Last week we looked at Romans 5:6-11 and appreciated one of
Paul’s portraits of salvation. In it Paul explained how Jesus served as the
substitutionary atonement for believers. To this end, Paul employed typology,
or an interpretative device in which an Old Testament
image/person/institution/etc. prefigures something in the New Testament. In
Romans 5:6-11, the Old Testament image of the ram that served as Isaac’s
substitute on Mt. Moriah, prefigured an even greater substitute—Jesus Christ
who died for the sin of the ungodly.
In Paul’s next portrait of salvation he is going to make use
of another Old Testament type—Adam, the father of the human race. In Romans
5:12-17, Adam’s relationship with the human race and its implications is going
to be placed alongside Christ’s relationship with the redeemed and its many
implications. The result is an incredible statement about salvation’s
life-giving power for the believer. Therefore, without any hesitation, let’s
look at two available spiritual health-care programs that people can choose
from in Romans 5:12-17.
a) A Program of Death-5:12-14
As Paul moves into verse 12, he is going to showcase how
salvation allows the believer to move from death to life. The type that Paul
wants the reader to remember in this passage involves the first man—Adam—and
the program he led. He begins by saying, “Therefore, just as through one man
sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all
men, because all sinned” (5:12).
One important element to highlight about the statement Paul
makes here is that the word “man” in Hebrew (‘adam) is also the name “Adam.” The very name of Adam therefore
suggests that he serves as a representative of the human race (Moo, ZIBBC 3, 31). When Adam sinned in the garden (Gen. 3), sin not only entered
his life, but the world and all of humanity within it.
Though many believe that most diseases are picky about hosts
and limited to particular species, there are a whole host of infections called
zoonoses that can cross between the human world and the animal kingdom. In
fact, many disease-carrying parasites are not picky about hosts at all and
certain human diseases have been known to decimate animal populations. One such
disease includes the Black Death (also called Bubonic Plague). This
plague brought civilization to its knees. Corpses piled in the streets from
Europe to Egypt and across Asia. Some 75 million died — at a time when there
were only about 360 million to start with. Death came in a matter of days, and
it was excruciatingly painful. Bubonic plague was a bacterial disease that was
carried by rodents and even cats. However, it became most deadly to humans when
transmitted between people as became the case in the 1300s. Another
example is Ebola. This widespread threat to gorillas and chimps in Central
Africa may have spread to humans from people who ate infected animals. It is
now transmittable human-to-human, by contact with the blood or body fluids of
an infected person. It has killed a few hundred people in each of several
outbreaks going back to the mid-1970s. (disease facts taken from
livescience.com)
However, as Paul reveals in 5:12, there is a disease that is
even worse that the Black Death or Ebola in both scale and acuity—sin. It began
with Adam, spread instantly to the whole world—humanity, creation, animal
kingdom, etc.—and results in death.
Every person reveals that he/she is infected with this
pathogen because “all sinned.”
Romans 3:10-“there is none righteous, not even one”
Romans 3:23-“For all have sinned and fallen short of
the glory of God”
However, though sin and death spread to all people, not
everyone knew that they were infected—“for until the Law sin was in the world,
but sin is not imputed when there is no law” (5:13). Though sin existed before
the law, the emergence of the Mosaic Law provided God with an opportunity to
record sin as a violation of specific commands and prohibitions (Moo, ZIBBC 3, 33).
With the advancement of medicine, doctors and scientists
have become far more aware of what afflicts people and more understanding of
what is responsible for someone’s death. However, various cancers, neurological
diseases, and other maladies certainly existed before they were discovered or
before they had a name. It is not as though we didn’t have these problems
before their discovery. The same is true with sin. Sin doesn’t require a
written law to exist or to take effect, but it does require a written law to be
recognized, understood, and analyzed.
In fact, as Paul continues he says “nevertheless death
reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the
likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come,…”
(5:14). Sin did not lie dormant until Moses wrote the law. Instead sin and
death “reigned” in the period before the law. This verb means to “rule
completely.” It’s root comes from the same word as “kingdom” and it envisions a
monarch with total control over his/her domain and those who inhabit it.
For sin to rule someone’s life, one does not/did not have to
sin as Adam did in the garden. They just have to transgress the law of God in
some way shape or form. Everyone has done this and as such, everyone has
enlisted in a program of death in a world that continues to be ruled by sin.
Many diseases have the potential of controlling an individual’s
life. Diabetes can control what a person eats/should eat. Neuroses can inhibit
a person’s ability to relate to others and the world around them in an
appropriate way. Muscular disorders and/or neurological disorders can even
control the way a person moves. However, no disease is as debilitating and
controlling as sin which infects all of a person’s faculties and inclinations
and distorts an individual’s relationship with God and others.
This program of death that has infected the entire world was
brought on when the first man and head of the human race--Adam—sinned. This
makes Adam a type that foreshadows one who would come after him. This is what
Paul means when he says “Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come,…” (5:14).
Thankfully, Adam’s antitype leads and antithetical program—a program of life. However,
it is “only by grasping the seriousness of the first (Adam) that one is able to
appreciate the remarkable magnanimity of the second (Christ)” (Mounce, Romans, 140).
b) A Program of
Life-5:15-17
Paul begins his presentation of Adam’s antitype and his
corresponding antithetical program with this comment “BUT (in contrast to the
program Adam ushered in as head of the human race earlier) the free gift is not
like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died,
much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus
Christ, abound to the many,” (5:15). Much unlike the program of death that Adam
instigated because of sin, the program of life that Christ offers is given by
God’s grace. Paul believes that the grace of God is “much more” than the death
that comes with sin inasmuch as “God’s grace is infinitely greater for good
than Adam’s sin is for evil” (NIVSB). Here, he employs a style of argumentation
that employs the following model—“If A, how much more B.” If Adam’s sin led to
pervasive wickedness and suffering, how much more will Christ bring grace and
life!
Diseases are compelling and to be taken seriously. However,
how much more compelling and serious is the cure/antidote!
As sin and death finds its root ultimately in the sin of the
first man, grace and life find its root ultimately in the ministry of Jesus—“and
the gift of grace by the one Man, Jesus Christ” (5:15). In this way, Christ
serves as Adam’s antitype. Adam’s actions led to a program of global sin and
death. Jesus’ actions highlight a program that transforms for eternity the life
and destiny of all who are in him—“the many.”
As Paul continues to explain the program of life that is
found in Jesus he employs yet another pattern of argumentation. Not only “if A,
how much more B” but “A is not B”—“the gift is not like that which came through
the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one
transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift
arose from many transgressions resulting in justification,…” (5:16). Everything
is covered in this program—any and all sin is covered by the grace of God
offered by God and resulting in justification!
This is a good thing, for, a bad infection, if allowed to
progress too far, will overwhelm the body. At a certain point, when an
infection/disease metastasizes to a certain extent, doctors are forced to say something
to the effect of “there is nothing more we can do.” In the same way, sin, if
undealt with, leads inevitably to condemnation. This is how the program of
death unfolds. However, the program of life is not like this. The free gift of
God’s grace inoculates those infected by “many transgressions” thereby curing
the recipient’s sin problem, saving them from certain death. These are
justified before God—rendered clean—and able to live in meaningful relationship
with God and man!
Paul concludes this portrait of salvation with a final
argument—(another example of if A, how much more B)—“For if by the transgression
of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the
abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through
the One, Jesus Christ” (5:17). Adam’s sin left the world under the rule and
domain of sin. Jesus’ grace might be framed as a kind of coup d’état in which
righteousness usurps the reign of sin in the lives of those who believe. When
righteousness reigns in a person, life abundant follows. This is a far cry from
the sin and death found in Adam’s program earlier.
“Beginning at v. 12
we enter Paul’s extended contrast between Adam (the first man) and the result
of his sin and Jesus Christ (the ‘second man’) and the gracious provisions of
his atoning life and death…Adam typifies the sinful condition of all humans (1:18-3:20).
Jesus stands for the justification received by faith (3:21-5:11). Redemption is
the story of two men. The first man disobeyed God and led the entire human race
in the wrong direction. The second man obeyed God and provides justification
for all who will turn to him in faith. No matter how devastating the sin of the
first, the redemptive work of the second reverses the consequences of that sin
and restores people to the favor of God” (Mounce, Romans, 139-40).
So What?
There are two kinds of people in the world—those who follow
a program of death as evidenced by their earthly father Adam, and those who
endorse a program of life as evidenced by a relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus,
acting as a second Adam, inverted what was distorted at the fall and provided a
way to life and justification before God! Jesus is the cure for mankind’s
problem of sin and death! However, what makes the good news of this cure so
amazing is that it is available to everyone as a gift of grace. It is not only
for those who can afford it, those with a particular insurance plan, those who
look a certain way, or those who belong to a particular ethnic group. It is a “free
gift” offered to you, your family, your friends, your neighbors, this community,
your enemies, etc.
Who do you know that is still afflicted by sin and running
the risk of condemnation? Who do you know is still without the antidote to
death and advancing through the stages of iniquity?
May this passage remind those who know the cure to share it
with those still infected. I know many who are willing to give health advice
and who are quick to recommend doctors for the physically ailing. How many of
us can say that we are as eager to share Jesus—the great physician and cure for
mankind’s most existential threat? He alone can bring people out of death and
into life. May He be forever praised!
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