Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the
world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men,
because all sinned—13 for until the Law sin was in the world,
but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death
reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned
in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who
was to come. 15 But the free gift is not like the transgression.
For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did
the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus
Christ, abound to the many. 16 The gift is not like that which came
through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose
from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other
hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in
justification. 17 For if by the transgression of the one, death
reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance
of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life
through the One, Jesus Christ. 18 So then as through one
transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so
through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of
life to all men. 19 For as through the one man's disobedience the
many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One
the many will be made righteous.

Two Pages in Yesterday's Newspaper

It may be helpful to connect the message of Romans 5:12-19 with
yesterday's newspaper. Killing and dying are common – far too
common in our world and in our city. Sometimes murders multiply so
fast you feel overwhelmed by the evil of it all. That was the
effect of yesterday's Metro section of the StarTribune on
me.

• There was the ongoing saga of Katie Poirer's murder.
• There was the possible murder of 24-year-old Kinsey Otto in
  relation to the drug Ecstasy.
• There was seventeen-year-old Steve Temple, who was killed
  Wednesday in Lakeville, and the three men who are being held in
  custody.
• There was the sentencing of Ezekiel Caliguiri because of a
  murder in May.
• There was another unnamed man who died Friday after being
  pushed off a bus downtown earlier this week.
• There was Kimberly Harmon who was stabbed to death Wednesday
  morning.

And those are just the ones that make the paper – two
pages of one day's news.

What these tragic and real-life stories make painfully real to
us is that there is sin in the world and there is death. Murder is
the outworking of sin in the human heart. And the result is death.
One kills, another dies.

It stares us in the face from the newspaper or from television
every day: death and sin, death and sin. It reminds me of one of
the Proverbs that struck me on vacation: "Wisdom shouts in the
street, she lifts her voice in the square" (Proverbs 1:20). Wisdom
shouts in the street. What does she say? How does she say it? She
says, "Number your days, O people and the Twin Cities, and get a
heart of wisdom. You are going to die someday, and it will be
unplanned. Will you be ready? Get ready. Stay ready." She says,
"Turn away from hate and bitterness and greed and killing. Turn
away from sin and fear God. Vengeance is mine; I will repay. Trust
me, follow my teachings. O do not be a fool any longer." That's
what Wisdom says.

How does she shout this in the street? Just read the newspaper.
Listen to the news. And think. Trace it all out. Follow anger to
its end and see where it leads. Follow greed and addiction to the
end and see where it leads. Peer into the ashen faces of dead
teenagers and follow the soul to heaven or to hell. Wisdom is
shouting in the street – from the papers and the televisions.
"How long will you be foolish? How long will you cover your eyes
and say, Sin is better. Sin is better!"? Wisdom is shouting in the
streets. Are you listening?

What Does This Have to Do With Romans?

So what's the connection with Romans 5:12-19? Much in every way!
To mention two:

First, when a person kills, and knows in the depth of his heart
that he is under the condemnation of God (even if he is never
caught on earth; see Romans 1:32), what can he do to silence his
damning conscience and get right with God, so that he is spared
hell and given everlasting joy? Is such a thing even thinkable
– for a murderer to be acquitted by the highest court of the
universe, where God sits as judge, and be counted righteous and
even loved with everlasting life? That's what this text is
about.

Second, when a person is killed, when a person dies, what
becomes of him? Is there just nothingness? Is there unconsciousness
and non-existence forever? Is a human being, created in God's image
with a will and conscience and reason, like a leaf or a stick? Do
we just die and decay and turn to dust, and that's it? Or is there
a reckoning? Is there condemnation and salvation to reckon with? Is
there a meeting with our Maker and the Judge of all? Is there the
possibility of eternal life after a horrible death? If you were
murdered tonight, would you be alive and happy in the presence of
Jesus Christ tomorrow? That's what this text is about – that
wonderful phrase in verse 18: "justification of life."

This pulpit is not the street. But this text is the voice of
Wisdom. Divine Wisdom. And it is shouting to all who hear: Come all
you killers and thieves and liars and fornicators and adulterers
and coveters and blasphemers – come and hear how you may be
put right with God – how your guilt may be removed and your
conscience made clean. Come all you who will die, come and hear how
you may be ready, come learn to meet your Judge and Maker unafraid.
There is a great hymn with that line. We will sing it at the
end.

Picking Up After Six Weeks – Summary

It's been six Sundays since we left off at the end of Romans
5:17. So it would be good to say some summary words about what we
have seen so far in this passage, and then deal today simply with
verses 18 and 19.

The main point of this passage is that what Christ has done for
all who are in him by faith is far greater than what Adam did for
all who are in him by nature. The disobedience of Adam brought all
those who were in him (1 Corinthians 15:22, "in Adam all die") into
condemnation and death. And the obedience of Christ brought all who
are in him (2 Corinthians 5:2) to justification and life.

For five chapters Paul has been laboring to make clear and
compelling for us the truth that sinners are put right with God not
on the basis of any inherent righteousness in us but on the basis
of the righteousness of Christ received by faith alone. Now in this
passage Paul takes us to the deep cause for why God saves us this
way.

God saves us this way through Christ because it corresponds to
the way we were condemned through Adam. Justification unto life
corresponds with condemnation unto death. And our condemnation, at
its deepest root, comes not from what we did individually but from
what Adam did as our representative. And so our justification, at
its deepest root, comes not from what we do but from what Christ
did. The reason for developing this comparison between Adam and
Christ is to make clear that the root cause of our justification is
the righteousness of Christ – the obedience of Christ –
in the same way that the root cause of our condemnation was the sin
of Adam – the disobedience of Adam.

And I think the reason God was willing to push the limits of our
reason in revealing this hard doctrine of original sin to us is
that we are so prone to think that we can and must get right with
God by performing deeds of righteousness, instead of casting
ourselves as helpless sinners on his mercy and depending on the
righteousness of Christ alone as the basis of getting right with
God. And so he says in this passage: No – it is "not on the
basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness" (Titus 3:5),
rather . . .

Now, let's pick up the text where we left off six weeks ago, at
verse 18:

So then [here is the summary] as through one transgression
[Adam's first sin] there resulted condemnation to all men, even so
through one act of righteousness [Christ's] there resulted
justification of life to all men. (19) For as through the one man's
disobedience [Adam's] the many were made sinners, even so through
the obedience of the One [Christ] the many will be made
righteous.

Being Put Right With God

So you can see what the main point is here. The main point is
not merely to teach the doctrine of original sin – that in
Adam we all fell and sinned and became sinners. That is true. But
the reason for revealing that to us – and pushing the limits
of human reason – is what it shows about how we are put right
with God. That is the point. So before you stumble over that
doctrine of original sin, be sure to hear why God reveals it to us.
Let it have that effect first. Before you begin to judge God's
method of condemnation, be sure to see the glory of God's method of
justification.

We
will come back next week to talk more fully about the
doctrine of original sin, but today let's be sure we emphasize what
is the main point, namely, how we are put right with God –
how murderers and thieves and liars and fornicators and adulterers
and coveters and blasphemers can be acquitted and put right with
God and escape condemnation and be given eternal life.

Look carefully now at each of these verses, 18 and 19. Verse 18:
"So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation
to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted
justification of life to all men." I will say something about the
word "all" in just a moment, but for now, notice the main point
about justification. Justification happens to all who are connected
to Christ the same way condemnation happened to those who are
connected to Adam. How is that? Adam acted sinfully and, because we
were connected to him, we were condemned in him. Christ acted
righteously and because we are connected to Christ we are justified
in Christ. Adam's sin is counted as ours. Christ's righteousness is
counted as ours.

One Act of Righteousness

I think when Paul says that it was "one act of righteousness"
that resulted in our justification, he is probably treating the
entire life and ministry of Jesus as a single whole – as one
great act of righteousness, rather than any one act he did in life.
What act would you pick? If you said his death, would you mean the
obedience of Gethsemane, or the obedience when the mob took him
away, or the obedience when he was interrogated, or the obedience
when he was crowned with thorns, or the obedience when he was
flogged, or the obedience when he was nailed to the cross, or the
obedience when he spoke words of love to his enemies, or the
obedience when he offered up his spirit to his Father? So you see,
even if you say the "act of righteousness" is his death, you mean a
whole cluster of acts of righteousness. You are treating many acts
as one great whole – the death.

I think the same thing should be done with his whole life,
because any act of unrighteousness would have disqualified him from
being our righteousness, and because in Matthew 3:15, at his
baptism, Jesus said to John the Baptist, "In this way it is fitting
for us to fulfill all righteousness" – not "many acts of
righteousness," but "all righteousness," as if all were one whole.
So from beginning to end in his ministry, Jesus was fulfilling one
great "requirement of righteousness" (which is what
dikaioma means in Romans 5:18).

That righteousness, Paul says in verse 18, "resulted in
justification of life to all men." That righteousness of Jesus
became the basis of our acceptance with our Maker and our Judge.
Christ's righteousness is counted as our righteousness because we
are connected to him. We are in him (see 2 Corinthians 5:21).
That's what justification means.

Verse 19 supports this by saying it another way to make sure we
get the main point: "For as through the one man's disobedience the
many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One
the many will be made righteous." The difference here from verse 18
is that the word "obedience" is used instead of the word "righteous
act." This is to show that the nature of the righteousness we are
talking about in verse 18 is compliance with the will of God. Adam
did not comply and we were counted or appointed sinners in him.
Christ did comply with his Father's will and we are counted
righteous (obedient) in him.

So you see the point: Our righteousness before God, our
justification, is not based on what we have done, but on what
Christ did. His righteous act, his obedience is counted as ours. We
are made or counted or appointed as righteous in him. It is a real
righteousness, and it is really ours, but it is ours only by
imputation – or to use Paul's language from earlier in the
letter: We are "reckoned righteous."

Who Is This "We?"

Now a concluding word on who this "we" is. And here you should
ask: Am I included in this justification? In verse 19 those who are
"made righteous" are called "the many": "so through the obedience
of the One the many will be made righteous." In verse 18
those who have "justification of life" are "all men." "Through one
act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to
all men." Who are these "all men"? Does it mean that every
human being who is in Adam will also be justified so that no one
will be lost and there is no such thing as eternal punishment for
anyone? This is called universalism.

I don't think so, for several reasons.

1) Verse 17 speaks of "receiving" the gift of
righteousness as though some do and some don't. Verse 17: "For if
by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one,
much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the
gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One,
Jesus Christ." That does not sound like everybody does receive
it.

2) "Justification of life to all men" in Romans 5:18 does not
mean all humans are justified, because Paul teaches clearly in this
very book and elsewhere (2 Thessalonians 1:9) that there is eternal
punishment and all humans are not justified. For example, in Romans
2:5 he says, "But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant
heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and
revelation of the righteous judgment of God," and then in verses 7
and 8 he contrasts this wrath with "eternal life" and so shows that
it is eternal wrath, not temporary wrath. So there will be some who
are not justified but come under the wrath of God forever and
others who have eternal life.

3) "Justification of life to all men" in Romans 5:18 does not
mean all humans are justified, because in all of Romans up until
now justification is not automatic as if every human receives it,
but it is "by faith." Romans 5:1, "Therefore, having been
justified by faith . . ." Romans 3:28, "For we maintain
that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the
Law."

So here is the message for us this morning: Killers and thieves
and liars and fornicators and adulterers and coveters and
blasphemers, that is, all human beings, whatever you have done, may
be put right with God, not on the basis of your own righteous acts,
but on the basis of Christ's righteous act, not on the basis of
your own obedience, but on the basis of Christ's obedience, and not
because you are human, but because you believe.

So I urge you, I plead with you, while there is still time in
this very uncertain world of killing and dying: Trust Christ for
all that God is for you in him; trust him for your righteousness.
And if you wonder if you can trust him for a lifetime, trust him
now for that. And then, no matter what you have done, you will be
able "to face your Judge and Maker unafraid."

Those are the words of verse 2 of "We Come O Christ to You," and
I would like us to make it our closing song of faith. If you are
trusting him now, sing this as your testimony, then tell others of
your faith this week.

You are the Way to God, your blood our ransom paid;
In you we face our Judge and Maker unafraid.
Before the throne absolved we stand,
Your love has met your law's demand.

E. Margaret Clarkson