Good morning. Thanks.
I just have to start with a confession before we get into what we want to look at this morning. I have to confess, the last time I shared was a time when I was most impressed by the Lord to go forth and share.
But this morning is the opposite. As I came into the day on Saturday, I was thinking, “Lord, I just don’t know if this is You. You know, I don’t know if it’s Your time to share this.”
And when our brother opened—when Josh opened—I just melted before the Lord. There was no collaboration between my brother and me, at least I don’t think so—not on my part. But when he opened, I thought, “Well, Lord, I don’t know if I really need to share. You shared pretty much what’s on my heart.”
So, what we want to share about this morning—the title is going to be “A Tale of Two Men.” Not A Tale of Two Cities, but a tale of two men.
If we can begin by opening to 1 Corinthians 15, we are going to read verse 22.
And I apologize if I sound a little different, because I am being impacted a little bit by the pollen. Currently, I can only hear about fifty percent out of my right ear. I feel like I could dig out a—I don’t know what—out of there. I probably could lose my car with what’s in my ear right now, out of my right ear. I don’t know if it would do any good for it, but anyway.
So bear with me.
All right, 1 Corinthians 15:22. It reads:
For as in Adam all die,
So also in Christ all will be made alive.
You know, I don’t know if you are interested in genealogies, but there is some fascination these days with family trees. Some are able to look into their past and find out who their ancestors were long ago, and even find out what they did. You know, there is some value in that. I think it is interesting.
But, you know, spiritually speaking, there is a lot of value in looking into this matter from God’s perspective. You know, when God looks down on this world, what does He see? I believe He sees only two men, and all are joined either to one or the other.
So we want to look into this matter of these two men that we just referred to here in 1 Corinthians. But as our text, we want to use Romans 5:12-21. We are going to look at that little short passage. So let us read that together to begin.
Romans 5, beginning in verse 12:
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all 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 until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.
The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression, resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions, resulting in justification.
For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.
For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.
The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,
so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Lord, we do simply want to bow now in Your presence and commit this time into Your hands. Lord, we want to come under that principle, knowing that apart from You, we can do nothing.
Lord, I am not able to speak apart from You. No one is able to hear apart from You. And Lord, that is our desire: that we would have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.
So we do commit our time, Lord, into Your hands and pray that You will bless this time and glorify Yourself. In Jesus’ name, amen.
So, as we look at these few verses in Romans together, may the Holy Spirit breathe afresh on the Word and reveal to us, in some larger degree, the believer’s association with the Lord.
You know, it has been said by some that this passage here that we are looking at is a strange invasion, or even encroachment—that it is unrelated to what has gone before and what is to follow. But, you know, if we look at this passage carefully, we find it goes to the root in explaining the reason for all that did go before.
And also, excuse me, it is the basis and foundation and necessary transition of what immediately follows, which is the subject of sanctification. Notice this passage begins with the word therefore, which is connecting it back to what has gone before in this epistle.
We find here the root, or reason, of the outbreak of sin to the entire human race. And likewise, we find the root, or reason, for salvation, which is extended to the entire human race.
As we have already mentioned, this passage has to do with two individuals, Adam and Christ, and the results and consequences of a particular action of theirs.
Notice the passage does use the name of Adam, but we can deduce from what the subject is talking about that it is referring to Adam. This passage only incidentally deals with Adam, as its main theme is Christ.
This passage will set forth that all the human race, as having been connected to Adam, have been made partakers of a certain action of his and the consequences thereof, which include a particular likeness to him. We call it the Adamic nature.
But likewise, those who have received the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness, which is through Christ, have become partakers of a certain action and consequences of His, which include receiving of His life.
You will notice this passage is short; it is condensed. It does not go into detail of what these actions are. Notice that it only sets forth the results and consequences of these two actions.
But we can surmise from the rest of the Scriptures what these two actions are. And the main point of the passage before us is that the results and consequences of Adam’s act are what? Condemnation and death. And the results and consequences of Christ’s act are justification and life.
Now, commentators have generally divided this section into three sections.
Note that in Romans 5:15-17, we find the phrases not like and much more. And lastly, in Romans 5:18-21, we find the phrase even so popping up again. So we would like to use this outline to approach this passage.
Now let us begin in the first section, which is Romans 5:12-14. Let me read that again so that we can have this section in our mind.
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all 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 until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.
So we find in these verses that Adam and Christ are introduced. Now, as we said already, Adam’s name is never mentioned in verse 12, but we can surmise that this one man referred to is Adam, because Genesis gives us the record of sin entering the world through Adam.
You recall in Genesis 2:16-17 that after God created the first man, He put him into the garden of Eden, and He commanded the man, saying:
From any tree of the garden you may eat freely;
but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat,
for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.
And then, if we read further in Genesis 3:6, it says that after the woman took and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, she also gave to her husband, and he ate too.
Thus we find here, in these passages, that Adam had disobeyed a direct command of God not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And it is at this point we find, as it says in Romans 5:12, that through one man sin entered into the world.
Through one man’s transgression—which is the breaking of a known law—we find sin came into the world. Now, we know this account is not speaking of the origin of sin, which has reference to Satan. Excuse me, but this is the record of how sin invaded the human race.
This was a major disaster—catastrophic. A catastrophic event that shook all mankind. And as we find through Adam’s act, sin entered the world, so also through the entrance of sin came about the consequence of death.
God had said in Genesis 2:17 that if they were to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the consequence of that would be death.
Now, we know this death referred to here is not merely physical, but it also includes spiritual death. Because God had said, “In the day that you eat from it, you will surely die.”
Yet we find Adam and Eve did not die physically until many years after eating the fruit, but they did, in fact, die spiritually the day they ate. So death entered into the world by sin, and Romans 5:12 goes on to say that death spread to all men because all sinned.
So what does this statement mean, that death spread to all men because all sinned? Does it mean, number one, all sinned by copying, and so repeating, Adam’s sin? Or, number two, that all sinned when Adam sinned and were included in his sinning?
We believe what Paul states in the remainder of this first section in Romans 5:13-14, as well as the statements he makes in the next two sections regarding results and consequences that were passed on to all men through the act of this one man, Adam, makes it clear that all sinned when Adam sinned and are included in his sinning.
Now, before we proceed to Romans 5:13-14 to support this interpretation, note that at the end of verse 12 it says, “because all sinned,” not “all have sinned.”
“All sinned” here is in the Greek aorist tense. It is a past tense, even as we find in Romans 3:23, where it says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” “All sinned” is in this aorist tense, which is looking at an act, a single act committed in time past.
Now look at Romans 5:13-14 again:
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 in the likeness of the offense of Adam.
So what are these verses saying to us? I think we have no issue understanding that before the Law came, sin was already in the world.
You know, we see in the Bible right away, starting with the offspring of Adam and Eve—with Cain—we see envy, we see jealousy, we see hatred and murder. And on reads the record, including that God said the wickedness of man was great.
Think of that: the wickedness of man was great, and the thoughts of his heart were only evil continually. But, you know, verse 13 goes on to say that sin is not imputed when there is no law.
This word imputed is found only one other time in the New Testament, which is in Philemon 1:18, where the NASB translates it as “charged to my account.”
Now, remember in the book of Philemon, which Paul wrote, he is writing to Philemon, and he is speaking to him regarding a slave of his named Onesimus. If you remember the story, Onesimus had escaped from Philemon, and in the process he had stolen from him.
And he came into contact with Paul, and through Paul’s preaching, Onesimus was saved. And so Paul wants to send him back to Philemon. He sends him back, and he has in this letter, saying to him that he ought to receive him back even as he would Paul.
And he says to him, “If Onesimus owes you anything, charge that to my account.”
So the latter part of verse 13 says sin—again, the definition of which is breaking a known law—is not charged to one’s account where there is no law. Now think about it.
If there were no speeding laws, could the police arrest anybody for speeding? Of course not. They would have no basis to do it.
But once speeding laws are put in place, and if you speed, and if you get caught, if you violate that law, then that ticket is going to be charged to your account.
But here in verse 14, we find Paul states that death, which is the consequence of sin, had reigned—or, to put it in another way, had been charged to the account of all that lived from Adam to Moses—of which none of these had violated any given known law as Adam had.
You know, we read over and over again in Genesis that so-and-so lived a certain amount of years, and then they died. How could these who had not violated, or sinned against, any known command come under the consequence of sin, which is death, except it be through the consequence of another?
So we have to surmise that all were subject to death because of being included in Adam’s sin. So we can conclude that when Adam sinned, all that have come forth from Adam were included in his sinning. And as death passed on to Adam, likewise it passed on to all that came forth from Adam.
Now, Scripture says, “By the witness of two or three, a matter shall be confirmed.” So where else in Scripture can we verify this truth that through the act of one, many will be affected? If you will turn over to Hebrews 7, we just want to look at a couple of verses.
You remember in Hebrews 7, speaking of Abraham meeting with Melchizedek, that it says that Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek. And it goes on to say that even Levi, who was not born as yet, also paid tithes to Melchizedek in Abraham.
Hebrews 7:9-10 says:
And, so to speak, through Abraham even Levi, who received tithes, paid tithes,
for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him.
So it says here that even Levi, who was not even born yet, paid tithes to Melchizedek when Abraham met him. But Levi was included in Abraham’s family tree, so he was included in giving tithes.
So here we can see the principle of the one affecting the many.
You know, and also, you remember the story of Achan? Remember how he had stolen some treasure from Jericho, which God had commanded should be destroyed?
It says in Joshua 7:1 that the Israelites—it does not say Achan—it says the Israelites acted unfaithfully, and the Lord’s anger burned against Israel. Thus, the whole nation was regarded as taking part in Achan’s sin.
Now, I know this is a hard concept, particularly for Westerners, because we live in a society that is so individualistic. We live in a society where we do believe we are an island unto ourselves, you know?
But maybe I can give a weak illustration, or example, to illustrate this concept of the many being affected by the one, and the right attitude that we should have.
You know, take a team sport where a situation occurs where a single player makes a mistake, and he causes the team to lose the game. And thus all are impacted by the losing result.
You know, some may get upset and blame the one. I have seen this many times. They blame that one who made the mistake. They say it is not fair, and they should not lose because of that specific one’s mistake. But, you know, they are all part of the same team.
And could they ever guarantee that they would never make that mistake? And if that one who made the mistake had made the winning action, you know, all would gladly take part in the winning results.
You know, thus the truth of the matter is, if it was you and I in that garden, can we say we would not have disobeyed the Lord? Would we dare to be that bold and presumptuous?
So in this first section, we find the apostle setting forth the principle of the one affecting the many because of association.
Thus, in this first section, we are introduced to Adam and how this one action of his affected the many. But we also find this section concludes with the introduction of the reference to Christ, as it says in the latter part of verse 14: “Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.”
Paul has set forth that all have sinned in Adam, as he is the head or representative of the human race. Now he is going to begin to unfold the wonderful truth that Christ is a type of Adam, in that He is the representative of a new race.
And if you are to consider it unfair to reap the results of Adam’s one act of disobedience, it certainly would also be the case of reaping the results of Christ’s one act of obedience. For we know gladly Christ committed this act of obedience.
Now let us look at the second section, Romans 5:15-17. Let us read them again, if we will.
But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God, and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.
The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression, resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions, resulting in justification.
For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
Oh, I cannot clear that ear.
Now note this section begins with the word but. Paul had just said in verse 14 that Christ was a type of Adam in that they both head up, or are representatives of, a race. And as such, through both of them we find the principle of the one affecting the many.
You know, though this type is accurate, Paul knows this is where the likeness of these two ends. For how can the Lord of glory be likened to the man of shame, the Savior to the sinner, the One who gives life to the one who brought in death?
So in this section, Adam and Christ are being contrasted to each other, as we find the phrases, again, not like and much more.
Now, of course, Adam’s act was when he partook of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And Christ’s act is what? It is His death on the cross.
Now, firstly, we find their actions being contrasted in that Adam’s act was one of self-willfulness, self-assertion. He disregarded the Word of God and pursued his own interests. His act was one of total independence.
On the other hand, Christ’s act was one of selflessness, self-sacrifice, total dependence, and submission to the will of God. His act was one of, “Not My will, but Yours be done.”
Now, secondly, we find in verse 16 the contrast of the two actions. Adam’s act brought what? Condemnation. And this followed after how many? One transgression.
Christ’s act brought justification. And this followed what? Many transgressions. Christ’s act of justification not only included Adam’s transgression, but all the transgressions to ever be committed.
Now consider: previously, our account before God was what? It was in the red. Written in it was, “Condemned.” Spiritually bankrupt before God.
But in Christ, not only has the condemnation been removed by His paying the price for our debt by His death, but in addition He did what? He deposited righteousness into it. How much more has He done for us?
Not only has He brought us back to the place of innocence that Adam had by putting away our sin, but He also has placed righteousness into our account. You know, this is justification.
And lastly, in this section, we see in verse 17 the contrast in the effects of the two acts. Through Adam’s act, what happened? Death reigned.
You know, you do not have to look very far to see the physical effect of this act, because cemeteries are to be found everywhere. But in addition, we find that we were powerless to overcome death.
Josh spoke of this earlier. We were enslaved to sin and death, unable to throw off that tyrant who forced his will on us.
But it says through Christ’s act that those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life. Note the difference between these two effects: in Adam, death reigned; in Christ, we will reign in life.
And consider some of the fruit of death reigning: fear, anxiety, insecurity, disapproval, uncertainty, hopelessness.
But in contrast, some of the fruit of reigning in life—which is through Him and by Him—are acceptance, peace, confidence, joy, and hope.
You know, through Adam, we had no