By One Man

 


[Romans 5:12-21]

 

Look at Romans 5:12: "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned." Here, the Bible says "through one man," and in Romans 5:12-21, in the original Greek, the word "one man" appears 12 times (in Korean, it appears 10 times). Who is this "one man"? When the Apostle Paul says "one man," he is referring to two different people. Look at Romans 5:15 and 17: "But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many... For if, by the trespass of one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!"

From these two verses, we see that the first "one man" Paul is referring to is the "man who sinned," and the second "one man" (verse 15) or "one man" (verse 17) refers to Jesus Christ.

So, who is this "one man" who sinned? It is the first man, Adam, the ancestor of humanity, mentioned in Genesis 2. Look at Genesis 2:7: "Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being." In 1 Corinthians 15:45, the Apostle Paul refers to Adam as "the first man Adam." This is to contrast him with another "one man" or "one" (Romans 5:15, 17), who is Jesus Christ. Thus, Jesus Christ is referred to as the "last Adam" (1 Corinthians 15:45).

God chose the first Adam as the representative of humanity and made a covenant with him. This covenant is called the "covenant of works." In this covenant of works, God gave a command to Adam. If Adam obeyed God's command, he would receive a blessing (eternal life), but if he disobeyed, he would receive a curse (death). The command God gave to Adam was: "You are not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die" (Genesis 2:17). The "one man" (Romans 5:12), the first man Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45), had the responsibility to obey the command of God, who had established him as the representative of all humanity.

Romans 5:12 says, "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned." In Romans 5:12-21, the word "sin" appears 8 times. What is "sin"? The Bible speaks of "sin" in four ways:

  1. Sin is lawlessness. In other words, sin is breaking the law. See 1 John 3:4: "Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness."

  2. Sin is knowing the good you ought to do and not doing it. See James 4:17: "If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn't do it, it is sin for them."

  3. Sin is not acting in faith. See Romans 14:23: "But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin."

  4. Sin is doing things without reaching the proper measure. Sin is a lack of obedience. In the Shorter Catechism of the Korean-American Presbyterian Church, question 14 asks, "What is sin?" The answer is: "Sin is the lack of obedience to or transgression of God's law" (1 John 3:4; James 4:17; Romans 3:23; James 2:10).

In Romans 5:12, the "sin" that the Apostle Paul is speaking of refers to the transgression of Adam, the first man and representative of humanity. In verse 19, it says, "For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners." Therefore, the "sin" mentioned in Romans 5:12 is the sin of Adam, and this sin involved disobeying God's command: "Do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" (Genesis 2:17).

Ultimately, Adam failed to fulfill his responsibility to obey God's command, and he disobeyed the covenant command to "not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" (Genesis 2:17). If Adam had obeyed the covenant of works, sin would not have entered the world. Before Adam's disobedience, there was no sin in the world (although there was sin in the spiritual realm of angels).

Why did the first man, Adam, disobey God's command and fall into sin? It was because Satan, a fallen angel from the spiritual realm, sent the serpent, the most cunning of animals, to tempt Eve, the first woman (Genesis 3:1). Eve was deceived by the serpent, and when she saw that the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:17) was good for food, pleasing to the eye, and desirable for gaining wisdom [compare: "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" (1 John 2:16)], she took some and ate it, and she gave some to her husband, Adam, who was with her, and he ate it too (Genesis 3:6). As a result, sin entered the world (Romans 5:12).

And through sin, death entered the world (Romans 5:12). Here, "death" refers to three types of death:

  1. Spiritual death: By disobeying God's command, Adam experienced a break in his communion with God, leading to spiritual death (Genesis 3:9-24).

  2. Physical death: Later, Adam faced physical death at the age of 930 years (Genesis 5:5).

  3. Eternal death: When Adam died, his body and soul were separated. His body returned to the dust, but his soul went to the eternal realm (eternal hell). At the second coming of Jesus, his decayed body and soul in hell will be reunited, and he will face eternal punishment in hell.

    Ephesians 2:1 says, "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins" [(Modern Translation) "You were spiritually dead because of your disobedience and sins."] Because of the sin of disobedience of the first man, Adam, who is the representative of humanity, we too were "spiritually dead because of disobedience and sin." In other words, before we believed in Jesus, our bodies were alive, but spiritually, we were dead.

    The Apostle Paul described the state of those who were spiritually dead in Ephesians 2:2-3: "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath" [(Modern Translation) "At that time, you followed the evil ways of the world and obeyed the devil, who rules in the spiritual realm under the sky. The devil is the spirit at work in those who are disobedient. We also lived in the same way, following the desires of our flesh and doing whatever our body and mind wanted. Like others, we were destined for God's anger."].

    Let’s also look at Luke 9:60: "Jesus said to him, 'Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God'" [(Modern Translation) "But Jesus told him, 'Let spiritually dead people bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.'"].

    From this verse, we can identify three kinds of people:

    1. "The dead" ["spiritually dead people"]: Those who are spiritually dead (people whose communion with God is broken).

    2. "Their dead" ["dead people"]: Those who are physically dead.

    3. "You": Those who are alive either physically or spiritually, people who have communion with God. These are the ones who go and proclaim the kingdom of God.

    Thus, all people have sinned (Romans 5:12). The imagery in this passage suggests that all of humanity has sinned. While there are various interpretations regarding this, it is said that no interpretation is 100% correct. The most widely accepted interpretation is that, as the representative of humanity, the first man, Adam, sinned, and this means that all of Adam's descendants, all of humanity, sinned with him. For example, in the Olympics, all athletes represent their respective countries. When they win a medal, the flag of their country is raised, and the national anthem is played. The citizens of that country, watching the event, rejoice, saying, "We won!" In the same way, Adam, as the representative of humanity, disobeyed God's covenant command and sinned, which means that all people sinned through him (Romans 5:12).

    Consider Romans 3:23: "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Here, "sin" refers to personal sin committed by both Jews and Gentiles. However, in Romans 5:12, when it says all have sinned, it is not referring to personal sin but to the fact that all people sinned because of Adam’s sin. Theologically speaking, it means that the sin of Adam, as the representative of humanity, was transferred to all of his descendants.

    Please refer to Chapter 6 (The Fall, Sin, and Punishment of Man) of the Westminster Confession of Faith, paragraphs 3 and 4:

    (Paragraph 3)
    "Because they are the origin of humanity, the guilt of their sin (Gen. 1:27-28; 2:16-17), and the death and corrupt nature resulting from sin are transmitted to all their descendants, who are born through ordinary birth (Ps. 51:5; Gen. 5:3; Job 14:4, 15:14)."

    (Paragraph 4)
    "Due to this original corruption, we have no desire or ability to do good, and in fact, we reject all that is good (Rom. 5:6, 8:7, 7:18; Col. 1:21), being completely enslaved to an inclination toward evil (Gen. 6:5, 8:21; Rom. 3:10-12), which leads us to commit actual sin (James 1:14-15; Eph. 2:2-3; Matt. 15:9)."

    "Why does the sin of Adam affect his descendants? And what is transmitted to Adam's descendants?"

    1. "The guilt and corrupt nature from Adam have been passed down."
      The Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 6, Paragraph 3 states that because Adam and Eve are the origin of humanity, the consequences of their sin—death and a corrupt nature—are transmitted to all their descendants through ordinary birth. As the starting point and representative of all humanity, the sin of Adam had an effect on all his descendants ("the principle of representation").

    2. "It is because of our corrupt nature that we commit sin."
      What we inherit from Adam is not the direct responsibility of the sin he committed, but the corrupt nature that leads to sin. In other words, as Adam's descendants, we neither desire to do good nor have the ability to do so; instead, we reject all that is good and are enslaved to a tendency to do evil, which leads us to commit actual sin. In short, what we inherit from Adam is the sinful, corrupt nature that compels us to sin (Internet).

    Ultimately, death came to all people (Rom. 5:12). Due to the sin of disobedience of the first man, Adam, who represented all of humanity, we too were spiritually dead because of disobedience and sin (Eph. 2:1). We experienced the death of our souls (spiritual death), severing our communion with God. Just like Adam, when we die physically, we are destined for eternal death. That is, when we die, our bodies and souls will separate—the body will return to the dust, but our souls will inevitably go to eternal hell. At Christ's second coming, our decayed bodies and souls in hell will be reunited, and we will suffer eternal punishment in hell. This is referred to as "the second death, the lake of fire" (Rev. 20:14). See Mark 9:48: "Where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched" [(Modern Bible) "In hell, the worm does not die and the fire is never quenched"].

    Thus, we were spiritually dead because of our sin and rebellion due to "one man" (Rom. 5:12), "the first man, Adam" (1 Cor. 15:45), who disobeyed the covenant command of God and sinned, resulting in spiritual death and physical death, leading to eternal death (Rom. 5:12) in hell (Mark 9:48). However, through another "one man" (Rom. 5:15), "the last Adam" (1 Cor. 15:45), Jesus Christ, who obeyed even to the point of death on the cross (Phil. 2:8), God turned the curse of death from the disobedience of "the first man" Adam into a blessing, granting us eternal life (Deut. 23:5; Neh. 13:2).

    We have received eternal life as a gift by the grace of "one man, Jesus Christ" (Rom. 5:17), through His grace (Rom. 5:15, 17). The reason is that God, who is rich in mercy, loved us so much that by His great love, He made us alive with Christ, raising us from spiritual death due to our sins. Therefore, we were saved by God's grace (Eph. 2:4-5, Modern Bible) [Adam also was saved by God's grace (Gen. 3:21)].

    See Ephesians 2:8-10, Modern Bible:
    "By God's grace, you have been saved through faith in Christ. This is not of yourselves; it is a gift of God. It is not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

    Therefore, we must do good works. As we praise "God's great love," remembering His endless and unchanging love for us, we must diligently proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, remembering the grace that has forgiven our sins (New Hymnal, hymn 304).