Romans 5:19
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.
Sermons
Man's Disobedience and Christ's ObedienceJ. Lyth, D. D.Romans 5:19
Man's First SinS. Martin.Romans 5:19
Of Our Fall in AdamT. Boston, D. D.Romans 5:19
One Man's Disobedience and its ConsequenceRomans 5:19
One Man's Obedience and its ConsequencesRomans 5:19
Ruin and RedemptionS.R. Aldridge Romans 5:19
The Condition of Man a Sinner and Man Made Righteous ContD. M'Nicoll.Romans 5:19
The Fall and the AtonementS. Cox, D. D.Romans 5:19
The Lord Our RighteousnessT. G. Horton.Romans 5:19
The Mechanism of HeredityProf. Elmslie, D. D.Romans 5:19
A Historical ParallelJ. Oswald Dykes, D. D.Romans 5:12-21
Adam and ChristJ. H. Tarson.Romans 5:12-21
Adam and ChristJ. Lyth, D. D.Romans 5:12-21
Adam and ChristR. Koegel, D. D.Romans 5:12-21
Death by Sin, and Sin by ManU. R. Thomas.Romans 5:12-21
Grace AboundingC.H. Irwin Romans 5:12-21
Human DepravityT. Raffles, D. D.Romans 5:12-21
Introduction of Sin into the WorldProf. Godet, D. D.Romans 5:12-21
Man's FallHubbard-Puritan.Romans 5:12-21
On the Fallen State of ManT. Fernie, M. A.Romans 5:12-21
Original SinT. Chalmers, D. D.Romans 5:12-21
Original SinHon. and Rev. A. T. Lyttelton.Romans 5:12-21
Original SinW. F. Hook, D. D.Romans 5:12-21
Original SinA. Toplady, M. A.Romans 5:12-21
Original SinC. H. Spurgeon.Romans 5:12-21
Original Sin, a RootJ. G. Wilson.Romans 5:12-21
Original Sin, a Scientific FactF. W. Robertson.Romans 5:12-21
Original Sin: Why God Did not Arrest its ConsequencesProf. Godet.Romans 5:12-21
Representative ResponsibilityR.M. Edgar Romans 5:12-21
Sin and DeathJ. Parsons.Romans 5:12-21
The Analogy Between the Manner of Man's Condemnation in Adam and Justification in ChristJ. Lyth, D. D.Romans 5:12-21
The Entrance of Sin into the WorldT. Robinson, D. D.Romans 5:12-21
The Great ParallelsRomans 5:12-21
The Introduction and Consequences of SinW. Cunningham, D. D.Romans 5:12-21
The Misery of Man's Sinful StateT. Boston, D. D.Romans 5:12-21
The Need of HealingF. Paget, D. D.Romans 5:12-21
The Principle on Which Justification ProceedsW. Tyson.Romans 5:12-21
What is ChanceC. Kingsley, M. A.Romans 5:12-21
The Two AntithesesT.F. Lockyer Romans 5:18, 19














By itself the first clause expresses a fact of deepest gloom. It calls attention to the prevalence of sin and death. The history of the world is traced in darkest colours. We see the race from Adam till now marching to the grave, with the taint of corruption upon all. We are confronted by that profound mystery, the existence of moral evil, with its widespread, deep-seated effects. The possibility of man made upright and free yielding to temptation does not exhaust the explanation of the actual Fall. And when the Scriptures point to the influence of an external agent, the serpent, employed to bring about the downfall of the first pair, the pall of mystery is not removed; its corner is lifted a little that we may see how our difficulties relate to questionings concerning the origin and continuance of evil in beings superior to man. This appears to be God's mode of dealing with us. Enough is said to allow faith a foothold, not enough to place the whole territory at our disposal. Instead of unlocking the house of previous being and inviting us to its darkened halls, to explore for ourselves the tragedy with which our own world-tragedy is connected, the Scriptures point to a Sun that has risen to shine upon our moral firmament, and bid us note its blissful tendencies, kindling fresh life and beauty, arresting decay, reviving hope, attesting the interest of the Almighty in his creatures, and showing that the permission of evil is not to be ascribed to any lack of Divine love. The subject of sin cannot be beneficially studied unless combined with the antidote which the wisdom and affection of the Most High have provided. Faith may waver as it contemplates the inroads made by sin upon the intelligence and happiness of the human family, and faith must be strengthened by meditation on the remedial work of Christ. Do you wonder at the transmission of contagion from generation to generation, at the long-drawn-out penalty of the race? and does the law seem inequitable that lays many of the acts of the guilty as a burden on the shoulders of the innocent? Then notice the operation of the same law in redemption, where the Son of God sheds his blood to save sinners, and observe how from him is perpetuated the blessing of peace and godliness. Separate the two hemispheres, and the mind becomes a prey to chilling doubts and oppressive fears; unite them, and hope asserts its beneficent vivifying power. Whilst we declare in amazement, "How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" we can add, "To whom be glory for ever;" "Just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints."

I. THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THE SIN OF ADAM AND THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST. To disobey the particular prohibition was to listen to the tempter, and to substitute human will for the Divine. Therein was contained the germ of the worst vices. To Jesus was assigned the more difficult task of remaining holy amid a world of evil, and the slightest deviation from rectitude had marred his perfect offering. Our sin is disobedience, and we are righteous in proportion as we obey the dictates of God from the heart. Disobedience, as Adam found, does not enlarge, but restricts our liberty. Not knowledge, but obedience, saves the soul.

II. THE CONTRAST FURTHER SHOWN IN THE EFFECTS WROUGHT BY EACH. The apostle assumes the truth of the story in Genesis. He proves the universality of sin by a reference to the fact that all have died, showing that even the ancients prior to Moses must have transgressed some law, and so incurred the penalty for disobedience. The principle of heredity confirms the truth of the doctrine that our progenitors have transmitted a vitiated nature to their descendants. Jesus, the second Adam, is the Head of a new race, to whom he imparts a new birth, with its issue sanctification. By the model of his flawless obedience, and by the grace which flows into us from that spring of obedience, the curse is removed from believers, and righteousness is imputed and imparted.

III. THE COMPARISON OF THE NUMBERS INFLUENCED. This passage should enlarge our estimate of the kingdom of the saved. In each case it is "the many" who are affected. The obedience of Christ is sufficient as a meritorious cause to justify the whole world, though only those who "receive the Word" are consciously gladdened and sanctified thereby. No man is condemned on account of Adam's transgression; it is his own disobedience to the written or innate law which determines his sentence. The millions who have died in infancy are redeemed by Christ; multitudes in the Jewish and heathen world were saved by virtue of his atonement, though not explicitly revealed to them, and the Apostle John saw in heaven a number beyond the arithmetic of earth to calculate. - S.R.A.

For, by the obedience of one many were made sinners, and by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
I. MAN WAS MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD, which consisted partly —

1. In his power over all terrestrial creatures (Genesis 1:26; Psalm 8:5, 6). Hence he gave names (Genesis 2:19.20).

2. In the perfection of his nature, endued with —

(1)Reason.

(2)Will.

(3)Knowledge (Colossians 3:9, 10).

(4)True holiness (Ephesians 4:24).

II. MAN FELL FROM THIS HIGH ESTATE THROUGH DISOBEDIENCE (Genesis 2:16, 17; Genesis 3:1, etc.) .

1. How this was done.(1) Through Satan's temptation, which was managed with great cunning.

(a)He enters the serpent, the subtlest creature.

(b)Sets upon the woman, the weaker vessel (1 Peter 3:7).

(c)Propounds a doubtful question (Genesis 3:1).

(d)Denies the truth of God's threatenings (ver. 4).

(e)Gives a contrary promise and uses the name of God to confirm it (ver. 5).(2) Through the woman's fault.

(a)In entering into a dispute with the devil.

(b)In doubting the truth of God's command.

(c)In eating the fruit.(3) Through the man's fault. In taking the fruit at her hands.

2. What was involved.

(1)He broke the first command, by infidelity, ingratitude, contempt of God, and ambition to be like God (Genesis 3:5).

(2)Hearkened to the devil's word before Gods.

(3)Pleased his wife rather than God.

(4)Murdered his whole posterity (John 8:44).

(5)Minded the lusts of the flesh more than the law of God.

(6)Stole God's fruit.

(7)Coveted God's attributes.

III. THROUGH THIS DISOBEDIENCE ALL HIS POSTERITY WERE MADE SINNERS.

1. By imputation.

(1)In that all sinned in him (vers. 12, 16-18; Hebrews 7:9, 10).

(2)In that all died in him (Romans 6:23; 1 Corinthians 15:22).

(3)All were then in his loins; so that he was the common father of all mankind; therefore called Adam, i.e., man in general (Genesis 5:1).

2. By inhesion. All, through Adam's sin —

(1)Are born in sin (Psalm 51:5; Job 14:4; Ephesians 2:3; John 3:3). Hence only is it that children die.

(2)Do actually commit sin, which shows all mankind to be polluted with it and inclined to it (Ecclesiastes 7:20; Proverbs 20:9; 1 Kings 8:46; Galatians 3:22; 1 John 1:8-10).

3. The whole man is defiled with sin and continually subject to it.

(1)The understanding (1 Corinthians 1:19, 20; 1 Corinthians 2:14).

(2)The mind and conscience (Titus 1:15). It is stupid (1 Timothy 4:2), or else troubled.

(3)The memory (2 Peter 1:21).

(4)The thoughts and the imagination (Genesis 6:5), which appears in their vanity and disorder.

(5)The will and affections (John 1:13; Colossians 3:2).

(6)The body (1 Thessalonians 5:23). It is not now serviceable to the soul, but a clog to it; yet it tempts it to sin.

4. Hence our original sin is the corrupt fountain from which all our actual sins flow (James 1:14). Some relics of it remain in the best saints (Galatians 5:17).Conclusion:

1. This should make us humble (Job 15:14-16).

2. Hence we should earnestly desire to be made new creatures; and go to Christ, the Second Adam, that we may be made righteous by Him, as we are sinners by the first.

(Bp. Beveridge.)

I. WHO IS THIS ONE SPOKEN OF? Note —

1. All mankind being contained in, and so fallen with Adam, God raised up another Adam, by whom they might rise (1 Corinthians 15:45). Who being promised, as soon as the first fell (Genesis 3:15) is called the Second Man (1 Corinthians 15:47).

2. This was no less a Person than the Son of God made Man (John 1:14; 1 Timothy 3:16). For He took the nature of man into His Divine Person (Hebrews 2:16).

3. Hence the whole nature of man was so fully and really contained in Him as in the first Adam (1 Corinthians 15:22).

4. This, the Second Man, had an advantage over the first, that whereas the other was but a man made in the likeness of God, this was God made in the likeness of man (Philippians 2:6, 7).

II. WHAT WAS THE OBEDIENCE OF THIS ONE?

1. He did no sin, was not guilty in the least (Isaiah 53:9; 1 Peter 2:22; 1 John 3:5; John 8:46).

2. He did whatsoever the law required, and so remained perfectly righteous in all things (Matthew 3:15; Hebrews 7:26-28; John 15:10; John 4:34).

3. He was obedient, even to death itself (Philippians 2:8); so He underwent that death which the first Adam had deserved for all mankind.

III. IN WHAT SENSE ARE MANY MADE RIGHTEOUS BY ONE? In the same sense as they are sinners by one.

1. By having Christ's righteousness as we had Adam's sin imputed to us.(1) No man can be pronounced righteous by God, unless he be really so (Proverbs 17:15; Isaiah 5:23).(2) But no man is really righteous in himself (Ecclesiastes 7:20).(3) Hence it is impossible we should be accepted as righteous before God, unless we have some other righteousness imputed to us (Romans 4:6, 11).(4) Hence Christ was pleased to be obedient even unto death for us; that so by His obedience imputed to us we might be accepted as righteous. For —(a) Our righteousness is plainly asserted to be only in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21). He was made sin for us. Our sins were laid on Him (Isaiah 53:6); so His righteousness on us (Philippians 3:8, 9; Ephesians 1:6).(b) He is expressly called "Our righteousness" (Jeremiah 23:6; Jeremiah 33:16; 1 Corinthians 1:30).(c) He is called our Surety (Hebrews 7:22), who, being bound for us, paid in our stead what the law required of us.(d) Christ's whole obedience was only upon our account, and for our sakes (Galatians 4:4, 5); so that by His obedience the law is perfectly fulfilled in us (Romans 8:3, 4).

2. We are made righteous by Christ as sinners by Adam, inherently. He —(1) Mortifies our sins (1 John 3:8; Acts 3:26; 1 John 1:7-9).(2) Gives repentance (Acts 5:31).(3) Sanctifies our whole nature (1 Corinthians 1:30; 1 Corinthians 6:11; Ephesians 5:25-27).(4) Enables us to do good works (John 15:4, 5; Titus 2:14; Philippians 4:11-13).Conclusion:

1. Thank God for Christ.

2. Put your whole trust in Him only, for grace as well as pardon.

3. Let it be your great care to be in the number of those who are made righteous in Christ, in believing in Him.

4. Live as becometh righteous persons.

(Bp. Beveridge.)

Is there a human being to be found who, after reflection, and speaking honestly, would affirm of himself, "I have never sinned"? We are aware of the existence of great ignorance concerning the extent of sin, and the evil of sin; and we know men are exceedingly reluctant to confess even those sins of which they are conscious; but we do not think there is a man who, after serious reflection, is entirely unconscious of guilt. Furthermore, is there a man who would say of a fellow human being, however dearly loved and highly prized, "I do not believe that person has ever sinned"? Verily, our consciousness and our observation confirm the Bible doctrine, "There is none that doeth good; no, not one!"

I. THE FACT AND THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF MAN'S FIRST SIN.

1. The first sin was Adam's failure under trial as the representative of the human race. Say that this test was simple; then how adapted to inexperience, and how fitted to show whether, in filial dependence, man would serve God or not. Do you refuse to judge of the quarter whence the wind blows by the course of the thistle down, or by the path of the smoke; and would you wait for information until you could see the vane of some lofty tower? Do you not measure the heat of a summer's day by the moistened brow, and judge of the cold of winter by the smarting skin, far more frequently than by the scale of the thermometer?

2. Man was specially tempted to the first sin.

3. Temptation was necessary in man's probation. Could probation be conducted apart from this trying process? Is not the coin tested in the balance? Is not silver proved in the fining pot? Is not gold tried in the furnace? Are not the elements of a chemical compound made manifest by analysis? Is not the strength of metal or timber relied upon after proof? As in our law courts, no prisoner is recognised as guilty until his crime has been proved; so, in God's moral government, no procedure is based on character until the character is made manifest by the light of conduct.

4. The first sin of man was (tested by any standard) a great transgression. Actions must be judged by the principle involved in them. In eating the forbidden fruit did not Adam transgress a law? In transgressing this law did not Adam reject the Divine authority and cast off his allegiance to God? In thus sinning did not Adam resist the power of the strongest motives on the side of obedience? — motives arising from his obligations to the kindness of God; motives connected with the full and flowing fountains of pleasure and of advantage by which he was encompassed; and from the fact that he was being proved, and that upon his conduct were suspended tremendous results? Moreover the image of God was within him — revelations of God surrounded him; and under the power of these multiplied motives and influences his attention was fixed on one defined, intelligible, and distinct requirement. It was not an easy thing for Adam to sin against God.(1) Observe that human nature, at its best state, is not to be trusted; and that it universally fails where the failure is of most consequence.(2) See the tremendous responsibility which our influence over each other involves.(3) Learn the utility of experience in the trial of temptation.(4) Look, by the aid of the facts we are considering, into the philosophy of sinning.

II. THE RESULTS OF MAN'S FIRST SIN. Trace them in the transgressors themselves. We know not what interval existed between the evil act and a sense of its iniquity. Delusion may have continued through some time. At length, however, an inward monitor gave notice of the fault; disapprobation and self-condemnation, with their keen smart, succeeded; and Adam tasted the bitterness of sin.

1. Learn hence the enormous evil of any one sin; and profit in this department of knowledge by the experience of others.

2. Know also the certainty of punishment where pardon is not vouchsafed.

3. Mark the limit of Divine interference with human conduct.

(S. Martin.)

I. MAN'S DISOBEDIENCE.

1. Its consequences.

2. Perpetration.

3. Extent.

II. CHRIST'S OBEDIENCE.

1. Its nature.

2. Operation.

3. Result.

(J. Lyth, D. D.)

rasted: —

1. Unbelief and faith.

2. Enmity and love.

3. Banishment from God and acceptance with God.

4. Disobedience and righteousness.

5. Misery and bliss.

6. Curse and blessing.

7. Death and life.

8. Paradise lost and paradise regained.

(D. M'Nicoll.)

Consider —

1. Who that one man was. Adam (ver. 14).

2. What his disobedience was. His first sin, the eating of the forbidden fruit, which opened the door to death (ver. 12).

3. Whom it concerned; "many"; the "all" (ver. 14). The alteration is not without reason, for there is an exception here of Christ. It reached many men, but not all simply; he, and he only, was excepted.

4. How it touched them; they were "made sinners" by it. There are two ways how men might be made sinners by the disobedience of Adam, viz., either by imputation or imitation. The last is not meant.(1) Because some of those many who are made Sinners are not capable of imitation or actual sin, viz., infants.(2) Because we are made righteous, not by the imitation, but imputation of Christ's righteousness; but as we are made righteous by the one, so we are made sinners by the other.

I. WHAT SIN OF ADAM'S IT WAS THAT THEY WHO SINNED AND FELL WITH HIM SINNED AND FELL IN. His first sin, the eating of the forbidden fruit. This was the sin that broke the covenant of works. Other sins of Adam are not imputed to them, more than those of any other private persons. So then, Adam quickly betaking himself to the covenant of grace, and placing himself under another head as a private man, ceased to be the head in the covenant of works. Adam had all his children in one ship to carry them to Immanuel's land; by his negligence he dashed the ship on a rock, and broke it all in pieces; and so he and his lay foundering in a sea of guilt. Jesus Christ lets out the second covenant as a rope to draw them to the shore. Adam for himself lays hold on it, while others hold by the broken beards of the ship, till they be by the power of grace enabled to quit them too, as he was.

II. WHO WERE THEY THAT SINNED AND FELL IN ADAM. All mankind, descending from him by ordinary generation. So —

1. Christ is excepted. Adam's sin was not imputed to the man Christ. He was separated from sinners (Hebrews 7:26), and was not infected with the plague whereof He was to be the cleanser. And so Christ comes not in under Adam as head, but, as in the text, is opposed to Adam as another head. Christ was indeed a Son of Adam (Luke 3). And it was necessary He should be so, that He might be our near kinsman, and that the same nature that sinned might suffer. But He came not of him by ordinary generation — He was born of a virgin. And upon this account He came not in under Adam in the covenant of works; for Christ was not born by virtue of that blessing of marriage given before the fall (Genesis 1:28), but by virtue of a covenant-promise made after the fall (Genesis 3:15). So that Adam could represent none in that covenant, but such as were to spring from him by virtue of that blessing.

2. All mankind besides sinned and fell with Adam in that first transgression. His sin of eating the forbidden fruit is imputed to them. Consider —(1) The Scripture plainly testifies that all sinned in him (ver. 12). Hence it is plain that death has not come into the world but in pursuit of sin; all die, for all have sinned.(2) All fell with him into misery by that sin. Now, a just God will not involve the innocent with the guilty in the same punishment.(a) All fell under condemnation (vers. 16, 18).(b) All fell under the loss of God's image, and the corruption of nature with him (Psalm 51:5).(c) All the punishments inflicted on Adam and Eve, for that sin, as specified in Genesis 3, are common to mankind, their posterity; and therefore the sin must be so too.

III. HOW THE FIRST SIN OF ADAM COMES TO BE IMPUTED TO US. The great reason of this is, because we are all included in Adam's covenant. The covenant was made with him, not only for himself, but for all his posterity.

1. Consider here —(1) It was the covenant of works, the condition whereof was perfect obedience.(2) It was made with Adam for himself. That was the way he himself was to attain perfect happiness; his own stock was in that ship.(3) It was made not only for himself, but for all his posterity descending from him by ordinary generation. So that he was not here as a private, but as a public person, the moral head and representative of all mankind. Hence the Scripture holds forth Adam and Christ, as if there had never been any but these two men in the world (1 Corinthians 15:47). And this he does, because they were two public persons, each of them having under them persons represented by them (vers. 14, 18).

2. But some may be ready to say, we made not choice of Adam for that purpose. Answer —(1) God made the choice, who was as meet to make it for us as we for ourselves. And "who art thou that repliest against God?"(2) Adam was our natural head, the common father of us all (Acts 17:26), and who was so meet to be trusted with the concerns of all mankind as he?

3. But to clear further the reasonableness of this imputation, consider —(1) Adam's sin is imputed to us, because it is ours. For God doth not reckon a thing ours, which is not so (Romans 2:2). If a person that has the plague infect others, and they die, they die, by their own plague, and not by that of another.(2) It was free for God either to have annihilated all mankind, or to have given them no promise of eternal life. Was it not, then, an act of grace in God to make such a rich covenant as this? and would not men have consented to this representation gladly in this case?(3) Adam being made after the image of God (Genesis 1:26) was as capable to stand as any afterwards could be for themselves; and this was a trial that would soon have been over, while the other would have been continually a-doing, had men been created independent of him.(4) He had natural affection the strongest to engage him. He was our father, and all we the children that were in his loins, to whom we had as good ground to trust as to any other creature.(5) His own stock was in the ship; his all lay at stake as well as ours. Forgetting our interest, he behoved to disregard his own, for he had no separate interest from ours. No man quarrels, that when a master sets his land in tack to a man and his heirs upon conditions, if the first possessor break the bargain, the heirs be denuded of it.(6) All that quarrel with this dispensation must renounce their part in Christ; for we are made righteous by Him, as sinners are made guilty by Adam. If we fall in with the one, why not with the other? We chose Christ for our head in the second covenant no more than we did Adam in the first covenant.

IV. INFERENCES.

1. See the dreadful nature of sin; one sin could destroy a world.

2. Let this be a lesson to parents to do nothing that may bring ruin on their children. Many times children are destroyed by their parents through their bad example and government.

3. This doctrine affords a lesson of humility to all. The rich have no cause to boast of their wealth, for they have as sad a heritage as the poor and needy.

4. View and wonder at the redemption purchased for sinners by Christ.

5. Quit your hold of the first Adam and his covenant, and come to and unite with Christ by faith, and lay hold on His covenant (1 Corinthians 15:22).

(T. Boston, D. D.)

These are the two main facts involved in the text. Round these there has gathered a vast cloud of theological formulas which render it difficult to discern them in their simplicity and integrity. I have a few suggestions to make, which are simple and hang well together.

1. We can hardly begin to reflect on the fall without asking, "Why did God permit it? why make man so that he not only could, but almost must, fall away from his original righteousness?" The very moment we begin to reflect on the fall we are confronted by the origin of evil. Why did God permit it to invade and stain His universe?

2. So, again, with that other fact, "How could the obedience, or sacrifice, of the one just Man avail for the salvation of the whole sinful race? How is it so to tell on those who have fallen from righteousness as to recover them to the love and service of righteousness? To tell us that these problems are insoluble is to contradict the inspired apostle. To warn us against intermeddling with them is to pour contempt on the labours of eighteen centuries. And, worse still, it is to bid us suppress an inbred and unconquerable tendency, viz., that when we believe certain facts we cannot but try to frame some reasonable conception of them, in which each shall hold its due place and form part of an intelligible and harmonious whole.

I. THE FALL.

1. We start from a point familiar and approved.(1) If God were to surround Himself, not with mere automata that would mechanically obey the impulses of His will, but with creatures capable of love and obedience, He must give them wills of their own and leave them free. A mechanical or compelled goodness is not a goodness at all. If the angels are incapable of sin they are also incapable of righteousness. If they are not free to choose between good and evil, but are kept by the power and will of God, then their goodness is God's goodness, and not their own. If the stars keep their courses only by an involuntary and unconscious obedience to natural laws, there is nothing noble, because there is nothing free, in their obedience. But if, as some of our poets have dreamed, each "heavenly body" is but the vesture of some great spirit, then the very stars become moral, because voluntary, agents, who render a willing and constant obedience to the laws imposed upon them.

2. Now, what the choice of God would be we may infer from our own preference. Just as we prefer to have even a dog about us to all the mechanical toys ever invented: or just as we love to have children about us whose love we can win, who are capable of a true because voluntary goodness, so we may reasonably believe God would choose to surround Himself with many orders of creatures, each capable of loving Him of its own will, and of rendering Him a free and glad obedience.

3. But this very capacity involves an alternative. Those who can freely lift their wills into accord with the will of God, can also deflect their wills from His. And was it not well-nigh inevitable that, in the infinite possibilities of existence, some of them should strike out a path for themselves, and take that rather than keep the path marked out for them by God? How else were they to prove to themselves that their wills were their own, and free?

4. This free will, if a great is also a most perilous endowment; for there is a certain charm in asserting it. It is not mere depravity which prompts a child to do that which he knows he ought not to do. The temptation, although he may be unconscious of it, is the charm of assuring himself and showing others that he is free, that he is not a mere link in the chain of necessity, not a mere pipe in the fingers of others to sound what stop they please. Who has not felt this fascination, and done that which he knew would yield him neither pleasure nor profit, simply in order that he might feel and assert his freedom? And who that has felt this charm can doubt that when myriads of creatures had been called into being gifted with free will, some of them would be sure to prove their freedom by trying whether or not their wills were their own?

5. Our argument leads us straight into that great mystery — the origin of evil. Evil is in the world, in the universe, by no Divine fiat or decree. It is not of God's making, but of our own. And from this gift of a will free to select its own path and take its own course have sprung all the miseries of evil. What God intended for our good, as our special honour and distinction, we have turned to our own harm. But before any man complains that so perilous a gift has been conferred upon him, and that he is called to rule and control it, let him remember the alternative — incapability of conscious and voluntary choice of righteousness and love. If any man would prefer to sink so low as that, it certainly is hard to see what God made him a man for. But does any such man exist?

II. ITS CONSEQUENCES. When men, in the exercise of their free will, have fallen into sin, they begin to make excuse. They say, "It is human to err. Sin is common to all; how, then, can I hope to escape it?" This is one of the saddest consequences.

2. Men condemn even while they excuse themselves. All the while they feel that sin has alienated them from the life of God; that He is displeased with them; that they are debased; and that God must be propitiated. And thus men are made both reckless and hopeless. On the one hand, sin seems so human, so inevitable, that it can hardly be very wrong; and, on the other hand, it is so alien to God that He can hardly be expected to pardon it.

III. FROM THESE CONSEQUENCES WE GET SOME OF OUR BEST AND SIMPLEST CONCEPTIONS OF REDEMPTION.

1. What is the answer of the Divine grace to the feeling of doubt and despair? It is this. While we are yet sinners, God, in the person of His Son, comes down and dwells among us. He virtually says to us, "See, much as I hate the sins which have degraded and enslaved you, fellowship with Me is not impossible. I am in your midst to bless you by turning every one of you away from your sins. So far from being separated from you, I have become one with you, that you may become one with Me, partaking your nature that you may partake Mine."

2. Men say, "It is human to sin; so long as we are men we can hardly hope to avoid it." "Nay," replies Christ; "for, see, I, too, am a man; and which of you convicteth Me of sin? So far from sin being an essential part of manhood, or a necessary adjunct of it, you feel that I am a higher style of man, precisely because I never at any time transgressed My Father's commandments, because I make it My will to do His will." This, then, is a chief way in which the redemption of Christ comes to tell on men, in which they are atoned to the God against whom they have sinned. Our wills are ours, then; but they are ours that we may make them His. And not till we do make them His shall we be recovered from the fall, and know the power of His redemption.

(S. Cox, D. D.)

I. THE OBEDIENCE OF CHRIST.

1. Personally and privately, in regard to His own moral character. He fulfilled all righteousness. He alone, of all the human race, has maintained from first to last a perfectly spotless character before the tribunal of God.

2. Officially, Christ's obedience was equally perfect. He came into the world to fulfil a public mission, as the Lord's servant, and at the close it was not necessary for Him to bewail shortcomings or to avow Himself an unprofitable servant (John 17:4). Nor was His an easy task. He needed more meekness than Moses, more Wisdom than Solomon, more watchfulness than Isaiah, and more courage than Daniel. Yet never in all His public course did He betray an unworthy spirit or act unwisely. No doing or saying of His requires to be covered with the cloak of charity.

3. As a sacrificial victim for sin, we find Christ equally obedient. He received this commandment from the Father, that He should lay down His life for His sheep. This He was to do by surrendering Himself into the hands of wicked men. He might have refused and have consumed His enemies. He might have come down even from the Cross, and declined to shed His heart's best blood for such a thankless race; but no, He submitted to it all without a murmur. His own language was, "The cup which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?" (cf. Isaiah 53:4-6, 10; Philippians 2:8; Hebrews 2:10).

II. THE WAY IS WHICH WE ARE MADE RIGHTEOUS BY THIS OBEDIENCE.

1. By the eternal purpose of God Himself. He gave His Son to achieve such mighty results for us, and He accepts us in the Beloved, and imputes to us a righteousness, which is purely of grace, and through faith in Christ. "The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all."

2. The ground of this imputation, undoubtedly, is the perfect obedience of Christ, our Head; and the principle of it is, that, because of our union with Christ, what belongs to Him comes to be regarded as belonging to us. He takes our sins, that we may take His righteousness.

3. Yet, in looking at Christ's obedience as the ground of our righteousness, we must view it as a whole. We cannot say that one part of the blessing we derive from Christ is to be ascribed to His sinless life, and another to His vicarious suffering. We take a whole Christ as a whole Saviour.

4. Yet in this gift of righteousness we find these three blessings.(1) Pardon. This we have in Christ's obedience unto death. That death owes its merits to His preceding spotless life.(2) Holiness. This relates to the present, as pardon to the past, and we owe it to Christ's holy life, setting us an example; to His mediatorial labours, teaching us the law; and to His sacrificial death, constraining our love, and procuring for us the Spirit, by whose indwelling we are quickened, renewed, changed into the Divine likeness, and enabled to wall: as becometh saints.(3) Heaven. This relates to the future. Even if we were pardoned, and made holy, we could by no means earn for ourselves a title to glory. It is God's free gift: bestowed upon us only for the sake of the perfect obedience of Christ, who hath purchased this inheritance, and secured it for us. It is He who both washes us from our sins and makes us kings and priests unto God and His Father forever. Conclusion:

1. Behold, then, the Scripture doctrine of substitution, which ascribes our salvation, not to our own obedience, but to the obedience of Christ. This is —(1) A conceivable arrangement: it is in harmony with equity and justice, provided only that the substituted victim of suffering be a voluntary one, and that he be not a permanent loser by what he endures.(2) An arrangement, analogous to much that we see in nature and providence, and especially to the hereditary law of association, which obtains among all mankind.(3) Necessity. For without it no member of our fallen race could ever have risen to holiness and happiness at all.(4) An accomplished reality, for Christ hath actually suffered for our sins, once for all, and put them away by the sacrifice of Himself (Hebrews 9:26-28).

2. A few practical inferences.(1) Christian believer, see your dependence on Jesus, and rejoice in it. Cultivate a simple and confiding faith in Him, and believe that if your salvation be the reward of His obedience, there is no limit to what God is able and willing to do for you.(2) Penitent inquirer, behold the way of righteousness, and walk in it. Come, as a sinner, to the throne of grace; and ceasing from your own works, enter by faith into spiritual rest.(3) Ye unconverted, we point you to the Cross. There see what sin has done. Reflect, repent, return unto the Lord, for He will have mercy upon you, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.

(T. G. Horton.)

Why should children, born with tainted constitutions and damaged prospects, suffer blamelessly for their father's iniquity? Precisely as, on the contrary, children benefit gratuitously through the goodness of their parent. For the marvellous mechanism of heredity does not merely transmit evil. It is also, and indeed preponderantly, the machinery by which the physical, mental, and spiritual acquisitions of bygone generations — the accumulated and stored wealth of the ages — are conveyed to the future and preserved for posterity. There is an inheritance of strength and intellect, grace and goodness, as well as of disease and vice and evil. Nay, this last is but a misuse and perversion of God's beneficent and stupendous contrivance of heredity. To escape the entail of ill, you must snap the mechanism of transmission, and so forfeit the entail of blessing. It is as if you should propose that each generation's acquisition of property, tools, inventions, arts, and appliances should be destroyed, and the next generation compelled to begin afresh on the bare, barren soil. Progress were impossible, civilisation but the rolling of a Sisyphus' stone, the human race no longer an organic unity, without continuity, without history, without moral solidarity. Take from my life and actions this awful prerogative of the transmission of good and evil, and you rob it of all dignity and depth of perspective; you degrade it to the narrowest dimensions of self-centred insignificance; you divest my actions of all far-reaching influence and unselfish consequence; you isolate my being from all impersonal interests and ennobling sympathies. Cut asunder the fine meshes of heredity, and you dissolve the ties of affection that bind the generations together, and reduce humanity to a chaos of trivial atoms, without roots in the past, without part in futurity, devoid of large possibilities of achievement, and therefore destitute of strong moral motive. Heredity ordained by Heaven for blessing, through sin becomes a vehicle of evil.

(Prof. Elmslie, D. D.)

People
Adam, Paul, Romans
Places
Rome
Topics
Constituted, Disobedience, Indeed, Individual, Keeping, Mankind, Man's, Mass, Numbers, Obedience, Righteous, Righteousness, Sinners, Wrongdoing
Outline
1. Being justified by faith, we have peace with God;
2. and joy in our hope;
8. that since we were reconciled by his blood, when we were enemies;
10. we shall much more be saved, being reconciled.
12. As sin and death came by Adam;
17. so much more righteousness and life by Jesus Christ.
20. Where sin abounded, grace did superabound.

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Romans 5:19

     1512   Trinity, equality of
     2036   Christ, humility
     2075   Christ, sinless
     2218   Christ, Son of God
     2421   gospel, historical foundation
     5054   responsibility, examples
     5492   restitution
     6023   sin, universality
     6040   sinners
     8454   obedience, to God
     8718   disobedience

Romans 5:12-19

     2033   Christ, humanity
     5020   human nature
     5110   Paul, teaching of
     6156   fall, of humanity
     6745   sanctification, nature and basis

Romans 5:12-20

     1680   types

Romans 5:14-19

     5083   Adam, and Christ

Romans 5:15-19

     1651   numbers, 1-2
     6203   mortality
     6678   justification, Christ's work
     6730   reinstatement

Romans 5:15-21

     6214   participation, in Christ

Romans 5:16-19

     6028   sin, deliverance from

Romans 5:17-19

     2595   incarnation
     5655   birth

Romans 5:18-19

     2057   Christ, obedience
     5082   Adam, significance

Library
March 20. "They which Receive Abundance of Grace and the Gift of Righteousness Shall Reign in Life" (Rom. v. 17).
"They which receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life" (Rom. v. 17). Precious souls sometimes fight tremendous battles in order to attain to righteousness in trying places. Perhaps the heart has become wrong in some matter where temptation has been allowed to overcome, or at least to turn it aside from its singleness unto God; and the conflict is a terrible one as it seeks to adjust itself and be right with God, and finds itself baffled by its own spiritual foes,
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

Death by Adam, Life by Christ
For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. F rom Mr. Handel's acknowledged abilities as a composer, and particularly from what I have heard of his great taste and success in adapting the style of his music to the subject, I judge, that this passage afforded him a fair occasion of displaying his genius and powers. Two ideas, vastly important in themselves, are here represented in the strongest light,
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2

Let us have Peace
'Let us have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.'--ROMANS v. 1. (R.V.). In the rendering of the Revised Version, 'Let us have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,' the alteration is very slight, being that of one letter in one word, the substitution of a long 'o' for a short one. The majority of manuscripts of authority read 'let us have,' making the clause an exhortation and not a statement. I suppose the reason why, in some inferior MSS., the statement takes the place of the
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

Access into Grace
By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand.'--ROMANS v. 2. I may be allowed to begin with a word or two of explanation of the terms of this passage. Note then, especially, that also which sends us back to the previous clause, and tells us that our text adds something to what was spoken of there. What was spoken of there? 'The peace of God' which comes to a man by Jesus Christ through faith, the removal of enmity, and the declaration of righteousness. But that peace
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

The Warring Queens
'As sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.'--ROMANS v. 21. I am afraid this text will sound to some of you rather unpromising. It is full of well-worn terms, 'sin,' 'death,' 'grace,' 'righteousness,' 'eternal life,' which suggest dry theology, if they suggest anything. When they welled up from the Apostle's glowing heart they were like a fiery lava-stream. But the stream has cooled, and, to a good many of us, they
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

A Threefold Cord
'And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.'--ROMANS v. 5. We have seen in former sermons that, in the previous context, the Apostle traces Christian hope to two sources: one, the series of experiences which follow 'being justified by faith' and the other, those which follow on trouble rightly borne. Those two golden chains together hold up the precious jewel of hope. But a chain that is to bear a weight must have a
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

What Proves God's Love
'God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.'--ROMANS v. 8. We have seen in previous sermons on the preceding context that the Apostle has been tracing various lines of sequence, all of which converge upon Christian hope. The last of these pointed to the fact that the love of God, poured into a heart like oil into a lamp, brightened that flame; and having thus mentioned the great Christian revelation of God as love, Paul at once passes to emphasise
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

The Sources of Hope
'We rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 4. And patience, experience; and experience, hope.'--ROMANS v. 2-4. We have seen in a previous sermon that the Apostle in the foregoing context is sketching a grand outline of the ideal Christian life, as all rooted in 'being justified by faith,' and flowering into 'peace with God,' 'access into grace,' and a firm stand against all antagonists and would-be masters.
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

God's Love Magnified in Christ's Death.
(Good Friday, 1832.) TEXT: ROM. v. 7, 8. IN the whole passage from which these words are taken the apostle is trying to convince his readers that it is only through Christ that we come into right relations with God. He begins by saying, Let us have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ; and so let us rejoice in the glory that God is to give; nay, more, let us rejoice in tribulation also. He goes on to say that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit; and then he continues
Friedrich Schleiermacher—Selected Sermons of Schleiermacher

Law and Grace
I shall consider this text in two senses this morning. First, as it respects the world at large and the entrance of the law into it; and then afterwards, as respecting the heart of the convinced sinner, and the entrance of the law into the conscience. I. First, we shall speak of the text as CONCERNING THE WORLD. The object of God in sending the law into the world was "that the offence might abound." But then comes the gospel, for "where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." First, then, in reference
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 1: 1855

Love's Commendation
"No big words of ready talkers, No fine boastings will suffice; Broken hearts and humble walkers, These are dear in Jesus' eyes." Let us imitate God, then, in this. If we would commend our religion to mankind, we cannot do it by mere formalities, but by gracious acts of integrity, charity and forgiveness, which are the proper discoveries of grace within. "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." "Let your conversation be such
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 2: 1856

For whom did Christ Die?
While man is in this condition Jesus interposes for his salvation. "When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly"; "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us," according to "his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses and sins." The pith of my sermon will be an endeavour to declare that the reason of Christ's dying for us did not lie in our excellence; but where sin abounded grace did much more abound, for the persons for whom Jesus
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 20: 1874

Sin and Grace
"Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound."--Romans 5:20. THERE are two very powerful forces in the world, which have been here ever since the time when Eve partook of the forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden. Those two forces are sin and grace. A very great power is sin, a power dark, mysterious, baleful, but full of force. The sorrows of mankind, whence came they but from sin? We should have known no war, nor pestilence, nor famine, nor would aught of sickness or sorrow ever have smitten
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 54: 1908

Justification by Faith
"Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ."--Romans 5:1. WE DESIRE this evening not to preach upon this text as a mere matter of doctrine. You all believe and understand the gospel of justification by faith, but we want to preach upon it tonight as a matter of experience, as a thing realized, felt, enjoyed, and understood in the soul. I trust there are many here who not only know that men may be saved and justified by faith, but who can say in their
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 60: 1914

The Old, Old Story
It is somewhat singular, but just as they say fish go bad at the head first, so modern divines generally go bad first upon the head and main doctrine of the substitutionary work of Christ. Nearly all our modern errors, I might say all of them, begin with mistakes about Christ. Men do not like to be always preaching the same thing., There are Athenians in the pulpit as well as in the pew who spend their time in nothing but hearing some new thing. They are not content to tell over and over again the
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 8: 1863

Good Friday.
God commendeth his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. We all remember the story in the Gospel, of the different treatment which our Lord met with in the same house, from the Pharisee, who had invited him into it, and from the woman who came in and knelt at his feet, and kissed them, and bathed them with her tears. Our Lord accounted for the difference in these words, "To whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little;" which means to speak of the sense or
Thomas Arnold—The Christian Life

"Now the End of the Commandment," &C.
1 Tim. i. 5.--"Now the end of the commandment," &c. Fifthly, Faith purging the conscience, and purifying the heart, works by love. Love is the fruit of faith. Love is the stream that flows out of a pure heart and a good conscience. By love, we mean principally love to God, or Jesus Christ, and then love to the saints next to our Saviour. This is often mentioned in scripture, "Hope maketh not ashamed, (Rom. v. 5) because the love of God is shed abroad in your hearts by the Holy Ghost." This love
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Wesley -- God's Love to Fallen Man
John Wesley was born at Epworth rectory in Lincolnshire, England, in 1703. He was educated at Charterhouse school and in 1720 entered Christ Church College, Oxford, where he graduated in 1724. He was noted for his classical taste as well as for his religious fervor, and on being ordained deacon by Bishop Potter, of Oxford, he became his father's curate in 1727. Being recalled to Oxford to fulfil his duties as fellow of Lincoln he became the head of the Oxford "Methodists," as they were called. He
Grenville Kleiser—The world's great sermons, Volume 3

Evans -- the Fall and Recovery of Man
Christmas Evans, a Welsh Baptist preacher, was born at Isgaerwen, Cardiganshire, South Wales, in 1766. Brought up as a Presbyterian, he turned Baptist in 1788, and was ordained the following year and ministered among the Baptists in Carmaerthenshire. In 1792 he became a sort of bishop to those of his denomination in Anglesey, where he took up his residence. After a somewhat stormy experience with those he undertook to rule, he removed to Carmaerthen in 1832. He distinguished himself by his debt-raising
Grenville Kleiser—The world's great sermons, Volume 3

Whyte -- Experience
Alexander Whyte, senior minister of St. George's Free Church, Edinburgh, was born at Kirriemuir (Thrums), Scotland, in 1837. He was educated at Aberdeen University (M.A., 1862), and at New College, Edinburgh (1862-66), and after being assistant minister of Free St. John's, Glasgow, from 1866 to 1870, became at first assistant minister, and later (1873) minister, of Free St. George's, Edinburgh, a position which be still retains, having had there an uninterrupted success. He is the author of a number
Grenville Kleiser—The world's great sermons, Volume 8

"And the Life. " How Christ is the Life.
This, as the former, being spoken indefinitely, may be universally taken, as relating both to such as are yet in the state of nature, and to such as are in the state of grace, and so may be considered in reference to both, and ground three points of truth, both in reference to the one, and in reference to the other; to wit, 1. That our case is such as we stand in need of his help, as being the Life. 2. That no other way but by him, can we get that supply of life, which we stand in need of, for he
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

Prayer and Trouble (Continued)
"My first message for heavenly relief went singing over millions of miles of space in 1869, and brought relief to my troubled heart. But, thanks be to Him, I have received many delightful and helpful answers during the last fifty years. I would think the commerce of the skies had gone into bankruptcy if I did not hear frequently, since I have learned how to ask and how to receive."--H. W. Hodge In the New Testament there are three words used which embrace trouble. These are tribulation, suffering
Edward M. Bounds—The Essentials of Prayer

Our Guilt.
"Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."--Rom. v. 12. Sin and guilt belong together, but may not be confounded or considered synonymous, any more than sanctification and righteousness. It is true guilt rests upon every sin, and in every sin there is guilt, yet the two must be kept distinct. There is a difference between the blaze and the blackened spot upon the wall caused by it; long after the blaze is out
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

The Work of Grace a Unit.
"Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us."-- Rom. v. 5. The final end of all God's ways is that He may be all in all. He can not cease from working until He has entered the souls of individual men. He thirsts after the creature's love. In man's love for God He desires to see the virtues of His own love glorified. And love must spring from man's personal being, which has its seat in the heart. The work of grace exhibited in the eternal counsel
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

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