Text: Romans 5:12-21
Title: The Gift and the Guilt
Romans 5:12-21 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-- 13 for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 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. 15 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. 16 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. 17 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. 18 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. 19 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. 20 The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
I. The Guilt
a. Passed down from Adam- v. 12
b. Sin entered the world- v. 12
c. Death entered the world- v.13-14
d. Judgment & Condemnation entered the world- v. 16, 18
e. The Law highlights our unrighteousness- v. 20
II. The Gift
a. Secured by Christ- v. 15
b. Offers justification- v. 16, 18
c. Offers new life- v. 17
d. Offers righteousness- v. 19
e. Grace highlights God’s righteousness- v. 20-21
This Thursday is Valentine’s Day. It’s always been one of my favorite holidays. It should be a fun, romantic holiday. As a public service to the guys, I’ve got a list of five things you should not get your Valentine. My hope is that by sharing this list I will keep some of you from disaster this Thursday.
5. Any card with a picture of a cow, pig, or horse on it. They’ll think it reminded you of them.
4. Don’t get her any article of clothing. If it’s too small you’ll be in trouble, and if its too big, you’ll be in even more trouble. Don’t take that chance.
3. Don’t get any kitchen appliance, a red blender still isn’t romantic.
2. Don’t get her an oversized stuffed animal. Even if you’re in a hurry and that’s all that’s left at the store, a six foot monkey holding a heart isn’t as romantic as you might think.
1. Don’t take her out to dinner at KFC, Burger King, or any other restaurant with a drive-through window. Class it up a little and take her to Denny’s.
So what does that leave you with? Jewelry, chocolates, or flowers, depending on your budget.
I hope that was helpful. If you guys strike out this year, don’t blame me, I tried to help.
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 5:12-21…
I’ve always been a big fan of post-apocalyptic books and movies. Like the movie, “I Am Legend” that just came out with Will Smith. I love those scenes of what the world would look like if everyone was gone. Empty streets and stores, abandoned buildings, and plants growing over things.
Usually the way in which the world ends is either through some kind of nuclear war or a deadly plague. And in a lot of those movies the plague is traced back to some kind of governmental experiments.
One of the largest plagues in the last 100 years was the Spanish Flu. It was first identified in 1918 guess where? That’s right, and army base; in Fort Riley Kansas. It quickly spread to France, Africa, Spain, and other parts of the world.
This flu was especially bad because it attacked younger people with healthy immune systems, not just older folks or infants. It’s estimated that between 50-100 million people died of this flu. More than died of the black death, and more than died in WW1. Some estimate that 20% of the world’s population suffered from the illness, and as much as 5% of the world’s population died.
This was one of the largest, deadliest epidemics in recent history. It is a sobering glimpse at just how fragile humanity is.
The passage we’ll look at today deals with the single greatest epidemic the world has ever faced. Like many epidemics, it started small, with just one man, but the effects and the reach are felt far and wide.
Follow along as I read 5:12-21…
This passage talks about two men. Each man acted as a representative of the entire human race. Each man’s actions had an effect on humanity. Each man brings something to us. One man brought guilt the other a gift. Let’s talk about the guilt first.
First of all, when we talk about the origin of sin in humanity, it came from the sin of Adam. The guilt that we all stand under was passed down from Adam. It all started with Him.
This passage is all about how Adam was the first human, and as such is representative of the entire human race. There are a couple of questions that this idea raises in people’s mind. First, why is Adam blamed here, wasn’t it Eve who sinned first? Why should the sin of Adam affect all of us? What exactly is the extent of the consequences of Adam’s sin?
Let’s answer each of these questions. First, why is Adam our representative when it was Eve who first sinned? Some suggest that Adam gets the bulk of the blame here because God specifically made the prohibition to Adam. Or because Adam had headship over Eve. Or because the transmission of sin come down through Adam.
There might be some degree of truth in these ideas. But the fact is that both Adam and Eve sinned. They are both guilty, and as our spiritual and physical parents they opened the world to sin.
Another common question is “why should the sin of Adam affect me?”. It doesn’t seem fair that I should be born into a world of sin and slavery to sin through no choice of my own. Aren’t we responsible for our own individual actions?
Adam’s sin affects us all because as the first man, Adam represents all mankind. Adam’s sin affects us all because sin not only effected Adam and Eve, but all creation. We’ll talk about that next.
Adam’s sin effects us all, because Adam and Eve were barred from the tree of life, and subject to death. That’s the worst part. Human beings were never meant to die. At death the spiritual and the physical are torn apart. That’s why the hope of resurrection is such a big deal in the Bible. There will be a day when we become whole again. We will be reunited with our physical body, only a much better version. Death isn’t a natural part of life. Death is a result of the curse. It effects all of us.
The next question has to do with the extent of the consequences of the fall. How much did it really mess things up? The fall not only ruined the relationship between humanity and God, it also had an adverse effect on nature. In Genesis 3 God says to Adam, “cursed is the ground because of you”. He doesn’t just curse Adam, but curses the earth itself.
A few chapters over in Romans 8 Paul explains…
Romans 8:20 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope
Creation was cursed by God because of Adam’s sin. Before the fall there were no natural disasters, no weeds or thorns, no work. Things were very different. Creation has been effected by the fall, but just as humans will one day be made whole again, there will be a new heavens and a new earth. A renewing of what went wrong. God is in the process of fixing what Adam and Eve broke.
Other consequences of Adam & Eve’s sin are found throughout this passage. Through the one man, sin entered the world. This isn’t really referring to sins in the plural, but sin as referring to our sin nature. Just as Adam passed on his physical genes to his offspring, he also passed on his spiritual nature. His sin nature is then passed on to every human being who belongs to the family of Adam. That’s all of us.
So we are all born with an inclination towards sin. Adam and Eve were created with an inclination towards obeying God and in fellowship with Him. But they also had a free will that gave them the ability to make the choice they made.
So every human being who has ever lived, except for Jesus, has been born with a sin nature. We all have a heart that pulls us into sin.
Not only did sin enter the world through Adam, but death entered the world through sin… “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”
The reason that death followed sin was because that was the deal that God made with Adam and Eve. If they disobeyed, they would face death. Death effects us in three big ways…
First, we all face spiritual death. Adam and Eve went from spiritual fellowship with God to spiritual estrangement from God. They were separated from Him. The first thing that they did was to hide from Him. Their relationship was broken.
We too are all born in a state of spiritual separation from God. We start out spiritually dead. We are blind to the things of God. Paul explained all that back in chapter 1.
The term “born again” refers to the process of spiritual rebirth. It comes from a conversation that Jesus had with the Pharisee Nicodemus. Jesus said, unless you are born again, you won’t see the kingdom. Nicodemus asked a great question, How can a person be born again? It isn’t possible to crawl back inside the womb. Jesus helps him understand that he isn’t talking about a physical rebirth, but a spiritual rebirth. We are all born spiritual dead in our sin, unless we experience a spiritual rebirth through the Holy Spirit, we will stay spiritually dead.
So the first part of death is the spiritual separation. Next, there is also obviously a physical separation that takes place. When we die our spirit is torn from our physical body. We are separated from this earth and from our families. Physical death is scary and inevitable. But it’s the spiritual death that we need to worry about because spiritual death leads to an eternal separation from God.
So because of Adam, death comes to all of us, look at verse 14…
14 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 our guilty standing comes from Adam. Through Adam sin entered the world, and the consequence of sin is death.
This is all a result of God’s judgment and condemnation. Look at what 16-18 have to say about the judgment and condemnation that entered the world through Adam…
Death and separation from God are the judgment and the condemnation. It turns out that God was serious when He asked Adam to obey Him. Through that one act of defiance we are all messed up. Judgment and condemnation in God’s sight is something that ever human being faces now.
In verse 20 Paul mentions again that the Law doesn’t fix the problem, it only highlights our unrighteousness…
The law came and instead of causing sins to be held in check, it only caused transgressions to increase. Not because the law was bad, but because humans are bad. If you give us a rule, we’ll find a way to break it.
So to wrap up the first part; our guilt is passed down through Adam. As the representative of the entire human race his sin resulted in death, judgment, and condemnation for the whole world.
Man this really doesn’t seem fair. Through one act of disobedience it resulted in condemnation for everyone. We all stand guilt before God because of what Adam did as our representative. We all face death because of his sin. I don’t want to be a part of the family of Adam any more! I want a new representative!
Fortunately we have another representative. There is a flip side to the story. Our guilt is forced on us as members of the sinful human race, but the gift is not like the guilt.
Look at verses 15-16 with me again…
The gift is secured for us by Jesus Christ. Just like Adam was a representative for mankind, Jesus Christ is also a representative for all mankind. Just like Adam’s sin separated us from God, Christ’s gift reunites us with God.
This compare-and-contrast method of understanding our sin and our standing before God is great. It teaches us so much about what Christ’s work on the cross accomplished. It teaches us about the nature of sin and condemnation. With Adam sin entered the world, with Jesus we find justification. With Adam death entered the world, with Jesus we find new life. With Adam we stood condemned before God, with Jesus we are made righteous in His sight.
These things are a gift of God through Jesus Christ. He made the gift possible through his sacrifice.
The gift is not like the transgression because in the family of Adam we receive judgment; in the family of Jesus Christ we receive justification. Because of our connection to Adam we all start out as enemies of God and face His wrath. But through the gift of Jesus Christ we all have the ability to be reunited to Him and escape the coming judgment.
Verse 17 says…
Adam brought us death, separation from God, and a curse, Jesus Christ offers us life and restored relationship with God, and blessings. Adam’s curse is something that we are all born into; Jesus Gift is something that is available to all who would believe.
Verse 19…
Adam made us all sinners; Jesus can make us all righteous. If you are in the family of Adam you too will surely die; if you are in the family of Jesus Christ you have life and life abundantly. Whose team are you on? Whose side are you playing for? Who’s your representative? Is it still Adam? Or have you made Jesus Christ your new representative by accepting the free gift of grace that He offers?
Paul makes it very clear here.. there is no third option, there is no middle ground. Either you are a child of Adam, born into sin and death and condemnation. Or you are a child of God, born again into righteousness, life, and forgiveness.
The last thing I want to point out is that the reason that Jesus offers this gift is to highlight God’s righteousness. As we saw earlier, the law doesn’t fix Adam’s guilt, it only highlights it. But in verse 221 we see that God’s grace not only covers our guilt, but it highlights God’s righteousness.
Man this is some great stuff. Now I know that most of us have already accepted the free gift of grace that Jesus offers. If you haven’t and you’re still in the family of Adam, it’s time to find a new representative. But most of us have.
My hope as we study passages like this one in Romans is that it does three things for those of us who are believers.
First, my hope is that it deepens your understanding of the extent of your own salvation. My prayer is that it helps you gain a deeper knowledge of how and why you are saved. I want us all to understand that it is more than just buying fire insurance, but it is a bout a God who loves us and reaches out to us, and wants to have a close personal relationship with us.
Second, my hope is this study will give you more confidence and more excitement about sharing Jesus Christ with others. This stuff isn’t just good to hear on Sunday morning, these verses will preach anywhere. The book of Romans is one of the best road maps to salvation. The more confidence you have in what it means, the easier it should be to explain to others.
Third, my hope is that this study will draw us closer to God. Hopefully as we gain a fuller understanding of what God has done for us it will fill us with awe and praise and joy. It should drive us to worship God all day long because of the infinite gift that he has given us.
I mentioned a few months back that the first part of the book of Romans is all about theology, the second part is about practical application. Paul did this on purpose. As humans we are far more likely to do what we are supposed to do if we know why we should do it. With the theological groundwork laid, we will be far more receptive to what Paul has to say about how we should now live.
