Romans5:12
– 19 (I am going to put verses 20 & 21 into the first lesson from chapter
6, as that’s where I think they best relate.)
Romans
5:12 (HCSB) Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death
through sin, in this way death spread to all men, because all sinned. Our
first word prompts us, once again, to consider what was previously said. What
is the point Paul previously made that he is pulling to our attention here? (We
were ungodly enemies of God when we were reconciled to Him. We were sinners in
need of His righteousness.) Therefore, death spread to all men because all have
sinned and because all are in Adam by nature. Death got its start when Adam
sinned and the earth was cursed because of his sin (Gen 3:17). And though people
are by design made in the image of God, that image was broken and since the
Fall we also carry the image of Adam (Gen 5:3). Sin spreads to all the children
of Adam through our DNA. We are NOT sinners because we commit various types of
sin. We are sinners by nature – that is why we sin. David knew this and that’s
why he said he was conceived in iniquity; he was sinful from his beginning,
just as you and I were. No longer does Paul divide people according to the
flesh – Jew and Gentile. He moves in this argument just as he did in his own
life, noting in his letter to the Corinthian church that he no longer regarded
or considered anyone according the flesh, even though he once did so with
Jesus. But he no longer does so and ties this to being a new Creature in Christ
(2 Cor 5:16 & 17). Paul’s major dividing line is one we can more readily
relate to: the two groups of people are represented by Adam and by Jesus,
respectively. As Paul wrote in 1 Cor 15:22, in Adam all die and in Christ are
we made alive. This contrast is the basis for this passage, with Paul’s
emphasis on the supremacy of Christ.