Comments on Romans 5

ARTICLE THREE

“We also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”—- Rom. v11.

We joy in God, not through the works of the law, but through Christ; “By whom now we receive the atonement,” or rather the reconciliation that results from the atonement. The atonement, proper, is re­ceived by God, and we by it are reconciled to God. “Wherefore as by one man sin en­tered into the world.” Adam was in this, a public person, and acted for the race; was a federal head and seminal head for all the race. “All have sinned” in him and “death passed upon all men.” If it were complained of that the destiny of all men ought not to be suspended upon the loyalty of one man, we reply that this is as reasonable as that our salvation should depend on the loyalty of Christ. Death passed upon all men—all the race— so that infants were drowned in the flood and perished in Sodom, and in all ages have been subject to death; and this proves they were under the curse. It was for the sin “of one man.” The sin of Eve did not corrupt the fountain only for her­self. Adam was the representative head that brought the race into ruin.

Paul argues, in verse 13, that the law was in force because sin was in the world, sin not being imputed where there is no law. So it is plain that if death reigned from Adam to Moses then the law was in force during this time, “even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression.” That is, they did not transgress a statute given them as Adam did. And infants did not sin as Adam did against a given law, yet death reigned over them. They suffered as adults do in death, and this all argues that they were involved in the sin of Adam, and were exposed to the curse of the law as adults are.

Adam and Christ are both set forth as heads of those they represent, and we will miss in explanation if we consider them as representing the same company. To do so will lead us into Universalism.

“If through the offense of one, many be dead.” No doubt this one is Adam, and all represented by him are, first, dead in sin, and are, or will be, dead in body. “Much more the grace of God and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.” The two manys here denote, first, the many that Christ represented, to whom the grace of God abounded; second, the many that are dead, that Adam represented.

“Much more.” Paul uses this expres­sion often in his writing, and it here indi­cates that possibly it might be so, that some represented by Adam will escape the death of the body as Enoch and Elijah, or those that are alive and remain at the com­ing of Christ, who shall be changed in a moment, but not one represented by Christ shall fail to receive the fruits of his repre­sentation.

In some things the headship of Adam and Christ (verse 16) are similar and in some very dissimilar. “The judgment” was by one to condemnation, one single offense; but the fruits of Christ’s representation respects many offenses, an innumerable multitude of sins. It is wonderful that one single offense was enough to bring condem­nation on the entire race of man. It gives an idea of the inflexibility of the law—that it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than for one jot or tittle of the law to pass. It also gives an idea of the merits of the life and death of one man, Christ, that an innumerable company shall derive pardon for sins more numerous than the sands of the seashore from his life and death.

The 17th verse is not so obscure. By one man’s offense death reigned; by one— here are all represented by Adam. “They which receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.” The two companies here are not the same; while Adam stands for all the race, Christ stands only for those that “shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.” Here in verse 17 we have “much more” again. It. denotes that, as Christ is possessed with infinite perfec­tions, the effects of his representations are much more certain. We can imagine that some represented by Adam might escape, but we cannot imagine that one represent­ed by Christ shall fail to “reign in life by one.” “Much more they which receive abundance of grace, . . . shall reign in life by one.”

Verse 18 is plain, if we will note, that the two companies are not the same. “By the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation.” “The free gift came upon men to justification of life.” This cannot be said of all the race, and shows that “all men” in the two parts of the verse are not the same. Adam represented all the persons that Christ represented, but Christ did not represent all the persons that Adam did. This fact is clearly brought out in verse 19—”By one man’s disobedience many were made sinners;” this is plain. “So by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” Here are two manys, but they are not the same many.

“Moreover, the law entered, that the of­fense might abound.” The law does not remove sin, but it reveals it and perhaps ex­cites to it; it is the straight edge that re­veals the crooks, but removes none. “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” I regard this as experimental. “The commandment came, sin revived.” The law entered that sin might abound. Paul felt that sin abounded with him, but “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” Does sin abound with the Phar­isee? It abounds in every awakened soul, but where sin abounds grace much more abounds.

Verse 21 is plain—”Sin reigned unto death.” Death moral and physical. The soul is dead in sin as a result of sin’s reign, and the body will be dead in the grave. Sin reigns, rules like a tyrant. But “grace reigns”; it carries on its work sovereignly, irresistibly; reigns “through righteous­ness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord.” Grace does not set the sinner free, nor unlawfully open the prison door, but he reigns “through righteousness, unto eternal life.” Grace undoes the ruin of sin, delivers from death in trespasses and sins, delivers from the curse of the law, and blesses us with eternal life—the earnest of it here in time, and the fullness of it in the glory world. Grace will reign until we are delivered from sin and all the consequences of it—until the bodies of the saints are raised from the dead and fashioned like Christ’s own glorious body.

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