Friday, January 31, 2014

Romans 5:18,19

Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.   Romans 5:18,19

In verse 18, Paul very closely parallels what he wrote in verse 16.

Verse 16: And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification.

Verse 16 emphasized the judgement that is taking/will take place -  condemnation for those who are under the trespass of one man, and justification for those who have received the free gift.


In verse 18, Paul uses the same words condemnation and justification, but with a slightly different angle or emphasis. Here, I believe Paul is really focusing in on how one man affected many through the fall, and how one man in responsible for justification and life of many.


Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men

One trespass by one man led to, or resulted in, the separation of all men from God. This is very important to understand because it shows that our condemnation is not based on our multitude of sins - even though any one of them would be more than enough to separate us from God forever. Our condemnation runs deeper than this -


our condemnation is rooted not in our individual sins but in our sinfulness itself...a sinfulness that we are born with.

 “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” Psalm 51:5

“Even from birth the wicked go astray; from the womb they are wayward, spreading lies.”
Psalm 58:3



so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.

Just like the one trespass leading to condemnation for all men, one act of justification leads to life justification and life for all men.  We must be careful not to take this verse out of context. When Paul talks about 'all men' being condemned, he is saying this:


all men who find themselves condemned can find the origin of their condemnation in the initial trespass of one man.


On a side note: 
The fact that every one of us has willfully sinned proves that, had we been in the garden of Eden, we would have sinned like Adam did - proving that while Adam was the path through which sin and death entered this world (a part of God's sovereign plan), he was a perfect representation of us.

Now, when Paul talks about 'all men' being justified and given life, he is saying this:

all men who find themselves justified can find the origin of their justification and gift of life in the righteous act of one man.


Paul is very clear that we are not justified based on anything that we have done or will do. If we are justified, if we have been given the gift of eternal life - all of that is based solely on the righteous act of Jesus Christ alone. 

We can be sure that salvation is not about addressing individual sins in our lives...salvation (a restored relationship with God) is about our sinfulness that affects our heart and mind being addressed through regeneration. Once regeneration occurs, the individual sins will be addressed.

Therefore, we can also be sure that our ability to be good is not a part of the salvation equation. First of all, we don't have the ability to be good enough, and secondly - Paul laid out for us that our righteousness and eternal life is based on what Jesus Christ has done - not us.

When we start to understand this, we can stop trying to 'be good' and start loving Jesus for what He has done. The more we understand what Jesus accomplished for us through His act of righteousness, the more in love we will fall with Him, the more we will want to serve Him, and the more our lives will reveal God - the purpose of our restoration!


Now, to verse 19:

For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners

This sheds more light on our sinfulness being the problem over our individual sins, which are a product of our sinfulness. One man - Adam - disobeyed God, and because of that, all who came from him were, by nature, sinners.

Keeping in mind the fact that Adam was a perfect representation of us - we have all sinned willfully and would have done the same thing in the garden - look at what Paul wrote in verse 12:

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned

Sin originated with Adam, he was the channel through which sin entered God's creation - sin that brought with it physical and spiritual death. Death then spread to all men because all sinned If we look at verse 12 and verse 19 together, we see that sin was passed down from Adam, we are all sinful because of the sin that originated with Adam, yet we are all accountable and condemned based on our own sinfulness because we have all sinned.

Bottom line: man is a sinful creature that is in desperate need of regeneration and restoration!

It's also important to see the emphasis in verse 19 that Paul puts on disobedience/obedience. Adam perfectly represented all mankind when he disobeyed God. This one act of disobedience was enough to cause the fall. The only remedy, the only hope that we have is for someone to live out a life of perfect obedience to God. 



so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous

Jesus Christ is the one man who lived a life of perfect obedience, a righteous life. It's very important to note that righteous means equitable deed, statute, or decision. Not only did Jesus do nothing wrong His entire life, He did everything right. This is the definition of righteous - not only abstaining from sin, but making the active, God-glorifying decision in every situation. This is perfect obedience! 

Since Jesus lived a perfectly obedient life, many will be made righteous - meaning all those who will be dressed in righteousness before God can only attribute their righteousness to Jesus Christ alone.

We are unable to obey God to the degree that Jesus did - and therefore are unable to be counted as righteous based on our own actions. Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, has made us righteous by transferring His righteousness - based on His obedience -  to us! 

It's also important to note that Paul says - because of His obedience alone, many are made righteous.  He doesn't say that Christ made it possible for us to become righteous, and all we need to do is quit sinning and live as 'good' as we can. No, Paul says that because of Christ's obedience, many will be made righteous.

The word made in the Greek means to place down (permanently), that is, (figuratively) to designate, constitute, convoy: - appoint, be, conduct, make, ordain, set. This indicates something happening to somebody outside of their ability. Because of Christ's perfect obedience, many will be designated, appointed, ordained as righteous! I believe this reveals a perfectly sovereign God! 

Lord, thank You for Your Word that reveals to us our sinfulness and condemnation, and then Your amazing gift of righteousness and eternal life through Your Son's perfect obedience! I pray that we would every day grasp a little more of who You are, what You have done for us, and how much You love us! Thank You Father - in Your Son's holy name, Amen. 

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Romans 5:17

For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.  Romans 5:17 ESV

Paul continues in verse 17 to contrast the affects of Adams trespass and Christ's sacrifice.

For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man

Paul has said many times in this passage that death came through Adam. I wanted to take a minute and look a little at the word through. In the Greek, the word through, or by, means the channel of an act. Adam was the channel, or the path, through which sin entered the world. As a result of this path, sin was passed down through Adam to anyone who was born from him - which Paul has been explaining. In this verse, we see that death (a result of sinfulness) has reigned through Adam as well.

The word reigned is Paul's emphasis in verse 17. In the Greek, reigned means to rule, as a king over his kingdom. So often we like to think that, while we are sinful, we have the power to choose right or wrong, to choose good or bad - this allow us to feel better about our situation. However, Paul says that death reigns over us - death is our ruler.

But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed  Romans 6:17

 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.  Romans 6:20

The word slaves is also translated servants, and means:  a slave (literally or figuratively, involuntarily or voluntarily; frequently therefore in a qualified sense of subjection or subserviency): - bond (-man), servant.

In our lost state, death is our master, and we are subject to it, we have no power over it. Death reigns over us, and no matter how 'good' we try to be, we ultimately experience both physical and spiritual death leading to the eternal death - complete separation from God, torture for the soul.

It's also important to note that this is all the result of one man's trespass...not many trespasses by that one man, and not many trespasses by many men...one man's single trespass. 

Was it a terrible trespass that was committed? Was someone murdered, did someone commit adultery? Spiritually yes, but from a human perspective, the terrible trespass was disobedience to God - an unacceptable sin in light of God's perfect character, with deadly results.



As Paul has been doing throughout this passage, he moves from the condemnation to the hope:

much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man

He begins this contrast with a phrase he has used previously: much more  much meaning a lot, or in abundance, and more meaning better, to a greater degree. So we can be confident in what Paul says here. While death has the power to reign over us, to be our ruler, in our condemned state - there is something that contains power - in more abundance and to a greater degree - over death and sin.

How do we experience the power over this death that rules over us? By receiving the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness. Any who receive the abundance (meaning surplus, or superabundance in the Greek) of God's never ending grace, and are clothed in His perfect righteousness, will have been released from the chains of bondage that have enslaved us from birth.

If we are released from the power of sin and death that has condemned us from birth, what are we released to? We are released from bondage to freedom, from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light, from eternal death to eternal life!

Death is the absence of life, and through Adam, sin and death entered the world - meaning that we were separated from true, eternal life. Now, Paul is telling us that, by receiving God's never ending, free gift of grace and righteousness, we can be re-united with eternal life - that being a personal relationship with an all loving, all powerful, eternal God!

We must also notice that, while once death reigned over us, those who receive the free gift will reign in life! God's children are no longer slaves to sin, but slaves to righteousness. We are no longer ruled by death, but we are co-heirs with Christ, who has conquered death and rules over it.

having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.  Romans 6:18

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.  Romans 8:16,17

Being adopted into God's family, we now reign in life - no longer condemned by anything but sustained by the power of God's grace and counted as righteous by His free gift!

Paul told us that through Adam (he was the path or channel through which) death and sinfulness entered the world. Now, this amazing truth: through the one man we are able to now reign in life - the one man being Jesus Christ. This is a comparison Paul makes between Adam and Christ. While the results of their actions were very different, it was through one man that death entered, and through another man that life is now offered.

We can never move away from the fact that it is through Jesus Christ, God's Son, that eternal life through reconciliation with God is made possible. Jesus Christ is our Savior because He is the path, or channel, through which we can experience the free gift - He is the only way. As Paul said, through one man, has the abundance of God's grace, the free gift of righteousness, and the possibility of reigning with Christ in life, been made possible!



Being ruled over and subject to eternal death, or reigning with Christ in eternal life - Paul has laid out the two options - there is no middle ground. Where do you stand? Have you accepted Christ and been adopted as His co-heir, or do you remain a slave to evil one?

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Romans 5:16

And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification.  Romans 5:16 ESV

Keep in mind Paul told us in verse 14 that Adam was a type of the one to come - Jesus Christ - and is working his way toward explaining that comparison. In verse 15, Paul alluded to the fact that both Adam and Christ affected many people - however the bulk of Paul's point so far has been that though Adam was a 'type' or 'imitation' of Jesus Christ who was to come, the results of their acts on those affected were polar opposites.

In verse 15: But the free gift is not like the trespass. Paul goes on to say that the result of one trespass is death, and the result of the free gift is eternal life, by God's grace.

Paul starts verse 16 in a similar way:
And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin - 
It seems that Paul is almost repeating himself here, but I think that he is shifting his point slightly. In verse 15, Paul was talking about the power of the trespass to condemn all of those affected - which is all of humanity - (if we go back to verse 12), and the greater power of the free gift, given by the grace of God, to destroy the condemnation of the trespass.

Now, Paul focuses a little more on the different affects of the two acts (trespass and free gift) in the context of judgement, viewed in terms of legality.  


For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation

There are two very important points Paul makes here. 
1. condemnation is the result of God's judgement, which we know is always perfectly just
2. this condemnation was the result of 1 initial trespass, which we know gave birth to many trespasses

condemnation: (Greek) -  an adverse sentence (the verdict) - comes from the Greek word that means to judge against, to condemn or damn
     - I think we could take from this that Paul is saying anyone under the condemnation of even one trespass against our perfect and holy God will be ruled against, given an adverse sentence - or to put it bluntly will be damned - when they stand before Him. I would argue that this condemnation is experienced to a certain degree even in this physical life by all who are not walking in a relationship with Him here and now.



but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification.

In contrast to the one trespass that brought condemnation, the free gift follows many trespasses.

Paul explains the opposite affect that the free gift has on all of those who receive it: justification.

justification: (Greek) - an equitable deed; by implication a statute or decision: - judgment, justification, ordinance, righteousness - comes from the Greek word that means just, innocent, or free.
      -  I think it's interesting that this word has to do with judgement as well, but from a different perspective, one that gives way to rejoicing and praise to the One who has made this justification possible!


We see the legal terms judged, condemnation, and justification here. We know that God is perfectly righteous, which means He cannot rule against what is right. God cannot justify one who is guilty, nor can He condemn one who is innocent.

I would add that the reason God cannot justify the guilty or condemn the innocent is not because He is held to some legal order, or law, that is above Him. God rules justly based on His own character which is the essence of perfect righteousness. In sovereignty, God always acts in accordance with who He is.

It's so important that we understand the perfect righteousness of God's judgement - it is always right in every way. In this verse, Paul is saying that, because of the sin of Adam passed down to all men, the judgement will be condemnation. The sinfulness that we are all guilty of cannot be overlooked...no sin can be overlooked. We are condemned before a perfect God, according to His righteous judgement.

However, there is hope, because Paul also speaks of justification...some people will, according to God's righteous judgement, be determined to be justified, set free. In order for God to maintain His perfect standards, this has to mean that He has not overlooked their sin, but that every single sin of these people has been 100% paid for. How does this happen? The free gift - Christ's sacrifice that is utterly sufficient to pay for every sin we have, and ever will commit!

Thank You Father, for providing the free gift, that we might have hope of knowing what it means to be justified, to be found innocent in spite of all that we have done. Thank You Jesus for being willing to take on our sin, that we might be completely forgiven...please reveal the darkness of our sin to us, that we might appreciate more every day what we have been saved out of and and saved into.