[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.
(Romans 5:12-21 ESV)
5:12–21 The reign of grace and life
The power of Christ's obedience to overcome Adam's act of disobedience is the great theme of this paragraph. Paul presents both Adam and Christ as 'representative figures' whose acts determine the destiny of all who belong to them. Just as Adam has sinned, and through his sin, brought sin and death to all who belong to him (12a, 18a, 19a), so also Christ has obeyed, and through his obedience brought righteousness and life to all who belong to him (18b, 19b). The emphasis lies on the 'so also' part of the comparison. Paul assumes the truth of Adam's sin and the reign of death that it introduced, a doctrine found elsewhere with varying emphases in Jewish literature. What Paul wants to teach us here is that Christ's giving of himself on the cross has similarly established a reign—but a reign of life rather than death, of grace (see vs 15–17, 21) rather than of just deserts. Believers can be certain of living eternally because we have been transferred into this new realm in which grace and life reign (21). This teaching of the certainty of life in Christ supports what Paul has taught in 5:1–11. We can be sure of final salvation (9–10) because our relationship to Christ guarantees that we will 'reign in life' (17).
Paul begins to state his key point about the parallel between Adam and Christ in v 12, but interrupts himself before he finishes. We have, therefore, a just as with no corresponding 'so also' (most English translations signal the break in thought with a dash at the end of the verse). Only in vs 18–19 does Paul come back to state the full comparison. This just as clause presents the universal effects of the sin of the one man, Adam: it has brought death into the world and in this way (e.g. through sinning) caused death to spread to all people. Many scholars think that the 'death' Paul refers to here is physical death only (Sanday-Headlam, Godet, Murray); a few, that it denotes 'spiritual' death only. But it probably includes both, separation from fellowship with God and physical mortality as the judgment of God on sin.
The last clause of the verse explains why death spread to all men, because all sinned. (As is almost universally recognized, the Greek eph hō must be translated 'because'.) This may mean simply that every person dies because every person, in his or her own body, sins. But Paul's stress on the way in which one trespass, the disobedience of the one man, led to sin and condemnation for all people (this idea is repeated in vs 10a and 19a) suggests that in v 12 also he is thinking of a sinning of all people that takes place in relationship to Adam. What he may intend is that all people sin (12) because they inherit a corrupted 'sin nature' from Adam (18–19). But vs 18–19 suggest a closer relationship between Adam's sin and ours than this. It is therefore better to think that the sinning of all people in v 12 is a sinning that actually takes place 'in' Adam. Paul may think of this in a 'biological' sense: all human beings sinned in Adam because we were all seminally 'present' in him (see, for a possible parallel to this idea, Heb. 7:10). Or he may think of this solidarity in a 'forensic' sense: as our God-appointed representative, Adam's sin is accounted by God to be the sin of all people at the same time, and it is by reason of this sin that all people die. In any case, the important point for Paul, and for us, is that all people, by virtue of their relationship to Adam, are sinners under sentence of death.
Paul breaks off the comparison he began in v 12 to insert two digressions, vs 13–14 and vs 15–17. The first guards Paul's teaching in v 12 about the universality of death from the possible objection that people could not be held responsible for their sins if they did not 'transgress' the law of Moses (cf. 3:20 and 4:15). Paul responds simply by asserting the reality of universal death throughout the time before the giving of the law through Moses. The second digression (15–17) highlights two points of contrast between Adam and Christ. There is, first, a contrast in the effect of their actions: Adam's trespass brought condemnation (16) and death (17); Christ has brought justification (16) and righteousness (17). Secondly, there is a contrast in the power of these acts. Adam's act has certainly been powerful enough, bringing as it has, sin, death and misery on all the world. But, Paul asserts, how much more powerful is Christ's act and its effects (15, 17). This is because the grace of God is at work through Christ, and God's grace has power to more than conquer any act of Adam's.
In vs 18–19 Paul finally states the full comparison between Adam and Christ. The verses are parallel, each of them comparing the way in which Adam's trespass/disobedience has brought condemnation and sinfulness to the way in which Christ's one act of righteousness/obedience has brought justification and righteousness. But does the parallel between them extend to the universal effects of these results? This might seem to be the case, since Paul asserts in v 18 that the effects of both Adam's act and Christ's extends to all men. Yet Paul elsewhere plainly repudiates the idea that all people will be saved (e.g. Rom. 2:12; 2 Thes. 1:8–9), and v 17 also makes clear that it is only those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and the gift of righteousness who will reign in life. Therefore, we must understand the universalism of v 18 in terms of the representative significance of each individual: the effects of Christ's action extend to all who belong to him, just as the effects of Adam's action extend to all who belong to him. All people, without exception, belong to Adam (12); but only those who come to faith, who 'receive the gift', belong to Christ (see also 1 Cor. 15:22–23).
The paragraph concludes with a further remark about the law (20) and a final summing up. The fact that Paul again mentions the law (cf. also vs 13–14) reveals how much Paul is preoccupied with 'Jewish' issues in Romans. His point here is that the law of Moses has done nothing to change the situation of sin and death introduced into the world by Adam. Indeed, the law has made things worse, increasing the trespass by turning sin against God into a more serious rebellion against his explicit commands (see the comments on 4:15). Yet even where sin thus 'increased', God's grace increased all the more. As a result, Paul concludes, the reign of death has been replaced by the reign of grace for those who are in Christ, bringing to us a new status of righteousness (cf. 3:21–4:25) and leading inevitably to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Note. 12 Therefore in the NIV translates dia touto, 'because of this'. In this context, the word dia probably has a 'final' meaning—'for the sake of, with the purpose of'—and touto is probably retrospective, referring back to the certainty of salvation theme in vs 9–10. The whole phrase, then, has the sense 'with the purpose of securing this final salvation'.
New Bible commentary: 21st century edition. 1994 (D. A. Carson, R. T. France, J. A. Motyer & G. J. Wenham, Ed.) (4th ed.) (Ro 5:12–21). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press.
--
Regards,
Ryan Chia
Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Mission exists
because worship doesn't. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is
ultimate, not man.
*From John Piper, Let The Nations Be Glad*
No comments:
Post a Comment