Romans 5:19

ADAM AND CHRIST

‘Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin.… by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous.’

Romans 5:12; Romans 5:19

A comparison and contrast this, often occurring elsewhere in the Apostle’s writings. Here it is said expressly: Adam is a type of Him Who was to come; that is, of Christ. Adam and Christ, type and antitype, in nature as in influence!

The one Adam and the one Christ! Here are contrasted—

I. The one transgression and the one obedience.

II. The dominion of death and the kingdom of life.

III. The condemnation on all and the abounding grace for all.

Illustrations

(1) ‘Who will still contend, who will doubt, when over against the one Adam stands the one Christ, in such a way that the sin of the one begets and draws after it innumerable new sins, while the gift of Jesus Christ brings justification from many sins, the obedience of the Saviour makes many righteous? There the one Adam, who in Eden fell a victim to temptation, to doubt, to misbelief, and other great crimes and sins, while wishing to be like God; here the one Son of Man, Who in the wilderness with “It is written” wields a victorious sword, and deems it not robbery to be equal with God, and although in the form of God humbles Himself, and by an emptying of Himself beyond comparison becomes the dispenser of every heavenly blessing.’

(2) ‘What sombre witnesses to the unity of the human race St. Paul summons! First of all, indeed, sin itself, which shows itself unmistakably in all places and at all times, far as humanity extends. But at the same time he points to death, this most terrible of all preachers of repentance.’