Romans 5:12-21
“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world” (v. 12). Wherefore links the atonement which believers have received to the coming of sin into the world.
The story of sin entering the world is recorded in Genesis 3. Adam, knowing God’s will (Gen. 2:17), chose to disobey (Gen. 3:6). Adam ate of the forbidden fruit. God told Adam that he would die in the day that he ate of the tree. Adam died an instant spiritual death because his sin separated him from God. Adam died a physical death at age 930 (Gen. 5:5). In II Peter 3:8, we are told that God does not keep time as man keeps time. With the Lord, one day is as a thousand years and one thousand years is as a day. We might note that Adam did not live a full one thousand year day. Neither has any other man because all are like Adam and have sinned. Death’s reign began with Adam’s sin.
Verse 13 states that sin is not imputed when there is no law. This means that sin cannot be sourced to the law of Moses. Sin is not dependent upon breaking the law. Before the law, sin was present but not imputed (could not be counted as an offense of the law). Cain did not break the law when he killed Abel. There was there was no law to break. Cain sinned before slaying Abel. Cain knew his sacrifice was not acceptable and Abel’s was (Gen. 4:4-5). God made His sacrificial requirement known when He provided a suitable offering for Adam and Eve, which offering required the death of an animal provided by Him. Cain was wroth against Abel without cause. His anger was sin and worthy of God’s judgment (see Matt. 5:22). The wages of sin is death. God told Adam the cost of disobedience before Adam disobeyed. Death’s reign began when Adam knowingly disobeyed.
Paul, in writing to Roman believers, desired that they should walk as God would have them walk. One must walk in Christ. One must know the way, the truth and the life. One must be born of the second Adam by water and the Spirit (Jn. 3:5). Adam (the first Adam) was a figure of the Christ who was to come (v. 14).
Adam brought sin into the world and would bring sin upon all who would be born of the flesh. The second Adam paid the price of sin. Because Christ was without sin, God the Father raised Him from the dead and counted the life which He willingly gave as payment for the sin of any and all who would call upon His name, believing.
Adam’s sin did not have to be. It was a sin of choice. The second Adam’s grace (payment of the sin debt) did not have to be. It was a choice of grace spawned by love (Jn. 3:16). The first Adam’s disobedience brought separation from God and eternal death to all who would be born of him. A single action of the first Adam condemned many. The second Adam’s obedience, in contrast, produced justification and gave eternal life to many (v. 16). The first Adam disobeyed, seeking to be as God. The second Adam obeyed because He was God. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (Jn. 1:1).
The parenthesis which begins with verse 13 and closes at the end of verse 17, encloses understandings linking the atoning obedience of Jesus Christ (the second Adam) to the damning disobedience of the first Adam. In verse 17, Paul, for purpose of comparison, pairs the first Adam’s offense with the second Adam’s gift. When two things are compared, there are three possible conclusions. The first is (1) greater than the second, (2) equal to the second, or (3) less than the second. For believers, the disobedience of the first Adam has become nothing. The first Adam’s disobedience which caused death to reign was completely nullified by the gift of the second Adam, whose gift of righteousness empowers us to reign in life, eternal life, by Him. The difference between the first Adam and the second Adam is the difference which separates death from life. There is no comparison. Believers have great cause to rejoice because “He that hath the Son hath life” (I Jn. 5:12).
“Therefore as by the offence . . .” (v. 18). Cause and effect reign without failure. The offence of one caused condemnation to fall upon all; but the righteousness of one caused the free gift of justification to come to all men. All is inclusive. The second Adam’s gift justified men both before and after the law was given to Moses. The law was cause for sin to abound in that it exposed the fullness of man’s disobedience and helplessness of man to justify himself. Sin imputed by the law revealed the width of the gulf which separates man from God. The great width of that gulf, however, was bridged by the second Adam’s gift of grace. Grace through the righteousness of Jesus Christ spanned the gulf, forever ending the reign of sin and death.
Recipients of this epistle were steeped in knowledge of the first Adam. They most certainly knew Jesus as the Messiah of whom Isaiah spoke. “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand” (Isa. 53:10). They believed and accepted the redemptive act of Christ Jesus. We, too, believe and accept. In viewing Jesus as the second Adam, we gain a glimpse of the power of His redemptive act. The power of the second Adam’s redemptive act is far greater than the power of the first Adam’s disobedience. The head of the serpent has been bruised for all eternity by the seed of the woman (Gen. 3:15).
