Lesson 65

Grace Reigns in Life Over Sin's Reign of Death

Romans Chapter 5:12-21

Review:

Why is Man a Sinner?? Born a Sinner!! The Real Story of Roots!!

1. The link with Adam 5:12-14

Therefore; Dia. tou/to draws a conclusion from something previous; because of this

just as = begins a comparison which he doesn't finish here;

one man = Who is the one man??

sin entered into the world

- The sin; Adam's org. sin which resulted in judgment , receiving a sin nature;

- the verb entered is aorist; speaks of an historic event in time.

- Adam actually was not the first to sin, Eve was, but Adam being created first, was established by God as the head of the race and was held responsible by God; she was deceived; Adam sinned.

- the world; ko,smoj does not refer to the physical earth; but the world of people, the human race as a whole.

and death through sin

- The first consequence of sin and the judgment that followed is death;

- Death = separation; 1st it was spiritual, separation from God; process of dying physically began.

- Why is physical death important and emphasized here??

Believe that it is because physical death is the overt proof of the reality of spiritual death.

- and so death spread to all men,

Lit. in this way also the death spread to all men, notice the universal nature of the judgment

- because all sinned

- This ties us, all of mankind back to Adam's original sin.

- When the Inherited sin and the imputed sin of Adam come together the result is death and condemnation.

- If this is interpreted as personal sin then the implication is that we all sinned and deserved death because we followed the example of Adam.

Summarize Why Man is a Sinner 5:12

1. Define some terms: First Sin:

a. personal sin; choices made in violation of the expressed will of God

b. inherited sin; sin nature which is a part of the flesh, this body of corruption, perishable; 1 Cor 15:42,50;

c. imputed sin; the sin of Adam imputed to the human race.

2. Chart of Inherited and Imputed sin

3. This verse truly paints a very dark picture of man's status as long as he is linked to Adam.

4. Death is the effect; what's it's cause?? Sin

5. When we finally understand where we began this life [in Adam, under condemnation, subject to death] it should help us to understand just how much God has done for us in providing us our salvation in Christ.

6. To the western mindset this concept of solidarity of race or racial head, all in Adam or in Christ is strange but it is compatible with the teaching of Scripture.

7. Because of this principle, solidarity of race, every person is born physically alive but is also under condemnation therefore spiritually dead.

8. If you feel that what this says is unfair, need to consider this; God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them." 2 Cor 5:19

5:13 What about the time when there were no rules to break?? What then?

What about the time before the law was given??

- For until the law sin was in the world that is between Adam and Moses; there were no rules to break; no stop signs to erect; no divine standards given to man during this time.

- So if there were no rules to break how are we going to argue that the affect of Adam's sin was on all mankind, even during this period?

Where you have the effect, death, there must also exist the cause; what is the cause of death?

- Point Paul makes here is not that there was no sin but that the sin was not imputed it was not credited to their account.

- We must be careful and not interpret this to say that there was no sin during this time.

5:14 "Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses,"

- the proof that sin existed, that it was in the world during that time; was death;

even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type, [tupos] of Him who was to come.

- those who lived during this period clearly did not sin as Adam did; there was no willful violation of a direct command from God as was the case with Adam; yet they died;

Observations:

1. These verses demonstrate that Paul viewed Genesis and Adam - as historical fact;

2. To deny the reality, the fact of Gen 1-3 is to deny the biblical answer to the origin of sin. or Why man is the way he is?

3. No sin is trivial, Adam sinned but once, and the whole race went down the drain.