And if you'll follow me here,
you'll find this to be very helpful in understanding what we can
understand about verses 12 through 21 of Romans 5. Now, the key statement in all
these verses and the statement around which all of these verses
is built is in the latter part of verse 14. Now look at verse
14, Romans 5, 14. Nevertheless, death reigned from
Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the
similitude of Adam's transgression. Now here's the key statement.
Who is the figure of him that was to come? There it is right
there. That'll open Romans 5 for you. That statement right there. Adam
is the figure. Now we get the word figure here
from the word type. Adam is the type of him that
was to come. Now watch this. A better translation
is Adam was the type of the one who was to come, he was the type
of Christ in reverse. In reverse. Now that's mighty
important. Adam was destructive and Christ
was saving. Now if you'll turn to 1 Corinthians
15, we'll come back in a moment, but I want you to look at two
or three things first. Now Adam was the type of him
who was to come, the type of Christ in reverse, the type in
reverse. Now, 1 Corinthians 15, verse
45. And so it is written, the first
man, Adam, was made a living soul. The last Adam was made
a quickening spirit. That's Christ. Verse 47. The
first man is of the earth, earthy. The second man, second Adam,
is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they
also that are earthy. And as is the heavenly, such
are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image
of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. If you examine all of the scripture
before us tonight in Romans 5, you will find that Adam, as a
type of Christ, is only a type of Christ that is in likeness
in that he was the head of a race, and Christ was the head of a
race. That's the only way that Adam can typify the Lord Jesus
Christ in likeness. The rest of the type, the rest
of the comparison is opposite. Now you see what we're saying?
Romans 5 verse 14, the last line, says, Adam is the type of him
that was to come, but he's the type of Christ in reverse. The only way that he's like Christ,
the only way that Christ that Adam is a type of Christ in likeness
is that Adam was the head of a race, a natural race, a fallen
race, and Christ is the head of a new spiritual race. The
rest of the comparison is opposite. Now let me show you. Adam is
the first Adam. Christ, the last Adam. The first
Adam is out of the earth. The second Adam the Lord from
heaven. The first Adam, natural. The
second Adam, spiritual. The first Adam, a living soul.
The second Adam, a quickening spirit. In the first Adam, we
died. In the second Adam, we are made
alive. In the first Adam, many were
made sinners. In the second Adam, many were
made righteous. In the first Adam, judgment.
In the second Adam, justification. In the first Adam, sin reigned
unto death. In the second Adam, grace reigns
through righteousness. In the first Adam, with children
of wrath. In the second Adam, children
of God. In the first Adam, far off. In
the second Adam, made nigh unto God. In the first Adam, without
God. In the second Adam, brought to
God. In the first Adam, enemies. In
the second Adam, reconcile. In the first Adam, in bondage. In the second Adam, liberty. In the first Adam, hath not life. In the second Adam, hath eternal
life. In the first Adam, having no
hope. In the second Adam, a living
hope. By one man's disobedience, that's
the first Adam. by one man's obedience, the second
Adam. As we have borne the image of
the earthy, that's the first Adam, we shall also bear the
image of the heavenly, that's the second Adam. So you see,
there's no way, there's no way that Adam is a type of Christ
in likeness except one way, and that is Adam was the head of
a race and Christ is the head of a race. And the rest of the
type, and that's what it's meant to be, it's a comparison, the
rest of the type is that Adam is a type of Christ in the exact
opposite. An old minister once remarked,
really God sees only two men, the first Adam and the second
Adam. Adam and the Lord Jesus. And everyone is seen by God. either in Adam or in Christ. We are seen by God as descendants
of Adam, under sin, condemnation, and death. Or we are seen by
God in Christ, a new creature, free from sin, free from condemnation,
free from death. And what we lost in our head,
we regain much more in our head Jesus Christ. I read one time
years ago, Adam lost three important things in the Garden of Eden.
First of all, he lost the way to God. He was shut out of the
garden, he was barred from the tree of life. He lost the truth,
he aligned himself with lies, he aligned himself with evil,
and he lost his life. He died spiritually and he died
physically. In Christ we have all of this
restored, for Christ said, I am the way, I am the truth, and
I am the life, and no man cometh to the Father but by me. Now, realizing that, let's begin
with verse 12 and go verse by verse in this study. Ask the
Holy Spirit to be our teacher. to open the difficult passages,
to reveal Christ more precious, and to reveal unto us what he
would have us to learn about this portion of God's Word. Now, verse 12 of Romans 5, Wherefore,
as by one man, sin entered into the world. Let's stop right there.
The design of these and the ones that follow is to show how man
came to be in the condition described in the preceding verses of Romans
5. Now back in verse 6 it says we
were without strength. It says in verse 6 that we are
ungodly. It says in verse 8 we are sinners. It says in verse 10 we are enemies. How did we come to get in such
a state? How did we come to be without
strength, sinners, ungodly enemies? Here it is, verse 12, by one
man, that was Adam. Sin, that's all sin, transgression,
iniquity, iniquity of the mind, of the heart, of the body, the
lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, the pride of the pollution
of the understanding of the will and of the affection. All sin,
as by one man, sin, all sin, entered into the world. What
does that mean? It means it entered into all
men. It entered into all men, not
by imitation, but by imputation. For sin entered into all the
sons of Adam. and it entered those who even
did not transgress a positive command as Adam did. As by one
man, by Adam, and Adam's transgression, sin, all sin, everything that
goes under the name sin, entered into all people by imputation,
by one man's sin. Now look at the next line, and
death by sin. Now when sin came, death came. Not only physical death, but
spiritual death. All of Adam's race died spiritually
when Adam sinned, and all of Adam's race was rendered spiritually
impotent, and all of Adam's race became without righteousness,
and all of Adam's race before the law was condemned and sentenced
to eternal condemnation. Now, the next line is awfully
important. It says in verse 12, by one man, Adam, sin entered
into the world, into all men by imputation and death, spiritual
death, physical death. And so death passed upon all
men, for that all have sinned. And a better translation of that
is this. Death spread to all men because
all men sinned. Because all men sinned. In Adam, we all sinned and rebelled
against God. Adam had all of human nature
in him. It was in him. He was the covenant
head He was the representative of every man, and Adam's sin
was as truly the sin of every one of his posterity as if that
sin had been personally committed by each one of us. Now that's
so. I know that's difficult for us
to understand, but it's so. Adam's sin is as truly my sin
and your sin as if we had personally committed that sin ourselves
because all of human nature was in Adam, and Adam stood as the
representative and the covenant head of the whole human race. Now, we preach the opposite concerning
Christ's righteousness. Jesus Christ's death is as much
my death as if I had died. Jesus Christ's righteousness
and obedience to the law is as much my righteousness and obedience
as if I had performed it. And Jesus Christ's holiness before
the Father is as much my holiness as if I myself had accomplished
it. That's true. That's imputation,
that's representation. Christ stood as our representative. Adam stood as our representative,
and in Adam we failed. We sinned in Adam, every one
of us. One writer, Robert Haldane, says
this, it is only in this way Adam's imputation, or the imputation
of guilt by Adam. It is only in this way and in
this light that Adam's fall can illustrate justification by Christ. Believers truly die with Christ,
pay the debt in Christ, and in our oneness with him we obey
the law as if we had ourselves obeyed the law. Now, it's not
ours to inquire how this can be. He says, we receive the testimony
of God. In Adam, we sin. In Adam, we
fail. In Adam, we die. In Christ, we
obey. In Christ, we have life. In Christ, we have righteousness. Adam is the head of the natural
man, and Christ is the head of the spiritual man. As by one
man, Adam's sin entered into all men, and death by sin. When Adam fell as the representative,
as the head of the whole human race, when he fell, we fell.
When he sinned, we sinned, as if we had committed that transgression
ourselves. And death passed upon all men
for all sinned." Now then, let's read verse 13 and 14 together. And I stayed a while on this,
and I think I can help you because I was helped a great deal. For
until the law, sin was in the world. But sin is not imputed
where there is no law. You'll find that back in chapter
4, verse 15. It says the same thing. Where
no law is, there is no transgression. Nevertheless, death reigned from
Adam to Moses. even over them that had not sinned
after the similitude of Adam's transgression. Let's break that down and see
if we can understand it a little better. The first thing that
we have to lay down in understanding these two verses is this. God
gave Adam a direct command. God said, Adam, thou shalt not
eat of the forbidden I shall not eat of the particular tree
of the knowledge of good and evil. In the day you eat thereof,
you shall surely die." Oh, and Adam took it as the representative
of the whole human race, the whole human nature in him. Adam
took the fruit, Adam fell, Adam sinned, and death passed upon
Adam and all his posterity. Many years later, God gave Moses
or gave us a law through Moses. He gave us some direct commandments. He gave Adam a commandment, thou
shalt not eat. That was a direct command from
God. Adam ate and died. Years later, God gave Moses some
commandments. Thou shalt have no other god
before me. Thou shalt not make a graven
image. thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain,
thou shalt not kill, steal, commit adultery, covet, lie, and so
forth. He gave those direct commandments. Now, opponents of the gospel
and opponents of identification and imputation argue that since
there was no law between Adam and Moses, See, God gave a law to Adam,
and he broke it. But as far as we know, there
was no law given between Adam and Moses. No law given. On the Mount Sinai, accompanied
by the fire and the smoke and the lightning, God gave some
commandment. And the opponents of the gospel
argue that where no law is, there's no sin. Where no law is, there
is no transgression. Where no law is, men are not
accountable. The Apostle Paul uses two arguments
to prove that both law and sin existed before Sinai, before
God gave the Ten Commandments. and that all of Adam's race is
corrupted by the fall. He uses two arguments. He uses
two arguments to prove that there was sin between Adam and Moses,
and there was the law between Adam and Moses, though it was
not a written law. It was a law written on the conscience,
a law written on the heart, a law that came out of the very character
and revelation of God's holiness and God's wisdom. Here the two
arguments are used. The first one is verse 13. For
until the law, until Sinai, until Moses received the Ten Commandments,
sin was in the world. Now, nobody can deny that, can
they? Nobody can deny that. Here is
the first argument. He says that sin was in this
world from Adam to Moses. Sin was in this world. You take
the Egyptians how ungodly they were, the Canaanites, the Philistines,
even the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, the people of Noah's
day, so wicked that God destroyed the world. God looked down. This
was between Adam and Moses. God looked down upon the children
of men, and he saw that every imagination of the thoughts of
their heart was evil continually. So Paul says this, Sin was in
the world before Moses received the law, from Adam to Moses. The evil was in the world. All
men were guilty of sin. Now where there's no law, there's
no sin. So there must have been a law. So there must have been a law.
If you're going to have sin, you've got to have a law. So
if sin existed, between Adam and Moses, then the law existed. Though it was not written on
tables of stone, and though it was not given accompanied by
smoke and fire and glory of God, still it existed. And I don't
care where you go in God's universe, you can't get away from God's
There's a light that lighteth every man that cometh into this
world. God writes his law on the hearts of people, on the
conscience of people, on the minds and intellect. God writes
his law. And that's what Paul is saying.
Sin was in this world between Adam and Moses. All right, here's
his second argument, verse 14. Death reigned from Adam to Moses. He proves that sin and law were
in the world by the undeniable fact of what? Death. Now watch this reasoning. Where
there is no law, there is no sin. And where there is no sin,
there is no death. Adam had no sin in the Garden
of Eden, therefore he didn't die. But when sin came, death
came. And Paul is saying here that
the law did exist between Adam and Moses because death existed. Death was present. Death was
here on this earth between Adam and Moses. Death was there, and
so was sin, and so was God's law. And here is one that will get
you into a fuss. He says, verse 14, death reigned
from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after
the similitude of Adam's transgression." You know who he's talking about
there, don't you? He's talking about babies, he's talking about
infants. He's saying that death even came to infants who had
not willfully sinned in the same manner as Adam, or against the
same law. Babies died. They died. And if they had not had sin,
they wouldn't have died. Now, here's what the apostles
say. If you've got no law, you've
got no sin. If you've got no sin, you've got no death. But
where you've got death, you've got sin. And where you've got
sin, you've got the law. The law of God. Where you've
got death, if a baby is born dead, sin. If a child lives to
be one year old and dies, it wouldn't have died if it had
not had sin. That's right. That's what Paul
is saying here. It's exactly what he's teaching.
Therefore, infants must have sin in them. They must have the
guilt of Adam's transgression. It must be imputed to them, and
the corruption of nature must be upon them, or death couldn't
touch them. It couldn't reign over them.
Now, like I say, you can get your good fuss right there. But
there she is. There she is. Where you've got
law, the law of God, you've got sin. And where you've got sin,
you've got death. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. Sin bringeth forth death. In
verse 12, by one man's sin entered this world, and what? And death. And so death passed upon all
It doesn't say some men. It doesn't say all over twelve.
It doesn't say all over sixteen. It doesn't say all over twenty-one.
It says all of them. Death passed upon every one of
them. Because what? Because why? Because
they all sinned. They all sinned. And somebody
comes up, some opponent of the gospel, some opponent of original
sin comes up and says, Well, you didn't have any law, therefore
you can't have any transgression. Paul said sin was in this world,
and death was in this world. And if there was no sin, there'd
be no death. And if there's no sin, there'd
be no law. But because God's law is binding
on all of the human race, therefore the human race is guilty of sin,
therefore death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over babies
who had never consciously, openly rebelled against the direct command
from God. But death reigned over them,
and they died in infancy. because they had evil natures. I didn't say they went to hell
now. I just said they were part of Adam's fallen human race.
As in Adam, all died. When Adam fell, sin entered this
world, and death by sin, and death passed on all men, not
some, all of them. guilt of sin as if each one of
us had personally offended God. The guilt of sin, the corruption
of sin, the imputation of sin, the evil of sin, the condemnation
because of sin, the sentence of death. Every single offspring
of Adam is a sinner. That's true. That's what he's
teaching right there. All right, let's go to verse
15. but not as the offense, but not
as the offense, so also is the free gift." Now, what Paul is
saying here is this. Though Adam is a type of Christ,
in that Adam is the head of a race, and as the head of that race,
when he died, the whole race died. When he fell, the whole
race fell. When he became chargeable before
God for infinite offense, the whole race became chargeable.
All of the whole race. Jesus Christ is the head of a
spiritual race. By one sin, Adam damned his whole
race. By one sacrifice, Christ saved
his whole race. You see that? That's how Adam's
a type of Christ. By one sin, Adam brought death
and damnation upon all of his posterity. By one sacrifice and
one act of obedience, Christ brought justification and holiness
upon his whole race. All right, now watch this. But not as the offense, so also
is the free gift. He's saying this, that God's
free is not at all to be compared to the fall of Adam. His grace is so great that it's
clear out of proportion to the fall of man. We can look at it,
we can sort of measure it, but it's far out of proportion. For if through the offense of
one many be dead, Much more, much more, can't even be compared. Much more the grace of God and
the gift of grace which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded
unto many. God's free gift of grace. Now watch this. God's free gift
of grace is not at all to be compared to the fall of Adam.
His grace is so great. His grace is so tremendous. It's clear out of proportion
compared to the fall of man. The evil of Adam brought death
and ruin. That's true. But the blessings
that we have recovered in Christ have brought unspeakable happiness. Many died through the offense
of Adam, but much more, much more, much more, the grace of
God shall recover not only what was lost in Adam, but what Adam
never had. That's what he's saying right
there. Adam lost a paradise on earth.
We gain a paradise in glory. Adam lost a position. that was
always in danger of being lost. We gained a position that never
will be in any danger of being lost. You see that? That's what he's talking about.
That's the reason that the fall cannot be compared to the return,
to the restoration. Because we not only regain what
we lost in Adam, You see, if two things are even, you can
compare them. Lost in Adam, gained in Christ.
Fell in Adam, raised in Christ. Damned in Adam, saved in Christ.
But this is so much above what we lost in Adam, so far beyond
what we lost in Adam, that it's not worthy to be compared with
it. That's what he's saying. Much
more. Verse 16 is the same thing, almost. And not as it was by one that
sinned. So is the gift, for the judgment
was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offenses
unto justification. Now listen to this, the meaning
is this. In the case of the one that sinned, Adam, one sin by
one man, condemnation came by that one sin. but think of the
free gift of righteousness. It extends not to one man, but
to multitudes. It extends not to one sin, but
many offenses, many offenses, many offenses. You see that? That's the reason it's greater. So what he's saying in these
two verses is this. The gift of Christ and what we
have in the really can't be compared with the fall, it so far outseeds
it, it far exceeds it, outshines it. It confers much more than
Adam lost, it pardons not one but many transgressions, and
it comes in such a way that the person becomes a king and a priest unto God
who can never fall. Now that's what he's saying in
verse 15 and 16. There is a type and there is
a comparison, but really when you come right down to it, God's
grace so far exceeds and far outshines anything that we lost
in that it is not worthy to be compared. Now verse 17, For by one man's
offense death reigned by one. Much more, they which receive
abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign
in life by one Jesus Christ. By one man's offense, death reigns. Consequently, everyone over whom
death reigns is involved in that man's offense. Will you grant
that? It says here, by one man's offense, death reigns. Therefore,
will you grant this statement? Everyone, if death is a result
of sin, then everyone over whom death reigns is involved in the
sin. The empire of death extends over
all the human race on account of that one sin. Those who die
are the subjects of death, right? Death reigns over them. Can we
stop it? Can you hold up your hand and
say, Go away, death? Death reigns! The empire of death
reigns over the whole human race. There's no way to stop it. Those
who die are the subjects of death. Death is king. All right, if infants are not
involved in Adam's transgression, then they would be under the
dominion of death. That's right. Look at it again. By one man's offense, death reigns. That's what God says. He said
death reigns because of that offense. That's the reason death
reigns. That's the reason the empire
of death is king over all of mankind, is because of one man's
offense. Therefore, everybody who is subject
to death and over whom death reigns, they're involved in that
offense. And if infants were not involved
in that offense, death couldn't touch them. And because death
does come to them, then we know they too were involved in that
sin. But he says, much more, much
more, much more surely will those who receive God's grace through
Christ reign as kings in life. For as we were one with Adam
in the fall, so are we one with Christ in the victory. All right,
verse 18, quickly. Therefore, as by the offense
of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so
by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto
justification of life. Now here it is definitely stated
that all men are condemned in the first offense. By the offense of one judgment
came upon all men the condemnation. Even so, that is, in the same
manner, by representation, by the righteousness of Christ,
by the obedience of the Son of God, the free gift came upon
all men. Now immediately someone will
say, well, it says all men there. And this is the way one man handled
it. He said when Adam fell, the whole human race fell in him. And judgment came upon the whole
human race. When Christ died on the cross,
when Christ obeyed the law, righteousness was made possible to the whole
human race. But that's not what it says.
It says here, by the offense of one, judgment came upon all
men. Even so, by the righteousness
of one, the free gift came upon all men. Whoever the All Men
are have justification, they have the free gift as a result
of Christ's obedience. Whoever the All Men are associated
with Adam, judgment came upon them. Whoever the All Men are
associated with Christ, righteousness came upon them. The free gift,
not something they did, but the free gift. So Robert Haldane
says this, And I think this is correct. The all-men in both
statements is limited to their respective heads. The all-men
in the first part of verse 18. Therefore, as by the offense
of one, judgment came upon all men whom he represented to condemnation. Who did he represent? He represented
everybody who was in him, every natural man. Even so, by the
righteousness of one, that is, Jesus Christ, the free gift came
upon all men whom he represented, all men with whom he was one,
all men given him by the Father, all men who were in him when
he obeyed, all men who were in him when he died, all men who
were in him when he was buried, all men who were in him when
he rose again, all men who were in him when he interceded before
the Father. so that all men is limited to their respective
heads. All right, verse 19, quickly.
For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by
the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. The emphasis
in this verse is upon the words were made or constituted. And we read it this way. By one
man's disobedience, many were constituted sinners, became sinners. So by the obedience of Christ,
many were constituted or became righteous. Adam didn't lead us
into sin, his sin made us sinners. As Christ's obedience didn't
lead us by our efforts into acceptance, but he made us acceptable. We're
made accepted in the beloved. Now verse 20, moreover the law
entered. That is the giving of the law
at Sinai. The coming of the law through
Moses. The giving of the Ten Commandments. The law entered.
The law came upon the scene. The law was given by God. that
the offense might abound. It means that the pollution of
human nature might appear more manifest, that the law takes
away all excuses. The law shows human nature as
it is. But where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound. Sin abounded in human nature,
grace superabounded in the same nature by Christ. Sin abounded
in all the faculties of the soul, understanding, will, and affections.
In regeneration, grace much more abounds, enlightening the understanding,
subduing the will, and bringing in the love of God." Now the
last verse in our clothes. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, sin has such a power over man in a state of nature that
it is a powerful reign, an enslaving reign, it is a dominion. Even
so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life
by Jesus Christ our Lord. Even so, in the state of redemption,
the grace of God reigns and has dominion consistent with the
justice of God in Jesus Christ's holiness. being the governing
principle. May God honor His word, give
us understanding of these passages. Let's bow for prayer. Our Father, we thank Thee for
Thy Word. As we look into portions of the
Scripture such as we have studied tonight, They were made aware
of our dullness. We're made aware of our feeble,
natural minds that are so difficult to interest in these important
things of the kingdom of God. How keen we to be what we are. What happened back there between
Adam, our father, our representative, our covenant head, and the King
of kings and Lord of lords. His rebellion, what effect does
it have upon us? The darkness in which his rebellion
plunged us, the death and disease which has come upon the whole
human race as a result of his fall, has so dulled our affections
and our minds and our understanding that we find more delight in
the darkness than we do in the light. Grant, O Father, that we may
have in our hearts and in our minds a greater understanding
of our fallen state, our sinful condition in Adam, that we might
more rejoice in the restoration which we have in Christ. Grant
our Father that we might see the pit from which we have been
rescued, the mire and dunghill out of which we have been taken
by the free gift of our infinite grace. And who it is that lifted
us, our federal head, our representative, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
came down here and identified himself with this fallen, wretched
human race.