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Having established our situation in Adam in verses 12-14, Paul proceeds in verses 15-18 to show how Adam is a type or pattern of Christ. Just as what Adam did affected all humanity, likewise what Christ (the second Adam) did also affected all mankind, except in the opposite sense. For, unlike Adam, Christ obeyed, the very opposite of Adam’s disobedience. According to Romans 5:15-18, when Adam sinned he brought the judgment of condemnation and death to “all men.” In the same way when Christ obeyed, He not only redeemed humanity from the results of Adam’s sin but “much more," He cancelled all our personal sins plus bringing in the verdict of “justification to life” to all men (vss. 16, 18; note “many offences” in vs. 16, implying Adam's plus our personal sins). This is the unconditional good news of salvation that the gospel proclaims.

Proceeding to verse 19, Paul adds another dimension to the problem of Adam’s sin, that it “made” or constituted all mankind into sinners. This means that in addition to condemnation and the death sentence, we are also born slaves to sin because of the fall, and therefore are incapable of producing genuine righteousness in and of ourselves (Rom. 3:9-12; 7:14-25). But in the second half of vs.19, Paul reminds us that because of Christ’s obedience we shall be “made righteous” (note the future tense; this of course applies to all those who receive Him (vs. 17). And to demonstrate that Adam’s sin has made us slaves to sin, God gave His law (vs. 20; Rom. 7:7-13). The law, in other words, entered or was given by God not to solve the sin problem but to expose it, for it showed how Adam’s one sin has produced a whole human race of sinners (note the word “offense” in verse 20 is in the singular, and therefore refers to Adam’s one sin). However, the good news is that where sin has multiplied through Adam’s fall, God’s grace in Christ has been multiplied all the more.

This brings us to the next important point concerning this passage under consideration. You will notice that Paul mentions two things with reference to Christ in Romans 5:15-20 which he does not apply to our situation in Adam. First, what God accomplished for all men in Christ is referred to as a “gift” or “free gift.” This means that while all men have been legally justified in Christ’s doing and dying, it is a gift and like any gift only those who by faith receive it will enjoy the benefits of Christ’s obedience. Paul makes this clear in verse 17 by using the word “receive” with reference to the gift of the righteousness of Christ.

Secondly, Paul repeatedly uses the expression “much more” when pointing to the blessings we receive through Christ’s obedience. What he means by this is that in Christ “much more” has been accomplished than simply undoing the damage we inherit in Adam. For example, by His death Christ not only liberated humanity from the condemnation of death that resulted by Adam’s one sin but much more, He redeemed us from our own “many (personal) offenses unto justification” (vs. 16). Again in Christ, not only do we receive eternal life, the opposite of eternal death, but much more we shall “reign (or rule) in life by one, Jesus Christ” (vs.17; 8:17; Rev. 20:6; 22:5). This is super-abundant grace.

Hence, “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” (v. 20). Consequently, Paul concludes in verse 21: As sin ruled our lives from birth and would do so until death, his plea is let grace now take over and reign in the believers life, producing righteousness, until eternity is ushered in.

1. According to Romans 5:12-19, whether I am reckoned a sinner and condemned to death, or whether I am declared righteous (justified) and qualify for eternal life, has to do with the history of Adam or Christ. On the basis of Adam’s disobedience I am reckoned a sinner, or on the basis of Christ’s obedience I am declared a righteous person.

2. If we belong to the humanity produced by Adam, we are constituted as sinners and are condemned to eternal death. If, however, we belong to the humanity initiated by Christ, we are declared righteous and qualify for eternal life and heaven. In other words, our eternal destiny rests upon which humanity we choose to belong to.

3. All men by creation are “in Adam.” This is the hopeless situation which we inherit and which from birth we find ourselves in. Hence we are “by nature the children of wrath” (Eph. 2:3). But the Good News is that in Christ God has given mankind a new identity and history. This is His supreme gift to humanity; and therefore, he who believes in Christ and is baptized into Him (Gal. 3:27) shall be saved (Mk.16:16). In other words, our subjective position in Christ is by faith. What God has done for the whole human race in Christ (deliverance from sin and death, replaced by righteousness and eternal life) is given as a “free gift,” something we do not naturally deserve. Hence this gift is referred to as grace or unmerited favor. This gift, to be experienced, has to be received and is made effective by faith alone.

4. Adam and Christ belong to opposite camps which cannot be reconciled. Adam is equated with sin and death, Christ with righteousness and life. Consequently it is impossible for anyone subjectively to belong to Adam and Christ at the same time. To accept Christ by faith means and involves our totally renouncing our position in Adam (2 Cor. 5:17; 6:14-16). Baptism is a public declaration that we have died to sin (our position in Adam) and have resurrected with Christ into newness of life (our position in Christ, Rom. 6:1-4, 8; 2 Tim. 2:11). This, incidentally, is of vital importance with reference to our sanctification (2 Cor. 4:10, 11; Phil. 3:9-11).

5. In view of the above, the human race may be divided into two groups or camps: the Adamic race made up of many nations and tribes (Acts 17:26), and the believers who are all one in Christ (Rom. 12:5; 1 Cor. 10:17; Gal. 3:27, 28; Eph. 4:11-13). Because of the gospel, man is given the choice to belong to either one of these two groups. We may retain our position in Adam by unbelief and reap the fruits of his sin; or by faith we may become united to Christ and receive the benefits of His righteousness.

Verse 48. As the children of the earthly (Adam) reflect the nature and character of the earthly (i.e., sin); so also those who belong to the heavenly (Christ) will reflect the heavenly character and nature (i.e., righteousness).

Verse 49. And just as we all, by nature, are a reproduction of the earthly (Adamic) image; so likewise we shall (future tense, the context being the resurrected nature) reflect fully the image of Christ’s resurrected nature at the second advent (vss. 50-54; Rom. 8:23-25; Phil. 3:20, 21).

According to 1 Corinthians 15:21-23, 45-49, there have only been two heads of the human race, Adam and Christ. There will never be another; hence Christ is referred to as the “last Adam” (vs. 45). On these two heads rests the destiny of the entire human race. Adam is the prototype of the unredeemed humanity, while Christ is the prototype of the redeemed humanity. What is true of Adam is true of his people, and what is true of Christ is true of His people. Adam’s situation after the fall is the situation of all the unredeemed, while that which was realized by Christ for all men will be the situation of all the redeemed “as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (vs. 22).

Christ’s resurrection is the second advent. Not our righteousness (self-righteousness) but Christ’s righteousness qualifies us for heaven, now and in the judgment.

In verse 45 Adam is called the first Adam, while Christ is referred to as the “last Adam.” Then again in verse 47 Adam is referred to as the “first man” while Christ is called the “second man.” These terms in reference to Christ have important implications. As the last Adam, Christ was the sum total of all that is of the first Adam. As the second man He is the head of a new or redeemed human race. Having gathered all that was of the first Adam, Christ as the last Adam superseded the whole Adamic race by His death on the cross (2 Cor. 5:14;1 Pet. 2:24).

On the cross He died or tasted the second death as substitute or representative of the whole human race (Heb. 2:9). In this way He abolished death (2 Tim. 1:10). In superseding the whole Adamic race at the cross and thus meeting the just demands of the law on our behalf, Christ qualified in the resurrection to be the second man, the head of a new redeemed humanity (2 Cor. 5:17), who are found altogether in Him. It is this fact alone that the blessed hope is founded upon and we long for His appearing so that we will be fully like Him (Phil. 3:20, 21).

Welcome To  Gospel Studies Pr Jack Sequeira
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