October 2018 TRANSCRIPT

Romans Class SRL, Medellin

Prepared by: Walter Eriksen
LESSON 15 Romans 6:1-14
God’s Righteousness for Justification
Rooted in the Obedience
Adam and Christ

1) ON VERSE 12: Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so
death spread to all men because all sinned,
a) Calvin, John: Note Paul’s order; sin preceded, sin death followed.
i) Paul distinctly affirms, that sin extends to all who suffer its punishment:
ii) He assigns a reason why all the posterity of Adam are subject to the dominion of death; and it is even
this—because we have all, sinned.
b) Paul shows that individual acts of sin establish an axiom web, of sin.
i) Any person’s destiny is based on such behavior. T
ii) Gen. 2–3 make that evident, was central in Jewish theology.
iii) Death spread to all mankind showing that death is universal because sin is also universal: “all sinned.”1
c) Through one man. “One” 12 times in this passage. It was the one man Adam the one sin of one man in
contrast to, and in opposition to the one man’s work of Grace, the God-Man Jesus
d) Sproul, R.C.: Original sin is not a specific sin, a particular act of disobedience; it has to do with the nature
of mankind.
i) The Bible tells us that our nature is fallen, that not only do we sin, but we are pervaded by sin, that is,
our natures are corrupt.
ii) The classical Protestant answer is called ‘federalism’. Adam was our representative, he was the federal
head of mankind. God put him on probation and he was on probation not for himself, and his race.
iii) There is only one time in all of human history when we have been perfectly, accurately represented,
and we did not choose our own representative.
iv) God chose our representative for us. Adam was the perfect choice for you and for me. God holds me
accountable for what Adam did, because Adam did in fact truly, perfectly and infallibly represent me.
He was my candidate. I did not choose him; God did.2
2) ON VERSEs 13-14: for, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to
Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who
was to come.
a) Before the law was given sin was already present.
i) God made no announcement of a judgement based upon a written law, yet mankind was under a curse.
ii) Under a curse from the womb; they who led a wicked life were not exempt from the condemnation of
sin.
iii) There has been and always is in man an innate knowledge of God some idea of One to whom honour
was due.

1
Moo, D. J. (1996). The Epistle to the Romans (pp. 319-321). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Co.
2
Sproul, R. C. (1994). The Gospel of God: An Exposition of Romans (pp. 101–104). Great Britain: Christian
Focus Publications.
 iv) This view is so plain and so clear, that of itself it disproves every opposite notion3
v) Sproul, R.C: There is a natural law and every human being is, to some degree, aware of right and
wrong.
(1) God has not left this planet in mute silence with respect to human moral responsibility.
(2) The consciousness and awareness of this can be distorted through cultural rules and regulations.
(3) There is still a built-in sense of righteousness that every human being knows.4
3) ON VERSE 15: But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much
more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.
a) The free gift is not like the trespass: Like is common in the original the is not like the trespass, where for
emphasis purposes, the verb and the predicate are placed before the subject “The free gift”
b) MOO, D.J.: vss. 15-17, three contrasts: The first contrast is one of degree: the work of Christ, being a
manifestation of grace, is greater in every way than that of Adam (v. 15).
i) The second contrast is (mainly) one of consequence: Adam’s act brought condemnation
ii) (v. 16b) and death (v. 17a);
iii) Christ’s brought righteousness (v. 16b) and life (v. 17b).
c) MORRIS, LEON: many died signifies totality of mankind. The effect of Adam’s sin, then, was disaster.
i) It was death for everyone. With grace Paul couples the gift that came by the grace of the one man.
ii) The freeness is emphasized by the link with grace. This gift came from the one man.
iii) Adam deed had effects on a great number, so also with Christ.
iv) His gift is said to overflow, indicates abundance, a keynote of chapter.
v) Adam did his descendants a grievous wrong, but Christ gave his people an abundant gift. He brought
a whole new life (cf. v. 21).
d) SPROUL, R.C.: Here we have the idea that there is a parallel of imputation and representation. Our
salvation rests upon this.
i) It is through the first Adam that we are plunged into the ruin, by representation and imputation;
ii) by the Second Adam we are redeemed through representation and imputation. Jesus
iii) Christ represented me on the cross. On that cross, Jesus Christ paid the penalty for my sin.
iv) And not only was my sin imputed to him, but his righteousness was imputed to me.
v) Although there is a parallel, Jesus and Adam were not equals.
(1) What Adam did was destructive; what Jesus does is redemptive. Not only that, the grace of God
has overflowed to many. Jesus didn’t just save a few, he saved many.
(2) He hasn’t saved everybody, but the imputation of his righteousness has been given by grace to
many people. Death is something we earned; salvation is something that we receive as a gift.
4) ON VERSE 16: And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one
trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification.
a) Calvin, John: Observe also, that these many offences, from which he affirms we are freed through Christ,
are not to be understood only of those which every one must have committed before baptism, but also of
those by which the saints contract daily new guilt; and on account of which they would be justly exposed
to condemnation, were they not continually relieved by this grace.
b) MOO, D.J.: As he did in v. 15, Paul goes on to elaborate this contrast: “For the judicial verdict that
resulted in condemnation was from one sin,106 but the gift that leads to justification came after many
transgressions.” Paul, in fact, has two contrasts in mind: (1) the contrast between the results of Adam’s

3
Calvin, J., & Owen, J. (2010). Commentary on the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans (p. 202).
Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
4
Sproul, R. C. (1994). The Gospel of God: An Exposition of Romans (pp. 106–107). Great Britain: Christian
Focus Publications.
 act and Christ’s—condemnation versus justification—and (2) the number of sins taken into account—the
judicial verdict associated with Adam was based on one sin; the decree of justification that came through
Christ came after an untold number of sins.5
c) Morris, Leon: This verse contrasts: the gift is set over against “one having sinned”, judgment against the
gift, one sin against many trespasses, and condemnation against justification.6.
d) Sproul, R.C.: Paul is saying that the power and impact of the Second Adam is much greater than the
impact of the first Adam.7
5) ON VERSE 17: For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will
those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one
man Jesus Christ.
a) Morris, Leon: With grace Paul links the gift of righteousness. That righteousness is a gift
i) Paul is thinking of it as a status, a standing.
ii) What Christ did for sinners was to obtain right standing before God.
iii) This gift results in the recipients reign in life, a significant expression, for Paul has twice spoken of
death as reigning (vv. 14, 17).
b) Sproul, R.C.: The impact of Adam has been awful, it has put men in misery, in ruin.
i) But the solution is infinitely greater, because Christ has abounded in winning eternal life for men.
ii) We have to go through a travail of tears for our threescore and ten years on this planet.
iii) We still have to go through the valley of the shadow of death.
i) Compare that to the eternity of contentment, joy, happiness without pain, without sorrow, without
tears, won for us by Christ role as the Second Adam?
2) ON VERSE 5:18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness
leads to justification and life for all men.
a) All men refers to “for all those in Christ”.
b) Sproul, R.C.: Through the work of Christ, through his obedience and his righteousness, we are made alive
and are brought into eternal life. He repeats and summaries this in verses 18 and 19
3) ON VERSE 19: For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s
obedience the many will be made righteous.
a) MOO, D.J.: In this verse, using the same basic structure as in v. 18 but different language. In contrast to
the “all people” of v. 18, Paul denotes those who are affected by the acts of Adam and Christ by “the
many” (as in v. 15)
b) Morris, Leon: This time Adam’s sin is called disobedience, which brings out a salient feature of the
wrong he did. His sin was voluntary. The verb were made presents problems. It does not mean that sinless
people were compelled to become sinners, but rather that Adam’s sin constituted them as sinners. They
were born as members of a race already separated from God.
c) Sproul, R.C.: It sounds as if Paul is saying that through Adam’s sin, the whole world comes under
condemnation; and that through Christ’s righteousness the whole world will be saved. But this has to be
understood in the light of everything else the apostle Paul says in this epistle. Beforehand, he has made it
very clear that not everybody experiences salvation.

5
Moo, D. J. (1996). The Epistle to the Romans (p. 338). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
6
Morris, L. (1988). The Epistle to the Romans (p. 236). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans;
Inter-Varsity Press.
7
Sproul, R. C. (1994). The Gospel of God: An Exposition of Romans (p. 108). Great Britain: Christian Focus
Publications.
4) ON VERSES 20-21: Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded
all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord
a) Calvin, John: our condemnation is not set before us in the law, that we may abide in it; but that having
fully known our misery, we may be led to Christ, who is sent to be a physician to the sick, a deliverer to
the captives, a comforter to the afflicted, a defender to the oppressed. (Is. 61:1. The Spirit of the Lord God
is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up
the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are
bound;)8
b) Morris, Leon: Trespass has been used consistently of Adam’s sin (vv. 15, 17, 18), and the word may be
chosen as a way of bringing out the continuity between his sin and that of his descendants. T
i) The increase of sin, however, is not the last word.
ii) Paul is not concerned with minor distinctions among grades of evil.
iii) The important thing is at the end of the clause—grace increased all the more, or perhaps we should
say, “grace superabounded”.
iv) Paul can never be accused of minimizing the seriousness of sin, but he does not lose an opportunity of
stressing the victory of grace. Grace is so much more effective than evil.9
c) Sproul, R.C.: Paul is speaking of the law of Moses, and this is a difficult verse because it does seem to
be saying that God’s purpose in giving the law was to make sin worse.
i) Paul elsewhere describes more than one purpose behind the law, but obviously what he is saying here
is that sin, by the presence of law, is shown to be sin.
ii) Law doesn’t, in and of itself, create sin; it is the evil disposition of our hearts that creates sin, not the
law. What the law does is define and condemn it and reveal it for what it is—sin.
iii) There is a greater measure of grace in this world than there is of sin and of evil.
iv) Suppose God removed his grace—what would happen? In fact, some understand Paul’s teaching in 2
Thessalonians, when he talks about the emergence of the Antichrist and the end of the world, as
referring to such a scenario.
v) If things are bad now, just imagine what this world would be like if God’s common grace were
removed.
vi) We have no conception of the capacity for evil and wickedness that dwells in the human heart.
vii) What sin is there that Christians haven’t committed, unless it be the sin against the Holy Spirit?
Christians have committed murder, Christians have committed adultery, Christians steal, Christians
lie, Christians start wars, Christians have abortions. They do all kinds of unspeakable wicked things.
Even the presence of regeneration and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit does not totally remove sin.
The righteousness of Christ is God’s gracious way of bringing eternal life to all who believe in him as
Lord.10

8
Calvin, J., & Owen, J. (2010). Commentary on the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans (p. 215).
Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
9
Morris, L. (1988). The Epistle to the Romans (pp. 240–242). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B.
Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.
10
Sproul, R. C. (1994). The Gospel of God: An Exposition of Romans (p. 109). Great Britain: Christian Focus
Publications.