Romans 5:12

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--

Paul now begins a new section of Romans. He spent from chapter 3:21 to 5:11 talking about justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone and the implications of that great doctrine. Now Paul, although he beings this section of the letter with “Therefore,” is kind of starting over. He’s going to take to the end of chapter 8 basically to say, “I said this already. You get it. Now here’s the meat behind the milk. I gave you the simple basics of man’s situation before the Holy God of the universe, and I gave you the provision that God has graciously and mercifully and lovingly made to reconcile His people to Himself by this doctrine called justification. And justification is by grace through faith. Now I’m going to go back so you can understand what’s backing everything I’ve told you.” We need to understand the doctrine behind the lifestyle application of justification in order to have consistency.

Paul starts here with “Therefore.” He is basically saying, “Since, or now that, we have received reconciliation through Christ, we must now realize that just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.” We won’t actually see that phrase until v18. It takes Paul that long to summarize and adequately support the statements that he makes along the way. Paul says, "You understand that all of mankind is sinful because of our deeds. We fail to glorify God as God, as Who He is. That’s sin. And we’ve all done it. But why? Why have we sinned? Let’s see why we’re all sinners. And it begins with our relationship to Adam." I think Peter must have been talking about this portion of Paul’s letter when he said that there are same hard things to grasp in Paul’s writings, because this can be very difficult to grasp.

Think of your sinfulness in light of the fact, not only that you have actually acted against God, but that you were “in Adam,” you are under Adam, the federal (or family) head and representative of all mankind (except for Christ Himself), and when he sinned and rebelled against God, you are justly condemned. We are held responsible for Adam’s sin. Just as David represented Israel when he fought Goliath, who represented the Philistines, so Adam spoke for all mankind. Just as genetic conditions are passed from parents to children, and the children have no say in it, so it is with sin. We inherit the condemnation that comes from being a descendant of Adam. And this seems unfair to most people today, but it’s effectively the doctrine of original sin. We sin because we are sinners; we are not sinners because we sin. This was the historic position of Augustine in the early church, and we see here that it’s the position of the apostle Paul. And it’s hard to accept, but it’s not that hard to understand. It’s not just because we do certain sins that we are called sinners; it’s that those sins flow from a nature which is itself corrupted by sin at its core. Ephesians 2:3 “We were by nature objects of wrath.” And note that the reason Paul is raising this point is so that we will be able to contrast Adam and being in Adam (negative) with Christ and being in Christ (positive). See v18 for the summary.

Paul’s argument is that all have sinned in Adam, not that they have individually sinned as a consequence of Adam’s sin, though that’s true, but that all of humanity actually sinned in Adam. Adam’s sin was imputed to us or credited to our account. Just as Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us, so Adam’s sin was imputed to us. Now you might not buy that, but see the rest of this passage:

In v15, Paul says, “For many died by the trespass of the one man.” Notice, he didn’t say the many died because of their own sins. That might be true, but that’s not what he said. The many died because of the trespass of one man. Notice v16. He speaks of the result of the one man’s sin, not the result of your sins, but the result of the one man’s sin. Notice the second half of v16. He says the judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation. In v17 he says, “By the trespass of one man, death reigned through that one man.” He doesn’t say sin reigned through the trespasses of all. That would be true, but that’s not what he said. It’s through the trespass of one man. V18: The result of the one trespass was condemnation for all men. In v19, through the disobedience of one man, the many were made sinners. Clearly throughout this passage Paul is concerned with Adam’s sin, and it’s implications for us. Sin is radical. It has invaded humanity. And by nature, by descending from a sinner, we are guilty, sinners from conception.

Finally, understand that Adam stood in for you, and as he stood in for you, and as he rebelled against God, you are implicated in that rebellion. It’s likely that you don’t like that. And Paul says, “You shouldn’t like that. But there’s only one way out; and that’s to get a new representative, and He’s the One that I want to tell you about—Jesus Christ. But Paul isn’t to that point in his argument yet, so we'll get there in the week to come.