In beginning the next section of his argument Paul returned to the major subject of this epistle, the righteousness of God (v. 21; cf. 1:17). He also repeated the need for faith (v. 22; cf. 1:16) and summarized his point that everyone is guilty before God (v. 22; cf. 1:18-3:20). This brief recapitulation introduces his explanation of the salvation that God provides for guilty sinners that follows.
"The first main division of the epistle forms a powerful negative argument for the second, and was evidently so intended. Since man is a sinner with no help in himself and none in the law, what is left to him but to look to the mercy of God? . . . In a court of justice it is only after every defense has failed and the law itself has been shown to be broken, it is only at this point that the appeal is made to the judge for his clemency. The epistle has brought us to such a point."91
Paul began by explaining the concept of justification.92
"We now come to the unfolding of that word which Paul in Chapter One declares to be the very heart of the gospel . . ."93
3:21 The "righteousness of God"here refers to God's method of bringing people into right relationship with Himself. His method is apart from Law (cf. v. 20). The definite article before "Law"is absent in the Greek text, though it probably refers to the Mosaic Law. Moreover it "has been manifested"(perfect tense in Greek, "stands manifested"), namely through the coming of Jesus Christ. The Old Testament revealed that this would be God's method even before He appeared. The reference to the Old Testament as the law and the prophets, two major sections of the Hebrew Bible, prepares the way for chapter 4. There Paul discussed Abraham and David, two representatives of these sections of Scripture.
3:22 God's righteousness becomes man's possession and begins to operate in his life through faith in Jesus Christ (v. 28; cf. Gal. 2:16; Mark 11:22).94Here Paul introduced the object of faith for the first time (cf. 1:16-17). He never said that people obtain salvation because of their faith in Christ, by the way. This would encourage the idea that our faith makes a contribution to our salvation and has some merit. Faith simply takes what God gives. It adds nothing to the gift.
"Faith . . . plays a double part in justification. It is the disposition which God accepts, and which He imputes as righteousness; and it is at the same time the instrument whereby every one may appropriate for his own personal advantage this righteousness of faith."95
Many writers have described faith as the hand of the heart. It does no work to earn salvation but only accepts a gift that someone else provides.
"The righteousness of God is not put upon' any one. That is a Romish idea,--still held, alas, among Protestants who cannot escape the conception of righteousness as a something bestowed upon us, rather than a Divine reckoning about us."96
There is no distinction between Jews and Gentiles concerning their being "under sin"(v. 9). Likewise there is no distinction regarding the manner by which Jews and Gentiles obtain salvation. All receive salvation by faith.
3:23 All must come to God by faith in Jesus Christ because all have sinned and fallen short of (i.e., lack) God's glory (cf. Mark 10:21). The glory of God probably refers to the majesty of His person.97Sin separates people from fellowship with a holy God. We lack both the character of God and the fellowship of God because of sin.
3:24 "We now come to the greatest single verse in the entire Bible on the manner of justification by faith: We entreat you, study this verse. We have seen many a soul, upon understanding it, come into peace."98
It is all who believe (v. 22), not all who have sinned (v. 23), who receive justification (v. 24).99Justification is an act, not a process. And it is something God does, not man.
As mentioned previously, justification is a forensic (legal) term. On the one hand it means to acquit (Exod. 23:7; Deut. 25:1; Acts 13:39). On the other positive side it means to declarerighteous. It does not mean to makerighteous.
"The word never means to make one righteous, or holy; but to account one righteous. Justification is not a change wrought by God in us, but a change of our relation to God."100
Justification describes a person's status in the sight of the law, not the condition of his or her character. The condition of one's character and conduct is that with which sanctification deals.
"Do not confuse justification and sanctification. Sanctification is the process whereby God makes the believer more and more like Christ. Sanctification may change from day to day. Justification never changes. When the sinner trusts Christ, God declares him righteous, and that declaration will never be repealed. God looks on us and deals with us as though we had never sinned at all!"101
God, the judge, sees the justified sinner in Christ (i.e., in terms of his relation to His Son) with whom the Father is well pleased (8:1; cf. Phil. 3:8-9; 1 Cor. 1:30; 2 Cor. 5:21). Justification includes forgiveness but is larger than forgiveness.
"God declares that He reckons righteous the ungodly man who ceases from all works, and believes on Him (God), as the God who, on the ground of Christ's shed blood, justifies the ungodly' (4.5). He declares such an one righteous: reckoning to him all the absolute value of Christ's work,--of His expiating death, and of His resurrection, and placing him in Christ:where he is the righteousness of God: for Christ is that! . . .
"We do not need therefore a personal standing' before God at all. This is the perpetual struggle of legalistic theology,--to state how we can have a standing' before God. But to maintain this is still to think of us as separate from Christ (instead of dead and risen with Him), and needing such a standing.' But if we are in Christ in such an absolute way that Christ Himself has been made unto us righteousness, we are immediately relieved from the need of having any standing.' Christ is our standing, Christ Himself! And Christ being the righteousness of God, we, being thus utterly and vitally in Christ before God, have no other place but in Him. We are the righteousness of God in Christ.'"102
God bestows justification freely as a gift. The basis for His giving it is His own grace, not anything in the sinner.
"Grace
means pure unrecompensed kindness and favor."103
Grace (Gr. charis) is the basis for joy (chara), and it leads to thanksgiving (eucharistia).
The redemption that is in (i.e., came by) Christ Jesus is the means God used to bring the gift of justification to human beings. The Greek word for redemption used here (apolutroseos) denotes a deliverance obtained by purchase (cf. Matt. 20:28; 1 Tim. 2:6; 1 Pet. 1:18; 1 Cor. 6:20; 7:23; Gal. 3:13). Everywhere in the New Testament this Greek word, when used metaphorically, refers to "deliverance effected through the death of Christ for the retributive wrath of a holy God and the merited penalty of sin . . ."104
Paul's use of "Christ Jesus"rather than the normal "Jesus Christ"stresses the fact that God provided redemption by supplying the payment. That payment was the Messiah (Christ) promised in the Old Testament who was Jesus of Nazareth.
Though the question of who received the ransom price has divided scholars, Scripture is quite clear that Jesus Christ offered Himself as a sacrifice to God (Luke 23:46).
"Before you leave verse 24, apply it to yourself, if you are a believer. Say of yourself: God has declared me righteous without any cause in me, by His grace, through the redemption from sin's penalty that is in Christ Jesus.' It is the bold, believing use for ourselvesof the Scripture we learn, that God desires; and not merely the knowledge of Scripture."105
3:25 Paul stressed faith in this verse. Therefore we should probably understand his reference to the public display of Christ as being an allusion to His presentation in the gospel rather than to His crucifixion.
There are two possible meanings of "propitiation"(NASB) or "sacrifice of propitiation"(NIV). The Greek word (hilasterion) is an adjective that can substitute for a noun. It means having placating or expiating force.106It could refer to Jesus Christ as the place where God satisfied His wrath and removed our sins. This is the substantival usage translated "propitiation."In favor of this interpretation is the use of this Greek word to translate the mercy seat on the ark of the covenant (Exod. 25:17, LXX; Heb. 9:5). However, it seems more natural to take hilasterionas referring to Jesus Christ as the sacrifice that satisfied God's wrath and removed our sins. This is the normal adjectival use translated "sacrifice of atonement"(cf. 1 John 2:2; 4:10). Jesus Christ was the sacrifice, but the place where God made atonement was the Cross.
The translation "through faith in His blood"(NIV) correctly represents the word order in the Greek text. Paul elsewhere urged faith in the person of Jesus Christ (vv. 22, 26). Probably Paul mentioned His blood as representing His life poured out as a sacrifice of atonement instead of the person of Christ here to draw attention to what made His sacrifice atoning (cf. 5:9; Eph. 1:7; 2:13; Col. 1:20).107
The full idea of the first part of the verse would then be this. God has publicly displayed Jesus Christ in the gospel as a sacrifice of atonement that satisfied God's wrath and removed our sins. His sacrifice becomes efficacious for those who trust in Him.
The antecedent of "this"(NASB) is the redemption (v. 24) God provided in Christ, as is clear in the NIV translation. Another reason God provided a sacrifice of atonement was to justify (declare righteous) God's own character (i.e., to vindicate Him). This was necessary because God had not finally dealt with sins committed before Jesus died. God had shown forbearance, not out of weakness or sentimentality but because He planned to provide a final sacrifice in the future, namely at the Cross.
"Passed over"(NASB) or "left . . . unfinished"(NIV) is not the same as "forgave."Two different though related Greek words describe these two ideas, paresisand aphesisrespectively. God did not forgive the sins of Old Testament saints finally until Jesus died on the cross. The blood of the animal sacrifices of Judaism only covered them temporarily. God did not exact a full penalty for sin until Jesus died. It is as though the Old Testament believers who offered the sacrifices for the expiation of sin that the Mosaic Law required paid for those sins with a credit card. God accepted those sacrifices as a temporary payment. However the bill came due later, and Jesus Christ paid that off entirely.
3:26 This verse explains the significance of Jesus Christ's death since the Cross. It demonstrates God's righteousness, the subject of Romans, by showing that God is both just in His dealings with sin and the Justifier who provides righteous standing for the sinner. Note that it is only those who have faith in Jesus who stand justified.
Verses 21-26 constitute an excellent explanation of God's imputation of righteousness to believing sinners by describing justification. These verses contain "God's great statement of justification by faith."108To summarize, God can declare sinners righteous because Jesus Christ has paid the penalty for their sins by dying in their place. His death satisfied God's demands against sinners completely. Now God declares those who trust in Jesus Christ as their substitute righteous.
"Justification is the act of God whereby He declares the believing sinner righteous in Christ on the basis of the finished work of Christ on the cross."109
". . . the direct exposition of the righteousness by faith ends with the twenty-sixth verse. If the epistle had ended there it would not have been incomplete. All the rest is a consideration of objections [and, I might add, implications], in which the further unfolding of the righteousness is only incidental."110
The characteristics of justification are that it is apart from the Law (v. 21), through faith in Christ (v. 22a), for all people (vv. 22b-23), by grace (v. 24), at great cost to God (vv. 24b-25), and in perfect justice (v. 26).111
Having shown what justification is Paul went on to reaffirm that it is available only by faith. He proceeded to expound the great theological thesis of 3:21-26. Verses 27-31 state this theme, and chapter 4 elucidates and elaborates it.
3:27-28 There is no place for human boasting in this plan of salvation (cf. Eph. 2:8-9), though the Jews were inclined to boast because of their privileges (2:17, 23). The reason is that God's provision of salvation by faith springs from a different law than salvation by works does.
"One would think that the sinner would love to be forgiven at no cost. Unfortunately that is not the case. After all, sinners have their pride. They desperately want to claim some role in their own redemption."112
Salvation by works rests on keeping the Mosaic Law. This does not mean that the Mosaic Law required works for salvation but that those who hope to earn salvation by their works look to the Mosaic Law as what God requires. God's gift of salvation, however, rests on a different law (principle) that God has also ordained and revealed. This "law"is that salvation becomes ours by faith in Jesus Christ. Faith is what God requires, not works.
". . . He hassent His Son, who hasborne sin for you. You do not look to Christ to do something to save you: He has done itat the cross. You simply receive God's testimony as true, setting your seal thereto. (I often quote I Timothy 1.15 to inquiring sinners: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.' In response to my question, they confess that came' is in the past tense. Then I say, How sad that you and I were not there, so that He might have saved us, for He has now gone back to heaven!' This shuts them up to contemplate the work Christ finished when He was here;upon which work, and God's Word concerning it, sinners must rest: that is faith.) You rest in God's Word regarding Christ and His work for you. You rest in Christ's shed blood."113
3:29-30 Paul continued to appeal to his Jewish audience in these verses as in the former two. If justification is by the Law, God must be the God of the Jews only since God only gave the Law to the Jews. Paul's point was that there are not two ways of salvation, one for the Jews by works and the other for Gentiles by faith. This is only logical, he reasoned, since there is only one God who is the God of all humankind. Paul probably used two separate prepositions in verse 30 ("by,"ek, and "through,"dia) simply for literary variety.114His point was that there is only one method of obtaining God's righteousness.115
3:31 Paul was not saying that the Law is valueless.116Even though he believed in salvation by faith he saw the Law as having an important function. Probably Paul meant that its function is to convict people of their inability to gain acceptance with God by their own works (vv. 19-20).117The Law is not something God has given people to obey so they can obtain righteousness. Man's inability to save himself required the provision of a Savior from God. The Law in a sense made Jesus Christ's death necessary (vv. 24-25).
The point of verses 27-31 is that justification must come to all people by faith alone. Paul clarified here that this fact excludes boasting (vv. 27-28). It is also logical in view of the sovereignty of God (vv. 29-30), and it does not vitiate the Mosaic Law (v. 31).
Paul's readers could have understood faith as being a new method of salvation since he contrasted faith with the law. He began this epistle by saying that the gospel reveals a righteousness from God implying something new (1:17). Was justification by faith a uniquely Christian revelation as contrasted with Jewish doctrine? No. In this chapter the apostle showed that God has always justified people by faith alone. In particular, he emphasized that God declared Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation, righteous because of his faith. One of the present values of the Old Testament is that it shows that God justified people by faith in the past. If Paul could show from the Old Testament that Abraham received justification by faith, he could convince his Jewish readers that there is only one method of salvation (3:29-30).
". . . as in 3:27-31, Paul's purpose is not only to establish the doctrine of justification by faith alone, but also, indeed especially, to draw out the implications of this sola fide[faith alone]. To accomplish these purposes, Paul exposits' Gen. 15:6 . . . This text is quoted in v. 3 after Paul sets up his problem in terms of Abraham's right' to boast (vv. 1-2). Thereafter, Paul quotes or alludes to this text in every paragraph of the chapter, using a series of antitheses to draw out its meaning and implications."118
Paul's original readers would have had another question because of what he had written in chapters 1-4. Is this method of justification safe? Since it is by faith, it seems quite unsure. Paul next gave evidence that this method is reliable by explaining the results of justification by faith.145
"In the first eleven verses we have the blessed results of justification by faith, along with the most comprehensive statement in the Bible of the pure love and grace of God, in giving Christ for us sinners."146
5:1 "Therefore"signals that what follows rests on what has preceded. Paul now put the question of whether justification is by faith or by works behind him. He had proved that it comes to us by faith.
"We must note at once that the Greek form of this verb declared righteous,' or justified,' is not the present participle, beingdeclared righteous,' but rather the aorist participle, having beendeclared righteous,' or justified.' You say, What is the difference? The answer is, being declared righteous' looks to a state you are in; having been declared righteous' looks back to a fact that happened. Being in a justified state' of course is incorrect, confusing, as it does, justification and sanctification."147
The first of the blessings "that came spilling out of the cornucopia of justification"148is peace (cf. 1:7; 2:10). However this is peace withGod (i.e., reconciliation), not just a subjective feeling of tranquillity that is the peace ofGod (Phil. 4:7). Paul had been speaking of God's wrath being poured out on sinners (1:18). Those who stand justified need not fear God's wrath since Jesus Christ has made peace between them and God by His death (cf. Col. 1:20; Eph. 2:14). Note that references to peace and reconcilation frame this pericope (vv. 1, 11).
"Our peace with God is not as between two nations before at war; but as between a king and rebellious and guilty subjects."149
"It is well known that Romans lacks any extended christological discussion per se, but Paul's repeated insistence in these chapters [5--8] that all the believer experiences of God's blessings comes only through Christ develops a very significant christological focus in its own right. Christology, we might say, is not the topic of any part of Rom. 5-8, but it is the basis for everything in these chapters."150
5:2 The second benefit is access (Gr. prosagoge). The idea here is that Jesus Christ enables us to enjoy continuing relationship with God (cf. Eph. 2:17-18; 3:12). Paul spoke of "this grace in which we stand"as the realm into which Christ's redeeming work transfers us. He stressed the fact that our being in this state is an act of God's grace. Our present position in relation to God is all grace, and our justification admits us to that position.
The last part of the verse focuses on that part of our reconciliation that we can look forward to with joyful confidence. Paul had in view the glory that we will experience when we stand in the Lord's presence.
5:3-4 The third benefit of justification is joy in sufferings. Peace with God does not always result in peace with other people. Nevertheless the fact that we have peace with God and a relationship with Him with hope of standing before Him acceptable enables us to view present difficulties with joy. We can rejoice in tribulations because God has revealed that He uses them to produce steadfast endurance and proven character in those who relate to their sufferings properly (cf. Job 23:10; James 1; Heb. 12).
"Our English word tribulation' comes from a Latin word tribulum. In Paul's day, a tribulumwas a heavy piece of timber with spikes in it, used for threshing the grain. The tribulumwas drawn over the grain and it separated the wheat from the chaff."151
"The newborn child of God is precious in His sight, but the tested and proven saint means even more to Him because such a one is a living demonstration of the character-developing power of the gospel. When we stand in the presence of God, all material possessions will have been left behind, but all that we have gained by way of spiritual advance will be retained."152
This quotation helps us see how character produces hope. Hope of glorifying God with our characters when we see Him is in view. Our progress in character development will then testify to God's grace in our lives.
5:5 This hope, the focal point of this pericope, will not suffer disappointment because God loves us and enables us to withstand tribulations. He does this by His Holy Spirit whom He has given to indwell every justified sinner living during and after the time Paul wrote (cf. Acts 2:33; Rom. 8:9). Paul developed the Holy Spirit's ministry to the believer later (ch. 8). The fourth benefit of justification therefore is the indwelling Holy Spirit. Note the progression in these verses from faith (v. 1) to hope (vv. 2-5) to love (v. 5; cf. 1 Cor. 13:13).
"The confidence we have for the day of judgment is not based only on our intellectual recognition of the fact of God's love, or even only on the demonstration of God's love on the cross (although that is important; cf. vv. 6-8), but also on the inner, subjective certainty that God does love us."153
5:6 The depth of God's love (v. 5) becomes clearer in this verse and those that follow (vv. 6-10). Four terms that are increasingly uncomplimentary describe those for whom Christ died. The first is "helpless"or "powerless."The idea expressed by the Greek word (asthenon) is that we were "incapable of working out any righteousness for ourselves."154At that very time Christ died for us.
"At the right time"refers to the fullness of time, the right time from God's perspective (cf. 3:26; 8:18; 13:11; Gal. 4:4). The second term is "ungodly,"a strong pejorative term in Paul (cf. 1:18; 4:5). Even though some people who are lost seek the things of God, everyone neglects God and rebels against God. This is ungodliness.
5:7 This verse prepares for the next one that contrasts with it. Paul used "righteous"here in the general sense of an upright person, not in the theological sense of a person made right with God. People appreciate a good person more than an upright person. Goodness carries the idea of one who is not only upright but loved for it because he or she reaches out to help others.155
5:8 The third term used to describe those for whom Christ died is "sinners"("wicked"; cf. 3:23), neither righteous nor good. Paul here was contrasting the worth of the life laid down, Jesus Christ's, and the unworthiness of those who benefit from His sacrifice. Whereas people may look at one another as meriting love because they are righteous or good, God views them as sinners. Nevertheless God loves them. His provision of His own Son as our Savior demonstrated the depth of His love (John 3:16).
The preposition in the clause "Christ died for (huper) sin"stresses the substitute character of His sacrifice. It also highlights the fact that God in His love for us provided that sacrifice for our welfare.
5:9 So far Paul had referred to four benefits of justification. These blessings were peace with God (v. 1), access into a gracious realm (v. 2), joy in tribulations (vv. 3-5a), and the indwelling Holy Spirit (v. 5b). Still there is "much more"(cf. vv. 10, 15, 17, 20). What Paul next described are benefits that justified sinners will experience in the future. The first of these is deliverance from the outpouring of God's wrath on the unrighteous (cf. 1:18). Jesus Christ's blood is the symbol of His death and the literal expression of His life poured out as a sacrifice (cf. 3:25). Having done the harder thing, namely justifying us when we were yet sinners (v. 8), how much more will He do the easier thing, namely delivering us from coming wrath.
5:10 The fourth and worst term used to describe those for whom Christ died is "enemies."People are not only helpless to save themselves (v. 6), neglectful of God (v. 6), and wicked (v. 8), but they also set themselves against God and His purposes. Even though many unsaved people profess to love God, God who knows their hearts sees opposition to Himself in them. Their antagonism toward Him is the proof of it.
Jesus Christ's death reconciled us to God (cf. 2 Cor. 5:18). The Scriptures always speak of man as reconciled to God. They never speak of God as reconciled to man.156Man has offended and departed from God and needs reconciliation into relationship with Him. It is man who has turned from God, not God who has turned from man.157There are two aspects of reconciliation: one for all mankind (2 Cor. 5:19), and another for the believer (2 Cor. 5:20). Jesus Christ's death put mankind in a savable condition, but people still need to experience full reconciliation with God by believing in His Son.
Jesus Christ's death is responsible for our justification. His continuing life is responsible for our progressive sanctification and our glorification. Having done the harder thing for us, delivering Christ to death to reconcile us to Himself, God will certainly do the easier thing. He will see that we share Christ's risen life forever.
We experience continuing salvation (sanctification) and ultimate salvation (glorification) because of Jesus Christ's ongoing life. These present and future aspects of our salvation were not the direct results of His death, but they are the consequences of His life after death and resurrection (cf. 6:8-13). We have salvation in the present and in the future because our Savior lives. He is still saving us. This verse shows that we are eternally secure.
5:11 Jesus Christ's death reconciled us to God with the effect that one day in the future we will stand before Him complete (cf. vv. 5-10). However we also enter into the benefits of that reconciliation now (cf. vv. 1-4). "This"probably refers to our future salvation, the closest antecedent.
In this section we have observed the following benefits of justification by faith.
1. Peace with God (v. 1)
2. Access into the grace of God (v. 2)
3. Joy in tribulation (vv. 3-5a)
4. The indwelling Holy Spirit (v. 5b)
5. Deliverance from future condemnation (v. 9)
6. Present continuing salvation (v. 10)
7. Union with God (v. 11)
This section of the argument of the book should help any reader realize that justification by faith is a safe method. It is the doorway to manifold blessings that obedience to the Law could never guarantee.
"Totally apart from Law, and purely by grace, we have a salvation that takes care of the past, the present, and the future. Christ died for us; Christ lives for us; Christ is coming for us! Hallelujah, what a Savior!"158
Paul's final argument in support of justification by faith was a development of his previous emphasis on the solidarity that the saved experience with their Savior (5:1-2, 9-10). In this section (5:12-21) he expanded that idea by showing that just as Adam's sin has affected all people, so Jesus Christ's obedience has affected all believers.
"As Adam's one sin never fails to bring death, so Christ's one righteous act in behalf of sinners never fails to being the opposite award to those who are in Him."159
The apostle viewed Adam and Christ as federal heads of two groups of people. A federal head is a person who acts as the representative of many others and whose actions result in consequences that the individuals he represents inevitably experience. Examples of federal heads include a king, a president, a member of congress, and a parent, among others. In this section Paul was not looking at what individual sinners have done, which had been his interest previously. Rather he looked at the one trespass of Adam, namely the Fall, and the one righteous act of Jesus Christ, namely His death, and their consequences for those affected by their acts. Adam's act made all of his descendants sinners. We are sinners not only because we commit acts of sin but also because Adam's sin corrupted the human race and made sinning inevitable for his descendants. Christ's act made all who trust in Him righteous apart from their own works.
"The power of Christ's act of obedience to overcome Adam's act of disobedience is the great theme of this paragraph. . . .
"The main connection is with the teaching of assurance of final salvation in the immediately preceding paragraph (vv. 2b, 9-10). The passage shows why those who have been justified and reconciled can be so certain that they will be saved from wrath and share in the glory of God': it is because Christ's act of obedience ensures eternal life for all those who are in Christ.'"160
5:12 Paul did not call Adam and Christ by name when he first spoke of them but referred to each as "one man."161He thereby stressed the unity of the federal head with those under his authority who are also "men"(i.e., people).
We might interpret this verse as meaning that Adam only set a bad example for mankind that everyone has followed if we did not continue reading. Adam's sin had a more direct and powerful effect than that of a bad example (v. 15).
Paul personified sin presenting it as an evil power. He probably meant both physical and spiritual death.
Why did Paul and God hold Adam responsible for the sinfulness of the race when it was really Eve who sinned first? They did so because Adam was the person in authority over and therefore responsible for Eve (Gen. 2:18-23).
Paul compared the manner in which death entered the world, through sin, and the manner in which it spread to everyone, also through sin. Death is universal because sin is universal. Paul's concern was more with original death than with original sin.
"Death, then, is due immediately to the sinning of each individual but ultimately to the sin of Adam; for it was Adam's sin that corrupted human nature and made individual sinning an inevitability."162
5:13-14 Paul did not carry through the comparison begun in verse 12 here. If he had it would have been "so righteousness entered the world by one man and life through righteousness."Evidently Paul broke off his statement because he wanted to develop the case of Adam. Verses 13-14 explain verse 12. He returned to the thought begun in verse 12 in verse 18.
The point of these verses is that people died physically before God gave the Mosaic Law. If there is no law, there can be no transgression (cf. 3:20). Since death is the penalty for sin, why did those people die? The answer is they died because of Adam's sin. The corporate sinning of all people "in"Adam accounts for the universality of death.
The idea that people should involuntarily suffer punishment because of the sins of another is repugnant to us. Nevertheless as the head of the human race, Adam's actions resulted in consequences that his descendants had to bear. Likewise any representative leader's decisions result in consequences his followers must bear. For example, when our president decides to sign into law some piece of legislation it becomes binding on everyone under his authority. Similarly we all bear physical characteristics that are the product of our parents' action of producing a child. It is just one of the facts of life that we all suffer the consequences of the decisions of those who have preceded us and are over us (cf. Heb. 7:9-10). Some of those consequences are good for us and others are bad for us. We have all been born sinners because of Adam's sin. Some people rebel against God because of this. However, God has promised not to reckon our sins to us if we will trust in His Son (2 Cor. 5:19). He has provided a way to secure pardon.
"Romans Five does not talk of a nature of sin received by us from Adam, but of our being made guiltyby his act. We were so connected with the first Adam that we did not have to wait to be born, or to have a sinful nature; but when Adam, our representative, acted, we acted. . . .
"Every little white coffin,--yea, every coffin, should remind us of the universal effect of that sin of Adam, for it was thus and thus only that death passed to all men.'"163
Adam was a "type"or "pattern"(Gr. tupos) of one who would follow him, namely Jesus Christ. Adam's act had universal impact and prefigured Christ's act, which also has universal impact. The point of similarity between Adam and Christ is that what each did affected many others. Each communicated what belonged to him to those he represented.
"Adam came from the earth, but Jesus is the Lord from heaven (1 Cor. 15:47). Adam was tested in a Garden, surrounded by beauty and love; Jesus was tempted in a wilderness, and He died on a cruel cross surrounded by hatred and ugliness. Adam was a thief, and was cast out of Paradise; but Jesus Christ turned to a thief and said, Today shalt thou be with Me in Paradise' (Luke 23:43). The Old Testament is the book of the generations of Adam' (Gen. 5:1) and it ends with a curse' (Mal. 4:6). The New Testament is The book of the generation of Jesus Christ' (Matt. 1:1) and it ends with no more curse' (Rev. 22:3)."164
5:15-17 The effect of Jesus Christ's act on people was totally different from that of Adam's and vastly superior to it, as "much more"indicates. "Much more"here shows that Jesus Christ did not just cancel the effects of Adam's sin, but he provided more than Adam lost or even possessed, namely the righteousness of God! Paul probably used the phrase "the many"to highlight the importance of Adam and Christ who were individuals (cf. Isa. 53:11-12; Mark 10:45). In the case of Adam, "the many"means all people, but in the case of Christ, "the many"means all who receive the benefit of His act, all believers.
In Adam's case a single sin by a single individual was sufficient to bring condemnation to the whole human race. In Christ's case one act of obedience, which the transgressions of many people made necessary, was sufficient to bring justification to all those who believe in Him (v. 16).
The consequence of Adam's sin was death reigning over mankind. The consequence of Christ's obedience was mankind reigning over death (v. 17). This implies the believer's resurrection and participation in Jesus Christ's reign as well as our reigning in this life.
5:18-19 These verses summarize Paul's point, as indicated by "So then"or "Consequently."They also complete the thought that Paul broke off at the end of verse 12. "Transgression"or "trespass"(cf. vv. 15, 16, 17) highlights the deliberate disobedience of Adam (v. 19; cf. Gen. 2:17). Many will become righteous (v. 19) both forensically (justified), as they believe, and practically (glorified). "The many"here, of course, means the justified.165The obedience of Christ is a reference to His death as the ultimate act of obedience rather than to His life of obedience since it is His death that saves us.
"There is no more direct statement in Scripture concerning justification than we find in verse 19 . . ."166
5:20-21 One of the purposes of the Mosaic Law was to increase the sinfulness of people. It did so at least by exposing behavior that was until then not obviously contrary to God's will. God did this to prove man's sinfulness to him.
"The fact and power of sin' introduced into the world by Adam has not been decreased by the law, but given a new dimension as rebellion against the revealed, detailed will of God; sin has become transgression' . . . [cf. 7:13; Gal. 3:19]"167
However when God provided Jesus Christ, He provided grace (favor) that far exceeded the sin that He exposed when He provided the Law. We could translate "abounded"or "increased"(v. 20) "superabounded."
"The apostle waxes almost ecstatic as he revels in the superlative excellence of the divine overruling that makes sin serve a gracious purpose."168
Verse 21 is the grand conclusion of the argument in this pericope (5:12-21). It brings together the main concepts of sin and death, and righteousness and life. Effectively Paul played down Adam and exalted Jesus Christ.
"Paul often thinks in terms of spheres' or dominions,' and the language of reigning' is particularly well suited to this idea. Death has its own dominion: humanity as determined, and dominated, by Adam. And in this dominion, sin is in control. But those who receive the gift' (v. 17) enjoy a transfer from this domain to another, the domain of righteousness, in which grace reigns and where life is the eventual outcome."169
This section (5:12-21) shows that mankind is guilty before God because all of Adam's descendants are sinners by virtue of Adam's sin. Earlier Paul wrote that we are all guilty because we have all committed acts of sin (chs. 3-4). Jesus Christ's death has removed both causes for condemnation righteously, guilt for personal sins and guilt for original sin. This section helps us understand our union with Christ that Paul explained further in chapter 6.
