INSIGHTS ON IMPUTATION
Romans 5:12-21
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This
passage is a transitional area between the Doctrine of Justification in
chapters 3-5 and the Doctrine of Sanctification in chapters 6 and
following. This is a passage of
sources. It presents the source of our condemnation: Adam.
And it presents the source of our justification: Christ. As
we read this passage, I want to suggest that verses 13 through 17 are
parenthetical. Paul sets out to present
a comparison between Adam and Christ.
Verse 12 contains the “AS” clause.
The “EVEN SO” clause that is needed to finish the comparison is taken up
again in verse 18. THE
ENTRANCE OF SIN AND DEATH (ROMANS 5:12) Therefore,
just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and so
death spread to all man, because all sinned (Romans 5:12).
Paul
begins with a protasis (“just as”). He
is going to compare the way that sin entered the world through one man with the
way that salvation is provided by one man.
He begins by pointing out three things that happened through Adam. 1. Sin entered the world. This is what happened in the Garden of Eden. Sin was not a part of original creation. It had no place in the original design. It was an aberration. The fact that sin is here
today means that something took place to make the world a different place. 2. Death entered the world through that sin. Death is not natural.
Just as sin is an aberration, so also death is also an aberration. The nature of sin is the mutilation of
life. Sin brings about death. 3. That death spread to all mankind (because all sinned). “Because all sinned” is the aorist tense. It
describes a point in time. It looks to
the time of Adam’s sin. There is a sense
in which all people sinned when Adam sinned because he was the federal head of
the human race. There are four
interpretations of this phrase: (1) All have sinned in their own persons. (2) All are corrupt - everyone has inherited
a sin nature from Adam. (3) All mankind was mystically and
genetically in Adam and so all sinned. (4) All sinned in Adam in the sense that
Adam is the federal head of the human race. I want to suggest that it is this last interpretation
that we are to understand. Just as
Christ's righteousness has been credited to us, so Adam’s sin was first imputed
to us as our federal head. When Congress declared war on In the same way, Paul assumes the federal headship of
Adam as a foregone conclusion. Because
Adam sinned and rebelled against God, all mankind similarly entered that
rebellion. Notice that sin did not come by “one woman.” The woman was not the head of the human race. Man was responsible, even though it was the
woman who first sinned. Why? Because man was the woman’s
head. This was not an especially new or innovative
concept. What was new was that the same
thing also applied to Jesus. The
distinctive aspect of Paul’s teaching will be that CHRIST is also a federal
head. SIN
PRIOR TO THE LAW (ROMANS 5:13) Paul
started verse 12 with a protasis: “Just as...” We would expect this to be followed up with
an apodosis: “Even so...” But he
doesn’t do this. Instead, he stops in
mid-sentence to explain what he means when he says that “all sinned.” He will not come back to protasis/apodosis
until verse 18 (and at that time, he will repeat the protasis). What
does Paul mean when he says that “all sinned”? He does not mean that all sinned
individually. He means that all sinned
in Adam. For
until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed where there is no
law. (Romans 5:13). Paul
has already demonstrated that sin and death always go together (Romans 3:23). Wherever you see one, you will also see the
other. Satan always tries to divide
them. “You shall not surely die.” And the world has always believed this
lie. You cannot sin with impunity. If you sin, you will soon smell the odor of
death. Here
he brings up another point. It is that
sin existed without law even though, by strict definition, there is no sin
without law. The syllogism goes like
this:
It
is impossible to sin when there are no commands to sin against. It is impossible to break the speed limit
when there is no speed limit. Prior to the Law, “sin was in the world” (imperfect tense). There was no Law until
Sin
is not imputed where there is no law
(Romans 5:13c). You cannot disobey God's
law unless He has given a law. Anyone
living after Adam but before Moses could not break any of God's laws because
God had not given any laws. On
the other hand, people continued to die during the period between Adam and
Moses. However,
the penalty of death was not inflicted upon men because of their transgression
of the Law. Therefore, the reason that
death reigned from Adam to Moses was because of Adam's sin. DEATH
PRIOR TO THE LAW (ROMANS 5:14) Paul
was familiar with the Jewish way of thinking that says, “If I can just keep the
Law, then I will be okay.” But people
were suffering death, the effects of sin, during a period when there was no
Law. They were getting speeding tickets
in a place where there was no speed limit. 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. (Romans
5:14). If
sin always is accompanied by death, then how could death reign in the period
from Adam to Moses if sin had not been legally imputed? It is because Adam’s sin WAS imputed. We
often ask, “What about the man in The
answer is found in the imputation of Adam’s sin. Adam’s sin was imputed to all of his
descendants, even though they had not sinned in the same way that Adam had
sinned. In this way.
Adam was a type of Christ (“a type of Him who was to come” - 5:14). Adam was a type of Christ in this respect - that he served as a federal head of many. He sinned.
His actions were imputed to others. Christ
also served as the federal head of many.
He performed a single act - dying upon the cross. And His actions were imputed to others. In the eyes of the law, all who were
identified with Christ were also crucified. THE
TRANSGRESSION VERSUS THE GIFT (ROMANS 5:15) Up
to this point, we have seen the similarities between the act of Adam and that
of Christ. Each served as the “federal
head” of mankind, whose actions affect all men.
But now there is a change.
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. (Romans 5:15). Adam
is a type of Christ - actually an "anti-type." He was similar to Christ in one respect. It was in that his action brought about a
result on the part of many.
If
it is certain that we all die through Adam's sin, it is even more certain that
we have received the grace and the gift of God.
If we had no part in the first, then we also have no part in the second. Here
is the point. While it is certain that
death comes, it is even more certain that we have salvation in Christ. And
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. (Romans 5:16). 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.
How
did 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! For
if by the transgressions 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. (Romans
5:17). Notice
the progression within this verse. It
moves from grace to righteousness to life.
This
is important. Grace is the source of
everything that we have. On the basis of
grace, we receive the righteousness of Christ.
And life only comes after we have received that righteousness.
The human race got off to a
bad start in Adam. But the human race
gets a new start in Christ. 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. ONE MAN (ROMANS 5:18-19) So then as
through one transgression there resulted in condemnation to all men, even so
through one act of righteousness there resulted in justification of life to all
men. 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. (Romans 5:18-19). Through one man’s
disobedience the many were classified as sinners. The word carries with it the idea of
placing a person in a certain category.
This is the imputation of Adam’s sin.
It had the effect of placing all men into the category of “sinner.”
Does
this mean that all men are justified?
Yes. All men who are in Christ
are justified just as all men who are in Adam are condemned. Just as Adam’s sin affected all those who
were members of his race, so also Christ’s righteousness affects all those who
are members of His race through faith.
Your identity is found in one of two persons. It is found either in Adam or else it is
found in Christ. You
might be saying to yourself, “I don’t like the idea of Adam representing
me.” I don’t either. But I did something about it. I repudiated the representation of Adam by
accepting a new representative - Christ.
We
can summarize these imputational truths into three
points: (1) Adam’s sin was imputed to us in the
Garden. (2) Our sins were imputed to Christ when He
was upon the cross (this is the basis for the doctrine of a particular
atonement). (3) Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us
when we believe. This is why
justification is by faith. This
means that you do not focus upon yourself for your salvation. You focus upon what God has done. This means that God is the One who gets the
glory in your salvation (note the three times in verses 1-11 where Paul speaks
of boasting in God. THE
ROLE OF THE LAW IN JUSTIFICATION (ROMANS 5:20-21) And
the Law came in that the transgression might increase; but where sin increased,
grace abounded all the more, that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace might
reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
(Romans 5:20-21). Why
does Paul go back and speak of the Law again?
This is a reference back to verse 14.
He is still contrasting that which brought sin versus that which brought
salvation. There
was a time when the Law came in. The Law
was not the main actor upon the stage.
It came on the scene to perform a specific purpose. It came that “the transgression might
increase.” How does the Law bring
increased sinfulness? There are several
ways. ·
By contrast. The deeds of sin are pointed out as being
wrong and so are made much more wrong than if they had not been pointed out. ·
By stirring up
man’s sinful nature. When the law
forbids, there is something within us that desires to do that sin. ·
By bringing out
what is within man. Why
was the Law given if it would produce these results? It was to cause us to run to grace. It was so that “grace might reign through
righteousness.”
Here
is the point. Grace can come to man on
the When
Martin Luther began his odyssey toward understanding the doctrine of
justification, he came face to face with the righteousness of God. He deemed God’s righteousness to be his
enemy. It was the righteousness of God
that condemned him for the helpless sinner that he was. But then, he read in the book of Romans the
concept that grace reigns through righteousness. That made all of the difference in the
world. Instead of God’s righteousness
being the source of his condemnation, he came to realize that God’s
righteousness was the source of his justification. Sin
is described in verse 21 as “having reigned.”
Sin is pictured as sitting upon a throne and reigning over mankind. The sign of sin’s sovereignty is death. Christ came to dethrone sin. He replaces sin with GRACE. Grace now sits upon the throne. And the righteousness of God will not unseat
grace because it was that very righteousness that put it there! Return to Stevenson Bible Study Page |
