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Almost everyone who studies sin comes to the understanding that there are sins that condemn us and sins that do not condemn us.

One of the most widely misused texts is Romans 5.19. Scripture warns us about misusing Paul’s writing. Peter wrote…

2Pe 3:15  And think of the long-suffering of our Lord as salvation, as also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you, according to the wisdom given to him;  2Pe 3:16  as also in all his epistles, speaking in them concerning these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the unlearned and unsettled pervert, as also they do the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.  

Romans 5.19 absolutely qualifies among those “things hard to understand.” With that warning in mind let’s read Romans 5.19.

Rom 5:19  For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were constituted sinners, so also through the obedience of the One the many shall be constituted righteous.

  1. This verse seems to introduce a different way that many are made sinners.

Most readers gain this kind of understanding from the verse: Adam’s sin caused sinners and Christ’s righteousness caused the righteous.

Cause                                      Effects

This is a view that can align with absolute predestination; that God decides for every individual their destruction or their deliverance. This view can also align with universalism, that all will be saved.

       This isolated, decontextualized reading of the text neutralizes the volumes of Scriptures about choice and the call to be free. Even worse this decontextualized reading removes personal accountability for our behaviors, reduces the Gospel to a mere legal status and traces the cause of sin in God Himself.

  1. For these reasons and many more, we cannot ignore the context of Romans 5:19…
  2. Rom 5:13 For sin was in the world until Law, but sin is not charged where there is no law;

The Two categories of sin are; (1) sins that are charged and (2) sins that are not charged.

Sin until the law and sin under the law

How is it then that “through the one man’s disobedience the many were constituted sinners” (Ro 5.19) if “sin is not charged where there is no law” (Ro 5.13)? The answer is in Romans 7:8 “But sin taking occasion through the commandment worked every lust in me; for apart from Law, sin is dead.”  In the fall of mankind and the redemption of mankind we can identify in Scripture the cause, the conditions and the fruits or the effects of each event and its relation to our experience.

  1. The first Adam caused sin to enter the world without any personal involvement from any of his descendants, “sin entered the world through one man” Ro 5.12. This is why Paul says, “sin taking occasion through the commandment worked every lust in me” (Ro 7.8) and “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh” Ro 7.18. Adam’s disobedience caused all to inherit a body that weak and sown in corruption.

This is Biblical reality, but we cannot confuse the cause of sinful flesh with the conditions for being charged with sin and the effects of sin

2.    Second, what are the conditions to be charged with sin? You must have the law to be charged with sin, “sin is not charged where there is no law” (Ro 5.13), for apart from Law, sin is dead” (Rom. 7.8). Sin is the transgression of the law; this involves exercising the power of choice and the knowledge of right and wrong. This does not mean that being ignorant of the law written by the finger of God is an excuse for sin or a way to escape being charged with sin. Rom 2:14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. Rom 2:15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them Rom 2:16  on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. We are charged with sin by the law, either by the law in our hearts that is accusing our conscience or the law written by God.

  1. Third, what are the effects or fruit of sin? Rom 7:5 For when we were in the flesh, the passions of sin were working in our members through the Law for the bearing of fruit unto death.

So “by one man’s disobedience the many were constituted sinners” describes the cause or means of sin but, not the conditions for being charged with sin. 

We are not charged with sin unconditionally, any more than we are saved from sin unconditionally.

Scripture makes a distinction between perishing without the law and being judged by the law. Rom 2:12  For all who have sinned apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. (ISV)

Has anyone ever perished without the law, in ignorance? Yes, we see this in the awful relationship between the slave master and the slave.

“God cannot take the slave to heaven, who has been kept in ignorance and degradation, knowing nothing of God, or the Bible, fearing nothing but his master’s lash, and not holding so elevated a position as his master’s brute beasts. But he does the best thing for him that a compassionate God can do. He lets him be as though he had not been; while the master has to suffer the seven last plagues, and then come up in the second resurrection, and suffer the second, most awful death. Then the wrath of God will be appeased.” {1SG 193.1}

III. Now, look at the second clause – the many that will be constituted righteous.

The doctrine that; the many will be made, appointed or caused to be righteous correlates with Scriptures about election. In the parable about the man who came to the king’s wedding without the wedding garment Jesus said, “For many are called, but few chosen” (Mat 22:14). Only those who intentionally choose to accept the conditions, to wear the king’s wedding garment, to receive the righteousness of God, will be allowed to the marriage supper of the lamb. The Bible does not teach that we are caused to be righteous or chosen to be righteous without conditions.

Jesus caused us to be reconciled to God by His death while we were enemies (Romans 5.10). This is the first and most important part. The cause of salvation is the incarnate life, death and resurrection of Jesus.  Christ’s righteous act was done apart from us without any response or contribution from us. Reconciliation does not equal salvation, we are saved by His life (Romans 5.10), and this is why salvation is conditional.

So in the second part we have conditions to fulfill. We must confess the Lord Jesus Christ and that God raised Him from the dead (Romans 10:9), we must confess our sins (1 John 1:9), if we love Him we will keep His commandments (John 14:15) and we must share in His sufferings to share in His glory (Romans 8:17).  Although we are not left alone to fulfil the conditions of salvation, the Spirit of God helps us fulfill the conditions, we must exercise our will, we must exercise the only power we have, we must choose to trust and obey God.

The third is that we have the effects of salvation, the fruits of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23).

All three aspects are required for salvation. This is why Paul does not say that many were but the many will be constituted righteous, because not all who are called have made their calling and election sure (1 Peter 1.10). Not all, but the many will be made righteous.

  1. Notice, the use of “the many” in the first clause is the same as “the many” in the second clause.

Who are the many that Paul is referring to? Let us permit the Scripture to answer this…

Here[1] are couple of other ways Paul uses this noun in the nominative form…

Rom 12:5  so we the many are one body in Christ, and each one members of one another,[2]

1Co 10:17  Because we, the many, are one bread, one body, for we all partake of the one bread.[3]

It is self-evident that the second clause of Romans 5:19 so also through the obedience of the One the many shall be constituted righteous. refers to the same group as…Ro 12:5 and the same group as 1 Co 10:17…

These instances demonstrate that there are times that Paul applies “the many” to the people of God. Are these two clauses in Romans 5:19 coextensive?

We know that only those who admit that they are sinners under the law of God can be made righteous under the grace of God.

  1. Next Paul contrasts the abundance and reign of the offence through the law and the abundance and reign of grace through righteousness and Jesus Christ

Rom 5:20  But Law came in besides, that the deviation might abound. But where sin abounded, grace much more abounded,

Rom 5:21  that as sin ruled in death, so also grace might rule through righteousness to everlasting life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The concept of powers and ruling forces is a main concept throughout Romans. In Romans 5 the powers of Adam and of Christ, with their respecting offers of sin and righteousness, of death and life are contrasted. Adam’s disobedience and Christ’s obedience offered two key powers for us to receive and rule over us, the rule of sin or the rule of grace.

  1. Summary

We are not charged with sin by Adam’s disobedience, but we are placed under the power of sin by Adam’s disobedience. Because we are all under sin, all have committed actual sin, we all have chosen to transgress the law  

Ecc 7:20  For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin.

Rom 3:23  for all sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

We cannot deny that all have sinned. 1Jn 1:8  If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

Rom 5:12  …death passed on all men inasmuch as all sinned

Gal 3:22  But the Scripture locked up all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to the ones believing.

To be under sin is to be under the power and rule of sin

Rom 3:9  … we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;

 This is the truth but it’s not the good news, the good news is never in the diagnosis it’s in the Savior. As by Adam’s disobedience we were made and constituted devoted sin…

so also through the obedience of the One the many shall be constituted righteous. (Ro 5.19)

If we accept the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus we don’t have to bear the image and character of the earthly man

Col 3:9  Do not lie to one another, having put off the old man with his practices, 10  and having put on the new, having been renewed in full knowledge according to the image of the One creating him,

 This is why Paul pleads…

Rom 6:12  Then do not let sin reign in your mortal body, to obey it in its lusts.

You are constituted a sinner not because you share in Adam’s guilt or the guilt of you parents and ancestry but because of the law that accuses your conscience. Receive the grace of God to teach you to deny ungodliness (Titus 2:11,12) and to receive the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:2).

2Pe 1:3  As His divine power has given to us all things pertaining to life and godliness through the full knowledge of the One calling us through glory and virtue, 2Pe 1:4  by which means He has given to us the very great and precious promises, so that through these you might be partakers of the divine nature, escaping from the corruption in the world by lust.

Footnotes

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[1] Οι πολλοι

[2] (GNT-BYZ+)  ουτωςG3779 ADV  οιG3588 T-NPM  πολλοιG4183 A-NPM  ενG1520 A-NSN  σωμαG4983 N-NSN  εσμενG1510 V-PAI-1P  ενG1722 PREP  χριστωG5547 N-DSM  οG3588 T-NSM  δεG1161 CONJ  καθG2596 PREP  ειςG1520 A-NSM  αλληλωνG240 C-GPM  μεληG3196 N-NPN  

[3] (GNT-BYZ+)  οτιG3754 CONJ  ειςG1520 A-NSM  αρτοςG740 N-NSM  ενG1520 A-NSN  σωμαG4983 N-NSN  

οιG3588 T-NPM  πολλοιG4183 A-NPM  εσμενG1510 V-PAI-1P  οιG3588 T-NPM  γαρG1063 CONJ  παντεςG3956 A-NPM  εκG1537 PREP  τουG3588 T-GSM  ενοςG1520 A-GSM  αρτουG740 N-GSM  μετεχομενG3348 V-PAI-1P  

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