Romans 5:12-17

¹² On account of this, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin death, and in this way death entered through unto all men, because all have sinned– ¹³ for until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not charged to an account when there isn’t Law. ¹⁴ But death reigned from Adam until Moses, even upon those not having sinned the transgression in the likeness of Adam, who is the type of the one to come. ¹⁵ But the gift is not like the offense. For if by the offense of one the many died, how much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded unto the many. ¹⁶ And the gift [is] not like [the one] through the one who sinned; for the judgement [came] out of the one unto punishment, but the grace [came] out of many offenses unto being made righteous. ¹⁷ For if by the sin of one, death reigned through the one, how much more those receiving the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ.

This week our Sunday School group made some good progress through Romans 5, and there was helpful discussion around the topics raised by the passage. I wasn’t able to be there for most of the time, but I will do my best to represent the things discussed (as conveyed to me by my co-teacher, Mike). It seems the group didn’t spend a lot of time exegeting the passage, so I will dig a little more into the text. Hopefully, those that were there will be able to supply what is lacking in my summary by means of the comments.

Paul has established that while we were yet sinners–not while we were in a right standing with God, obedient to the Law, and pleasing to Him–Christ died for us. And Christ’s death was necessary because without it we couldn’t hope to be pleasing to God, and be reconciled to Him. Paul now draws a comparison between Adam and Christ: as it was through Adam that sin entered into the world, condemning us to death, so it was through Christ that the life-giving gift of salvation came. It is important to see how Paul here draws a link between Adam’s sin, and our guilt and death as a result of that one sin. And then he compares the free gift of God’s grace in Christ, coming “out of many offenses,” and abounding to those who are in Christ, giving righteousness and life.

Verse 12 starts like the first part of a comparison: “just as… <such and such>…” and we are left waiting for the “so…” part of the comparison (technically, the first part is called the protasis, and the second is the apodosis). Yet it isn’t there! One could try to insert one, or say that it is implied later and what follows in verse 13 is parenthetical. But I like the suggestion, as indicated in my translation above (and in other translations such as the NASB), that Paul started out with a comparison, and decided to go a different direction, leaving the comparison dangling. Now, I think in verse 18 he picks up the comparison again and completes it. But for now, let’s just treat this as Paul changing his mind on how to make his point. Not only does this make better sense (strangely) of the passage, but it also shows that God didn’t need to remove Paul’s personality and style from this epistle for it to be inspired.

Paul has established that through one man (clearly meaning Adam, as we shall see) sin entered the world. He links sin and death, implying there was no death until there was sin. It’s interesting to note that after the Fall in Genesis 3, God removed Adam and Eve from the Garden lest they eat of the tree of life and live forever. It was never God’s intention that sinful man should live eternally: death is a consequence of sin. And everyone dies because everyone has sinned. Paul is echoing his previous comments in chapter 3, particularly 3:23 (“all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”). This is despite the Law, a point he has been hammering home since chapter 1–even when there was no Law, there was still sin in the world. Remember 2:12-16? Even those who don’t have the Law can keep the Law, or can stand accused by the Law as it is written on the hearts of men. The presence or absence of sin is not determined by one’s knowledge of the Law.

But if there is no Law, how can you be accused of breaking it? It’s true that you can’t impute sin to someone for a crime against which there is no law. In which case, how is it that all die–surely this means that all have sinned? Against what have they sinned? How is it that all are guilty of that sin? These kind of questions are lurking behind verses 13 and 14. While we could answer them by referring back to the universality of the Moral Law, and how the Ten Commandments are written on the hearts of everyone (as we considered back in chapter 2), that’s not the direction Paul wants to go. Indeed, it seems to me that Paul is wanting to answer a far more fundamental question: why is it all men are natural sinners in the first place? All men have sinned, with or without a written code–why?

Paul plainly states in verse 15 that is was because of the offense (Greek: paraptôma–one of three different terms for “sin” or “transgression” used in this passage alone, the others being harmartia and parabasis) of Adam many died, and by implication sin came to many as a result of Adam’s sin (don’t forget the sin-death link). How did this happen? Is it because Adam’s sin passes genetically from generation to generation? Augustine believed this and, if I recall correctly, this led to his rather negative view of sex! Paul really doesn’t try to explain it here, but I think we get a hint of how he sees it if we take in the rest of the passage.

“The many” die through the sin of Adam, but “the many” receive “the grace of God and the gift” by the grace of Christ. This gift is not the judgment and condemnation that comes from Adam’s single sin, but it is justification–being made right with God–that comes despite our numerous offenses. Death reigned as a result of Adam’s sin (verse 17), but the recipients of Christ’s grace and that wonderful gift of righteousness will reign in life through the type, or imprint, of Adam–and yet a much better Adam–Jesus Christ. Notice these two distinctions: first, while death reigns through Adam, life doesn’t reign in those who are in Christ, rather it is those who are in Christ that reign in life! And second, while the effects of the transgression are universal (all died), the effects of Christ’s gift are not–they are only experienced by “those receiving the abundance of grace.”

The picture I believe Paul is painting here is one of what Reformed theologians refer to as “Federal headship.” When Adam sinned, he was given a command to obey (“don’t eat of the tree”) and he broke it. Those who came after him, before Moses, didn’t have specific commands (though they had the Law on their hearts), but they too demonstrated their sin, and then when the Law came, and God’s Moral Law was codified, men still continued to sin. This is because we are all in Adam. Adam is our representative, and we demonstrate our allegiance to Adam by the fact that we possess the same capacity to sin that he did (even if we don’t commit the same sin). We are all born with a sin nature, not by virtue of bodily fluids, but by virtue of our identification with our federal head, Adam. However, in Christ, our headship changes. Christ died not for Adam’s single sin, but for all of our sins. When he is Lord of our life, he takes Adam’s place. Now, instead of receiving the guilt that comes from our allegiance to Adam, we receive the gift of grace, mercy, and reconciliation that comes with being allied to Christ. Yes, we still struggle with sin–but that sin no longer has a hold over us, because Adam is no longer our head.

How does this make us feel? As Christians, we may understand our position in Christ, that we are God’s children, and no longer condemned sinners. But is that how we feel day-to-day? Is that how we perceive ourselves? If we’re honest, many of us probably feel as one person in the group bravely confessed (and I’m paraphrasing): “I don’t necessarily feel like I’m a great sinner, but neither do I feel particularly ‘in Christ’–I’m just a pretty good person.” In fact, it’s possible that the Christian may not feel very differently than they felt as an unbeliever–especially if they were fairly moral and law-abiding. However, I would venture to suggest that there are things the Christian should be able to tell about their life that will identify themselves as Christ’s: a love for God and the things of God, a desire to know Him and His word, a love for God’s people and a longing to be among them, the desire to please God with one’s life, and so on. Also the Christian’s worldview will be very different, and the foundation for the Christian’s love of people will not be the same. But these things often take time to grow in the life of a believer.

As I understand it, the group discussion also trailed off into the areas of discipleship and evangelism, but this article is long enough! If those that were there want to share their thoughts on these and other subjects that came up, please do so in the comments.

It’s possible we may actually finish Romans 5 next week! A thought to consider in preparation: if Christ was just a man, how can we be so sure he would, or could, have broken the curse of the Fall? Take a look at Romans 5:18-21, and consider this question as you read.