Romans 5:13-14

Paul did not carry through the comparison begun in Romans 5:12 here. If he had it would have been "so righteousness entered the world by one man and life through righteousness." Evidently Paul broke off his statement because he wanted to explain the relationship between sin and the Law, specifically, why there was death before the Law. Romans 5:13-14 explain Romans 5:12. He returned to the thought begun in Romans 5:12 in Romans 5:18.

People died before God gave the Mosaic Law. If there is no law, there can be no transgression of law (cf. Romans 3:20). Since death is the penalty for transgression of law, why did those people die? The answer is they died because they sinned "in" Adam. Adam transgressed God’s law in the Garden of Eden, and ever since his descendants have transgressed God’s law, not just the Mosaic Law. This accounts for the universality of death.

The idea that people should involuntarily suffer punishment because of the sins of another is repugnant to us. Nevertheless as the head of the human race, Adam’s actions resulted in consequences that his descendants had to bear. Likewise any representative leader’s decisions result in consequences his followers must bear. For example, when our president decides to sign into law some piece of legislation it becomes binding on everyone under his authority. Similarly, advocates of "natural headship" point out, we all bear physical characteristics that are the product of our parents’ action of producing a child. It is just one of the facts of life that we all suffer the consequences of the decisions of those who have preceded us and are over us (cf. Hebrews 7:9-10). Some of those consequences are good for us and others are bad for us. We all have to suffer the punishment for our sins ultimately because Adam sinned, as well as because we all commit acts of sin. Some people rebel against God because of this. However, God has promised not to punish us if we will trust in His Son (2 Corinthians 5:19). He has provided a way to secure pardon from punishment.

It is the punishment for Adam’s sin that we bear, not its guilt. We are guilty because we sin, but we die (the punishment of sin) because Adam sinned. Christ bore the punishment of our sins, not our guilt. He died in our place and for us. We are still guilty, but God will not condemn us for being guilty because He has declared us righteous in Christ (i.e., has justified us). Guilt is both objective and subjective. We are objectively guilty, but we should feel no subjective guilt because we have been justified (declared righteous).

"Every little white coffin,-yea, every coffin, should remind us of the universal effect of that sin of Adam, for it was thus and thus only that ’death passed to all men.’" [Note: Newell, p. 183.]

Most evangelicals believe that infants and idiots die physically because of Adam’s sin, but they do not die eternally (are unsaved) because they are incapable of exercising saving faith in Christ. Therefore, since God is just, He will have mercy on them (cf. Genesis 18:25). [Note: See Robertson, 4:358-59.] Some people base their belief in the salvation of such people on 2 Samuel 12:23, but that verse probably only means that David anticipated going into the grave (Sheol), where his infant son had gone, not going to heaven.

Adam was a "type" or "pattern" (Gr. tupos) of one who would follow him, namely, Jesus Christ. A type is a divinely intended illustration of something else, the antitype. A type may be a person, as here, a thing (cf. Hebrews 10:19-20), an event (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:11), a ceremony (cf. 1 Corinthians 5:7), or an institution (cf. Hebrews 9:11-12). Adam is the only Old Testament character who is explicitly identified as a type of Christ in the New Testament. Adam’s act had universal impact and prefigured Christ’s act, which also had universal impact. The point of similarity between Adam and Christ is that what each did affected many others. Each communicated what belonged to him to those he represented.

"Adam came from the earth, but Jesus is the Lord from heaven (1 Corinthians 15:47). Adam was tested in a Garden, surrounded by beauty and love; Jesus was tempted in a wilderness, and He died on a cruel cross surrounded by hatred and ugliness. Adam was a thief, and was cast out of Paradise; but Jesus Christ turned to a thief and said, ’Today shalt thou be with Me in Paradise’ (Luke 23:43). The Old Testament is ’the book of the generations of Adam’ (Genesis 5:1) and it ends with ’a curse’ (Malachi 4:6). The New Testament is ’The book of the generation of Jesus Christ’ (Matthew 1:1) and it ends with ’no more curse’ (Revelation 22:3)." [Note: Wiersbe, 1:530.]

The rest of this chapter develops seven contrasts (one per verse) between Adam’s act of sin and Christ’s act of salvation. As Adam’s act of sin resulted in inevitable death for all his descendants, so Christ’s act of obedience resulted in inevitable life for all who believe in Him.