Romans 5:14-17
Corollary: Christ is Like Adam v. 14 "Adam, who was a type of Him who was to come." Adam is a type of Christ. How is He a type of Christ? Answer is in the previous phrase:, "Death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam"? The judgment on Adam’s sin killed people who hadn’t sinned like Adam. People are dying for Adam’s sin and he is a type of Jesus. In Adam we die without necessarily doing the deeds that caused the death. In Christ we live and it isn’t the deeds that we did that created the life in us. Paul wants to make the doctrine of justification without works clear by developing this parallel between Adam and Christ. He first mentioned it when he says people are dying though they didn’t do the sins of the one whose penalty they are receiving. The analogy, people are living who didn’t do the righteous acts which Christ performed for them. The text brings in our union with Adam and our bearing his penalty it to make crystal clear that Jesus comes into the world to rectify that by preforming an analogous justification. We get Adam’s condemnation. We get Christ’s justification. We participate in Adam’s disobedience. We participate in Christ’s obedience. (John Piper) Adam is a figure of Christ in just this respect: that as his one sin brought death to all, even when there was no personal sin, so Christ’s one act of obedience brings unfailing righteousness to those who are in Him, even when they have no personal righteousness. (James Stifler) The work of Christ, also, looked at as an “Adam,”--His “righteous act” of death; with its effect of justification for us. So now we look back to the act that set us down as sinners, instead of to our own deeds; and to the act that sets us down righteous, apart from our own works. (William Newell) Of the forty billion people who have lived in this world, God looks at humanity and sees us in our relationship to only two men: Adam and Jesus. 1 Cor 15:21-22 The whole of the Bible boils down to two men: Adam and Jesus! You also need to know that you are in one or the other. To be in Adam is to be a partaker of all his gifts to humanity: judgment and death. To be in Christ is to be a partaker of all He had to give: justification and life . Everything we lost in the first Adam was regained by the second Adam. Everything Adam gave away in the Garden, Jesus purchased back on the cross! Adam sinned one sin and it brought death to all men. Jesus died one death and it brought the possibility of life to all. (Alan Carr)
Paul shows that our old relationship to Adam provides us with a picture of our new relationship with Christ. 1 Cor 15:21-22; 45-49 There are only two heads to the human race, Adam and Christ. There will never be another. And every one of us is either in Adam or in Christ. There is a new race of men. Rom 8:29 As Christians we are not only forgiven, we have become members of a new humanity a new race. John 1:12, are in Christ and because we are in Christ we are in God and children of God Rom 8:14-17, Gal 3:26-29, 1 John 3:1God is our father in a new sense. And we are his children. We were in the life of Adam before, we are in the life of Christ now. Entrance into Adam is through natural birth. Entrance into Christ is by the new spiritual birth John 3:1-8, 1 Peter 1:23 “cannot see the kingdom” (Lloyd Jones)
Contrast Christ is not like Adam 15-17
Guilt and Grace v. 15 Adam’s act was a transgression, bringing guilt to mankind and its penalty of death. Christ’s act was one flowing from God’s grace and resulting in grace to men. There was a difference in effectiveness. Christ's act had a greater effectiveness. And we'll see that. It's really kind of saying to us if one thing happened in Adam, much more surely will another happen in Christ. If one thing came from Adam's sin, much more shall we be guaranteed and assured if we know that to be true, how much more will we know that one thing done in Christ's righteousness shall as well have a great and even greater effect. The evil of Adam brought death. The free gift of Christ not only freed men from death, it didn't just return them to the innocency of Adam, it took them out of death beyond the innocency of Adam to the righteousness of Christ. So it's much more. (Mac Arthur) To refuse to come to Jesus is to choose to remain in death and it is to choose to go to Hell! John 3:17-18 (Carr)
Judgment and Justification v. 16 ONE sin of ONE man at ONE time in history brought forth God's condemnation against the entire human race. That is an indication of how bad sin really is. One sin was so bad that it condemned an entire race before it was even born. It only took one sin to get you into trouble and it wasn't even yours.
Adam : the judgement, arose from one transgression, results in condemnation Christ: the free gift, arose from many transgressions, results in justification.
The free gift arise from many transgressions. This is the gift of justification. The believer is declared to be righteous. Christ did not just die for Adam’s sin. He did not merely die for original sin. He died for many.
If the one sin was enough to plunge the entire world into condemnation, then how great must be the power of the grace that is able to overcome that condemnation.
Adam’s act was but one act of sin and disobedience. Jesus’ act involved many sins. Adam’s act was one sin that made the many sinners. Christ’s act was one act, but Jesus gathered up all the sins of mankind and died for them. Furthermore, while Adam’s sinful act resulted in the condemnation of all mankind, Jesus’ act resulted in the justification of men. Which of these two possibilities is true for you all depends on who you are in: Jesus or Adam. If you are in Adam, then you are going to Hell. There is nothing else for you but judgment and wrath. However, if you have trusted Christ and are in Him, you have passed from death unto life, John 5:24, there is nothing for you but eternal life and a home in Heaven. (Alan Carr)
"The one trespass demanded nothing less than the condemnation of all. But the free gift unto justification is of such a character that it must take the many trespasses into its reckoning. It could not be the free gift of justification unless it blotted out the many trespasses, consequently the free gift is conditioned as to its nature and effect by the many trespasses just as the judgment was conditioned as to its nature and effect by the one trespass." (John Murray)
Note what it is that believing ones “receive”:
First, abundance of grace: The cross having met righteously all the claims of the Divine being, and the Divine throne, against sinners, God has now spoken to us as He is, in abounding grace.
Second, the gift of righteousness. What a gift! Apart from works, apart from the Law, apart from ordinances, apart from worthiness, an out and out gift of righteousness from God.
v 17, Death and Deliverance: “much more.” The action of Jesus is greater than that of Adam. Adam’s sin led to the “reign of death.” Adam’s sin brought sin and death upon all men. Christ’s act brings about the “reign of righteousness in life.” Adam’s sin brought life to an end; Christ’s act dethrones death and enthrones righteousness, which is evidenced in life. And since this life is eternal life, righteousness will reign forever. Adam’s sin ends life; Christ’s act extends life, forever. Death reigns in the first half of the analogy but we reign in life in the second half. The idea is that grace overpowers the consequence of sin. The free gift of righteousness given the believer by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus overpowers the reign of death. Sin in Adam set us against God. And death reigns. Righteousness in Christ makes us right with God and we reign. (Mc Arthur)
Whatever the similarity may be between Adam and Christ, the distinctions are far greater. Both the link and the distinctions between Adam and Christ make it possible for Christ to act in such a way as to undo the damage done by Adam and to shower upon men grace in place of guilt, righteousness in place of sin, and life in place of death.
Three principles from the passage:
(1) God takes sin seriously. Most people wouldn’t call Adam’s sin a transgression. People might look at Adam’s sin as a misdemeanor, something like spitting on the sidewalk, Adam simply ate the fruit of a tree. What was the problem? The problem was that God had commanded Adam not to eat of the tree (Gen 2:16-17). An act which men would hardly even think of as sin becomes the cause of man’s downfall. God does take sin very seriously, and so must we.
2) Our identity is found either in Adam or in Christ. Sin is now defined as poor self-esteem. Sinful acts are said to be rooted in poor self-esteem. The highest good seems to be to have a “good self-image.” And thus the world, joined by many Christians, occupies itself by constantly looking backward and inward, into self, to develop a healthy self-love. Ultimately, our identity and our worth are wrapped up in one of two persons: Adam or Christ. All that we are in and of ourselves, we are in Adam. We may contemplate and fabricate our own worth as much as we like, but we are, in Adam, sinners, worthy of death. The identity of the Christian is in Christ. Dwell upon Him. Look to Him. Keep Him central in our hearts and minds.
3) Birth is both the cause and the cure for man’s sin. Adam was the reason the human race fell into sin. Each individual fell under the curse when they were born. Birth made us a son of Adam and thus a sinner Ps 51:5-7. The solution to the guilt of sin, encountered at birth, was another birth, a second birth. In order to be saved, men must exchange their identity with Adam (by which they are condemned) to an identity with Christ (by which they are converted/ justified). As birth was the source of a man’s sin, so another birth is the solution. This is the gospel: Christ came to the earth to offer men a cure for the curse which Adam’s sin brought upon all mankind. The gospel confronts us with a choice. Will we remain in Adam, subject to the penalty of death? Or will we accept God’s provision for a new identity, in Christ? So, Birth is both the cause and the cure for man’s sin. By being born as descendants of Adam, we found ourselves under the condemnation of sin and death. But by being born again in Christ, we find ourselves declared by God to be righteous as we enter a new life in Him.
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