Let me give you my subject. You
can watch for it as we read our text. I want to speak this morning
on the subject, The Reign of Death. R-E-I-G-N. The Reign of Death. And there's not a better text
or the Bible to consider it than this place that we're reading
from today. So, look at verse 12 through
verse 14. Three verses to begin with, then
we'll broaden. Romans 5, 12 through 14, the
reign of death. As by one man sin entered into
the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all
men, for that all have sinned. For until the law, sin was in
the world. But sin is not imputed when there
is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from
Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the
similitude of Adam's transgression, who is a figure of him that was
to come. I hope you hanged hung on every
word. Now, concerning this text and
truth, there are many people in many churches, in so-called
Christian churches in our day, who indeed pay lip service to
the connection of sin of Adam and Eve and on today. And yet, they fall woefully short
of the truth of the impact and the connection of the sin of
Adam and the universal reign of death in the human family. For many would pay lip service
and still deny that sin is the first and the only explanation
for the reign of death over all of mankind. That despite the
wearied efforts of medicine and science to outdo death and to
prolong life. You know, they're content, I
think, to leave that mystery to be solved by science or by
medicine or even by philosophy rather than make it a strictly
theological issue, that is, the reign of death. And so some people
like that see no further than the disease or the sickness or
the injury that ended a particular life. They chalk it up to heart
trouble or to cancer or one of the dreaded diseases that have
come upon mankind. And in answer to that, we remind
them of a couple of things. Number one, there had been no
disease. There had been no sickness except
for sin. Nothing entering that would tend
toward death had not sin entered into the world. And as Paul said,
by one man. The second thing that we must
remember is that there were no such sicknesses or diseases before
sin entered the world and there will be none in that coming and
celestial world and life in the saint. Therefore, this text is
telling us that sin is the first and the foremost cause why death
entered in and why death reigns under death among the human family. It has many errors in its quiver,
we are aware of that, to accomplish the end of physical death. But would we know the mystery
behind this universal reign of death? Why do all die? Why are there no exception? Why are there none that are able
to live on and on and on? Why is it appointed unto men
once to die and that all die? Then we must trace it back, as
Paul does here, to sin entering the world, because this is what
the scripture indeed does. and that it is God who hath both
set and passed the sentence of death as being the just penalty
of sin. Nor can we remove the death of
Christ out of the equation that we'll be talking about this morning. So looking here at this text
in Romans chapter 5, verse 12, really down to verse 21. Let's
get reacquainted with this powerful section of the scripture. Let me say, this is the defining
text for our present subject. Here are sound things that cannot
be condemned, such as the entrance of sin into the world by one
man. the effect of sin, the relationship
of sin unto death, and the relation of Adam unto the human race,
and the sin and the death of Adam unto the human race. There are some commentators that
I read and that I respect, John Murray, John Brown, Gill among
them, they call this passage of scripture an analogy or a
comparison. Verse 12 through verse 21. Brown
called it, quote, the apostle's analogical illustration, unquote. William Shedd called the passage
a parallel between the condemnation in Adam and justification that
is in Jesus Christ. In other words, we're told here
in this passage of scripture how condemnation came upon us
and death and how justification came upon us and life eternal. For let's agree on something
before we go any further. And that is that the predominant
theme so far in the epistle of Romans has been that one opened
in chapter one And verse 17, the saving righteousness of God
revealed, proclaimed, and declared in the gospel. Justification
by the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ That's the theme
of this great epistle. And it stands opposed, diametrically
opposed, to legal justification or merited justification or justification
by works of righteousness. That's stated in chapter 3, verse
21 through verse 31, as seen then in chapter 4, the free justification of Abraham
by faith that Abraham believed that it was imputed unto him
for righteousness and as stated in the first 11 verses of our
chapter 5 here in Romans then Another thing to remember about
the earlier part of the Roman epistle is the apostle had, in
chapter 1, verse 18, down through chapter 3 and verse 20, he had
plumbed the depths of human depravity. He laid out the depravity of
the race of the Gentile and of the Jew. He had displayed the
depraved behavior of both the Jew and the Gentile. No difference. Both of them justly condemned
for their sin against God. And then at chapter 5 and verse
12 and following, Paul, as it were, sums up the matter, and
he does it very well. He summed up the matter by what
Owen also called a comparison. a comparison between the first
Adam, by whom sin and death entered the world, and the second Adam,
by which righteousness and life are given, and sin and death
are overcome by the last or the second Adam. Remember, and you
should read, that passage in 1 Corinthians, chapter 15, verse
45 through verse 49. Put it in your memory bank and
look at it. It is that place where Paul speaks
of the first Adam and the last Adam. The first he calls a living
soul, and of the earthly and the last, or the second Adam,
a quickening spirit, the Lord from heaven. Also note something
in verse 14 and the last part of Romans chapter 5, where Adam
is called a figure. He is called a type or a foreshadowing. And it is the word tupos or tupos
and is some dozen times a word that is found in the New Testament. It's translated by such words
as example or example or pattern or fashion of the one to come,
that Adam was a type of the one to come. Now, who can this be
but the Lord Jesus Christ, that in some way Adam was a type of
Christ. He was a figure of him. there
was some likeness or some resemblance in them or in the effect that
their actions had upon others. Now, this would make a very profitable
study, but also would be very time-consuming, so we won't go
into it now. But suffice it to say, this is
well declared down in verse 17, verse 18, and verse 19, that
is, the likeness or the comparison is well documented in this passage
of the scripture. But going back now to verse 12,
we might take notice of the special character of this verse. And I'll tell you, I think this
is one of the most important verses in all of the writing
of the Apostle Paul. Where is there a verse that stands
higher than this verse, verse 12, of Romans chapter 5? And notice the opening word.
wherefore, or therefore, also take note of the little two-letter
word as, as, wherefore, therefore, as. Haldane, Edwards, Robinson,
the word, Robertson, the word as, they all say, is intended
to lead are to open up the way for a contrast that is to follow. But we notice that Paul does
not immediately complete that contrast until later down in
the chapter. as by one man, as it was by one. Now concerning this word here,
as, as introducing a contrast, you have the Finnish contrast
down in verse 18, for example, as through the offense condemnation
to all. Verse 19, as through the disobedience
of one man, many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one, many
be made righteous. You have it again in verse 21,
that as sin reigned unto death, even so might grace reign unto
life. Now, this little word, as, has
the thought for as much or in as much. So, wherefore, therefore,
in as much or wherefore. Now, concerning the whole passage,
verse 12 through 21, and its relation to the flowing thought
of the apostle, I appalage your eyes, also combine the thoughts
of some other older, much wiser commentators. That is, Paul has
been writing of the great doctrine of justification and of the imputed
righteousness of Christ and the full and gratuitous forgiveness
of sin. and the freedom from condemnation
that is in Jesus Christ, he then interrupts himself or he is led
to give an account of our fall into sin and death and ruin by
and through our first parent, Adam. And there is precedent
for this, and it's found in the first chapter of the great book
of Romans. In verse 15 through verse 17,
Romans chapter 1, he speaks of the glorious gospel and of the
glorious revelation of righteousness that is made in that gospel. Then, before he speaks, of the
depth of that revealed righteousness, he speaks at length of the revelation
of the wrath of God from heaven against the ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men. For it stands true, if you err
at the doctrine of depravity, you will err at the proper remedy. If you do not know depravity
and the extent of depravity, you will therefore err at the
antidote or at the remedy. So looking again at verse 12
that we read, and the flow of the verse, and the connecting
links or facts that Paul lays out. Number one, by one man sin
entered into the world. This one man is identified as
Adam. Number two, sin brought death. Death is the result of sin. What a remarkable saying from
Paul found in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 56. It has intrigued me since I found
it. It says this, the sting of death
is sin. The sting of death is sin. And then he adds, and the strength
of sin is the law. Sin is the sting in death. And then thirdly, he says, death
passed upon, some say through, death passed upon all men, death
is spread to all, because as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15
and verse 22, In Adam all die. In Adam all die. Now, we want to look at the last
statement of verse 12, Romans 5. It is very important, and
we must, I emphasize, and underline must, be considered in the context
in which it appears. All have sinned. And the connecting for, for all
have sinned, gives the reason why death passed upon all. Death passed upon all, for all
have sinned. See it? Sin entered the world,
death passed through for the reason that all have sinned. And I think it's in the Aroeth.
How does Paul intend to be understood in saying all have sinned? What does he mean here by this
statement, all have sin? The question naturally is, does
he refer to personal, actual, individual sins of the individual? This he does in Romans 3 and
verse 23. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. Again, there is the connective
for. For there is no difference. For the reason all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. But then again, we go back
to the question. Is this the same thing that is
said or that is meant by the last words of verse 12 of chapter
5, said in the end, that all are under death for their actual
sin? Is that what Paul is saying?
If that were what Paul is saying, it would not require the very
lengthy exposition that he attaches to it and that is inserted in
verse 13 through verse 17. If the apostle had actual sin
in his mind, then there would be no need for this great and
long supplement. But notice, in that supplement,
there are at least five mentions in the following verses that
Paul makes to one man, Adam, and one sin. And here they are. Adam's transgression in verse
14. Look at that. The offense of
one in verse 15. The offense in verse 20. One that sinned, in verse 16. One man's offense, in verse 17. And one man's disobedience, in
verse 19. Now I repeat, there is mention
made of one man and one sin. So please note, the reign of
death is not in this place attributed only to personal sin. or to a
repeat of Adam's sin. For in verse 14, death reigned,
watch this, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude
or the likeness of Adam's transgression. Again, in verse 13 and verse
14. Notice, it is a parenthesis in
some versions of the scripture. But let's read it again, catching
every word. For all have sinned. For until the law, sin was in
the world. But sin is not imputed where
there is no law. Nevertheless, Death reigned from
Adam to Moses, even over them that did not send after the similitude
of Adam's transgression, who is a type of him that was to
come. Now, Paul focuses purposely on
a particular period of history. In verse 13, until the law. from Adam until the giving of
the law. And that is, in verse 14, sin
entered by one man, and until the law came by Moses, that is,
the Ten Commandments, or the Decalogue, or the law as we call
them, sin was in the world. There was sin and there was death
from Adam unto Moses. But Paul says something here
that sin is not put to the account where there is no law. He says the same thing in chapter
4, verse 15 of Romans. And 1 John chapter 3 and verse
4, sin is the transgression of the law. Galatians chapter 3
verse 19, the law was added because of transgression. And chapter
5 and verse 20, the law entered moreover that the offense might
abound. So we see there is a direct relation
between law and sin. Where there is sin, there is
law. Where there are these, there
is death. Verse 12, death by sin. Now what Paul is saying, but
that sin entered when the one man transgressed the commandment,
the law of God. Adam violated the law of God. For again we read in verse 14
of Adam's transgression, of the offense in verse 15, 17, 18,
and 20, and of his disobedience in verse 19. God commanded the
man, as Brother Mike pointed out last week, and when he was
reading and talking about that, it was then that this text and
message entered into my heart. But God told the man to freely
eat of every tree of the garden. but not to eat of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil, for in the day that you eat thereof,
you will surely die. And the margin has it, dying
shall you die. in the day at that time. So soon as you eat, death will
seize upon you. Eating, you will die." Why? Was it because the fruit of that
tree was poison unto the man? Nay! because God commanded it. It was a transgression of a given
command of God. Can we say that sin is capable
of inflicting a double death? Yea, three, if we count eternal
death. Number one, it is capable of
inflicting spiritual death or moral death, we might call it,
dead in trespasses and in sin, being dead under spiritual life,
having not the spirit or the life of God in an individual. Secondly, it brings physical
death, bodily death. as when Adam, or rather, when
Lazarus got sick, and that sickness ended in his death. He died. Now, as we know, one
may have life in the body, one may have physical life, even
when the soul or the spirit is yet dead in trespasses and in
sin. One can be alive physically and
dead spiritually. So which does Paul have in view
here in Romans chapter 5? No doubt, principally and primarily,
it is physical death. And let us catch his words. It
rained. In verse 14, death rained. Look at verse 17. Death rained
by one. Look at verse 21. That as sin
rained unto death. Now consider the fifth chapter
of Genesis, just for a moment, containing what we might call
an obituary of some of the early patriarch, giving notice of their
death and a short account of their life and their history
and their family and their age. the time of their death. I'll
not read them all, but some examples from Genesis chapter 5 are verse
5, Adam died. Adam died at 930 years of age. Verse 8, Seth Adam's son died. Verse 11, Enos,
E-N-O-S, died. Verse 27, Methuselah, the world's
oldest person, died. And so did Noah in Genesis chapter
9 and verse 29. Then moving on in history, likewise,
as great as they were and as great as God used them and blessed
them in his purpose. Likewise, Abraham died, Genesis
25 and verse 8. Death took out Moses in Deuteronomy
chapter 34. So died David, and the prophets
of God, and the lesser known saints, and sinners of all nation
and tribe died. Of all of the race, we read of
but two that leaped over the grave and avoided death, went
up to heaven without suffering the indignity of dying. Those two saints of God were
divine exceptions, however. And great Christian preachers
and eminent apostles have also been seized upon by the enemy
of death. And even, may I remind you, of
little infants not yet capable of actual and purposeful sin. So let us be sure that we catch
how Paul describes it. Death reigns. And he uses the
word reigned. And he uses it in regard to both
sin and death. Death reigned. Sin reigned unto
death. Though he also uses it in regard
to grace in verse 21 of Romans chapter 5. Sin reigned, or rather,
grace reigned unto death. This word reign comes from a
word that means to have a foundation and a foundation of power. It
is like a king or a ruler or a sovereign. It is one who has
power and it exercises that power over its subjects. And make no
mistake about it, Paul likened sin and death to a powerful tyrant,
having the power of death, and not just spiritual death, but
death in the full sense of the word, including the death of
the body. And even the point has been made,
connecting sin and death, it yet bears repeating. Sin is a transgression of God's
law, and the only proper punishment prescribed by God for that is
death, except for the intervention of divine grace. All would perish
in their sin. And the ultimate punishment for
sin is death. Being elected in Christ did not
save us from first being dead in trespasses and in sin. And then being redeemed and regenerate
will not spare us from the indignity of physical death. So while we
have spiritual life, yet death will come and seize upon all
of us. Now, I've read of some, few there
be, heretics back in history, who deny that Adam died as a
result of his sin. They say he died a natural death,
that he would have died anyway with time. And others there are,
such as Sassinus, who denied both the imputation of Adam's
sin and the deserving derivation of a corrupt nature from Adam,
and they admit no more than because Adam incurred the penalty of
death All that partake of that nature from him are liable to
death upon that account. Which, though it be true up to
a point, does not match what Paul is saying in Romans chapter
5. He is saying here, and the parentheses
emphasizes it, that Adam transgressed a law of God. He sinned by transgressing
a law of God, and he was seized upon by death. And what's more,
that death passed upon all for the reason for inasmuch as all
have sin, or all sin. And let's remind ourselves, all
through this passage once more, the apostle has one sin in mind
and one man in mind, what he calls Adam's transgression. From that sin, death is passed
upon all. But the question is, how so? By what arrangement most sound
Calvinistic expositors hold that there is and was a certain solidary
union between Adam and the race, as there is between Christ and
the elect, as in Adam all sin. Let me give you a lesser example
found in Hebrews 7 verse 9 and verse 10, where it said that
Levi paid tithes in Abraham. He paid tithes before he was
ever born unto Melchizedek. Levi, who took tithes, first
paid tithes, for he was in the loins of his father Abraham. Again, Hebrews 7. and verse 9
and 10. Even so, in Adam all die, for
God has appointed death to be the penalty for sin. And as in Romans 5, 17, it is
clear, by the transgression of one, Death reigned by one, and
none except by God's appointment, as in the case of Enoch and Elijah,
have been spared death. Death is called our enemy. It is called the last enemy,
1 Corinthians 15 and verse 26, and all lived in the fear of death. Hebrews
chapter 2 and verse 14. It stalks every son and every
daughter of Adam. None can evade it forever. And it is sin that puts the sting
in death. And sin has its strength by the
law. Again, that's 1 Corinthians 15
and verse 56. As Paul says in Romans 5 and
verse 20, the law entered that the offense might abound. They say the literal meaning
is this. The law came in alongside of,
long after Adam had transgressed a law that God gave to him. The Decalogue, the Ten Commandments,
the moral law came in along beside the transgression or the offense
and made sin abound. Remember Paul's testimony in
Romans chapter 7, how when the law came, it discovered in him
all manner of sin that he was not aware of before. The law was not yet given. And the law, when it was given,
was not given for the purpose of putting away sin, or was it
given for the purpose of justifying from it, but to expose sin in
all of its heinousness, and with the result that it cursed and
holds sinners under the power of death, from which only Christ
is able to emancipate or deliver. Now, while there is time, let's
put our focus upon the words of Paul in the end of verse 14,
calling Adam a type of Christ, a type of the one that was to
come, who is a figure of him coming. So the question, in what? Is Adam a figure, a type, or
a similitude of Adam? Their works are so contrary,
and the effects are so contrary upon the human family, producing
totally opposite results. One death, the other life. One
sin, the other righteousness. One condemnation, the other justification. One the reign of death, the other
the reign of grace. One making sinners, the other
making righteous. But each one, Adam and Christ,
were given their bodies in a very unique, one-of-a-kind way. And Paul makes special distinction
between type and anti-type, such as, number one, the difference
between the two. There are differences They do
not agree between the two. The first one is in verse 15. Look at it. Not as the offense,
so the free gift, and then he draws it out far. Then look at
verse 16. And not as it was by one that
sinned, so is the gift, and then he draws it out far. Then, secondly,
while in verse 18 and 19, the way in which the acts of Adam
and Christ resemble, in that the first halves of verses 18
and 19 look at them. as by, or through one's transgression,
through one man's disobedience, condemnation came on all, many
were made sinners. Now, look at the last tabs of
verse 18 and verse 19. Through the righteousness of
one, justification came upon all men unto life, for by one
man's obedience many are made righteous." Now, these two sets
of things are directly attributable to the acts of the two, Adam
and Christ, who Paul calls the first and the second man in 1
Corinthians 15 in that passage. And as much, and hear this, as
much as we weaken the union and the impact of Adam on the human
family, so we weaken the union and the impact of the elect or
Christ upon the elect. For Paul is showing that each
sustains a peculiar and a unique relationship under the human
race. Paul, as John Brown wrote, concludes,
quote, the analogy between the condemnatory economy of Adam
and the justificatory economy of Jesus Christ, unquote. And in verse 20 and 21, these
two heads of mankind and the opposing economies bound up in
each other are the two economies under which the whole history
of mankind stands or turns. All are either in Adam or in
Christ. To be in Adam is to be in sin
and death. To be in Christ is to be in righteousness
and life. And when the law came in alongside,
the trespass abounded. But where sin abounded, verse
21, grace did much more abound. that his sin had reigned unto
death. So grace reigns unto eternal
life through righteousness. The reign of death is because
of sin. What can therefore overcome death
must be able to overcome sin. Whatsoever can abolish death
must be able at the same time to abolish sin because of their
vital connection. Only He can destroy death and
give life, who can break the power of sin. So He came to put away sin by
the sacrifice of Himself. Hebrews 9 and verse 26. And our
blessed Lord, who bore our sin and took upon Him the curse of
the law in order to put away and abolish death, has also put
away sin. Put away sin in its condemning
power and taken away its guilt in His death and sacrificial
dying upon the cross. where sin reigned unto death,
grace reigns unto righteousness. The first reign from sin and
the second through the obedience and the righteousness of the
one man, Adam. I think this, again, is one of
the most important passages of Scripture in all of our New Testament. May the Lord bless it to our
benefit and to our edification.