ADAM AND CHRIST CONTRASTED / 5:12–21 NOTES

ADAM AND CHRIST CONTRASTED / 5:12–21

Having linked Jews and Gentiles through Abraham to the promises of God, Paul now shows how the gospel applies to all humankind. Paul made important points by going back to Abraham; but by going back to Adam, he will draw conclusions that affect the fate of every person.

Twice in the last paragraph Paul expressed one idea and then followed it with an equally marvelous parallel idea (from the niv): “Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath,” (5:9); and “If … we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more … shall we be saved through his life!” (5:10).

Here, in verses 12–21, Paul also uses a series of parallels, only this time they express ideas moving in opposite directions: “Just as sin entered the world … and … death came to all men” (5:12) … “how much more did God’s grace and the gift … overflow to the many” (5:15); “For if … death reigned through that one man, how much more will … righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ” (5:17 niv); and “For just as … many were made sinners, so also … many will be made righteous” (5:19). Paul shows that all of us are affected by Adam’s disobedience and Christ’s obedience.

5:12  Sin came into the world through one man.  This one man is Adam, who sinned against God and brought alienation from God and death to all humanity (Genesis 2–3). God had warned Adam, “You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die” (Genesis 2:17). Because Adam disobeyed God’s command, the judgment of both spiritual and physical death fell on him and all his descendants—death spread to all men, because all sinned.  Death is the consequence of being under the power of sin. “In Adam all die” (1 Corinthians 15:22 niv). It was not in God’s original plan for human beings to die, but it was the result when sin entered the world. Inevitably, the gift of life we bequeath to our children includes with it the sting of death. All human beings have two characteristics in common: They are sinners, and they will die.

5:13  Before the law was given, sin was in the world.  Verses 13–15 are a lengthy parenthesis to Paul’s statement beginning in verse 12. God’s law was not given until the time of Moses, so the people who lived between Adam and Moses did not have any specific laws to obey or break. Paul explains that sin is not taken into account when there is no law.  What Paul is saying is that the sin that was in the world was the power or force that causes people to act independently of God. All people are under the power of sin, and all people act in rebellion against God. Those sins did not count the same as Adam’s sin because they were not deliberate actions against God’s commands (as was Adam’s, see 5:12) because there were no commands. Thus, they were not taken into account. Paul continues this thought in 5:20 and in chapter 7, when he describes the law’s role in defining sin. Sin was in the world from the beginning, but it came into sharp focus when the law was given.

With this statement, Paul follows through his argument from chapter 2 regarding the pride of the Jews in their role as keepers of God’s law. The very fact that they had the law, and that it is the law that makes people accountable for sin, means that the Jews’ sin was deadly—they were certainly in as much need of redemption as the rest of the world.

5:14  Death reigned… even over those who did not sin by breaking a command.  Adam had knowingly broken a specific command (5:12). His descendants who lived prior to the time of Moses could not break any specific laws because there were none. But they still sinned, witnessed by the fact that death reigned. Adam’s descendants had sinned with Adam (5:12). Death is the result of Adam’s sin and ours, even if our sins don’t resemble Adam’s. For thousands of years, the law had not been explicitly given, and yet people died. The law was added (5:20) to help people see their sinfulness, to show them the seriousness of their offenses, and to drive them to God for mercy and pardon. This was true in Moses’ day and in Paul’s day, and it is still true today. Sin is a deep rupture between who we are and who we were created to be. The law points out our sin and places the responsibility for it squarely on our shoulders, but it offers no remedy.

Adam … a pattern of the one to come.  Paul uses the word pattern (typos), or “type” to describe Adam’s role in history compared with Christ’s. Adam, the first man, was a counterpart of Christ, whom Paul calls “the last Adam” in 1 Corinthians 15:45. Adam’s one act determined the character of the world; Christ’s one act determined the character of eternity. In modern terminology, we could say that Adam was a flawed prototype, but Christ was the perfect original. Just as Adam was a representative of created humanity, so is Christ the representative of the new, spiritual humanity.

Christ is much more powerful to save, than Adam was to destroy.

—John Calvin

5:15  The free gift is not like the trespass.  The gift from God through Christ (justification) has a greater but opposite effect than the trespass of Adam and its consequences. Yet in each case, the act of one affected the lives of many.

Many died by the trespass of the one man.  Because of Adam’s sin, death entered the human race, and since then all people have died (with the Bible’s exceptions of Enoch and Elijah). All people will die until the end of this age.

The gift that came by the grace of … Jesus Christ, overflow to the many.  God’s gift because of his grace-salvation and eternal life-overflows to the entire human race. It is available to all, but not everyone will choose to receive it.

Every human being is born into Adam’s physical family the family line that leads to certain death. All of us reap the results of Adam’s sin. We have inherited his guilt, the tendency to sin, and God’s punishment. Because of Jesus, however, we can trade judgment for forgiveness. We can trade our sin for Jesus’ goodness. Jesus offers us the opportunity to be born into his spiritual family-the family line that begins with forgiveness and leads to eternal life. If we do nothing, we have death through Adam; but if we come to God by faith, we have life through Christ.

5:16  Judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation.  God passed judgment on Adam’s one sin of disobedience. As a result, Adam and the entire human race received condemnation.

The gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.  Everyone since Adam has sinned, and yet Christ overcame those many trespasses and brought justification to those who accept him. The result of sin is death; the gift of God—his justifying sinners—results in reigning forever with Christ.

5:17  By the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man  By capitulating to sin Adam allowed the whole human race to succumb to death. Death is inescapable; it comes to every living thing. We all live close to the valley of the shadow of death. And the reign of death over creation began because of Adam’s sin.

Will those who receive.  The only condition upon these wonderful provisions of grace is that we receive them by faith. God’s love and Christ’s work are for all men and women, but they are appropriated by faith.

Reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.  Those who believe in Christ will become rulers, reigning in his kingdom of life, where there is no death (Revelation 1:6). What a promise this is to those who love Christ! We can reign over sin’s power, over death’s threats, and over Satan’s attacks. Eternal life is ours now and forever. Though this promise has its greatest fulfillment in the future, it also has a significant immediate impact. In Christ, death loses its sting (see 1 Corinthians 15:50–57). We are still subject to the physical suffering and death brought by sin in the world, but we are free from the eternal spiritual separation that we would experience outside of Christ. Also, in the power and protection of Jesus Christ, we can overcome temptation (see 8:17 for more on our privileged position in Christ).

5:18  Just as the result of one trespass was condemnation.  Paul emphasizes the contrasting roles of two single agents, Adam and Christ. Adam’s sin brought condemnation on the human race. Christ’s sinless sacrifice, or as Paul writes, his one act of righteousness opened the way for justification that brings life.

5:19  By the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners.  The same statement is made in different words: Here Adam’s trespass is called “disobedience,” and it resulted in all people becoming sinners and thus unacceptable to God. The word trespass describes the specific act of Adam’s sin, while disobedience describes its intent. The original temptation downplayed the importance of the act (see Genesis 3:1–7) and focused attention on the desired ends: “You will be like God” (Genesis 3:5 niv). Temptation still takes that same form, rationalizing deliberate disobedience to God in pursuit of some supposedly higher ideal. Ends and means do not justify one another. In Adam’s case, neither the ends (disobedience) nor the means (trespass) turned out to be right.

By the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.  Again, in contrast, here the act of righteousness is called Christ’s “obedience.” Adam’s response to temptation was “My will be done”; but Christ’s prayer to God was “Thy will be done” (Luke 22:42). Because of Christ’s obedience, those who believe will be made righteous. Becoming righteous is both an immediate standing before God and an ongoing process to be completed when he returns.

5:20  Law was added so that the trespass might increase.  This statement is certainly not what Paul’s Jewish readers expected to hear. Paul had already explained that the law was ineffective for salvation, but now he says that rather than being an antidote for sin, it actually increases sin! Paul is winding up the argument he has been carrying on through the first five chapters of his letter. The purpose of the law for his own people, the Jews, had been to make them aware of their need for salvation; thus, their trespass was increased. Sin was present from Adam, but the giving of the law was like having a huge spotlight turned on—the sinfulness of people became all the more defined (see also Romans 7:7–13). The solution to sin was not law, but grace.

Where sin increased, grace increased all the more.  No matter how much people sin, God’s grace is greater. There are occasions of insight in life when people realize in a new way the reality of their sinfulness. Sometimes, reflecting on the commandments reminds us of our tendency to fall. Our consciences also flare with guilt from time to time. At other times, a loving friend may confront us with a sinful act or habit. When our awareness of sin increases, we need to ask God to help us see that his grace is always greater in its capacity to forgive than our capacity to sin.

 

The Ladder Analogy:

As sinners, separated from God, we see his law from below. Sometimes it seems like a ladder to be climbed to get to God. Perhaps we have repeatedly tried to climb it, only to fall to the ground every time we have advanced one or two rungs. Or perhaps the sheer height of the ladder is so overwhelming that we have never even started up. In either case, what relief we should feel to see Jesus with open arms, offering to lift us above the ladder of the law, to take us directly to God. Once Jesus lifts us into God’s presence, we are free to obey—out of love, not necessity, and through God’s power, not our own. Then we know that if we stumble, we will not fall back to the ground. Instead, we will be caught and held in Jesus’ loving arms.

 

5:21  As sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life.  Our age is characterized by sin and inevitable death; but the age to come will be characterized by grace, righteousness, and eternal life. It is common to call the ultimate struggle that is going on in the universe “the conflict between good and evil.” Paul was picturing here the outcome of the war between the kingdom of grace and the kingdom of sin. Until Christ, the war appeared to be decided, because sin reigned in death. But Christ’s death and resurrection provided the decisive victory by which grace will reign. Under the reign of grace, a righteousness is declared that will bring eternal life.

This ends the first section of Paul’s letter and his explanation of the law and its relation to salvation. But the law is not set aside as old and worthless. Paul will explain, in coming chapters, the role of the law for believers.

 

Barton, B. B., Veerman, D., & Wilson, N. S. (1992). Romans (pp. 106–111). Tyndale House Publishers.