …how can you be held accountable for doing something wrong when you didn’t know you were doing something wrong?
The law came along that we might see how far we missed the divine mark…how far we’ve come from living a life that was acceptable and pleasing to God.
God gave people the Law so that sin could be identified as sin even though sin was already in the world before the law was given.
To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone where there is no law [5:13].
God is fair…God does not condemned people for sin until there is a law to tell them the difference between right and wrong.
God did not hold people accountable before the law in the same sense as He held those after the Mosaic law…before the Mosaic law men were sinners but they were not aware of its significance.
God did not charge them with the sins they committed because of something they did…but…they still died because of the sin of Adam…his transgression was passed on to them…the sin of one became the sin of all.
Here’s the importance of [14] Adam who is a type of Him who was to come …there is some sort of analogy or resemblance between the results of Adam’s act and the results of the work of Christ.
Put in a simplistic way…Adam messed things up and the Lord straightened things out.
Adam’s disobedience had its influence over all people…condemning us all…the work of Christ affected all people as well…delivering them from the fall and into the restored favor of God.
We are justified by God’s grace and forgiven of all our sin by faith because we believe that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures…that He was buried… and that He was raised on the third day.
He washed away our sin with His own blood and imputed to us His own perfect righteousness.
15 …For if by the transgression of one many died, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many.
At times I don’t think we fully understand the importance of God’s grace as revealed in this verse.
The story is told that a group of Christians were discussing the question: what is the most unique thing about Christianity, what is so special about the Christian faith?
One man said, “It’s because God became man.” Others quickly reminded him that is not that unique because there are other religions that teach that God became man.
Another man stood up and said “Well, I think what is unique about Christianity is that there is resurrection from the dead” …once again others contended “No, that’s not true, because other religions also teach the resurrection from the dead.” And so, the debate went on.
Near the end of the debate CS Lewis stepped into the discussion and said: “The answer is easy, what is unique about Christianity is grace.”
Grace is a word that is used in so many ways, but we don’t quite understand it.
As you sing the song “Amazing Grace” you may be wondering…what’s so amazing about grace anyway…I sing those words, but what’s so amazing about grace?
Between verses 16 and 18 Paul continues to compare the impact of two pivotal choices made by two men at two points in the history of the world.
Adam, who introduced sin into a world that knew no sin…a choice that caused all born after him to be born into sin…Jesus chose to be the source of God’s free gift of grace that brought justification to everyone who receives it by faith.
In verse 19 Paul sums up the whole discourse regarding Adam and Jesus:
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.
Who are “the many” mentioned here…does it include all people including infants…or just those who are at the age of accountability… Paul doesn’t mention anything about infants who die…so what is their fate?
An extremely controversial topic depending on what denomination you belong to because even in the Church there is no consistent agreement on what happens to infants who die.
Scripture says we will be judged by our works…if God judges the lost according to their works that means they must possess both memory and a conscience to understand why they are being punished.
Infants who die have neither memory nor conscience of evil works… therefore infants who die before attaining an age when they might believe go to be with the Lord. God has his own way of saving the innocent.
So—in these verses Paul pulls together all he has taught so far reaching back to [1:18]…speaking on the topic of humanity’s relationship with Adam and its relationship with Christ…how death entered the world and the reason why death reigns over all of us…it’s not because of our individual sins…even before people knew of a law…they still died…it’s the consequences of Adam’s sin imputed to us.
And…conversely…the reason eternal life reigns in us is not because of our individual deeds of righteousness…nor by our own obedience…nor by our own obedience and Christ’s together…but because of Christ’s righteousness imputed to us by grace through faith.
When we chose…by choice…to disobey God’s commands, that choice brings death…because we are all one of his descendants…but…the central declaration of the gospel is…Christ has come, He has died, He has risen again, and He has come into our hearts by means of the Holy Spirit in order that we who believe in Him might be free. That is what the gospel is all about!