02.09. Chapter 5A
CHAPTER 5A The Glorious Results of Justification by Faith: Peace With God, a Standing in Grace, Sure Hope of Coming Glory, Present Patience, Joy in God. Romans 5:1-11. The Two Representative Men, Adam and Christ, Contrasted: Condemnation and Death by Adam to All in Him, Justification and Life by Christ to All in Him. Romans 5:12-19. By the Law, Sin Became Trespass; but GRACE TRANSCENDED ALL! Romans 5:20.
Grace Now Reigns, "Through Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 5:21. THIS GREAT CHAPTER naturally falls into two parts: In Romans 5:1-11 we have the blessed results of justification by faith, along with the most comprehensive statement in the Bible of the pure love and grace of God, in giving Christ for us sinners. In the second part, Romans 5:12-21, God goes back of the history and state of human sin, (which in Romans 1:2-32, Romans 2:1-29, Romans 3:1-20 have been before us) to Adam, as our representative head, who stood for us, and whose sin became condemnation and death to us; and shows us Christ, as the other representative Man (whom Adam prefigured), by His act of death on the cross bringing us justification and life. The emphasis in this great passage will be in each case upon the fact that the act of the representative, and not of the one represented, brought the result to pass.
Romans 5:1 : Therefore having been declared righteous on the principle of faith--We must note at once that the Greek form of this verb "declared righteous," or "justified," is not the present participle, "being declared righteous," but rather the aorist participle, "having been declared righteous," or "justified." You say. What is the difference? The answer is, "being declared righteous" looks to a state you are in; "having been declared righteous" looks back to a fact that happened. "Being in a justified state" of course is incorrect, confusing, as it does, justification and sanctification. "Whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever." The moment you believed, God declared you righteous, never to change His mind: as David says, "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin" (Romans 4:8). If therefore you are a believer, quote this verse properly, and say, "Having been declared righteous on the principle of faith I have"--these blessed fruits and results which are now to be recorded. The Epistle takes on a new aspect in each chapter: in Romans 3:1-31, Christ was set forth as a propitiation for our sins; in Romans 4:1-25, Christ was raised for our justification; in Romans 5:1-21, we have peace with God through Christ, a standing in grace, and the hope of the coming glory.
We have three blessings, then, in this first part of our chapter: (1) peace with God, in looking back to Calvary where Christ made peace by His blood; (2) a present standing in grace, in unlimited Divine favor; and (3) hope of the glory of God--of being glorified with Christ when He comes.
We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ--"Peace" means that the war is done. "Peace with God" means that God has nothing against us. This involves:
1. That God has fully Judged sin, upon Christ, our Substitute.
2. That God was so wholly satisfied with Christ’s sacrifice, that He will eternally remain so--never taking up the judgment of our sin again.
3. That God is therefore at rest about us forever, however poor our understanding of truth, however weak our walk. God is looking at the blood of Christ, and not at our sins. All claims against us were met when Christ "made peace by the blood of His cross." So "we have peace with God." [103]
[103] As to the Greek text having the subjunctive in Romans 5:1, we believe that the Authorized Version and the American Revised Version are correct in reading "we have peace" rather than the English Revised Version, "Let us have peace." See Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Darby, Meyer, Godet and many others. The whole context proves that "we have peace" is correct, for the passage is not an exhortation, but an assertion of facts and results, true of all those declared righteous or justified.
"If Thou hast my discharge procured, And freely in my place endured The whole of wrath Divine:
Payment God will not twice demand, First at my bleeding Surety’s hand, And then again at mine!" Our peace with God is not as between two nations before at war, but as between a king and rebellious and guilty subjects. While our hearts are at last at rest, it is because God, against whom we sinned, has been fully satisfied at the cross. "Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" does not mean peace trough what He is now doing, but through what He did do on the Cross. He "made peace" by the blood of His cross. All the majesty of God’s holy and righteous throne was satisfied when Christ said, "It is finished." And, being now raised from the dead, "He is our peace." But it is His past work at Calvary, not His present work of intercession, that all is based upon; and that gives us a sense of the peace which He made through His blood. [104]
[104] The Romanist will go to "mass" and "confession"; and the Protestant "attend church"; but neither will find peace with God by these things. Prayers, vows, fastings, church duties, charities--what have these to do with peace?--if Christ "made Peace by His blood"! This peace with (or towards) God must not be confused with the "peace of God" of Php 4:7, which is a subjective state; whereas peace with God is an objective fact--outside of ourselves. Thousands strive for inward peace, never once resting where God is resting--in the finished work of Christ on Calvary. [105]
[105] The difference may be brought out by asking ourselves two questions: First. Have I peace with God? Yes; because Christ died for me. Second, Have I the peace of God in quietness from the anxieties and worries of life in my heart? We see at once that being at peace with God must depend on what was done for us by Christ on the cross. It is not a matter of experience, but of revelation. On the contrary, the peace of God "sets a garrison around our hearts and thoughts in Christ Jesus," when we refuse to be anxious about circumstances, and "in everything (even the most trifling’ affairs) by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let our requests be made known unto God." Every believer is at peace with God, because of Christ’s shed blood. Not every believer has this "peace of God" within him; for not all have consented to judge anxious care and worry as unbelief in God’s Fatherly kindness and care.
"I hear the words of love, I gaze upon the blood;
I see the mighty Sacrifice, And I have peace with God.
" ’Tis everlasting peace, Sure as Jehovah’s name;
’Tis stable as His stedfast throne, For evermore the same.
"My love is oftimes low, My joy still ebbs and flows; But peace with Him remains the same, No change Jehovah know.
* * * "I change, He changes not, God’s Christ can never die; His love, not mine, the resting-place, His truth, not mine, the tie."
--(Bonar)
Romans 5:2 : Look a moment at the second benefit: Through whom also we have had our access into this grace wherein we stand--The word "also" sets this blessing forth as distinct from and additional to that of peace with God. Through Christ, in whom they have believed, there has been given to the justified "access" into a wonderful standing in Divine favor. Being in Christ, they have extended to them the very favor in which Christ Himself stands. Notice that the words "by faith" (as in A.V.) here should be omitted. It is not by an additional revelation, and acceptance thereof, that believers come into this standing in grace. It is a place of Divine favor given to every believer the moment he believes. In Romans 6:14 we are to be told that we are under grace, not law. It is a glorious discovery to find how fully God is for us, in Christ. [106]
[106] Sanday quotes Ellicott’s translation: "Through whom also we have had our access," and adds, "have had’ when we first became Christians, and now while we are such." And Darby comments: "We are not called on to believe that we do believe, but to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, by whom we have access, and are brought into perfect present favor, every cloud that could hide God’s love removed; and can rejoice in hope of the glory of God."
Now, as to this third great matter: We rejoice in hope of the glory of God. This is the future of the believer: to enter upon a glorified state, glorified together with Christ, as it is in Romans 8:17. It is not merely to behold God’s glory, but to enter into it! "When Christ, who is our life, shall be manifested, then shall we also with Him be manifested in glory" (Colossians 3:4). "The glory which thou has given Me I have given unto them" (John 17:22). We shall speak of this further, in its place in Chapter Eight. The translation "exult" rather than "glory," or "boast," suits Paul’s meaning here. So in the next verse, we exult in our tribulations. It is an inner, joyful confidence, rather than an outward glorying or boasting before others, although this latter will often necessarily follow!
Romans 5:3-4 : And not only so, but we also exult in the tribulations [which beset us]: knowing that tribulation is working out endurance: and endurance [a sense of] approvedness [by God]; and [the sense of] approvedness works out a state of hope--So now we find that not only does the believer look back to peace made with God at the cross; at a God smiling upon him in favor; and forward to his coming glorification with Christ, but he is able also to exult in the very tribulations that are appointed to him. Paul constantly taught, as in Acts 14:22; 2 Thessalonians 3:3, that "through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God," and that "we are appointed unto afflictions." The word means pressure, straits, difficulties; and Paul had them! "Pressed on every side, perplexed, pursued, smitten down"; "in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watchings, in fastings; by evil report, . . . as chastened, and not killed; as sorrowful,--yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things!" (2 Corinthians 4:8; 2 Corinthians 4:9; 2 Corinthians 6:4-10). He regarded these as "our light affliction" said he, "which is for the moment, and is working for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory," (2 Corinthians 4:17); and so Paul "took pleasure" in them! (2 Corinthians 12:10).
We need to take a lesson from the martyrs, who lived in the freshness and strength of the early faith of the Church of God, who often sang in the midst of the flames! We hear today of Just the same courage where persecution and trial are greatest. We can but give here a testimony from Russia that will reach all our hearts. It is a classic on suffering for Christ’s sake. [107]
[107] 1. A letter that lately came out of Northern Siberia, signed "Mary," reads: "The best thing to report is, that I feel so happy here. It would be so easy to grow bitter if one lost the spiritual viewpoint and began to look at circumstances. I am earning to thank God for literally everything that comes. I experienced so many things that looked terrible, but which finally brought me closer to Him. Each time circumstances became lighter, I was tempted to break fellowship with the Lord. How can I do otherwise than thank Him for additional hardships? They only help me to what I always longed for--a continuous, unbroken abiding in Him. Every so-called hard experience is just another step higher and closer to Him." Another recent letter from "Mary" reads, "I am still in the same place of exile. There is a Godless Society here; one of the members became especially attached to me. She said, "I cannot understand what sort of a person you are; so many here insult and abuse you, but you love them all" . . . She caused me much suffering, but I prayed for her earnestly. Another time she asked me whether I could love her. Somehow I stretched out my hands toward her, we embraced each other, and began to cry. Now we pray together. My dear friends, please pray for her. Her name is Barbara" In a letter a month later, "Mary" writes; "I wrote you concerning my sister in Christ, Barbara. She accepted Christ as her personal Savior, and testified before all about it. We both, for the last time, went to the meeting of the Godless. I tried to reason with her not to go there, but nothing could prevail. She went to the front of the hall, and boldly testified before all concerning Christ. When she finished she started to sing in her wonderful voice a well-known hymn, I am not ashamed to testify of Christ, who died for me, His commandments to follow, and depend upon His cross!’ The very air seemed charged! She was taken hold of and led away." Two months later, another letter came from "Mary": "Yesterday, for the first time, I saw our dear Barbara in prison. She looked very thin, pale, and with marks of beatings. The only bright thing about her were her eyes, bright, and filled with heavenly peace and even joy. How happy are those who have it! It comes through suffering. Hence we must not be afraid of any sufferings or privations. I asked her, through the bars, Barbara, are you not sorry for what you have done?’ No,’ she firmly responded, If they would free me, I would go again and tell my comrades about the marvelous love of Christ. I am very glad that the Lord loves me so much and counts me worthy to suffer for Him.’" The Divine process is as follows: God brings us into tribulations, and that of all sorts; graciously supplying therewith a rejoicing expectation of deliverance in due time; and the knowledge that, as the winds buffeting some great oak on a hillside cause the tree to thrust its roots deeper into the ground, so these tribulations will result in steadfastness, in faith and patient endurance; and our consciousness of steadfastness--of having been brought by grace through the trials,--gives us a sense of Divine approval, or approvedness, we did not before have; and which is only found in those who have been brought through trials, by God’s all-sufficient grace. This sense of God’s approval arouses within us abounding "hope"--we might almost say, hopefulness, a hopeful, happy state of soul.
Romans 5:5 : And [our state of] hope does not make us ashamed: because God’s love [for us] is poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us. Furthermore, then, no matter how much the world or worldly Christians may avoid or deride us, this hopefulness is not "ashamed," or is not "put to shame": because there is supplied the inward and wonderful miracle of the consciousness of God’s love shed abroad in our hearts through that second mighty gift of God to us (Christ Himself being the first),--the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Paul now takes up this "love of God" in what is, as regards Gods sheer grace, the highest place in Paul’s epistles. It is the greatest exposition in Scripture of God’s love, as announced in John 3:16 : "For God so loved the world .that He gave--." Ephesians unfolds the marvelous heavenly calling into which God’s grace has brought us. But, as to God’s love itself, what it is, we must come to the present verses of Romans: as John says, "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:10).
First of all, the indwelling Holy Spirit, given freely to all believers, sheds abroad in our hearts this love of God--making us conscious of it in a direct inner witness: and that especially in times of trial or need. A THREE-FOLD VIEW OF GOD’S LOVE FOR US--SINNERS
Next, we see three stages of our sinnerhood, each connected in a peculiar, fitting, and touching way with God’s love.
1. Romans 5:6 : For Christ,--we being yet helpless [in our sins], at the appointed time died for ungodly ones--The fact of man’s total moral inability is stated here in the gentlest possible terms. It is a bankruptcy of all moral and spiritual inclination toward God and holiness, as well as of power to be or do good. Yet into a scene of helplessness like this, God sends His Son,--for what? To die for the "ungodly." No return or response is demanded: it is absolute grace--for the ungodly.
Romans 5:7 : For scarcely for a righteous man will anyone die: though perhaps for a good man some one might even venture to die--Paul proceeds with his wonderful pean of praise concerning God’s love: Among men, while for a sternly honest man no one would die, yet some one might be found to venture death for a "noble" person, one of generous-hearted goodness. But what of God’s love?
2. Romans 5:8. God commendeth His own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us--Now "sinning" is a stronger word than "strengthless": but it is strong in the wrong direction! Strengthless indeed toward God and holiness, we were all; yet vigorous and active in sin. And what did God do? What does God here say? It was while we were thus sinning that Christ died for us! And thus doth God "commend" [108] His peculiar love toward us. It is most astonishing, this announcement that God is "commending" this love of His for us,--a love "all uncaused by any previous love of ours for Him." [109] Salesmen "commend" their wares to those whom they deem able and willing to buy them. God "commends" His tender love to us; for He loved us as wretches occupied in sin, unable and unwilling to pay Him or obey Him. This is absolute grace.
[108] "Proves, as in Romans 3:5" (Meyer); "establishes" (Godet); "confirms" (Calvin); "manifests" (Haldane); "gives proof of" (Alford); "demonstrates" (Williams); "commendeth" (Sanday). The English word "commendeth" happily covers the double meaning of the Greek: (1) approving or establishing things, and (2) recommending persons (Romans 16:1).
[109] "In sovereign grace He rises above the sin, and loves without a motive, save what is in His own nature and part of His glory. Man must have a motive for loving, God has none but in Himself, and commendeth His love to us’ (and the His’ is emphatic as to this very point), in that, while we are yet sinners, Christ died for us; the best thing in heaven that could be given for the vilest, most defiled, and guilty sinners" (Darby).
3. Romans 5:10 : For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the DEATH of His Son, much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved in His LIFE.
Now, "enemies" is a much worse word than either "strengthless" or "sinners"; it involves a personal alienation and animosity. "The mind of the flesh is enmity against God . . . not subject to the law of God, neither, indeed, can it be." What a condition! And yet, while we were going about avoiding and hating God, that same God was having His Son, Christ, meet all the Divine claims against us by His death on Calvary!
Mark that, while we were enemies, He did this. No change of our hateful attitude was demanded by God before He sent His Son. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that God loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." Grace, brother, grace,--unasked, undesired, and, of course, forever undeserved,--Divine kindness! "When the kindness of God our Savior, and His love toward man appeared, not by works which we did ourselves, but according to His mercy. He saved us."
Here, then, whoever you are, read your record: strengthless, sinning, hating: then you can begin to conceive of, if you will believe, this sovereign, uncaused love which God here in this great passage "commends" to you. Do not try to be "worthy" of it; for offers to pay, by an utter bankrupt, are not only worthless, but an insult to grace! Self-righteousness seeks to discover in itself some cause for that Divine favor that God declares has its only source in Himself and His love. "Strengthless"--"sinners"--"enemies"--such were we all, and God sent His Son to die for us as such!
Now let us not dare try to get God to be reconciled to us through our prayers, our consecration, our works. We were reconciled to God while His enemies, through the death of His Son. One who has believed is overwhelmed to find that this reconciliation was effected while he himself was an enemy to God; and so the "much more" gets hold of his heart: I was reconciled by His death while I was an enemy: how much rather, now that I have accepted this reconciliation and share Christ’s own risen life, shall God pour His salvation-favor upon me! I was an enemy then, and God gave Christ for me; now that I am God’s friend, He cannot do less! [110]
[110] To illustrate reconciliation: Suppose I am the master of a school and I make a rule that there is to be no profane swearing. I write that rule on the blackboard, and the whole school sees and hears it. The penalty I announce, too: there is to be a whipping if any one breaks the rule. Now, there is a boy named John Jones in my school, a boy I am fond of. At recess-time he swears. Everybody hears him; I hear him; everybody knows I hear him. When I call the school to order, all the scholars are looking at me to see what I will do. I have a son of my own in that school room, a beloved son, Charles. I call him, and we go outside to counsel, while the school waits. I say, "Son, will you bear John Jones’ whipping for him? He doesn’t believe that I love him. He thinks I hate him because he has broken my rule. There must be a whipping. I must be true to my word, but you know how I love John." My son says, "Yes, father, I’ll do anything for you that you wish. And I love John Jones, too." I bring my boy, Charles, out before the whole school, and I say, "This is John Jones whipping I am giving to my son Charles. The law of the school was broken by John Jones. I am putting the penalty on my boy. He says he will gladly do this for me, and for John." Then I whip my son Charles; and I do not spare him. I whip him just as if he were John Jones, just as if he had broken the rule himself. When the whipping is over, I say to some scholar, "Go and tell John Jones I have nothing against him,--nothing at all. And ask him to come and give me his hand." This breaks John Jones up, and he comes forward, in tears, and says, "I didn’t know you loved me that much! I thank you from my heart!" Now he is reconciled from his side, to me. But you see I reconciled him to myself, first. I had to deal with his disobedience, or be myself unrighteous. This is the important thing to see, in the matter or reconciliation: it was necessary for us to be reconciled to God Himself, to that holiness and righteousness in God, that was infinitely against sin. This was brought about in Christ’s death.
So, we read, "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself" (2 Corinthians 5:19). "While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son." All sin is contrary to God’s holiness, righteousness, truth, and glory, but sin was put by God on Christ, and God "spared Him not." And now God says to His messengers: "Go be ambassadors on behalf of Christ. Tell sinners that I have smitten Him instead of them. Tell them I forsook Him on the cross, that I might not forsake them forever!" THE FOUR "MUCH MORES"
There are in this remarkable chapter four "much mores" which it is interesting and profitable to note. Two are in this first section; and two in the second. First, we have the two "much mores" of future safety; verses 9 and 10; then the two "much mores" of grace’s abundance: verses 15 and 17, which are developed in the other section of the chapter.
Romans 5:9 : Much more then, having been now declared righteous by [means of] His blood, shall we be saved through Him from the [coming] wrath--God has done the harder thing: He will do the easier thing. He has had Christ die for us while we were "yet sinners"; "much more" will He see that we, being now believers and accounted righteous in view of Christ’s blood, shall be saved from the coming wrath through Him (Christ). [111]
[111] 1.Concerning Christ’s bearing in our place God’s wrath against sin, let us say: To regard God as "angry," or as demanding that Christ suffer "the exact equivalent of all the agonies the elect would have suffered to all eternity," is to miss the whole meaning of propitiation. 1. Remember it is God Himself who "loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." God held no enmity against us. God loved us. 2. Therefore, strictly speaking, it was not punishment which Christ bore on the cross, but wrath. Punishment is personal,--against the offender; but wrath upon Christ was against the thing--sin. Christ bore that wrath which God’s being and nature always and forever sustains toward sin. The sinner cannot come nigh Him, but must die, must perish in His holy presence,--not because God hates him, but because God is the Holy One. Therefore did Christ die,--and that forsaken of God under wrath--because He was bearing our sins in His own body on the tree. So it was, that, sin being placed on Christ, judgment and wrath fell upon Him. So it is, also, that the believer has not been "appointed unto wrath" (1 Thessalonians 5:9): the wrath has fallen on Christ. 3. The conception that Christ on the cross was enduring all the agonies of the elect for all eternity grew directly out of the Romish legalism from which the Reformers did not escape,--to wit: that we still have connection with our responsibilities in Adam the first; that our history was not ended at the cross. But the shed blood brought in before God on the Day of Atonement simply witnessed that a life had been laid down, ended. "The sufferings of all the elect for all eternity" could never take the place of the laid down life of the great Sacrifice. God did not ask for agonies: sin simply could not approach Him! There must be banishment of the sinner from His presence--unless a substitute should come, who, taking the place of the sinner, and bearing his sin, could lay down his life. Such was Christ. He "laid down His life that He might take it again," But remember both parts of this great utterance: (a) "He laid down His life," bearing our sin, putting it away from God’s presence forever. But even Christ, when bearing our sin, could not, as it were, come nigh God, but was forsaken, under holy wrath against sin. Not the agonies of Christ could avail, but that, bearing sin, He laid His life down, poured out His soul unto death. Thus He owned God’s holiness to be absolute and infinite, and said, "It is finished." (b) Now in taking up His life again, it was not that life which, according to Leviticus 17:11, was "in the blood," because the blood was "all one with the life" (Leviticus 17:14), and therefore "given to make atonement for souls,"; "it was not the blood-life" which He took up, but newness of life" in resurrection! God indeed permitted man to inflict the terrible sufferings of crucifixion upon His Son. But those sufferings were not "the cup" that His Father had given Him drink. The cup was the cup of Divine wrath against sin, and it involved His being "cut off out of the land of the living" under the hand of Divine judgment.
Notice that shed blood is the justifying ground, the procuring cause, of our being accounted righteous; and that instead of our being uncertain of preservation from the wrath which is coming at the Last Judgment, the fact that Christ died for us while were were still sinners should give us a constant state of calm security!
Romans 5:10 : Much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by His [risen] life--Again, God has done the harder thing--delivering Christ to death to reconcile us to Himself. He will certainly--much more! do the lesser thing for us: He will see that we share Christ’s risen life forever; and thus, even in the hour of visitation upon the wicked, we shall be "saved by His life." (This will more fully come out in Chapter Eight, where the blessed Spirit supplies that life which is in Christ to us, as a very "law of life.")
We were reconciled to God by God’s having Christ meet in His death all the claims of His throne,--His majesty, His holiness, His righteousness, His truth. "Much more," being from our side reconciled, shall we be saved now and in the future by and in Christ’s risen life which we now share! This "saved by His life" evidently looks forward to the coming Day of Judgment referred to in Romans 5:9 [112] as the coming wrath, into which judgment our Lord has told us we shall not come (John 5:24). Indeed, Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 1:10,--"Jesus, who delivereth us from the wrath to come"!
[112] The Greek preposition en in Romans 5:9, is not fully or exactly rendered by tht English word "in"; for the Greek en here includes: in the shed blood of Christ (Romans 5:9), as the ground before God of our justification; in view of that blood’s power as seen by God the Justifier; in the eternal availingness of that blood before God; and the consequent eternal redemption it has procured. Likewise, in the same construction in verse 10, we translate, "in His life": meaning that the believer shares that risen life of Christ; that in the power of that endless life the believer will abide both now and forever: as John says, "we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, even so are we in this world," And now the apostle closes up this section of the Epistle with a note of highest exultation:
Romans 5:11 : And not only so, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation--He says. We exult in God. How great a change! Three chapters back, we were sitting in the Divine Judge’s court, guilty--our mouths stopped, and all our works rejected! Now, "through our Lord Jesus Christ" and His work for us, we are rejoicing, exulting, in Him who was our Judge! This is what grace can do and does! And we see that it is simply by receiving the reconciliation that has been brought in by Christ. For the word here is not "atonement," which means to cover up, and is applied to the Old Testament sacrifices. The word reconciliation here (katallaga) is simply the noun form of the verb "reconcile," in verse 10. Compare "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not reckoning unto them their trespasses (2 Corinthians 5:19). To "receive" a complete, accomplished reconciliation,--how simple! We have seen men and women exult in God, thus! Every believer has this great right of exultation. This is a "song of the Lord" that lasts forever--"through our Lord Jesus Christ"
GOD’S PLAN: THE "REIGN OF GRACE" THROUGH CHRIST
Romans 5:12-21 THE TWO MEN ADAM CHRIST } Romans 5:14. THE TWO ACTS ADAM--one trespass: Romans 5:12, Romans 5:15, Romans 5:17-19.
CHRIST--one righteous act (on the cross): Romans 5:18. THE TWO RESULTS By ADAM--Condemnation, guilt, death: Romans 5:15-16, Romans 5:18-19. By CHRIST--Justification, life, kingship: Romans 5:17-19. THE TWO DIFFERENCES In degree (Romans 5:15 ) { God the Creator’s grace by Christ, abounds beyond the sin of the creature, Adam.. In kind or operation (Romans 5:16) { One sin, by Adam--condemnation and reign of death.
Many sins on Christ--justification and "reigning in life" for those accepting God’s grace by Him. THE TWO KINGS SIN--reigning through Death: Romans 5:17.
GRACE--reigning through Righteousness: Romans 5:21. THE TWO ABUNDANCES OF GRACE OF THE GIFT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS } Romans 5:17. THE TWO CONTRASTED STATES CONDEMNED MEN, SLAVES OF DEATH, BY ADAM JUSTIFIED MEN, REIGNING IN LIFE, BY CHRIST
We have seen, in Romans 1:1-32, Romans 2:1-29, Romans 3:1-31, the fact of universal human guilt, that all thus are "falling short of God’s glory"; and we have seen Christ set forth by God as a "propitiation through faith in His blood." We also found that believers were declared righteous; and seen connected with a Risen Christ, in Romans 4:1-25. Then we saw, in the first part of Romans 5:1-21, the blessed results of this "justification by faith." When we come to Romans 5:12, a new phase or view of our salvation appears. (Although note our comments on Romans 3:23.) A general view of the passage will be helpful. The two men, Adam and Christ, with their distinct federal [113] or representative consequences, are before us. It is no longer what we have done--our sins, but the one trespass of Adam that is in view. And it is the work of Christ, also, looked at as an "Adam,"--His "righteous act" of death; with its effect of justification for us. So now we look back to the act that set us down as sinners, instead of to our own deeds; and to the act that sets us down righteous, apart from our own works.
[113] Federal: in this book we use this word as indicating the action of one for all in a representative manner; or for the consequences of such action.
There is no more direct statement in Scripture concerning justification than we find in Romans 5:19 : Through the obedience of the One shall the many be constituted righteous [before God]. It is true that up to Romans 5:11 the question has been one of sins rather than the thing sin itself. It is true also that in Romans 5:18, in the expression justification of life, the resurrection-side of salvation is before us. But we need to mark that God, in the great passage from Romans 5:12-21, grounds our justification wholly in the work of Another than ourselves, even Christ; showing also the incidental place that the Law had--"that the trespass might abound"; thus opening the flood-gates of Grace! The key word of this great passage is "one." You will find it as follows (14 times in all)(Romans 5:12-19) :
"One man"--"one man"--"one man"-- Romans 5:12, Romans 5:15, Romans 5:19.
"The one"--"the one"--"the One"-- Romans 5:15, Romans 5:17, Romans 5:19.
"One"--"one"--"one" (trespass) "one" (righteous act)-- Romans 5:16 (twice), Romans 5:18 (twice).
"Through--one act of righteousness"-- Romans 5:18. "Through--the obedience of THE ONE"-- Romans 5:19.
"Through { one trespass"-- Romans 5:15, Romans 5:17-18. one man’s disobedience"-- Romans 5:19 "Through { one act of righteousness"-- Romans 5:18. the obedience of THE ONE"-- Romans 5:19.
It will never do to go about counting ourselves justified in the sense merely of having our own trespasses, those we have committed, forgiven; for this would amount to counting ourselves as innocent before we personally sinned, and to have become guilty merely because we personally sinned. But this is to forget that we all were made sinners by Adam’s act,--not our own. Nor does this mean that we got a "sinful nature" from our "first parents": "By nature" we were, indeed, "children of wrath," Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:1-22; and David declares: "In sin did my mother conceive me." But Romans 5:1-21 does not talk of a nature of sin received by us from Adam, but of our being made guilty by his act. We were so connected with the first Adam that we did not have to wait to be born, or to have a sinful nature; but when Adam, our representative, acted, we acted. Verse 19 plainly says, Through the one man’s disobedience the many were set down as sinners, while the preceding verse says the principle was, through one trespass--unto all men to condemnation.
"Condemnation" is a forensic word, it belongs to the court, not to the birth-chamber. The same Divine principle is illustrated in the fact that "through Abraham even Levi," Abraham’s great-grandson, who receiveth tithes, hath paid tithes, for he was yet in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him" (Hebrews 7:9). God says of Levi, who was not yet born, whose father was not yet born, whose grandfather (Isaac) was not yet born: "LEVI PAID TITHES!" The great truth of Romans 5:12-21 is that a representative acted, involving those connected with him.
We see immediately how Paul in a seven-fold way insists on the fact that Adam’s act of sin affected his race:
1. Through one man sin entered into the world (Romans 5:12 a).
2. So in that way death passed unto all men, for that all sinned, [when Adam sinned] (Romans 5:12 b).
3. By the trespass of the one the many died (Romans 5:15).
4. The judgment came out of one [trespass] unto condemnation (Romans 5:16).
5. By the trespass of the one, death reigned-as-king through the one (Romans 5:17).
6. Through one trespass [the effect was] towards all men to condemnation (Romans 5:18).
7. Through the one man’s disobedience the many were set down as [or made to become] sinners (Romans 5:19). On the other hand, as regards Christ, we find:
1. That He is also an Adam--a representative or federal Man who acts for all, and in whom all in Him are seen. Adam is called a figure [Greek: typos--type] of Him that was to come--Christ (Romans 5:14).
2. That by the One Man Jesus Christ, the grace of God, and the free-gift [by that grace] did abound unto the many much beyond the evil results of Adam’s sin (Romans 5:15).
3. That through our Lord’s one righteous act [His death on the cross] the free-gift goes out to all men to justification of life, just as through [Adam’s] one trespass the judgment came to all men to condemnation (Romans 5:18).
4. That through the obedience [unto death] of the One [Christ] the many [those who received the gift] shall be set down righteous [before God] (Romans 5:19).
5. That those who receive the abundance of [God’s] grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign-as-kings in life through the One, Jesus Christ,--much beyond death s reigning through the one [Adam] (Romans 5:17).