Romans - Chapter 5

Romans 5 (New International Version)


Death Through Adam, Life Through Christ

Sin entered the world through Adam. Therefore sin was in the world before there was any law. Sin is not taken into account when there is no law, so as a result of man’s ignorance the law had to be given in order that man would be able to identify sin.

Romans 5:12-13
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned— 13 for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law.

Through the disobedience of one man (Adam) all men were made sinners. Through the obedience of one man (Jesus Christ) all men can be made righteous. It was the action of Adam that made us sinners and the action of Christ that will make us clean – we can do none of it ourselves.

Romans 5:18-19
18 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. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

The law was given so that what would occur naturally as a result of man’s sin nature would be identifiable as sin and therefore increase. Knowing that where sin increases, grace increases even more. The purpose of the law is to identify sin. It was never intended to be a set of rules by which man could save himself. If that were even possible what purpose would Christ’s death have served?

Romans 5:20
20 The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more…