Lesson 12 – Romans Chapter 5:9-21
So far, in chapter 5 of Romans we’ve learned that we are made right with God through the faith that we have. If we have little faith, meaning a small amount, it’s still enough to save us as far as God is concerned.
We were also shown, that as Christians, we’re going run into troubles and obstacles along the way as we run the race that God has set before us… and with that, much growing will take place in our life.
We are told that Jesus came to this earth at just the right time… God’s timing is always perfect.
And finally, God showed His love for us, that even though we are sinners, He still came here to die for us so that we could become righteous before Him.
Rom. 5:9
“Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.”
The blood of Jesus is superior to the blood of animal sacrifices.
Heb. 10:4
“For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.”
We are, justified by His blood. By His blood, means that death took place for Jesus, but even more than that, life happened… when Jesus was raised to life.
Justified by His blood is such a packed statement, it encompasses everything that took place at the cross. When Jesus said that “it was finished”, it meant that the work that was set before Him was completed.
All people who put their “faith” in the completed work of Jesus Christ, transition from being dead spiritually, to being alive in Christ. They can now enjoy an eternal relationship with God and celebrate their salvation.
“We shall be saved from wrath through Him.”
In the beginning of this chapter, we found that if a person didn’t belong to God, they didn’t have “peace” with God. Anyone not belonging to God will ultimately face the wrath of God, they will be cast into outer-darkness.
Eph. 2:3
“All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger (Wrath), just like everyone else.” (NLT)
I Thess. 1:10
“And to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.”
By shedding His blood, Jesus took upon Himself the penalty of sin and suffered the wrath that every one of us deserves.
Rom. 5:10
“For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”
“For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son.” (NLT)
To be an enemy of God; this is man’s condition before God because of his sin.
Other descriptions of being an enemy;
a. opposing (God) in the mind.
b. a man that is hostile toward God.
c. the devil who is the most bitter enemy of the divine government.
There is no benefit in being God’s enemy.
“We were reconciled to God through the death of His Son”
Reconciled (kat-a-llas’-so) means: return to favor with, or to receive one into favor.
The one who is reconciled to God is a child of God.
Here are some words that describe the children of God; righteous, justified, faithful, and sanctified, these all translate into a child of God being reconciled through Jesus Christ.
“Much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life”
If God had the power and the will to redeem us in the first place while we were His enemy, how much more, does He have the power and the will to keep us redeemed?
If Jesus dying for our sins reconciled us to God, then surely Jesus living will keep us reconciled to Him!
Rom. 5:11
“And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.”
We also rejoice…
Matt. 5:12a
“Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven.”
I Peter 1:8
“Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,”
It’s okay to be joyful about the fact that now you’re born-again, Jesus has redeemed you and you’re going to heaven. Rejoice, our redemption is a gift from God. By Paul saying that we rejoice in God, it’s safe to say that this is a normal thing to do once you’re saved.
• What can cause a believer to lose their joy?
Rom. 5:12
“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—”
“When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.” (NLT)
As believers we have been reconciled to God by what Jesus did on the cross.
Therefore… now we will see a comparison between Adam and Jesus. Through one man sin entered the world, this is speaking of Adam, his actions caused sin and death to enter into the human race.
• Were Adam and Eve the first to sin?
Satan was the first to sin, John tells us he’s been sinning from the beginning.
I John 3:8
“But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil.” (NLT)
We’re not told when that beginning was, but satan was there in the garden tempting Adam and Eve to sin.
John MacArthur says, “Paul’s argument begins with the assertion that, through Adam sin entered into the world. He does not speak of sins, plural, but of sin, singular. In this sense, sin does not represent a particular unrighteous act but rather the inherit propensity to unrighteousness.”
When Adam sinned he destroyed the innocence that was within him, so now all of his descendants inherit his unclean spirit… and we are all descendants of Adam.
“Death spread to all men, because all sinned—”
The second thing we have to deal with is death. If Adam hadn’t sinned he wouldn’t have died. Adam had only one restriction in the garden, he was told to never eat from the “tree of knowledge of good and evil.” Adam and Eve believed the lies of satan and disobeyed God.
Rom. 6:23a
“For the wages of sin is death.”
Eph. 2:5a
“That even though we were dead because of our sins,”
There are three kinds of death that have to be dealt with; spiritual death, physical death, and eternal death.
But know this, there is no reason whatsoever for the believer to fear death at all.
Heb 2:14-15
“Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death.
Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.” (NLT)
Jesus broke the power of sin, death, and satan all at once… Praise the Lord!
Rom. 5:13
“For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.”
People sinned even before the law was given. But it was not counted as sin because there was not yet any law to break.
“But sin is not imputed” means set to one’s account. It didn’t count against them because during that time there was no law.
Rom. 5:14
“Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.”
Everybody died, death was universal even though there wasn’t any law in place. Man didn’t sin in the specific way Adam did, but they still had a sin nature. (For all have sinned)
“Who is a type of Him who was to come.”
Adam was a type of Jesus, in that, through his one action, “all” of humanity had been affected.
In the same way Jesus’ one act on the cross, including His resurrection, has an effect on “all” who commit their life to Him.
Rom. 5:15
“But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.”
This is similar to the description about Adam being a type of Christ.
“But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ.” (NLT)
The works of Adam and Jesus are not just simply opposite, some might say that they’re hostile to one another. One brought death, the other brings eternal life.
Jon Courson; “Not only did Jesus Christ come through for us, but He came bringing gifts to us. It is the wise man, the intelligent woman who understands that, although Adam caused problems and pain, sin and death… Jesus heaps unmerited, undeserved, unearned favor of God upon us. The first Adam let us down, but the last Adam… our Hero, our Champion, Jesus Christ… rains grace upon us.”
Rom. 5:16
“And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification.”
“But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ.” (NLT)
As we have seen, there is a major contrast between Adam and Jesus…
From Adam: comes condemnation… a damnatory sentence, causing censure or damnation. “All” descendants from Adam, left to their own will face damnation.
From Jesus: comes justification, simply put… His grace, mercy, and forgiveness.
Paul uses the phrase, “free gift.” It is always important to point out that this refers to our salvation, and that it’s a free gift from God, a person just needs to receive it… they can’t work for it.
The last part of verse 16 speaks of Justification, this doesn’t refer to our justification by faith, but to the practical working-out of our faith through righteous acts.
Rom. 5:17
“For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.”
“For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.” (NLT)
God hates sin so much that it only took one sin to condemn the entire human race, but on the other hand, greater than God’s hatred of sin is His love for the sinner.
Here we have the contrast of two “reigns”
With Adam… death reigns. Genesis chapter 5 is referred to as “the book of generations”, we see the grave repetition of the phrase “and he died” 8 different times, except for Enoch;
Gen. 5:23
“So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.”
Was death Adam’s desired result? No, Adam and Eve wanted to become like God, but when they disobeyed the opposite happened, they became “unlike” God. From their disobedience, now death reigns.
“Who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness.”
This is talking about our own salvation. Once we are saved we can expect an abundance of grace, which we will see in verse 20, “But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” And again, we see salvation as the gift of righteousness, God’s free gift to us. When God repeats things in His word, be alert, pay attention. The phrase “gift of righteousness” is only used this one time in the bible, but the thought of salvation is being repeated here.
Rom. 5:18
“Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.”
Therefore, since we’ve seen the superiority of Jesus over Adam, Paul is repeating for us, through Adam came sin and condemnation…
The word offense means trespass… crossing over the line, an act of disobedience, sin.
Through Jesus, one Man’s righteous act comes life… the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.
This refers exclusively to those who trust in Jesus.
Rom. 5:19
“For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.”
God told Adam how far he could go, and Adam decided to cross the line (the disobedience of one), he trespassed beyond the point of no return and destroyed all humanity in “one fell swoop.”
Some might say, “You’re being pretty hard on Adam by placing all the sin in the world, all the bad things we have to go through, like sin, death, and disease… all the pain and suffering of this life… it’s all on him?” Yes!
Know this, that if each one of us were tested by God individually, we would all fall short.
Here’s Paul point, if all of this “junk” we have to go through in life is all because of one guy screwing up, then just start thinking of the opposite of this… that everything good, everything wonderful, every blessing, will come to us because of the single righteous act of another Man, Jesus.
Crossing way over the line, to the good side is… Jesus… the obedience of One.
“Many will be made righteous.” That is, believers are actually being established or “made righteous.” Through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, the believer who has been declared righteous by God is continually becoming more righteous. God never stops working in us.
Phil. 1:6
“Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;”
Psalm 92:12-14
“The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green,”
So, if anyone ever calls you a “sap,” take it as a compliment.
As God continues in His sanctifying work in us, we will grow in righteousness and bear much fruit.
Okay guys, we’re going to go a little deep now…
Rom. 5:20
“Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more,”
The word that comes into play here relating to this scripture is antinomian (an-ti-no-me-an) which means: relating to the view that, Christians are released by grace from the obligation of observing the moral law.
The word antinomian comes from an ancient Greek word that literally meant “against law.” Dictionary.com defines antinomian as “a person who maintains that Christians, by virtue of divine grace, are freed not only from biblical law and church-prescribed behavioral norms, but also from all moral law.” In other words, an antinomian sees himself as under no obligation to follow any type of moral code. He is completely free. This is not Paul’s point!
Rom. 7:12
“But still, the law itself is holy, and its commands are holy and right and good.” (NLT)
John MacArthur speaking of the Law; “God gave the law through Moses as a pattern for righteousness but not as a means of righteousness. The law has no power to produce righteousness, but for the person who belongs to God and sincerely desires to do His will, it is a guide to righteous living.”
Nevertheless, God’s own law had the effect of causing man’s offence or transgression to increase. With the law in place, man could see how sinful he is.
Rom 7:7
“What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”
“But where sin abounded,” abounded here is translated, “superabound.”
“Grace abounded much more,” abounded here is translated, to abound beyond measure, abound exceedingly.
In short, we can say that God’s grace will always over-power sin. Sin can never exceed the grace that comes from God, sin loses its threat when compared to the exceeding grace of God.
Rom. 5:21
“So that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
“So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (NLT)
This is a declaration from Paul… perhaps we can envision Paul standing on a hill-top and waving a flag of victory.
This is great news, to know and understand that God’s grace “can” always be victorious over sin. I use the word “can,” meaning that not everyone enjoys God’s grace, it’s always a matter of choice.
Titus 2:11
“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,”
II Peter 3:9b “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”
God’s grace is offered to all (Titus 2:11); however, it is not received by all.
Matt. 7:13-14
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
Let’s always remember that God’s grace will continually defeat sin, but also not everyone is connected to God’s grace. When you have the opportunity, tell someone about God’s amazing grace!