ROMANS ROAD
to RIGHTEOUSNESS |
Romans
1:18-3:20
|
Romans
3:21-5:21 |
Romans
6:1-8:39 |
Romans
9:1-11:36 |
Romans
12:1-16:27 |
|
SIN
|
SALVATION
|
SANCTIFICATION |
SOVEREIGNTY |
SERVICE |
NEED
FOR
SALVATION |
WAY
OF
SALVATION |
LIFE
OF
SALVATION |
SCOPE
OF
SALVATION |
SERVICE
OF
SALVATION |
God's Holiness
In
Condemning
Sin |
God's Grace
In
Justifying
Sinners |
God's Power
In
Sanctifying
Believers |
God's Sovereignty
In
Saving
Jew and Gentile |
Gods Glory
The
Object of
Service |
Deadliness
of Sin |
Design
of Grace |
Demonstration of
Salvation |
|
Power Given
|
Promises Fulfilled |
Paths Pursued |
Righteousness
Needed |
Righteousness
Credited |
Righteousness
Demonstrated |
Righteousness
Restored to Israel |
Righteousness
Applied |
God's Righteousness
IN LAW |
God's Righteousness
IMPUTED |
God's Righteousness
OBEYED |
God's Righteousness
IN ELECTION |
God's Righteousness
DISPLAYED |
|
Slaves to Sin |
Slaves to God |
Slaves Serving God |
|
Doctrine |
Duty |
|
Life by Faith |
Service by Faith |
|
Modified from Irving
L. Jensen's excellent work Jensen's
Survey of the NT |
SO THEN AS THROUGH ONE TRANSGRESSION THERE
RESULTED CONDEMNATION TO ALL MEN: ara oun os di enos paraptomatos
eis pantas anthropous eis katakrima: (Ro
5:12,15,19;
3:19,20)
Notice in the translations above how
the KJV rendering leads to an interpretation slightly different than the
other translations (including Young's Literal). Remember translations no
matter how literal can have some interpretative bias which is why it is
always good to go back to the original languages!
So then (ara oun)
is a phrase indicating a conclusion is being drawn. Most commentators
also feel that this conclusion section completes the thought that Paul
broke off at the end of
Romans 5:12.
And so here Paul summarizes the
contrast between Adam and Christ. What is the
conclusion/summary? There are two results - in verse 18 all men
experience either
condemnation (in Adam) or justification (in Christ) and in
verse 19 all men are either made sinners (in Adam) or made
righteous (in Christ).
A T Robertson notes that this
is the
Conclusion of the argument. Cf.
Romans 7:3,
7:25;
8:12,
etc. Paul resumes the parallel between Adam and Christ begun in
Romans 5:12
and interrupted by explanation (Romans
5:13f) and contrast
(Romans
5:15;
5:16;
5:17).
(Word
Pictures in the New Testament)
Guzik observes...
From this passage, Adam and Jesus are
sometimes known as the two men. Between them they
represent of all humanity, and everyone is identified in either Adam or
Jesus. We are born identified with Adam; we may be
born again into identification with Jesus.
The idea of Adam and Jesus as two
representatives of the human race is sometimes called Federal Theology
or Adam and Jesus are sometimes referred to as Federal Heads. This is
because under the federal system of government, representatives are
chosen and the representative speaks for the people who chose him. Adam
speaks for those he represents, and Jesus speaks for His people.
Again, someone may object: “But I never chose to have Adam represent
me.” Of course you did! You identified yourself with Adam with the first
sin you ever committed. It is absolutely true that we were born into our
identification with Adam, but we also choose it with our individual acts
of sin. (Romans 5)
James Montgomery Boice has a
superb introduction to this summary section...
I do not know when or where it
happened, but somebody was sitting in his apartment, getting ready to go
to bed, when he heard his neighbor drop a shoe on the floor above him.
The upstairs neighbor was obviously getting ready for bed, too, and the
man below him waited for the thud of the other shoe. Afterward he must
have talked about it, and the expression “waiting for the other shoe to
drop” became an expressive figure of speech in our language.
Now we come to what we have been
waiting for ever since we started to study Romans 5:12–21. Our
expectation arose because Paul began this great passage with a contrast:
“Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death
through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.
…” But just when we were expecting the second half of that thought, he
broke it off, and everything we have been studying since has in a sense
been a digression, or parenthesis.
In fact, there have been two major
digressions, which it might be helpful to review before proceeding.
First, Paul explained the sense in
which “all sinned.” He did not mean that all have become sinners and
have therefore sinned, though we would naturally think this, but rather
that each of us was declared a sinner because of Adam’s original sin or
transgression. It is true that we also sin and should be condemned for
that, if there were nothing more to be said. But that is not Paul’s
meaning. He meant that all have been accounted sinners in Adam, so that
those who were going to be saved could be accounted righteous in the
Lord Jesus Christ.
Since this digression finished at the
end of verse 14, we again expected the other shoe to drop. But instead
of completing the contrast introduced by verse 12, Paul worked in
another long parenthesis to show the differences between our union with
Adam, on the one hand, and our union with Jesus Christ, on the other.
This second digression started at verse 15 and occupied the next three
verses.
It is only when we get to verse 18
that the second shoe finally falls and we get the full impact of the
contrast. Paul backs up to give it, restating the first part again,
although in slightly different words: “[1] Consequently, just as the
result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, [2] so also the
result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life
for all men.”
There we have it!
But then, lest we have fallen asleep
in the meantime and have somehow missed the point after this long wait,
Paul makes it again in verse 19, adding: “[1] For just as through the
disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, [2] so also
through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.”
(Boice, J. M. Romans. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House)
The 4 major contrasts are seen in
tabular form...
TWO ''ONE ACT''
CONTRASTS
IN ROMANS 5:18-19 |
| |
ADAM |
CHRIST |
Cause
(Act) |
One
Transgression |
One Act
of Righteousness |
|
Effect |
Condemnation to all
(Death) |
Justification of life to all
(Life) |
Cause
(Act) |
(Blatant)
Disobedience
of One |
(Submissive)
Obedience
of One |
|
Effect |
Many Made
Sinners |
Many Made
Righteous |
At first glance this chart suggests
all men will be justified (made righteous) but the context of Romans
and the NT clearly indicates the reference is all men who are
justified by faith alone. Paul is not teaching universalism or that
all men will be justified (saved). Recall that in
Romans 5:17 (note)
Paul speaks of life for those who receive it. The point is that
you don't have to do anything to be condemned. Condemnation is Adam's
"gift" to you. But if you want to be justified, you must receive
God's free gift by grace through faith.
McGee sums up Romans 5:18 as
descriptive of...
the underlying principle of the
imputation (act of crediting or laying responsibility upon) of sin and
the imputation of righteousness. This is the doctrine of the federal
headship of the race in Adam and Christ.
One (1520)
(heis) is the cardinal number one and in this case refers to
Adam's first transgression in eating from the fruit God clearly
commanded he not eat. One transgression is all it took to "infect" the
entire human race (for all originate from Adam) with a deadly "virus"
called "sin".
One transgression - One man
Adam committed one act of selfish disobedience resulting in condemnation for "all men."
Now because of Adam's one transgression, all men are born condemned and are all guilty before God,
fully deserving the eternal flames of
hell. Paul says that the condemnation is universal, coming to "all men"
without exception. Apart from Jesus Christ, the whole human race stands
condemned by Almighty God.
Transgression
(3900)
(paraptoma from para = aside + pipto = fall) is
literally a falling aside and describes a deviation from living
according to what has been revealed as the right way to live.
Paraptoma conveys the idea of a false step and so is translated a
transgression (transgress in English means to to go beyond or
overstep a limit or boundary and is from Latin trans- across +
gradi = to step). There is a subtle distinction between sin
and transgression -- The idea behind transgression is that
we have crossed a line, challenging God's boundaries. The idea behind
sin is that we have missed a mark, God's standard that calls for
perfection, every time!
Adam took one
"false step" and thus crossed over the line God had clearly given him in
Genesis 2:17...
from the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day
that you eat from it you shall surely die.
Condemnation to all men - The entire human
race without exception stands condemned.
Condemnation
(2631)
(katakrima
from katá = against, down + kríno =
judge and so pronounce sentence against) appears only in Romans
8:1,
5:16
;
18. The idea literally is of
judgment "coming down" on someone. Paul says God’s judgment is going to
come down upon all men because of Adam's sin.
Katakrima
means to judge someone as definitely guilty and thus subject to
punishment.
Katakrima relates to the sentencing for a crime, but its
primary focus is not so much on the verdict as on the penalty that the
verdict demands. As Paul has already declared, the penalty, or
condemnation, for sin is death (see
note
Romans 6:23)
All men...all men - Paul is using all men
with two different meanings for the sake of parallelism, a common
practice in the Hebrew Old Testament, which is similar Paul's repetition
of the phrase the many in
Romans 5:15 (note).
The first all covers all humanity who are born into Adam. The
second all refers to that part of the first all who by
grace through faith are reborn into the Last Adam, Christ (Paul
repeatedly emphasizes righteousness and faith - see notes
Romans 1:16;
17;
3:22;
3:28;
4:5;
4:13. To reiterate
- Paul is not teaching universal salvation.)
EVEN SO THROUGH ONE ACT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
THERE RESULTED JUSTIFICATION OF LIFE TO ALL MEN: houtos kai di
enos dikaiomatos eis pantas anthropous eis dikaiosin zoes: (
Ro
3:21,22;
2Pet 1:1) (Jn
1:7;
3:26;
12:32;
Acts 13:39;
1 Cor 15:22;
1Ti 2:4-6;
Heb 2:9;
1Jn 2:20)
One act of
righteousness - This refers not to Jesus' perfectly righteous life
but to His obedient submission to the Cross.
When Christ died, He died for "all men" without exception and without
distinction. In some mysterious sense, His death paid the price for the
sins.
However, the effect of that wondrous death will never be made real in
one's life until one personally by a conscious choice receives God's gift
by simple faith.
Righteousness
(1345)
(dikaioma
from dikaióo = to justify <>
díkaios = just, righteous <> dike = right) refers to what
God has declared to be right.
Vine adds
that
dikaioma
is rightly rendered “act of
righteousness.” It refers to that which Christ accomplished at His
death, and stands in contrast to dikaiosune, righteousness simply as a
quality.
Justification
(1347)
(dikaiosis from dike =
right, expected behavior
or conformity, not according to one’s own standard, but according to an
imposed standard with prescribed punishment for nonconformity) denotes
the act of pronouncing righteous -- justification, acquittal. Dikaiosis
in this passage refers to justification which results in life, the life
He gives us through His resurrection and the sharing of His life with
us.
Regarding the
somewhat difficult to understand phrase justification of life
Kenneth Wuest writes that...
The words of life are genitive
of description in the Greek text, describing the quality of the
righteousness bestowed upon man. It is a righteousness which is
connected with the impartation of spiritual life. In itself, this
righteous standing is a purely legal matter and does not impart life nor
change character. But it is accompanied by the life that God is,
imparted to the believing sinner in regeneration.
(Wuest,
K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: Eerdmans
or
Logos)
All men does not mean all men will be saved, because Scripture
amply attests to the truth that salvation is only for those who
exercise faith in Jesus Christ (see notes
Romans 1:16-17,
3:22,
3:28,
4:5,
4:13; cp similar phrase the
many in
Romans 5:15 [note])
><> ><> ><>
Our Daily Bread - Through one Man's righteous act the
free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life (Romans
5:18).
At noon on January 1, 1863, Abraham Lincoln received the final draft of
the Emancipation Proclamation. Twice the president picked up his pen to
sign it, and twice he laid it down. Turning to Secretary of State
William Seward, he said, "I have been shaking hands since 9:00 this
morning, and my right arm is almost paralyzed. If my name ever goes into
history, it will be for this act, and my whole soul is in it. If my hand
trembles when I sign the proclamation, all who examine the document
hereafter will say, `He hesitated.— The president then took up the pen
again and slowly but firmly wrote, "Abraham Lincoln." That historic act
endeared Lincoln to the world as the Great Emancipator.
One greater than Lincoln and with even surer resolve brought freedom to
the human race. Jesus signed our liberty with His own blood by dying on
the cross to release us from the awful slavery of sin. Oswald Chambers
wrote, "Never tolerate the idea of martyrdom about the cross of Jesus
Christ. The cross was a superb triumph in which the foundations of hell
were shaken. [Jesus Christ]...made the redemption the basis of
human life, that is, He made a way for every son of man to get into
communion with God."
Having trusted the Savior, we are free from sin's condemnation. By His
Spirit we have the power to turn from sin and live for Him. And doing so
is the only way to honor Christ—our Great Emancipator.—D J De Haan (Our
Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by
permission. All rights reserved)
The empty tomb assures a full
salvation.