They Will Reign in Life Through Christ
12Therefore as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin; and so death passed to all men, because all sinned. 13For until the law, sin was in the world; but sin is not charged when there is no law. 14Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those whose sins weren’t like Adam’s disobedience, who is a foreshadowing of him who was to come. 15But the free gift isn’t like the trespass. For if by the trespass 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. 16The gift is not as through one who sinned: for the judgment came by one to condemnation, but the free gift came of many trespasses to justification. 17For if by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one; so much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ. 18So then as through one trespass, all men were condemned; even so through one act of righteousness, all men were justified to life. 19For as through the one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one, many will be made righteous. 20The law came in besides, that the trespass might abound; but where sin abounded, grace abounded more exceedingly; 21that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Paul labored earnestly for the salvation of the Jews, who claimed they were saved because they had received the law and kept it diligently. He told them that even if they kept the law at the risk of their lives, in the end it would only display human righteousness; it was therefore a sin that kept them far from Christ. Paul longed so deeply for the Jews to be saved that he taught them why that very law had become a stumbling block to salvation. Setting Adam side by side with Jesus, who came to atone for sin, he spoke in detail about death and eternal life.
Genesis 2:17
17but you shall not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”
God told Adam not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and said that if he broke this word he would surely return to the dust. But Adam was deceived by Satan, who told him that if he ate it his eyes would be opened and he would be like God, and he ate. Forgetting how severe God’s command was, he took the fruit out of a desire to have his eyes opened like God. Sadly, the sin Adam committed was not his alone.
Romans 5:12
12Therefore as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin; and so death passed to all men, because all sinned.
Because Adam sinned, the world became full of sin. Adam, who until then had served God as King, handed the throne to death through that sin, so that death came to reign. From then on everyone born after Adam became a sinner, and not one person could escape death. One man, Adam, sinned, yet that sin filled the whole world with death; in the same way, when Adam sinned, we too were there in his body, and so we became beings who must die.
Tell people that they are sinners, and they dislike it intensely. Some even retort by asking what sin they have ever committed against God. That is a fair question from someone who has not met God. So let us see how the Bible explains this original sin.
Hebrews 7:9-10
9We can say that through Abraham even Levi, who receives tithes, has paid tithes, 10for he was yet in the body of his father when Melchizedek met him.
This passage says that even the Levites, who receive a tenth from the people, paid tithes along with their ancestor Abraham when he gave his tithe to Melchizedek. Some will ask how Levi, who had not yet been born, could pay a tithe. But when Abraham, who represented Israel, gave the tithe, Levi was in his body, which makes what Abraham gave the same as Levi giving it. To put it more simply, when Japan invaded Korea, the people living in Japan today had not yet been born. Even so, at the time of the invasion they were in the bodies of their fathers, and on those grounds they ought to apologize for that invasion of Korea in their history. In the same way, Levi was still in the body of his forefather when Melchizedek met Abraham, yet he is described as having been there. All humanity, as Adam’s descendants, were in his body when he sinned, and they were born carrying Adam’s sin; this is what is called original sin.
Just as God had said that in the day they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they would surely die, Adam’s descendants could not escape death. However much we may want to deny it, not one person has ever conquered death and lived forever, and that is how we know that all people are sinners. Under God’s wrath, Adam and his descendants could no longer have his protection, and they came under the rule of death. Since all humanity could not escape death, Jesus came into the world to atone for this sin, and through his bearing of the cross, sin came to be forgiven.
Romans 5:14
14Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those whose sins weren’t like Adam’s disobedience, who is a foreshadowing of him who was to come.
Just as through one man all became sinners, so now through one man all will become righteous. That is why Paul says, as it is written in 1 Corinthians 15:45, that the first man Adam became a living soul and the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. The sin of Adam, the first man, set death on the throne, but Jesus, the last Adam, gave eternal life to all through the righteousness of his resurrection. If Adam by his transgression veiled the glory of God, Jesus, the last Adam, broke the power of sin and death and gave glory to God. If Adam cast humanity into the pit of death, Jesus, the last Adam, drew all humanity up out of that pit and gave them a heavenly hope and eternal life, making them live in longing for the Kingdom of God. Adam could not hold on to the grace of God, but Jesus laid down his life on the cross to give that lost grace to all humanity. The grace of God, given without distinction to those who believe in Jesus Christ, washes away human sin and makes us born again. If someone receives God’s grace and yet their whole character does not change, the faith they hold may be a false truth; we must be on our guard. Because the word is eternal life, those who have received the truth must be born again.
Romans 5:13
13For until the law, sin was in the world; but sin is not charged when there is no law.
Through the law God taught us that coveting is sin. Had the law not defined covetousness as sin, people would not have known it was sin even when they seized what belonged to others and gave rein to their greed. God set up the law because there was no standard for sin; he established that standard by law so that people would live normal lives. Yet although keeping the law well does not make anyone righteous, people held the foolish idea that by keeping it scrupulously they could be saved. Such people are like someone clinging to a rotten rope. God has given a new rope called “Jesus Christ,” yet they cling to the rotten rope of the law and ask to be saved by that rotten rope. A rotten rope is bound to snap, and we must let go of it. Just as Adam chose the fruit of the tree of knowledge out of a desire to be like God, they abandoned Jesus Christ, thinking they could make themselves righteous by keeping the law.
Romans 5:16
16The gift is not as through one who sinned: for the judgment came by one to condemnation, but the free gift came of many trespasses to justification.
Paul’s point is that through the trespass of one man, Adam, all became sinners, but through the righteous act of one man, Jesus, all have been counted righteous. Just as Adam’s original sin made us, his descendants, suffer the inescapable wrath of death, so to God’s people who believe in and obey Christ’s atonement a sure outcome has been given: justification and eternal life. It is Jesus Christ who became the door for those shut inside the fence of sin, the way to go out. Believing this is called faith, and living by Jesus’ words in that faith is called obedience.
John 10:27-28
27My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
Those who hear the voice of Jesus Christ and follow him receive eternal life. Jesus said that they will not perish, because neither the world nor evil spirits can bring them down. The sheep who know their master’s voice and follow him do not lose their way, since they go wherever he goes. Christ, who is greater than all, keeps his people; they may live at peace, then, knowing that their salvation cannot change. In this harsh world, even when evil people and evil spirits attack, those very evil things are subject to God’s sovereignty; as long as believers do not leave God’s embrace, they are safe. God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are one, which is why Christ’s sheep need not be anxious in heart or afraid of the world.
John 14:13-14
13Whatever you will ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14If you will ask anything in my name, I will do it.
Jesus said that whatever is asked by those who keep his commandments, relying on Christ’s authority and merit, he will do at any time. Their prayers, then, can be answered. The wondrous work of Jesus, who bore the cross, conquered death, and rose again, is therefore a great grace and gift to his people. Had Christ not risen, sinners could never put off their sin and could not escape the judgment of a wrathful God. Jesus flung wide the door of salvation and said that whoever goes to God through this door can enjoy peace and rest. Those who hear this word can have a discerning faith only if they grow spiritually, giving thanks in all things every day and praying without ceasing.
To sum up what I have shared with you so far with a simple illustration: God asked Adam not to forget what he had told him, and to overcome sin even if an evil spirit tempted him. If he sinned, God said, he would have no choice but to put him in the Prison of Death. Once inside the Prison of Death, he could never get out, and his descendants too would live there generation after generation; so he must not sin. This is what God told him.
The name Adam means “man” in Hebrew. Because Adam had heard the word directly from God, he would have thought he could drive off the temptation of an evil spirit. Adam and Eve really were confident that they could keep faith, and they would have asked how they could ever betray God. Anyone who chose a sin that would get them driven out of this beautiful Garden of Eden, they said, would be a fool indeed, and they put that word out of their minds altogether. Then one day a handsome man who looked wealthy and refined came up to them. When they saw him, they themselves, made in God’s image, seemed shabby by comparison. His words were more attractive than everything God had created. They had pictured the evil spirit God spoke of with horns and a twisted face, wretched and menacing in looks. Seeing no such thing, they let their guard down. The couple welcomed the man and grew close to him. He remained kind and taught them many things.
Adam, who had heard only God’s words, found what this man told him sweet and satisfying, and he became convinced that he was someone special. As the man’s words gradually began to change his thinking, he forgot God’s command not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Adam’s appearance, too, began to resemble the man’s. He spoke like him and wore his expressions, and once he thought this man greater than God, he no longer feared God. Changed into the man’s likeness, Adam stood before God, and he was confident. But when the light of God’s glory shone on him, only then did he see how filthy the clothes he wore were and how ugly his face had become. The wrathful God could not embrace Adam, who had soiled his clean clothes and become hideous, and he threw him into the Prison of Death.
The Prison of Death is the world we live in now. Until then Adam had lived freely in the truth, but now he was locked in the gloomy, dark, lightless Prison of Death, unable to see where God was. No matter how he wept and pleaded, God did not pardon him. Adam and his wife had children in the Prison of Death. Many descendants were born, but because Adam had sinned against God, they too could not leave the Prison of Death. Just as Levi was in Abraham’s body, Adam’s descendants were in his, and so Adam’s sin was imputed to them.
As people multiplied and life became inconvenient, they made agreements with one another. They agreed to call the vessel used for drinking water a cup, the cloth worn on the body clothing, and the means of getting around a bicycle or a car. They gave each thing a name as agreed and called it so. Adam’s children had never seen the Kingdom of God shining with glory; for them the Prison of Death was the whole of the world they lived in.
As the number of people grew, some among them became builders, some good athletes, and some fine singers. They founded schools to pass on knowledge and set up institutes to study how to make the Prison of Death a better place to live. People called the Prison of Death “the world,” and because they did not know sin, they lived as best they could, even if it meant sinning to succeed. Outstanding people were recognized, owned bigger houses than others, and acquired wide lands as well. When the view prevailed that someone was needed to lead this vast world, they elected a president and entrusted their lives to the one they chose.
People even took lives to gain more land. Regardless of sin, they called having many possessions success. They simply thought it only natural if one was to get on in the world. At times the good conscience God had given them taught them that this was sin, but not knowing what the law of conscience was, they ignored even that and went on living.
Then one day a man who resembled Adam appeared in the Prison of Death and said that he had come to save them, sinners as they were. He said he had come to die, to tear down the walls of the Prison of Death and show those trapped in the law, who did not know true freedom, what true freedom was. People could not stand this man, who pointed out their sins and shook the comfortable, settled lives they had enjoyed until then. He said he was the Son of God and had created this world, and that to lead sinners into the Kingdom of God he had to die to atone for their sins. People hated him so much that they hung him on a cross and killed him.
The man had called them sinners, people living at ease within the fence of the law. When he died, something truly astonishing happened. They had lived thinking the Prison of Death was everything, but one side of the fence of the law became a door flung wide open, as if it led into the Kingdom of God. The man who had certainly died was, astonishingly, alive, standing before the open door, and he began to proclaim the gospel. He said he was Jesus Christ, who had atoned for their sins, and that those who listened to him and obeyed could live in that brilliant world where God is. As light came in through the door, those who had lived as if the Prison of Death were everything saw how full of sin and how filthy the place they lived in was.
Some who realized that Jesus Christ is the Savior went through that door by faith, were taken into God’s embrace, and received eternal life. But those who did not want to leave this world, where death reigns, looked at the open door, shook their heads, and sank down where they were. Some even vowed never to believe in Jesus Christ. Christ did not force such people to come outside. He only hoped that each would come to faith and obey. Now the decision belongs to the one standing in the darkness. That is why I said that personal faith matters absolutely. Just as through the disobedience of the one man Adam many were made sinners, so through the obedience of the one man Jesus many have been made righteous. God gave the fence of the law to show them how great a sin it is to settle down inside the law. It was to show how wonderful a blessing is the salvation that lies outside the law, and to teach that the remedy for sin is not law but grace.
Those who lived in the Prison of Death went on committing sins beyond forgiveness. But the grace of God, who flung open the door of salvation, is a love so great that it covers their sins and more. However great their sins, God’s grace and love is an overflowing grace that can forgive any sin.
Paul told the Jews that the law they trusted as salvation was a rotten rope, a high wall surrounding the Prison of Death. Now that Jesus Christ, the King of victory, had come, he told them, it was foolish still to rely on the wall of the law. No one can keep away from sin by effort, and no one becomes righteous by living a good life. Only when God’s grace forgives sin can we be pardoned, and it is faith in Christ that is credited as righteousness.
This present age rushes on and says that if you do not join in quickly you will be left behind, but as you walk with Jesus Christ you will find yourself set apart from it, living in peace. The world says that if you live so good a life you will never succeed, but if you live well by Christ’s words, God, who is Lord of all things, will fill your life. Your salvation is wholly God’s grace. Having stepped out through the door of the Prison of Death by faith, you can live as God’s people, enjoying peace and rest under grace. If you hold fast to the truth without doubting, God will lead you into his eternal kingdom. So even here on earth, I hope you will live as one raised to new life, always holding on to the hope of heaven.