Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 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. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.— Romans 5:18–21
The First Adam
To understand these verses, we must recall the very first pages of the Bible. If you are not familiar with the story of the creation of the world and the fall of humanity, it might be helpful to pause and read the first three chapters of Genesis before continuing on in this study. In the opening chapters of the Bible, we learn that God gave Adam a task and a prohibition. The task was to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Gen. 1:28). As part of this task, Adam was to have a family and spread out across the earth as a responsible caretaker for God’s creation. God made Adam and placed him in the Garden of Eden, which was the only cultivated place on earth. Adam’s task was also to make the rest of the earth cultivated as well by “subduing” it. In addition to this task, the Lord gave Adam a prohibition: “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:17). Adam’s relationship with God had clear expectations and parameters. Adam knew what God wanted him to do and what he was not allowed to do. Adam also knew the consequences for failure. As long as he obeyed God, he would live; but if he disobeyed, he would die. As Paul highlights in Romans, Adam represents the whole human race. As the first human (remember, Eve had not yet been created when God forbade Adam from eating the fruit), Adam stood in, so to speak, for all future humans. If he was obedient and earned the reward of life, then eternal life would also belong to the rest of humanity. Likewise, if he failed, his failure and its consequences would be passed on to the entire human race. Adam, as we know, failed to obey God. He stood idly by while Eve spoke with the serpent and ate the fruit. Then he himself ate. By this one trespass, sin and death entered the world and sin now infects every single person. This is what Paul means when he says that “one trespass led to condemnation for all men, . . . by one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners” (Rom. 5:18–19; see also Rom. 5:12–17). Adam’s sin is inherited by every person, which means every person is born condemned, or guilty, before God. His sin pollutes each and every one of us; we are “made sinners” because we are sons and daughters of Adam. The effects of sin permeate and sully every part of us as human beings.
The Second Adam
Paul contrasts Adam’s act of disobedience with the act of another man, Jesus Christ. Jesus was, in a very real sense, a second Adam. He was God in the flesh. Conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, Jesus did not inherit the guilt and pollution of Adam’s sin. He, like Adam, was born righteous and good. Unlike Adam, Jesus did not fail to obey God. He perfectly followed God’s will and law all of his life. Jesus alone deserved and earned eternal life, but he did not ask for it. Instead, in his crowning act of righteousness, Jesus freely took the penalty for our unrighteousness. Jesus’ one act of righteousness was to fulfill the Father’s plan of salvation by dying on the cross for the sins of his people. In Philippians 2:8, Paul teaches us that Christ “humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Christ’s death, as we have seen already in the book of Romans, is the reason sinners can be justified. Paul describes God as “just and justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Rom. 3:26). In other words, God’s justice is not compromised when he declares a sinner righteous, because the punishment for their sins has already been borne by Christ. God is just. God is also the justifier. He is the one who pronounces a sinner righteous—not because they naturally are but because Christ’s righteousness is given as a gift to them, received by faith. This is how justification and life come to all humanity through Christ.
But Wait! There’s More!
Jesus doesn’t stop at taking the penalty for our sins and removing our guilt. He also wants to remove the pollution of sin from our hearts. Michael Horton writes,
Just when we think the good news is as good as it gets ( justification), Paul tells us that there is more good news to come. It is not separate from the good news of justification, but follows upon it: God has not only seen to it that we will be justified by grace through faith because of Christ, but that we will be sanctified and glorified in this way as well.
By the power of the Holy Spirit, Christians are declared righteous, and by Christ’s “obedience the many will be made righteous” (Rom. 5:19). The life of a Christian is marked by an overall and continual growth in holiness. Paul makes it clear that Christian obedience is not under the law but under grace. In other words, as believers, we don’t obey God to earn eternal life. Remember the law has one lesson: You are a sinner and can’t earn eternal life! Rather, as believers, we obey the law of God out of gratitude for the grace God has shown us in Christ. Our Christian life is to be marked by thankful obedience to the God who loved us while we were still his enemy.
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This is an excerpt from Core Christianity’s Bible Study, Romans. You can get the whole study here: Romans.
Footnotes
Michael Horton, “Union With Christ: The Double Cure,” Modern Reformation, July/August 2006, https://www.whitehorseinn.org/article/union-with-christ/.
