Romans 5 12-21

The first section of Romans had to do with the subject of sin.

The second section had to do with the subject of salvation.

Here’s a new section, whose subject is sanctification.

The verses

12. Sin entered the world through Adam, and with it all of the ills of the world as well as death itself. He reiterates that there are no exceptions…ALL men are born sinners. Adam had only one rule, and he could not follow it. By the way, you and I would not have done any better. Death has come to all men because all men are sinners.

13. Notice the sequence: Sin came first…THEN the Law. Without sin, there would never have had to be the Law. There’s more about this later in the passage.

14. Death reigned from Adam to Moses. Then came the Law. Adam’s sin was not that of breaking the Ten Commandments…they hadn’t been written yet. Adam’s sin was disobedience, and he passed that down as a pattern of the one to come (Law).

15. What Paul is saying is that every human being deserves to die an eternal death, but how great is the gift (Jesus) that overcame the sin of so many millions of people. Once the Law came into being, God’s grace in Christ just became MORE evident.

16. Sin brought condemnation, but Christ brought justification.

17. If death came by Adam, Christ brought the gift of righteous reign in life.

18. Ah! But just like it took only one man to bring death into the world, it took only one man – Jesus – to bring life into the world through His one act of SUPREME RIGHTEOUSNESS.

19. So, through one man (Adam) many were made sinners, through one man (Christ) many will be made righteous.

20. The Law is like a magnification glass, to make sin more evident. Where sin abounds, grace does much more abound.

21. Sin reigned in death, but grace reigns in righteousness and brings us eternal life…how? Through Jesus Christ our Lord (Greek word: Kurios)