So we’re about to look at this passage of Romans chapter 5, verses 12 to 21, where Paul is going to explain that Jesus redoes everything that Adam undid. And I gave you the context yesterday in the previous verses of Romans chapter 5. This chapter is about freedom from the judgment of God. And I showed you where those contexts were yesterday. But now let’s look at the passage that is at hand in detail. All right? So it says here, Therefore, just as through one man, Sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned. For until the law, sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed where there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses. Now why is he saying all that, and what does he mean? Sometimes, you know, when we don’t understand a passage, we just slide over it and move on to more comprehensible verses. And we’ve done that many, many times with these verses. We don’t really know what Paul’s on about, so we just go on and read what’s more understandable in a few verses later. But that’s something we need to try to avoid as best we can. We need to take out our brain muscles, as it were, and get concentrating on what he’s trying to say. So let’s explore it in some detail. Just as through one man sin entered the world. Now that’s important. One man brought sin into the world. Not many men, not all men, but one man. And who was that one man? The head of the human race, Adam. Adam brought sin into the world. And death through sin. So Adam did a disastrous thing in taking the forbidden fruit. He brought sin and death to this planet. Without him, it wouldn’t have happened. We didn’t do it, and the people that followed Adam didn’t do it. It was Adam who did it, and we all experienced the consequences. Well, I’m jumping ahead of the story, so let’s see what it says further. And thus, death spread to all men because all sinned. He’s not saying that death spread to all men because they sinned and therefore death spread. He’s saying death spread to all men and the evidence of that is that all sinned and died. Paul is going to make it very clear to us a little later on, and I won’t jump ahead of the story too much, that we all came under the judgment of Adam’s sin, even though we didn’t perform it. Let’s go further and see. Verse 13, For until the law, sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. So he’s saying that sin was in the world way before the law was given. Sin existed from Adam, that is Adam’s fall, right to the time of Moses, thousands of years or thousands or so years, but it was not imputed. It was not charged to human beings. Now, that’s hard to comprehend, isn’t it? Because, you know, Cain sinned and he was marked. And the people before the flood, they all sinned. And as a result, they suffered the flood and were exterminated. So what does it mean when Paul says, for until the law, sin was in the world, or right up until the law, sin was in the world, but it wasn’t imputed. It wasn’t charged to their account. Well, I can only say that sin was not codified. I think that’s really the explanation there. Moses codified sin. He made it clear not to commit adultery, not to murder, not to steal, to have only one God, not to worship idols, and so on. And once he had codified it, then sin came under a very specific judgment. But before that time, sin was being committed, and men were dying for sin, and yet there was no direct imputation of judgment. And yet then he says, nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses. So even though sin was not imputed, that is, the sin of Adam was not charged to the world, the consequences and the judgment of sin,
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was, in effect, imparted upon them.
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That is death. Do you see what it says again? Let’s read it one more time. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses. Death reigned. Where does that death belong? It belongs to Adam’s sin. God said to Adam, in the day that you eat of the fruit of that tree, you will surely die. Now, that death came upon the whole human race, even though the sin of Adam was not imputed to them. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam. What is Paul getting at? I’m very conscious that I haven’t explained that very well, and you may sort of be scratching your head and saying, what in the world is Colin talking about? Sometimes I say the same to myself. The point is, as best we can get at it, that Paul is saying that the world came under the effect and the judgment, not only the effect but also the judgment, of Adam’s sin, even though the world did not sin Adam’s sin. Let’s read it again. Nevertheless, well, let’s read verse 13. For until the law, sin was in the world, that is the sin of Adam, the effects of it, the judgment of it, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam.
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What is he getting at? Well, the next line, the next phrase gives us a clue. who is a type of him who was to come.
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Oh, okay, so Paul is leading towards the argument that Adam is a type of Jesus Christ, so that Jesus Christ is a second Adam, or actually the primary Adam, the primary head of the human race, the son of man. Now, what Paul is going to tell us is that Jesus Christ did something in which we had no part, and yet the judgment of it came upon us all. The judgment of what? Righteousness. Jesus lived a righteous life before God, and it is charged to our account, even though we had no part in it, just as Adam did something that the world had no part in, sinning, and thus bringing the reign of sin and death upon the world in which the world had no part.
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Let’s try to say that again.
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Adam committed a sin, and we came under not only the consequences of that sin, death, but also the judgment of it. That will come a little later. In the same way, Jesus committed a wonderful life and act of righteousness, and we had no part in it, and yet we experience all the benefits of it. Many people say, I didn’t ask to be born into this world. I remember my son saying that to me one day. In despair almost, he said, I didn’t ask to be born into this world, Dad. And the truth is, the message of Jesus is that, and you didn’t ask to receive all the blessings of this world in Christ either, but you get them.
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The wonderful gospel message is that we are all going to be beneficiaries
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of Christ’s righteousness, benefactors, I should say. Is that right? Beneficiaries, I think, isn’t it? Of Christ’s righteousness. We benefit, we get all the goodness that Christ performed and all the goodness that he had before the Father, all his righteousness, in which we had no part. just as we suffer the sin and the sorrow and death of Adam in which we had no part. And so that takes away ultimately, once we believe and realize our feeling that life is not fair.
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It’s true. Life is not fair.
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We are suffering Adam’s sin. We didn’t take part in Adam’s sin. We are victims of Adam’s sin. But we don’t stay victims because Jesus has brought the blessing and the victory of his righteousness. And it is all accounted to us as if it were ours, even while we were sinners, even while we were enemies, before we ever came to believe. It is all counted as if it were ours. God treats this world as if it were righteous. Even though he has to bring judgments upon this world, they are not judgments to destroy, but to rejuvenate and to bring life back into the planet and to bring us to a place of repentance and humility. God is in the work of redeeming the world, not damning it, because of what Christ did on our behalf in which we had no part.
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So when you ask yourself,
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How is all this fair? How come I was born into this world without being asked? How come when I was born into this world I discovered that I was a sinner? How come I was born into this world and have suffered so much pain and sorrow and grief when I didn’t even ask to be here? And God is saying to you, look, I assure you, my son, my daughter, I have sent my Son that you did not ask for and have brought blessings upon you that will be eternal that you never even asked for or dreamed for. But I am giving back to you all that was lost. I will restore to you all that was lost in Adam. For in a life you never lived and in a death you never died. you may base your whole eternity I appreciate your joining me today, Colin Cook. This is And This Is How It Happens, this broadcast that you can hear on KLTT radio, AM 670 in the Denver and Colorado and surrounding states at 10 o’clock in the evening and at 4 in the morning repeated. That’s on weekdays, Monday through Friday. But you can also hear the broadcast any time of the day or night on your smartphone. Simply download a free app, soundcloud.com or podbean.com and key in how it happens with Colin Cook when you get there. Please make a donation or consider it, would you? The funds are very low at the moment. They always are, as a matter of fact, but sometimes it’s worse than others. So if you’d like to make a donation, send it to P.O. Box 366, Littleton, Colorado, 80160, or make your donation online at faithquestradio.com. Thanks so much. See you next time. Cheerio and God bless.
