Post by arete on Jul 14, 2014 18:56:00 GMT
Introduction:
In times past, it became fashionable to claim the Christian faith while doubting the literal accounts of the Bible. How sad to doubt the real revelation of the real God and claim to have faith. The fact is, to water down God’s word is to trifle with his revelation of himself. That cannot end well. What that has meant for Christianity is that many claim to combine both science and the Bible – primarily by setting a so called science above the Bible – they make God’s revelation the servant of man’s limited understanding of the universe. This is not to say that Christians should not strive to understand God’s creation – but never at the expense of calling God a liar. This is seen when people meddle and play with the creation account of Genesis 1. They want to allow for millions or billions of years and so they tamper with what God has said. One of the problems with this is that some of these tamperings claim there was no literal Adam in a literal Garden. Unfortunately, we will see that Paul makes it clear that no literal Adam would mean that no one can be saved. Yet the Bible is clear, there was a literal Adam and a literal Fall which means that all people are sinners. The Good News is that one Savior can indeed save many – so let’s see what Paul says in Romans 5:12-21
Context:
Paul has spent several chapters now to explaining that man is sinful and his greatest need is to be reconciled to God. God saw this great need and provided a way for reconciliation through Jesus Christ alone. Salvation is by faith in God’s promise to provide a messiah and his power to do so. Even more, that messiah has been revealed as Jesus Christ who paid our sin debt by his death on the cross. Paul moves next to explain how one messiah could pay the debt of so many sinners…
Body – Romans 5:12-21 – ESV
Death in Adam, Life in Christ
12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. 20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Real Fall vv.12-14
Paul speaks of the Fall of Adam in an offhand way. He is evidently quite sure that the people in Rome are already familiar with the first book of the Scriptures. This makes sense – most folks when approaching the Bible for the first time begin at the beginning. Also, any Jews among them would be very familiar with the Genesis account.
Paul shows causality – a serious of truths built upon one another.
1. There was a literal first man – his reference to the one man is a real Adam
2. That man sinned and because of that sin entered the world
3. Death is the end result of sin – specifically spiritual death but also physical death
4. Sin and death are the inheritance of every single descendant of the one man. If there was more than one Adam – then that would require another Fall or the existence of sinless people
Sin existed before the Law. The Law is not the originator of sin – that would be man. However, the Law made it possible to categorize and know the many forms that sin takes
The existence of sin apart from the Law is evidenced because people died before Moses was given the Law
While our sins might not be the same as Adam’s sins, still we are sinners by nature inherited from him. Yet, we are not without hope. Adam was the type of one who was to come. What that means is that since there was one man who brought sin, one man could put an end to the ultimate penalty of sin.
Illustrations:
The New England Primer was used to teach colonial American children to read. For each letter of the alphabet, the primer had a rhyming verse…here… is the verse for the letter ‘A’: “In Adam’s fall, We sinned all.”…how many adult church members today understand the theology that beginning readers were taught in colonial days. This happens to be a concise summary of a substantial section of Romans 5 and the reason Adam is the other person who most greatly affected our race.
Paul has connected [sin] with Adam. And Adam is the historical ancestor of every people group on the face of the earth. This is not a myth; it's not an analogy; it's not an illustration. It is historical fact. Adam, the first human being, sinned and in him all human beings sinned, and all died and all are condemned. And the remedy for that is another historical Person - the God-man, Jesus Christ, who came in space and time to undo what Adam did. He trusted and obeyed God perfectly, so that all who are in him by faith have that obedience imputed to them and become right with God forever.
Application:
I know I have said this before, but it needs saying again. We are not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners. Since the Fall of Adam, every human being is fallen and sinful. Again, this is the bad news that precedes the Good News. And Good News does follow. Because sin entered through one man – one man can provide sin’s cure. And that brings us to the next point.
Righteousness from Christ vv. 15-17
Paul moves next to a beautiful contrast. While he has explained the dire situation that every descendant of Adam faces, he moves next to “But”
There is a free gift available and it is nothing like the trespass of Adam. The trespass visits death on multitudes. The free gift has one man die so that many may live.
Even better, the free gift has no taint of sin. Even one sin requires judgment. Judgment from God on sin requires condemnation. Let that sink in – even one sin requires condemnation – unless the free gift is applied. This is not a matter of degree or comparison. One man cannot justify his sin by pointing to another man who has sinned more. Even one sin requires hell
BUT – the free gift means a movement from condemnation to justification. While we cannot justify ourselves – Christ can justify us. What this means is that God declares us righteous because of what Christ paid on our behalf – when the Father looks at us he sees the righteousness of the Son.
Even though sin and death are the legacy of Adam to all men – even though that seems so heavy, so burdensome, so insurmountable to those of us who have inherited it – the grace of God through Jesus Christ is greater still. No matter how great our sin – the grace of God is greater. No matter what we need to repent of – the grace of God can forgive and lead us to right and holy living.
All of this is accomplished through Jesus alone
Illustration:
The Bible divides men into two classes, those that are ‘in Adam’, and those that are ‘in Christ’. [1 Cor 15:22] ‘For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.’ All of us, the day we entered this life, were in Adam. But the day that we were born again -- born from above, regenerated -- we ceased to be in Adam, and are now in Christ. Judicially, in God’s sight, we died with the Lord Jesus on the cross, were buried with Him, and are resurrected in Christ. We were identified with Him. We are in Him. As we inherited mortality from the first Adam, we have eternal life from the last Adam. [Rom 5:15b] ‘For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many’. We can praise God that the ‘gift by grace’ provides us with not only life out of death, but righteousness out of unrighteousness. [Rom 5:19] ‘For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous’.
Application:
This means that without salvation in Christ, we are left in sin and death. This also means that there is an equation at work here. This really cannot be stressed enough – no literal Adam means no literal salvation in Jesus. What this means for us is that we cannot pick and choose what we like in the Bible and then ignore or even twist the Scripture to meet our own needs. Paul explained earlier in Romans that men twist the truth. We cannot twist the truth of Scripture. We cannot ignore the truth of Scripture. Instead, we must stand firm on the truth of Scripture – know it and proclaim it.
Reign of Grace vv18-21
Paul restates what he has been saying in one brief statement. One trespass leading to condemnation was overcome by one act of righteousness.
The reign of sin began when one man was disobedient. Adam was given one command. Yet he sinned against God. This led to Adam’s legacy of sin & disobedience to all his descendants
The reign of grace began with one man’s obedience. What mere humans could not do, the Son of God came to earth to be born so that he could live the life of perfect obedience and righteousness.
The coming of the Law served only to highlight the reign of sin – for where the Law was, the obviousness of sin was glaring. Yet, the grace of God is such that sin cannot outshine it. God’s grace is greater than sin.
Sin’s reign is seen in death – physical death but also in the spiritual death seen in the lost. Death and misery abound in the fallen world and in fallen man. But physical death and even spiritual death cannot withstand the eternal life found in Jesus alone. While the world ponders the answer to so much misery and pain, God has already provided the answer in Jesus Christ and not only for the fleeting time we are upon the earth, but for the eternity we will spend with our Jesus in heaven.
Illustration:
An advertisement on the side of a plumber’s van in South Africa: There is no place too deep, too dark or too dirty for us to handle. What a wonderful explanation of the Gospel!
Application:
Again, the bad news precedes the good news – we are sinners from birth. Our inheritance is death and misery. A great, dark cloud hangs over us – fear of rightful judgment and punishment from God. But nothing in our lives are so dark or so sinful that the grace of God cannot overcome it. This was true when we were first convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit and the Lord gave us the faith that saved us. It remains true. We still sin. We still have times of misery – some self-inflicted and some inflicted by others. The grace of God still overcomes. When we sin, we can repent and be forgiven. When misery strikes, the grace of God will see us through. The grace of God that saves men from hell also gives eternal life. That life begins now. Eternal life is living in right relationship with God here on earth and looking to live with him forever in heaven. In our lives now – Grace reigns.
So What Do We Do With This?
First, Paul continues to focus on the wonder of salvation in Christ alone for sinners such as I. We know that salvation is by grace through faith in Christ alone. However, there are certain deeper aspects to our faith important for us to know – especially in light of how many Christians try to compromise or water down God and his word in the face of today’s culture.
It is intellectually dishonest to deny the literal Creation taught in the Bible and yet claim the salvation through Christ taught in the same Bible. The Bible claims that it is the revelation of God to man and that the God who reveals is always true. So the Bible is an all or nothing proposition. I have more respect for the intellectual position that outright denies the Bible than the position that tries to strike compromise between a fallen and sinful world and the truth of God.
This leads us to the High view of Scripture. What this means is that believers must come to grips with the fact that the entire Bible is true in all it says and claims. While some are saved before they come to grips with the truth, they cannot be fully mature as believers until they do. Many people are stuck in an immature faith because they trade a high view of Scripture for looking wise in the eyes of the world. There is no room for compromise. The Bible is the true and inspired revelation of God to man or it isn’t. Jesus said that lukewarm belief was so much spit when he warned the churches in Revelation
This leads us to a literal Adam. No literal Adam means no literal Savior. Multiple falls would require multiple saviors. Paul is specific here. The reason one Savior is sufficient is because one man brought sin and death.
This brings us back to everyday life in Nenana. There is no other savior; there is no salvation in any other except in Jesus Christ. Do not water Jesus down any more than Genesis should be watered down. There are people all around us that are dead in sin. They need to hear about Jesus more than they need tax breaks or low gas prices or anything else.
Also, keep in mind that we should not get mad at lost people for acting lost. Take special care to not hate the lost or be vindictive toward them. Yes, the lost can and do hurt us and others around them. But put aside malice and be moved by pity, mercy and compassion to pray for their souls and live a consistent witness before them and share Christ and his salvation with them
The good news of salvation in Christ should move us to rejoice, but I pray it also moves us to share him with the people who need him just as badly as we do…
Benediction
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." (1 Peter 1:3 NRSV)
In times past, it became fashionable to claim the Christian faith while doubting the literal accounts of the Bible. How sad to doubt the real revelation of the real God and claim to have faith. The fact is, to water down God’s word is to trifle with his revelation of himself. That cannot end well. What that has meant for Christianity is that many claim to combine both science and the Bible – primarily by setting a so called science above the Bible – they make God’s revelation the servant of man’s limited understanding of the universe. This is not to say that Christians should not strive to understand God’s creation – but never at the expense of calling God a liar. This is seen when people meddle and play with the creation account of Genesis 1. They want to allow for millions or billions of years and so they tamper with what God has said. One of the problems with this is that some of these tamperings claim there was no literal Adam in a literal Garden. Unfortunately, we will see that Paul makes it clear that no literal Adam would mean that no one can be saved. Yet the Bible is clear, there was a literal Adam and a literal Fall which means that all people are sinners. The Good News is that one Savior can indeed save many – so let’s see what Paul says in Romans 5:12-21
Context:
Paul has spent several chapters now to explaining that man is sinful and his greatest need is to be reconciled to God. God saw this great need and provided a way for reconciliation through Jesus Christ alone. Salvation is by faith in God’s promise to provide a messiah and his power to do so. Even more, that messiah has been revealed as Jesus Christ who paid our sin debt by his death on the cross. Paul moves next to explain how one messiah could pay the debt of so many sinners…
Body – Romans 5:12-21 – ESV
Death in Adam, Life in Christ
12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. 20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Real Fall vv.12-14
Paul speaks of the Fall of Adam in an offhand way. He is evidently quite sure that the people in Rome are already familiar with the first book of the Scriptures. This makes sense – most folks when approaching the Bible for the first time begin at the beginning. Also, any Jews among them would be very familiar with the Genesis account.
Paul shows causality – a serious of truths built upon one another.
1. There was a literal first man – his reference to the one man is a real Adam
2. That man sinned and because of that sin entered the world
3. Death is the end result of sin – specifically spiritual death but also physical death
4. Sin and death are the inheritance of every single descendant of the one man. If there was more than one Adam – then that would require another Fall or the existence of sinless people
Sin existed before the Law. The Law is not the originator of sin – that would be man. However, the Law made it possible to categorize and know the many forms that sin takes
The existence of sin apart from the Law is evidenced because people died before Moses was given the Law
While our sins might not be the same as Adam’s sins, still we are sinners by nature inherited from him. Yet, we are not without hope. Adam was the type of one who was to come. What that means is that since there was one man who brought sin, one man could put an end to the ultimate penalty of sin.
Illustrations:
The New England Primer was used to teach colonial American children to read. For each letter of the alphabet, the primer had a rhyming verse…here… is the verse for the letter ‘A’: “In Adam’s fall, We sinned all.”…how many adult church members today understand the theology that beginning readers were taught in colonial days. This happens to be a concise summary of a substantial section of Romans 5 and the reason Adam is the other person who most greatly affected our race.
Paul has connected [sin] with Adam. And Adam is the historical ancestor of every people group on the face of the earth. This is not a myth; it's not an analogy; it's not an illustration. It is historical fact. Adam, the first human being, sinned and in him all human beings sinned, and all died and all are condemned. And the remedy for that is another historical Person - the God-man, Jesus Christ, who came in space and time to undo what Adam did. He trusted and obeyed God perfectly, so that all who are in him by faith have that obedience imputed to them and become right with God forever.
Application:
I know I have said this before, but it needs saying again. We are not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners. Since the Fall of Adam, every human being is fallen and sinful. Again, this is the bad news that precedes the Good News. And Good News does follow. Because sin entered through one man – one man can provide sin’s cure. And that brings us to the next point.
Righteousness from Christ vv. 15-17
Paul moves next to a beautiful contrast. While he has explained the dire situation that every descendant of Adam faces, he moves next to “But”
There is a free gift available and it is nothing like the trespass of Adam. The trespass visits death on multitudes. The free gift has one man die so that many may live.
Even better, the free gift has no taint of sin. Even one sin requires judgment. Judgment from God on sin requires condemnation. Let that sink in – even one sin requires condemnation – unless the free gift is applied. This is not a matter of degree or comparison. One man cannot justify his sin by pointing to another man who has sinned more. Even one sin requires hell
BUT – the free gift means a movement from condemnation to justification. While we cannot justify ourselves – Christ can justify us. What this means is that God declares us righteous because of what Christ paid on our behalf – when the Father looks at us he sees the righteousness of the Son.
Even though sin and death are the legacy of Adam to all men – even though that seems so heavy, so burdensome, so insurmountable to those of us who have inherited it – the grace of God through Jesus Christ is greater still. No matter how great our sin – the grace of God is greater. No matter what we need to repent of – the grace of God can forgive and lead us to right and holy living.
All of this is accomplished through Jesus alone
Illustration:
The Bible divides men into two classes, those that are ‘in Adam’, and those that are ‘in Christ’. [1 Cor 15:22] ‘For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.’ All of us, the day we entered this life, were in Adam. But the day that we were born again -- born from above, regenerated -- we ceased to be in Adam, and are now in Christ. Judicially, in God’s sight, we died with the Lord Jesus on the cross, were buried with Him, and are resurrected in Christ. We were identified with Him. We are in Him. As we inherited mortality from the first Adam, we have eternal life from the last Adam. [Rom 5:15b] ‘For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many’. We can praise God that the ‘gift by grace’ provides us with not only life out of death, but righteousness out of unrighteousness. [Rom 5:19] ‘For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous’.
Application:
This means that without salvation in Christ, we are left in sin and death. This also means that there is an equation at work here. This really cannot be stressed enough – no literal Adam means no literal salvation in Jesus. What this means for us is that we cannot pick and choose what we like in the Bible and then ignore or even twist the Scripture to meet our own needs. Paul explained earlier in Romans that men twist the truth. We cannot twist the truth of Scripture. We cannot ignore the truth of Scripture. Instead, we must stand firm on the truth of Scripture – know it and proclaim it.
Reign of Grace vv18-21
Paul restates what he has been saying in one brief statement. One trespass leading to condemnation was overcome by one act of righteousness.
The reign of sin began when one man was disobedient. Adam was given one command. Yet he sinned against God. This led to Adam’s legacy of sin & disobedience to all his descendants
The reign of grace began with one man’s obedience. What mere humans could not do, the Son of God came to earth to be born so that he could live the life of perfect obedience and righteousness.
The coming of the Law served only to highlight the reign of sin – for where the Law was, the obviousness of sin was glaring. Yet, the grace of God is such that sin cannot outshine it. God’s grace is greater than sin.
Sin’s reign is seen in death – physical death but also in the spiritual death seen in the lost. Death and misery abound in the fallen world and in fallen man. But physical death and even spiritual death cannot withstand the eternal life found in Jesus alone. While the world ponders the answer to so much misery and pain, God has already provided the answer in Jesus Christ and not only for the fleeting time we are upon the earth, but for the eternity we will spend with our Jesus in heaven.
Illustration:
An advertisement on the side of a plumber’s van in South Africa: There is no place too deep, too dark or too dirty for us to handle. What a wonderful explanation of the Gospel!
Application:
Again, the bad news precedes the good news – we are sinners from birth. Our inheritance is death and misery. A great, dark cloud hangs over us – fear of rightful judgment and punishment from God. But nothing in our lives are so dark or so sinful that the grace of God cannot overcome it. This was true when we were first convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit and the Lord gave us the faith that saved us. It remains true. We still sin. We still have times of misery – some self-inflicted and some inflicted by others. The grace of God still overcomes. When we sin, we can repent and be forgiven. When misery strikes, the grace of God will see us through. The grace of God that saves men from hell also gives eternal life. That life begins now. Eternal life is living in right relationship with God here on earth and looking to live with him forever in heaven. In our lives now – Grace reigns.
So What Do We Do With This?
First, Paul continues to focus on the wonder of salvation in Christ alone for sinners such as I. We know that salvation is by grace through faith in Christ alone. However, there are certain deeper aspects to our faith important for us to know – especially in light of how many Christians try to compromise or water down God and his word in the face of today’s culture.
It is intellectually dishonest to deny the literal Creation taught in the Bible and yet claim the salvation through Christ taught in the same Bible. The Bible claims that it is the revelation of God to man and that the God who reveals is always true. So the Bible is an all or nothing proposition. I have more respect for the intellectual position that outright denies the Bible than the position that tries to strike compromise between a fallen and sinful world and the truth of God.
This leads us to the High view of Scripture. What this means is that believers must come to grips with the fact that the entire Bible is true in all it says and claims. While some are saved before they come to grips with the truth, they cannot be fully mature as believers until they do. Many people are stuck in an immature faith because they trade a high view of Scripture for looking wise in the eyes of the world. There is no room for compromise. The Bible is the true and inspired revelation of God to man or it isn’t. Jesus said that lukewarm belief was so much spit when he warned the churches in Revelation
This leads us to a literal Adam. No literal Adam means no literal Savior. Multiple falls would require multiple saviors. Paul is specific here. The reason one Savior is sufficient is because one man brought sin and death.
This brings us back to everyday life in Nenana. There is no other savior; there is no salvation in any other except in Jesus Christ. Do not water Jesus down any more than Genesis should be watered down. There are people all around us that are dead in sin. They need to hear about Jesus more than they need tax breaks or low gas prices or anything else.
Also, keep in mind that we should not get mad at lost people for acting lost. Take special care to not hate the lost or be vindictive toward them. Yes, the lost can and do hurt us and others around them. But put aside malice and be moved by pity, mercy and compassion to pray for their souls and live a consistent witness before them and share Christ and his salvation with them
The good news of salvation in Christ should move us to rejoice, but I pray it also moves us to share him with the people who need him just as badly as we do…
Benediction
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." (1 Peter 1:3 NRSV)