Romans 5: 12Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—“
This section from 5:12-21 is one of the most enigmatic passages in the entire book, for Paul sets out to show how one’ man’s death can provide salvation for many. To prove his point, he uses Adam to establish the principle that it is possible for one man’s actions to inexorably affect many other people.
Just as… sin entered: Not a particular sin, but the inherent presently to sin entered the human realm; men became sinners by nature. Adam passed to all his descendants the inherent sinful nature from the moment of conception (Psalm 51:5), make it impossible for man to live in a way that pleases G-d.
Satan the father of lies (1 John 3:8), first brought temptation to Adam and Eve (3:1-7). This is important for us to understand for several reasons. When you take a look into Genesis 1:26-27 you discover that man was created in the image of His Creator, and Adam (In Genesis 2:16-17), was given the instructions of life, not Eve. Why would this be important? It goes back to Genesis 2:16-17 because man was told to tend, which implies shepherding over G-d’s creation. Woman was to help man in shepherding God’s creation, but Eve did not hear from G-d therefore her responsibility was limited to the authority of the man’s. This is further important, because Adam heard from the Lord therefore he has responsible to teach Eve which is obvious she was not instructed in the ways and decrees of Messiah.
The language of command to Adam in Genesis 2:16-17, speaks to the very foundations of our lives as men because it was men whom God commissioned to shepherd over His creation, therefore it speaks to the very foundation of our hearts because G-d created men to shepherd over His creation. He made humanity to bear the original glory. The original glory was meant to be taught by man and passed onto woman through instruction of the fact that humans were created in His image. Yet through sin they became disobedient, and thus they realized that they were naked, not merely physically but spiritually.
The reality is that through Yeshua we are clothed anew, no longer naked but clothed in His righteousness. What a parrell between Adam and Yeshua we have, for it shows two worlds, one of disobedience and one of obedience in Him. Yeshua was obedient to the point of death, while Adam was obedient only when not tempted through trials. How we need more people who are willing to stand firm through the fire, to be transformed into the image that He bade them to bear and gave them back that image through His blood. He created you for original glory Hallejiuah to the Lamb!
We have many today who haven’t heard directly from the Word of the Lord, and they are like Eve, stumbling in the darkness. It is time that the shepherds of the flock harken out to the congregation, because they are the ones commissioned by Messiah to proclaim the seasons of Messiah.
Through one man: When Adam sinned, all mankind sinned in his loins, by brining spiritual death and depravity to man, that sinful nature would be was not originally subject to death, but through his death his sin it became a grim certainty for him and his posterity. Death has three distinct manifestations 1) spiritual death or separation from G-d (Eph 1:1-2; 4:18; 2) physical death (Heb 9:27); and 3) eternal death (also the second death), which includes not only eternal separation from God, but eternal torment in the lake of fire (Rev 20:11-15). Because all sinned: Because all humanity existed in the loins of Adam, and have through procreation inherited his falleness and depravity, it can be said that all sinned in him. Therefore, humans are not sinners because they sin, but rather they sin because they are sinners.
The phrase all have sinned at some time in their lives, thus referring to individual sins. Paul takes his readers back to the beginning of human history, to the one sin that brought death upon us all. The unity of the human race is demonstrated here. In Adam we all sinned (1 Cor 15:22). The result is physical and spiritual death for everyone. From Adam we inherited a sin nature. Furthermore, as a result of our sin in Adam, we face a common judgment-death.
How can we be declared guilty for something Adam did thousands of years ago? Many feel it isn’t fair for G-d to judge us because of Adam’s sin. Yet each of us confirms our heritage with Adam by our own sins everyday. We have the same sinful nature and are prone to rebel against God, and we are judged for the sins we commit. Because we are sinners, it isn’t fairness we need-it is mercy.
Romans 5:13-14, “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 those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.”
The period of gap between Adam and Moses was the giving of the law. It still did not make them not responsible for sin, but just shows that Adam was not instructed in the law other than the command given him to not eat at the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Adam did have a command to not eat, but he did not have the law itself. Sin came through the trespass, because he transgressed the direct commandment of the Lord’s Word, himself. This then goes back to Gen 2:17 for Paul which he uses as the Garden of Eden-tree of good and evil verses the tree of life imagery to convey his point. The imagery we see then is between two kingdoms-Satan seeks to destroy the Lord’s kingdom, while Yeshua came to seek and save the lost from the house of Satan.
The house of Satan leads to bondage in sin but Yeshua offers life through His blood. The original glory is in Yeshua which leads to blessedness yet evil leads to original sin which leads to habitual sin, which leads to condemnation. Adam was created to bear the image of the original glory yet through sin he became the first to bear the marks of knowledge of good and evil. Adam then represents Yeshua in the way of a shepherd, because Yeshua would later come to fix Adam’s mistake, and undo the problem of sin, through His blood we are cleaned, justified, and positional sanctified to enter into the progressive journey of progressive sanctification.
Paul has shown that keeping the law does not bring salvation.
Yet here he adds that breaking the law is not what brings death. Death is the result of Adam’s sin and of the sins we all commit, even if they don’t resemble Adam’s. Paul reminds his readers that for thousands of years the law had not yet been explicitly given and yet people died. The law was added, he explains in 5:20, to help people see their sinfulness, to show them the seriousness of their offenses and to drive them to God for mercy and pardon. This was true in Moses day, and it is still true today. Sin is a deep discrepancy between whom we are and who we were created to be. The Law points out our sin and places the responsibly for it squarely on our shoulders, for the Law offers no remedy, yet when we are convicted of sin, we must turn to Yeshua Hamasriach for healing by receiving His free gift of pardon through His blood sacrifice.
Imputed means to charge to one’s account as by an entry made in a ledger. In other words sin was present in the world from Adam to Moses but God did not keep an account of sins before the giving of the Law because there was no Law to obey or disobey.
But even without the law, death was universal. All men from Adam to Moses were subject to death, not because of their sinful acts against the Mosaic law (which they did not yet have), but because of their own inherited sinful nature. Not sinned. Likeness of Adam: Those who had no specific revelation as did Adam (Gen 2:16-17) or those who had the Mosaic law (v.13), but nevertheless sinned against the holiness of G-d (those who sinned without the law (v.12). A type of Him to come.: Both Adam and Yeshua were similar in that their acts affected many others. This phrase serves as a transition from the apostle’s discussion of the transference of Adam’s sin to the crediting of Yeshua’s righteousness.
Those after Adam and before Moses did not sin like Adam because there was no prohibitions similar to the Law of Moses. But they did sin, and the way we know this is that death reigned. They all died.
Adam was the counterpart of Yeshua. Just as Adam was a representative of created humanity, so is Yeshua the representative of a new spiritual humanity.
5:15-21 is where Paul explores the contrasts between the condemning acts of Adam and the redemptive act of Christ. They were different in their effectiveness (v.16), and their extent (v.16), their efficacy (v.17), their essence (v.18-19), and their energy (v.20,21). We are all born into Adam’s physical family-the family line that leads to certain death. All of us have repeated the results of Adam’s sin. We have inherited his guilt, a sinful nature (the tendency to sin), and G-d’s punishment.
On account of what Yeshua did however, we can trade judgment for forgiveness. Yeshua offers us the opportunity to be born into his spiritual family the family lie that begins with forgiveness and leads to eternal life. If we do nothing, we receive death through Adam; but if we come to G-d by faith, we receive life through Yeshua. To which family line do you now belong?
Romans 5:15, “15But 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.”
This again uses the suffering servant analogy of Isaiah 53. This is an important theme for the Apostle because it gives the imagery of what He exactly had to do to suffer. Yeshua had to die a violent death to prove who He was in relation to prophecy. Yet Paul as the Apostle John uses imagery to get the readers attention and thus we get a circular sphere into Paul’s thought unlike the Apostle John who paints pictures by weaving them in and out. The free gift is pardon, the first sin was death which lead to mankind seeing that they were naked spiritually and physically. If you are saved by grace through faith, you are clothed eternally in the righteous robes of the Lord Yeshua and through His suffering act we can come into the eternal order of righteousness not condemnation which leads to death as Adam did. Therefore the Kingdom we are of isn’t the kingdom or house of Satan, but the house of the Lord. This free gift leaves no room to boast, because the one Man Yeshua came down giving His full rights voluntarily to the Father while still retaining the attributes of deity by
Dying on the Cross as the God-Man who came to give us this new life through His very blood thus completing the process of the order of laws to give us this brand new life not filled with the regulations of the old, but the promise of the new, that is His new life, which is why our new life is found through receiving Him. Now once we have believed in Him we are new creations through His blood atonement.
Many died: Paul uses this word many with two distinct meanings for in v.16, just as he will with the word “all in v.18. He has already established that all men, without exception bear the guilt of sin and are therefore subject to death. The many who die must refer to all Adam’s descendants. Much more: Christ’s one act of redemption was immeasurably greater than Adam’s one act of condemnation.
Through one man, Adam, death came. Yet through one Man, Jesus Christ, grace and the gift of God, eternal life, was given. The works of two men, Adam and Jesus are not merely antithetical. Yeshua’s work is greater, for it brings G-d’s grace to those stuck in the sinfulness which originated in Adam.
Romans 5:16, “16And 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.”
This focuses on the trespass that Adam committed since Adam heard from Yeshua. Yeshua’s act gave us our justification and peace inside, but this peace is not external. We are not promised peace in our lives only peace inside through the sacrifice of Yeshua. What we are promised is to bear a Cross and follow Him. Many people get far to comfortable living in the house of Satan, by coming to faith they think that they can commit the same sins that they were before. The free gift of pardon does not mean that one can live in eternal life and then in eternal death, for our former sins have been purchased at the conception of conversion being accounted to His righteousness, not to our own. If we live like a devil it just shows that we are not exercising the faith that we claim to have obtained.
Therefore, we show the world when we aren’t exercising our faith that we are truly dwelling in the house of Satan, and not in the house of the Lord. It is this wishy washy attitude that is keeping our congregations from growing in quality and growth in Messiah. It is the attitude of living as however you want and then coming to the congregation meetings that gets us into trouble. Faith has to be demonstrated by action, which is why James said that faith without works is dead, yet Yeshua emphasized intimacy with the Father in His ministry, and Paul spoke of the union that has taking place between the believer and Messiah throughout this very epistle we’ve been analyzing. Faith without action after receiving the free pardon of grace means nothing, for without action your faith will wither and die as a tree in the garden, or the grass in the courtyard. Your faith must be exercised so that it can grow to maturity as a flower in the field, as an athlete in training. What we need is to exercise our faith so that our faith will be the expression of the intimacy the Word proclaims. What we need is an awakening to the holy realities of the presence of grace which can only be found when we demonstrate the realities of the workings of grace found in learning to grow in grace in the house of the Lord.
Its about time that we didn’t disgrace the divine grace of Messiah Yeshua because He gave up His life so that we could have life. There is no reason therefore to transgress the trespass of Adam, because we have new life and can receive His Words right into our hearts through faith in Him. He laid down His life so that you a sinner could be saved by grace through faith and thus enter into His eternal fold.
The gift refers to salvation by grace through faith alone. Condemnation is the divine guilty verdict the opposite of justification. Many offenses: Adam brought upon all men the condemnation for only one offense-his willful act of disobedience. Christ, however, delivers the elect from the condemnation of many offenses.
Through Adam came condemnation, a word used only three times in the NT and all three times in Romans (v.18; 8:1). The word refers to the punishment following a judicial sentence. In the face of this, through Christ came the free gift that resulted in justification. That is to say, the aim or goal of the gift is justification or righteousness. In v.18 it is the same word translated righteous act. In other words, the goal of the gift of eternal life is righteous living. This does not refer to justification by faith, but to the practical outworking of faith through righteous acts (6:16). Thus this verse contrasts the penal servitude of a sinner with the righteous life of a believer.
Romans 5:17, “17For 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.)”
Death reigned: Adam’s sin brought universal death-exactly opposite the result he expected and Satan had promised: “You will be like God” (Gen 3:5). Christ’s sacrifice brought salvation to those who believe. Will reign in life: Unlike Adam’s act-Christ’s act has—and will—accomplish exactly what He intended (Phil 1:6), which is spiritual life (Eph 2:5).
When death reigns, people are destroyed. When Yeshua reigns we are given eternal life and share in His glory. What a promise this is to those who love Christ! We can triumph over sin’s power and death’s threats through the power of Yeshua Hamasriach.
Romans 5:18, “Therefore, a 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.”
The overarching reality of His everlasting suffering gave us new hope and a new life that isn’t like the former way of life that we once lived before conversion. This new life is full of a promise of the abundance of grace that helps the believer to have the grace to overcome sin, but even if they don’t the superabounding grace of Yeshua will always abound more and meet the needs of the believer, through the drawing of the believer by the Holy Spirit to Himself. This grace will not let the believer out of His hand unlike when the Lord threw Adam out of the for not obeying His commandments. Many believers feel like they are going to be thrown out of the Garden when they mess up. The Lord’s grace will always abound more and meet the needs even as He did with those who were sickly, for He is our spiritual physician and intercessor and only through the account of Him paying the trespass for us can we have this new life. That leaves little room for anyone to be haughty or arrogant, but leaves plenty of room for us to come to Him in humility knowing fully well that we are nothing in comparison to Him who gave the new life.
One man’s righteousness: Not a reference to a single event, but generally to Yeshua’s obedience (v.19; Luke 2:49; John 4:34; 5:30; 6:38), culminating in the greatest demonstration of that obedience, death on a cross (Phil 2:8). Free gift to all men: This cannot mean that all men will be saved; salvation is only for those who exercise faith in Jesus Christ (1:16,17; 3:22,28; 4:5,13). Rather, like the word many in v.16, Paul is using all with two different meanings for the sake of parallelism, a common practice in the Old Testament.
Here Paul completes the comparison begun in v.12 between the sinful work of Adam and the righteous work of Jesus. Through Adam came condemnation. Through Christ came justification of life, a justification that produces life.
Romans 5:19, “19For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.”
The expression made righteous refers to one’s legal status before God and not an actual change in character since Paul is contrasting justification and righteousness, because he has not yet introduced his argument for sanctification as he will in (Romans 6-8), which is the actual demonstration of redemption.
Made means to make or constitute. As the result of Adam’s sin, people became sinners. By Yeshua’s death many will be made righteous (in contrast to declared righteousness in 4:3). This is, believers are actually being constituted or made righteous. Through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, the believer who has been declared righteous by G-d is continually becoming more righteous.
Romans 5:20-21, “20Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, 21so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Often we may feel like all we can do is wrong, and there is no hope for us. This attitude is how Adam and Eve must have felt when they were kicked out of the Garden. Imagine being booted out of your house thrown into the wind for this is exactly what Adam and Eve had happened to them. It goes to show that we have to be willing to take responsibility for our actions when we sin. The Law is our accountability and record keeper of our sins before conversion, but afterwards its job (through the Spirit’s guidance) is to help us to abide in Him which leads to obedience. Only through being obedient can we grow in Him.
The law of grace is the law of growth, for grace had to enter through the sacrifice of Yeshua so that the condemnation He bore would be paid in full through His blood. Sin reigned for a season in our lives yet that sin (all of it) was paid for in full by His death, therefore we can walk as the woman who Yeshua told to go and sin no more, because literally He does not remember our sins. We remember our sins, in our hearts because we need to come to the awakening of the glory that we were born to bear in the Garden.
We have all transgressed the law, but through His death on the Cross, we can bear the image of the original glory, because that is what we shall do forever in the Millennial Kingdom. Its time believers that we come to the light and let the rags be replaced with the riches of His Word. We are redeemed through His blood not bent to be spoiled, but adopted as children through the sacrifice of Himself, for Himself, to live in His kingdom and house.
A sinner separated from G-d, seeshis law from below, as a ladder to be climbed to get to God. Perhaps you have repeatedly tried to climb it, only to fall to the ground every time you have advanced one or two rungs. Or perhaps the sheer height of the ladder seems so overwhelming that you have never even started up. In either case, what relief you should feel to see Jesus offering with open arms to lift you above the ladder of the law, to take you directly to God! Once Jesus lifts you into God’s presence, you are free to obey-out of love, not necessity, and you will not fall back to the ground. Instead you will be caught and held in Christ’s loving arms.
The Law entered: (Gal 3:19). Although the Mosaic Law is not flawed (7:12) its presence caused man’s sin to increase (7:8-11). Thus it made men more aware of their own sinfulness and inability to keep God’s perfect standard (7:7; Gal 3:21-22), and it served as a tutor to drive them to Christ (Gal 3:24). This is here the final summary in v.21 of Adam and Christ.
The offense might abound, for the law magnified sin. What was inherently wrong became formally and explicitly wrong once the Law was revealed. Grace abounded much more: The Greek term Paul uses means superabounded. Not only can sin never exceed the grace provided by God, but sin loses its threat when compared to the super abounding grace of God.
This verse (v.21) contains the double contrast between sin and righteousness and between death and life. From every moment sin entered the universe it has reigned, bringing about physical and spiritual death. Its principle of ruler ship has been to separate mankind from his Creator and to cause his end to be a mortal one. But through the blood of Jesus Christ, sin has been dethroned and righteousness now rules in its stead. Whereas death was the order of the day in Adam’s society, now life eternal is the order of the day for those who have believed in Jesus Christ. The contrast is a greater one, for it is a contrast between’s man’s sin and Christ’s obedience, between the wages of sin and the gift of God. Some have through that universal salvation is taught in this passage, thinking that just because all were condemned now all will be saved. Such is not the case. New birth is mandated for eternal life and the qualifying expression, those who receive in v.17, teaches that faith in Jesus Christ is absolutely essential for salvation.
Have you experienced the life transforming message of Yeshua today? Repent of your sins and become His child today through the adoption into His family through His very blood. If you did that today welcome to the family of the Lord, you are now my brother in the Lord Yeshua.
For further study please study Isaiah 53, Galatians 3:26-29, John 10:11-18.
Pastor David Jenkins
