Two Men, Two Covenants: From Death to Life

Romans 5 sets before the church the great drama of redemption in three acts and an epilogue: the entrance of sin and death, the giving of the law, the entrance of the second man, and God’s wise further purpose in it all. Paul does not let Romans be treated like a raspberry patch, where only the fat red berries get picked and the deeper things get left alone. Romans 5 calls for going into the patch and seeing the whole argument.

Sin is not merely an outward deed. Sin is “any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God,” and it reaches down into the thoughts, the motions, the disposition, and the corrupt inclination of the heart. Adam stood as the head of the human race, and when Adam sinned, all sinned in him. His fall was not private. His disobedience brought guilt, corruption, and condemnation upon all his posterity.

Death is not natural to life. Death is an enemy, the judgment of God upon sin, and the reign of death began when Adam transgressed the commandment of God. Physical death followed, but the greater death was spiritual death, a cutting off from communion and fellowship with God. “In Adam’s fall, all sinned all” captures the hard truth that Adam’s guilt is inherited, even before actual transgressions appear.

The law given through Moses did not create sin, but it made sin plain. Sin was already in the world from Adam to Moses, and death reigned even over those who did not sin in the exact likeness of Adam’s positive transgression. The law drew the line clearly, exposed covetousness, uncovered rebellion, and showed that the problem was not the holy commandment but the corrupt heart.

Christ comes as the second man, the last Adam, the Lord from heaven. Adam represented a fallen humanity, but Christ represents a redeemed humanity. The free gift is not like the offense, because one offense brought condemnation, but Christ takes many offenses upon himself and brings justification. The holy Lamb of God bore sins in his own body on the tree, because no sinner could ever pay off the debt of sin.

Grace therefore abounds much more. Sin reigned in death, but grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ the Lord. Adam’s guilt and Christ’s righteousness stand together in Paul’s argument: to reject the one is to lose the other. The glory of the gospel is that the free gift of God in Christ is received by faith, and righteousness and life reign where death once ruled.

##

---

Key Takeaways

• 1. Adam stood for all mankind Adam’s headship means his sin was not merely his own private ruin. Adam’s fall brought guilt and corruption upon all his children, so that death reaches even where actual transgression has not yet appeared. The hard edge of this truth also guards the sweet edge of the gospel, because representation by Adam makes way for representation by Christ. [35:00]
• 2. Death is sin’s dreadful judgment Death is not treated by Scripture as a normal piece of nature or a harmless stage in the cycle of life. Death enters as God’s sentence upon sin, an enemy that reigns because mankind has been cut off from the life of God. Christ’s resurrection is therefore not a religious decoration, but the breaking of death’s dominion. [31:41]
• 3. The law exposes rebellion The law is holy, just, and good, but the law uncovers what the heart would rather keep hidden. The commandment does not make God the problem; it shows that sin takes occasion by the commandment and rises up in rebellion. The line drawn by God reveals that the native disposition received from Adam is not neutral, but bent away from God. [59:29]
• 4. Christ is the greater Adam Christ stands as the second man and the last Adam, representing a new humanity bought by grace. Adam’s one offense brought condemnation, but Christ’s obedience brings justification of life to those who receive the gift by faith. The gospel rests not on human repayment, but on the spotless Lamb bearing many offenses in himself. [47:03]
• 5. Grace reigns through righteousness Grace is not a thin kindness that ignores sin; grace reigns through righteousness because Christ has satisfied God’s justice. The free gift gives more than pardon, since the abundance of grace enables real warfare against sin and real conformity to Christ. Eternal life is the fruit of grace’s reign, begun now and perfected in the resurrection.
  
  ## [62:10]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [20:15] - Romans 5 Reading
• [24:05] - Romans as Gospel Implication
• [25:47] - Three Acts and an Epilogue
• [26:36] - Sin Enters Through One Man
• [29:40] - Adam as Covenant Head
• [31:41] - Death as Judgment, Not Nature
• [41:35] - The Law Given Through Moses
• [46:38] - Adam as a Type of Christ
• [47:24] - The Entrance of the Second Man
• [51:34] - Christ Bears Many Offenses
• [53:17] - Righteousness Reigns in Life
• [58:06] - The Law Makes Offense Abound
• [61:59] - Grace Abounds Much More
• [63:01] - Adam’s Guilt and Christ’s Gift

Bible Reading

Romans 5:12-21
“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— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 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. 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. 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. 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. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 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. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” [20:15]

1 Corinthians 15:45-49
“Thus it is written, ‘The first man Adam became a living being’; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.” [48:18]

Romans 7:7-13
“What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’ But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.” [59:10]

Observation questions

1. In Romans 5:12-21, what repeated contrasts does Paul make between Adam and Christ, and between trespass and gift? [47:24]
2. According to Romans 5 and 1 Corinthians 15, what words or images are used to describe Adam and Christ as two representative men?
3. In Romans 5:13-14, what does Paul say was true in the time between Adam and Moses, even before the law was given? [41:35]
4. In Romans 7:7-13, what does the commandment expose in Paul, and what example does he use to show it? [59:29]

Interpretation questions

1. Paul says death spread to all because all sinned, and then speaks of Adam as a representative man. How does that help explain why death reaches the whole human race, even beyond Adam himself? [35:00]
2. Romans 5 says the law came in to increase the trespass, while Romans 7 says the law is holy and good. How can both of those statements be true at the same time? [58:06]
3. Paul says the free gift is not like the trespass because one trespass brought condemnation, but Christ deals with many trespasses and brings justification. What does that show about the greatness of Christ’s saving work? [51:34]
4. Paul says those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through Jesus Christ. What kind of reigning in life seems to be in view here? [53:17]

Application questions

1. Sin is more than outward behavior; it reaches into thoughts, desires, and the bent of the heart. Where is that easiest to forget in daily life—at home, online, in private thought, in speech? What might it look like to confess sin more honestly before God? [26:48]
2. Death is not a harmless part of the cycle of life but an enemy tied to sin. How does that change the way a person thinks about grief, aging, sickness, and the hope of resurrection? [31:41]
3. The law exposes what the heart would rather keep hidden. When God’s Word draws a clear line, is the first response usually humble repentance, self-defense, or quiet resentment? What helps move from being exposed to actually turning to Christ? [59:42]
4. Adam’s guilt is hard to accept, but Christ’s righteousness is also received by representation and gift. Is there any resistance to receiving salvation entirely as a free gift rather than something earned? What tends to make that hard to accept? [01:03:01]
5. Grace reigns through righteousness, not by ignoring sin. Where is there a temptation to treat grace as mere leniency instead of the power to fight sin and walk in holiness? [01:02:10]
6. Those who receive grace are not left to be ruled by sin. In what area of life is there a need to believe more firmly that sin does not have to reign there—thought life, anger, lust, fear, bitterness, or something else? [54:00]
7. Christ is the greater Adam, the head of a redeemed humanity. What would it look like this week to live more consciously as someone who belongs to the man from heaven rather than the man of dust? [48:55]