Grace Abounding to Miserable Sinners

Romans 5:15-17 speaks about God’s abounding grace to miserable sinners. Infinite grace came to the hell of God’s enemies, lifted them up, and transported them to the heavenly realms and seated them with Jesus Christ. About this passage Karl Barth said, “Though the sentence of death was not pronounced at any moment in time, yet, like the sword of Damocles, it is suspended over our heads at every moment.”¹ I disagree with two aspects of this famous theologian’s statement. First, the sentence of death was pronounced in time: “And the LORD God commanded [Adam], ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die'” (Gen. 2:16-27). Second, although it is true that the sentence of physical death hangs over each of Adam’s descendant, Adam also died spiritually the moment he ate the forbidden fruit. So Adam experienced separation from life with God long before he physically died 930 years later.

In Romans 5:12-21, Paul speaks of the history of humanity under the headship of two men-Adam and Jesus Christ. Paul calls them the first man and the second man. When we compare the person and work of Adam with that of Jesus Christ we see, first, that both were men, though Jesus Christ was God-man, and both were appointed by God to be heads of a humanity. Both were to keep a covenant before God, and what each did affected all whom they represented. Because of the one sin of the one man Adam, all his descendants became sinners and so were condemned to death. Because of the obedience of Jesus Christ, all who belong to him are forgiven of all their sins, justified forever, and given the gift of righteousness and eternal life. So Adam brought to the world sin, condemnation, and death, but this text tells us that God is not defeated by Adam’s sin, condemnation, and death. God’s action in Jesus Christ reversed these deadly effects of Adam’s work and achieved for God’s people the infinitely greater blessings of grace.

Through his one sin, Adam became a mass murderer, bringing death to all his descendants. But Jesus Christ, who is eternal life, makes alive all who are his. That was why he came from heaven into this world. Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. . . . I give them eternal life and they shall never perish (John 10:10; 28).

God created Adam innocent and righteous, but his was a defectible righteousness. It was possible for him to sin (posse peccare) and he did so, thereby plunging all his descendants into the abyss of sin and death. But thanks be to God for Jesus Christ, the second man, the last Adam. As a result of his covenant keeping, he came to our hell and transported us not back to the defectible innocence of Adam, but to heaven itself. Having justified us of all sins, he seated us with him in the heavenly realms. He clothed us with his own divine, indefectible righteousness so that we may receive the gift of eternal life. Jesus did all this by his death and resurrection for his people.

What about you? Are you his people? Are you his offspring? Are you united with Christ through faith? We must make certain that we trust in Jesus Christ alone. We are God’s people if we have entrusted ourselves to Christ now and forevermore. Paul asserts, “I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day” (2 Tim. 1:12). We do not depend on ourselves or on anything else; we depend on the Lord Jesus Christ to transport us into heaven, where we are already seated with Christ.

Romans 5:15-17 particularly emphasizes the contrast between Adam the sinner and Jesus Christ the righteous one. No matter what our problems are, Jesus is mighty to solve them all. Trust in King Jesus, who through the cross defeats King Sin, King Death, and King Devil. Jesus declared, “When a strong man fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up the spoils” (Luke 11:21-22). A stronger one has come in the person of Jesus Christ to deliver us from the powerful control of death, the devil and the world. Therefore we want to speak about two things from this passage: our liabilities in Adam and our riches in Christ.

Our Liabilities in Adam

1. Sin.

The first liability we have in Adam is sin. Paul writes, “Therefore just as sin. . .” (v. 12). This is speaking about one sin of one man, Adam, and his deliberate eating of the forbidden fruit (Gen. 3:6). In verses 15 and 18 Paul uses the word paraptôma, which means a fall. Adam fell from the state of righteousness and innocence and brought us all down into the pit. “Through the disobedience. . .” (v. 19). Because Adam disobeyed, we do too. That is why, when God commands, we may respond, “Who are you that we should obey you?” Or when a parent speaks, rebellious children say, “Who are you to tell me what to do?” The disobedient are in the pit with Adam.

Although one sin of Adam brought us into this miserable condition of condemnation and death, verse 16 makes clear that Adam’s one sin is not our only problem: “But the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.” We have also personally committed many trespasses. “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. . . . He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised for our justification” (Rom. 3:23; 4:25). Paul says elsewhere, “Christ died for our sins” (1 Cor. 15:3). Notice the plural: sins. Adam’s one sin has produced a multitude of sins in our lives.

Not only have we and Adam sinned, but Paul declares, “Sin reigned” (Rom. 5:21). Sin is pictured here as king. By nature, all are under the dominion and control of sin. When we sin again and again, we must conclude that we are under the control of King Sin. Elsewhere Paul says, “Because all sinned” (Rom. 5:12b). Every human being, except Jesus Christ, has therefore sinned unconsciously in the one sin of Adam our representative, as well as committing personally a multitude of sins. This is the serious liability of sin.

2. Condemnation

Another liability we have in Adam is condemnation. “Again, the gift of God is not like the result of one man’s sin. The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation” (v. 16). For one sin of one man, God has judged all men justly, according to his own strict justice. God had clearly told Adam, “The day you eat thereof, you will die.” The judgment Adam reaped for his disobedience is condemnation for him and his descendants.

God judged us in the one sin of Adam and declared us to be unrighteous. Therefore, all who are outside of Christ are judged and condemned, not by any court of this world, but by God. “For just as through the disobedience of the one man, the many were constituted sinners” (v. 19, author’s translation). We are declared to be sinners by God himself and are therefore condemned.

But about those who have believed in Christ, Paul writes, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). He also writes, “Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus who died-more than that, who was raised to life-he is at the right hand of God and is interceding for us” (Rom. 8:34). The opposite of condemnation is justification. “But the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification” (v. 16). God declares his people righteous in spite of the fact that we have sinned both in the one sin of Adam and by committing many sins ourselves in thought, word, and deed.

3. Death

The third liability is death. Romans 6:23 tells us “the wages of sin is death”-spiritual, physical, and eternal separation from the life of God. Paul says, “Therefore just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, and in this way death spread to all men because all sinned. . . . Nevertheless, death reigned” (Rom. 5:12, 14). Death is pictured as a mighty, universal king. No one is able to oppose King Death as he marches on from village to village, from mansion to little hut.

“For if by the trespass of one man, death reigned through that one man” (v. 17). This is why we can say Adam is a mass murderer. Whenever someone dies, we must acknowledge that death came through that first man who rebelled against God. Sin reigns through death (Rom. 5:21). And all who hate Jesus Christ are under the mighty power of sin and death, which are God’s judgments on rebels.

“Many died. . .” (v. 15). We see from verse 12 that “many” here means all: “Death came to all men, because all sinned.” Why do people die? They are all sinners under the dominion of sin and death. “It is appointed for man once to die and then comes the judgment” (Heb. 9:27).

No sinner can escape death on his own. Moses writes, “The length of our days is seventy years-or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away” (Psalm 90:10; see also Psalm 49:10). That is the reality. Let the wisest, wealthiest, or most powerful person try to defeat death; he cannot. “For if by the trespass of the one man, death reigned” (v. 17). Like sin and condemnation, death is a liability that has come to us through the one man, Adam.

The Riches in Christ

Having looked at the liabilities we have inherited from Adam, let us now examine the riches we have in Christ.

1. Jesus Christ

The first treasure we have is Jesus Christ himself. Only those who have trusted in Christ by saving faith can be rich and free from all liability. After telling us of the misery of sin and death that Adam brought, Paul introduces the one who will deal with these things (Rom. 5:14). Paul explains that Adam was a type, a pattern of the promised one to come, the second Adam, the seed of the woman who came to crush the head of the serpent. The promised Messiah came to undo the works of Adam and destroy the work of the devil. Paul proclaims, “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, [Christ] made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Col. 2:15).

The writer to the Hebrews tells us, “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death, he might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” Let us praise Jesus Christ for delivering us from the fear of death.

2. The Grace of God

The second treasure we have in Christ is grace-abounding, infinite, logic-busting grace. The words “grace” and “gift” appear ten times in Romans 5:15-21. Many trespasses call for many condemnations, but God gives grace. He gives grace to the undeserving, grace to helpless sinners who merited death and hell, grace to those who are enemies of God, grace to the objects of divine wrath, and grace to those who have committed multitudes of sins. “Where sin abounded, grace superabounded” (v. 20, author’s translation). Grace is eternal life and heaven to us who merited eternal death and hell.

In heaven we are for the praise of his glorious grace. Paul says, “In order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:7). Elsewhere he declares, “Although I am less than the least of God’s people, his grace was given to me to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Eph. 3:8). “Where sin abounded, grace superabounded.” This bank-busting, overflowing grace swept away all our sins, condemnation, and death, and gave us super-abounding life.

In Romans 5:15-16 we read about charisma, which means a gift bestowed by grace. Another word used several times is dôrea, which means a free gift that comes from God the Father. Dôrea is used only with respect to the blessings and gifts God gives to men, as we read in James 1:17: “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights.” Grace is a free gift. Isaiah proclaims, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost” (Isa. 55:1). This grace cost the Father his Son, but it is offered to us free of cost. Isaiah continues: “Why spend money on what is not bread and your labor on what does not satisfy?” This makes good sense. Why should we waste our lives in pursuit of that which will not satisfy us when what we really need is offered free of charge?

C.E.B. Cranfield comments about this wonderful treasure of grace coming to us through Christ: “That one single misdeed should be answered by judgment, this is perfectly understandable: that the accumulated sins and guilt of all the ages should be answered by God’s free gift, this is the miracle of miracles, utterly beyond human comprehension.“² Because of the truth of particular redemption, I would add, “Only all the sins of all God’s elect of all the ages.”

Adam’s one sin plus the mountains of all our sins are answered by God’s abounding grace. The saving work of Jesus is “much more,” a phrase we see in verses 15 and 17. It is always much more, exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or imagine. When Christ fed people, whether the five thousand or the four thousand, there was always much more than needed. His grace exceeds and is more than sufficient for our needs. The grace of Christ not only reverses the effect of Adam’s sin, but it also reaches down to our hell, makes us holy and blameless children of God, and takes us to heaven to be seated with Christ on the right hand of God. The grace of God in Christ makes us the bride of Christ. It makes us heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ.

It is abounding grace. “But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!” (v. 15). God’s grace abounded to the many. Elsewhere Paul says, “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work” (2 Cor. 9:8). If we are not obedient to God in doing good works, it is because we do not have grace. God gives grace, but he does so only to the humble who pray and confess, “O God, I do not have it. Give me grace.”

“For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ” (v. 17). We also read of this abundant grace in verse 20: “The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more” or “grace super-abounded.” We have no excuse to be lazy and not do God’s work. We cannot say, “I did not have grace.” God gives abounding, more-than-sufficient grace to all who come and ask for it.

Jesus said he came that we might have abundant life. Paul says, “Hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us” (Rom. 5:5, italics added). The idea is that God’s love is poured out in a mighty effusion. Therefore, let us stop complaining and making excuses and being lazy. Instead, let us pray and receive grace that we may work hard and accomplish even greater things for God. As branches are connected to the vine, so we are united with Christ, and from him a mighty infusion of grace flows into every true believer. That is why a true Christian will be successful in all that he does.

3. Justification.

The third treasure is justification. As a result of Adam’s sin, we received condemnation, but in Jesus Christ we receive justification based on his one righteous act (v. 18). Based on Christ’s obedient death on the cross, God has given us an alien righteousness, the righteousness of Jesus Christ. We were sinners, but God constituted us righteous, and we therefore are righteous forever. (PGM) The basis of this justification is the obedience of Christ. Therefore, the condemnation we inherited from Adam is overcome by Christ’s righteousness. Justification has come to us in Jesus Christ.

Our sin in Adam justly called for our condemnation, and our many sins called for many condemnations. But grace does the opposite. Abounding grace justifies the ungodly. Those who committed many sins are declared righteous by the Supreme Court of the universe.

4. Beneficiaries of Christ’s Obedience

The effect of the obedience of Christ flows into all who belong to Jesus Christ. “Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men” (Rom. 5:18). Universalists say this means all people are going to be saved. Others say this means that the majority of Adam’s descendants are going to be saved. Both views are not true, based on Christ’s own words. Many are traveling on the broad way of destruction, but only a few shall walk in the narrow way of life (Matt. 7:13-14).

What, then, does “all” in verse 18 mean? Paul gives us a clue: “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ the firstfruits; then when he comes, those who belong to him” (1 Cor. 15:22-23). Only those who belong to Christ will receive the life-flow from Christ. And who belongs to him? Isaiah proclaims, “And who can speak of his descendants? . . . Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer. And though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days” (Isa. 53:8, 10). Those who belong to Christ are his spiritual children. Isaiah also says, “Here I am, and the children the LORD has given me” (Isa. 8:18; Heb. 2:13). We are Christ’s descendants, his offspring, his children. We belong to Christ.

5. Recipients of Grace and Righteousness

How can we know that we belong to Christ? We will receive God’s abundant provision of grace and the gift of righteousness. Paul says, “For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who are receiving abundant provision of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ” (v. 17, author’s translation). “Receiving” is in the continual, present tense, meaning this abundant provision is coming to us continually, even as we read and hear the word of God. Grace comes to us through the proclamation of the gospel through God-called and commissioned human beings. If we receive the gospel of God’s grace when it is proclaimed, we can know that we belong to Christ. If we treat God’s grace and gift of righteousness with contempt, we are not saved, and we will pay for our despising of God’s word on that day when we face him.

We are to receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness that is coming to us. Paul writes, “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe” (Rom. 3:22). Therefore, to “receive” means to believe in Jesus Christ. Paul also says, “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom. 10:9). To receive means to confess. Finally, he says, “Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved” (Rom. 10:14). To receive means to call upon the name of God, like blind Bartimaeus called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy upon me.” We must feel our need for God, for life eternal, for forgiveness of all our sins, and our need to be clothed with the perfect righteousness of Christ.

If we are chosen by God from all eternity, we will experience the effectual call of God in our soul when the gospel message comes, and we will call upon the name of the Lord. Paul explains this process: “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified” (Rom. 8:29-30). We will confess, believe, receive, and be thankful for this great salvation. We will be drawn to the triune God in our souls: “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive him away. . . . No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:37, 44).

Are you Christ’s offspring? Do you belong to him? Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me” (John 10:14). In other words, he loves his sheep and they love him. Jesus also said, “I am the gate; whoever enters through me shall be saved” (John 10:9). If we are Christ’s, we will be drawn to him. We will call upon the name of the Lord and we will know that we are saved.

I pray we would receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness God offers to us. Luke 18:9-14 speaks about a Pharisee who rested in his self-righteousness and went home condemned. But the publican received the righteousness of God and went home justified.

“For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed” (Rom. 1:17). The Bible reveals a righteousness from God, and we need it. “But now a righteousness from God apart from law has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ” (Rom. 3:21-22). The moment we believe in Christ, this righteousness is given to us freely. If we are outside of Christ, we are naked and ashamed. But God covers our nakedness: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21).

6. We Are Made Righteous

The next treasure is found in verse 19, which says we are constituted righteous through the obedience of Christ. Who made us righteous? God did so. He made us righteous and declares that it is so. Because of this, we can resist the devil and he shall flee from us. Those who receive the abundance of grace and free gift of righteousness are constituted righteous by God. God himself declares them so. Who can then condemn us? No one!

In Christ we are forgiven of all sins; they are blotted out, swept away, buried in the bottom of the ocean, and God remembers them no more. We can search as far and as long as we want; they cannot be found.

7. Reigning in Life

Finally, we will reign in life: “How much more those who are receiving the abundance of grace and gift of righteousness shall reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ” (v. 17). Oh, what riches we have in Jesus Christ! Those who were slaves of sin and death have been made kings by God! We died with Christ, were buried with Christ, and were raised with Christ to live a new life.

Paul writes, “For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved in his life!” (Rom. 5:10). Now we live the life of Christ in the sphere of everlasting, indestructible life. For Christ “brought life and immortality to light” by his death and resurrection (2 Tim. 1:10).

We reign in life because we were made alive by the life of Christ. Christ came to stinking Lazarus’s tomb and said, “Lazarus, come forth!” and he came forth. The dead are raised up by the life of Christ. We have been taken out of Adam and the kingdom of death and darkness and are now in the sphere of life. Death no longer rules over us, as it does over those who are outside of Christ. In Christ we have defeated sin, death, and the devil, for Christ by his death triumphed over them all. In Christ we can say that death for us is not loss but gain. Now we can resist the devil by the blood of the Lamb and the word of God, and he shall flee from us. This is what it means to reign in life.

Because we have been given authority to do so by the one to whom is given all authority in heaven and earth, we rule as kings, both now and forever: “As many as received him, to them he gave authority to become children of God” (John 1:12). “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:6). Seated with Christ, we are now ruling with him.

Paul says, “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And do you not know that we will judge angels who are superior to us?” (1 Cor. 6:2-3). Angels are the ministering spirits to us, but we judge them. Peter declares, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood.” (1 Pet. 2:9). We are priests and kings. John states, “God has made us to be kings and priests to serve his God and Father. To him be glory and power for ever and ever. . . .You have made them kings and priests” (Rev. 1:6; 5:10, KJV).

Because we know what God says about us, we do not care what our enemies say. We are kings and we are reigning in life with Christ. Again, John says, “There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light and they will reign for ever and ever” (Rev. 22:5). We have begun reigning now and we will continue to reign. The moment we received the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness, the moment we believed in Jesus Christ and confessed him and called upon the name of the Lord, we began to rule for God.

Saints of God, are you reigning with Christ? Are you reigning over sin, death, the world, and the devil? If not, they are ruling over you. They are able to do so because you are a rebel who does not want to believe in the gospel. But I urge you to believe in Christ and reign as victorious kings with him.

In Christ we reign in all circumstances. We reign in prison and when we are stoned, slandered, and beheaded. We reign when we are persecuted, cursed, naked, and hungry. We can do so because we have the life of God in us, and God himself is with us. We live with Christ, and he lives in us. Read what Paul says about this reigning, victorious life:

Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. (2 Cor. 11:23-27)

Yes, we will face troubles and hardships as Paul did. But we can rule and reign in all circumstances because God is in us and we are in God. We are invincible kings; no devil can harm us. All these blessings are ours through Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

Friends, does it make any sense to remain in Adam, from whom flows the muck and mire of sin, condemnation, and death? Thank God for the second Adam, Jesus Christ! By his atonement he reversed the deleterious effects of our father, the mass murderer Adam. The stronger one, Jesus Christ, bound the devil and is setting his people free from their bondage in Adam. Jesus Christ sets us free from sin and death. For the first time in our lives, we are free to live and we shall reign in life with Christ. For us Christ became “wisdom from God-that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30). Yes, death flowed from Adam, but, thank God, life eternal flows to us from Christ. May we receive him by faith and be set free, that we may also receive God’s abounding grace and his free gift of righteousness.

¹ Quoted by Leon Morris, The Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988), 237.

² C.E.B. Cranfield, Romans: A Shorter Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1985), 118.