Comparison between
Adam and ChristA
Study of the Book of Romans
Lesson
# 13
“A Contrast of Adam and Christ”
Romans
5:12-21
Last week we examined the “The
Benefit Package of Salvation” We learned that through salvation we have been
granted Peace with God, Access to God and a Glorious Hope. Tonight Paul presents a
comparison between Adam and Christ and more specifically a comparison between Adam’s sin and Christ’s sacrifice.
The
Entrance of Sin (vv. 12-14)
The Presence of Sin (v. 12)
“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the
world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.”
In verse twelve Paul accounts for the
presence of sin by saying, “through one man sin
entered the world.” Now notice
that what Paul does and does not say. Paul does not say that sin originated with Adam but
only that sin entered the world through Adam. Sin originated with Satan. The full story of man’s fall
into sin is found in Genesis 3:1-7, “Now the serpent was more cunning than
any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has
God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’” (2) And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat
the fruit of the trees of the garden; (3) but of the fruit of the tree
which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you
touch it, lest you die.’ ”(4)Then the serpent said to the
woman, “You will not surely die. (5) For God knows that in the day you
eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”(6) So when the woman saw that the
tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree
desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her
husband with her, and he ate. (7) Then the eyes of both of them were
opened, and they knew that they were
naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.” Paul tells of the original sin in 1 Tim
2:14, “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being
deceived, fell into transgression.” The point is made that while
Eve was deceived Adam was not, he walked into rebellion with his eyes wide open and his
mind made up. Adam made a deliberate choice to do wrong. It was through that deliberate
choice that “sin entered into the world.”
The whole story of
Adam’s sin is pretty amazing if you stop to realize that God only gave Adam one
command in the Garden of Eden. Except of the single restriction, Adam had been given the
authority to subdue and rule over the entire earth (Gen 1:26-30). Instead of becoming more like God like Satan had
promised he was more unlike God and separated from Him. Their sin produced the very
opposite of what they desired. Because he chose to disobey God, sin enter his life and
changed his nature, a change he then passed on to everyone of his descendants.
So when it says that sin
entered the world what does that mean Sin here does not represent a
particular ungodly act but rather the inherent propensity to unright-eousness, that is the
presence of an indwelling sin nature. When Adam sinned all mankind sinned, because his
first sin transformed his inner nature and that now depraved nature was transmitted to his
descendants. A person does not become a sinner by committing sins but rather commits sins
because they by nature a sinner. The doctrine of original
sin means left to yourself, with no outside influence, whenever you have a choice, you
will always have an inclination to chose to do wrong. That’s why even when we know
the right thing to do, we go ahead and do wrong. Deliberately. Repeatedly. Defiantly.
I want you to listen to the following report, I think it is the clearest statement
of original sin I have ever heard, and try to keep in mind that it was not written by a
right-wing fundamentalist preacher like me but by the Minnesota Crime Commission. “Every baby starts life as a little savage. He is completely
selfish and self-centered. He wants what he wants when he wants it, his bottle, his
mother’s attention, his playmate’s toy, his uncle’s watch. Deny him these
wants, he seethes with rage and aggressive-ness, which would be murderous, were he not so
helpless. He is dirty. He has no morals, no knowledge, no skills. That means that all
children, not certain children, are born delinquent. If permitted to continue in the
self-centeredness of his infancy, given free reign to his impulsive actions to satisfy his
wants, every child would grow up a criminal, a thief, a killer, a rapist.” [Ray Stedman. From Guilt to Glory Vol
1. (Portland: Multnomah) p. 131]
Paul next addresses the
penalty of sin when he says, “and death through sin” (v. 12). It is interesting to consider that God did not create man as
a mortal being (that is subject to death), death was a consequence of sin. This death has three dimensions, besides the
obvious physical dimension there is also
the spiritual and eternal
dimension. In Ephesians 2:1-2 and 4:18 Paul explains this spiritual side
when he says “And you He made alive, who were dead
in trespasses and sins, (2) in which you once walked according
to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
who now works in the sons of disobedience...(4:18)
having their under-standing darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the
ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.”
The eternal dimension is
not only eternal separation from God but eternal punishment
in hell. The Apostle John writes (Rev. 21:8) “But the
cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral,
sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with
fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
I think Stuart Briscoe sums up the situation
well when he says, “The difficulty of this passage
(vv. 12-21) and the theological debate has continued from the
days of Augustine and Pelagius should not be allowed to distract our attention from the
fact that, whatever our understanding of the mechanics of the entrance, abundance and
reign of sin and death, they are terrible realities and need a powerful answer.”
[Stuart Briscoe. Mastering
the New Testament: Romans. (Dallas: Word, 1982) pp. 123-124]
The last portion of verse twelve says,
“… thus death spread to
all men, because all sinned.” Adam’s sin introduced physical death
into the world. As a consequence of Adam’s sin “all men
die.” But Adam’s sin does not doom all men to eternal death. Men go to
hell for their own sins not Adam’s.
Verse fourteen goes on to say, “Never-theless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over
those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to
come.” Verse fourteen tells us that Adam was a “type of Him what is to come.” He uses the word “type” (typos)
or “pattern” to describe Adam’s role in history compared with that of
Christ. Adam, the first man was the counter-part of Christ, whom Paul called “last Adam” in 1 Corinthians 15:45. “The first man Adam became
a living being.’ The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.”
The
Entrance of the Savior (vv. 15-18)
“But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many
died, much more the grace of God and the
gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. (16) And the gift is not like that
which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense
resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in
justification. (17) For if by the one man’s
offense death reigned through the one, much
more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will
reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) (18) Therefore, as through one man’s
offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men,
resulting in justification of life.”
Comparison between
Adam and Christ
The
Entrance of the Law (vv. 19-21)
· The
Law of God (vv. 19-20a)
“For as by one man’s
disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many
will be made righteous. (20) Moreover the law entered that the offense
might abound….”
The Law increased sin by defining what
The Law increased sin by convicting
us of sin!
The Law increased sin by provoking sin
John MacArthur points out, “The person who reads a sign in the park that forbids the picking
of flowers and then proceeds to pick one demonstrates his natural, reflexive rebellion
against authority. There is nothing wrong with the sin; it’s message is perfectly
legitimate and good. But because it places a restriction on peoples freedom to do as they
please, it causes resentment and has the effect of leading some people to do what they
otherwise might not even think of doing.” [John MacArthur. MacArthur New Testament
Commentary: Romans 1-8. (Chicago: Moody, 1991) p. 309]
· The
Grace of God (vv. 20b-21)
But
where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, (21) so that as sin reigned in death,
even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord.”
Because in verse
twenty says, “where sin abounded grace abounded much
more,” sin abounded (increased)
and grace abounded (increased) we therefore think that both sides of the
equation are equal. But they aren’t the same words in Greek. They are actually
completely different. When he says, “where sin abounds”
he uses a word (pleonase) that speaks of addition. But when he says “grace abounds” he uses a word (epleonasen) that means multiplication. Where sins were added one
by one, grace was multiplied a thousand times over!
Donald Grey Barnhouse in
his classic commentary on Romans lists five motives for God’s grace. [Donald Grey Barnhouse. God’s Grace:
Exposition of Bible Doctrines, Taking the Epistle to the Romans as a Point of Departure.
Vol. 5. Romans 5:12-21 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1959) pp. 142-148]
1. To Do Us Good.
“… to eternal life
2. To Enable Us To Do Good (Eph 2:10)
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
3. To Make His Wisdom Known
“to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the
church to the principalities and powers in the
heavenly places.”
“that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
