WE were noticing the difference between the righteousness of God being “unto all” but “upon all them that believe.” It is world-wide in its extent― “unto all”; but limited in its application― “upon all them that believe.”
Since the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, God has been able to offer justification to the world freely. Adam sinned, and all the human family was involved. If Adam’s sin was towards all men to condemnation, how can I be justified? Because the Lord Jesus Christ has come and done a work. Is God going to confine His grace to narrower limits than man’s sin? If Adam’s sin was towards all, is Christ’s work going to be to some only? Why no, it must be towards all to justification, though only those who believe are justified. You see the contrast between condemnation on the one hand, and justification on the other; and not only that, there is the contrast between death and life.
Death reigned by one, and if God justifies me, is He going to leave me dead? No, that cannot be; I get life too. You see how the grace of God has come in, and has overleaped all the effects of sin, and has brought in something infinitely better. It is far better to be before God justified, and with a “justification of life.” What does that mean? That the life which believers possess is a life which cannot be linked with condemnation. It is a life which is inseparably linked with justification. It is a life which is on the other side of death and judgment. It was after Christ passed through the judgment of God for our sins, that we, believers, were not only justified from all things, but have been given life in Him. The two thoughts are linked together―justification and life. It is a life to which justification attaches. It is a better life than Adam had in the Garden of Eden. He could lose that, but we cannot lose the life that we have in Christ. It is a life on the other side of death and judgment.
Now it says in the nineteenth verse, “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners.”
That is a little difficult. You say, How can I be made a sinner by another man’s disobedience?
The word “made” means “constituted.” It is not the question here of my individual sins or my individual conduct, but it is the effect of the act of the head with whom I am connected. I was connected with that first man, Adam, and I was involved in his act. Of course I have added many sins of my own to that one act of Adam’s, and if I have not trusted the Lord Jesus Christ I shall be judged for what I have done myself.
But this nineteenth verse is speaking of the present state of the world, “constituted sinners” ―brought into that state by reason of Adam’s transgression.
Believers are linked with Christ, the Second Man and the Last Adam. Why does it say the Second Man and the Last Adam? Christ is called the Second Man because the first man is a failure altogether and cannot be improved.
God says, I cannot improve the first man, but I have a Second Man, and can you improve on Him? No, that is impossible, therefore He is the Last Adam. Rationalists speak of the Lord Jesus Christ as coming in the, course of the development of man. They look upon the time when he was here as a sort of infancy of man, but God does not do that. The “Second,” because the first was a failure; the “Last,” because the second was perfect. “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” I was in a sinful state; I am now brought into a state of righteousness. We are brought into a new state and condition before God, that of righteousness.
It says in the twentieth verse, “The law entered, that the offense might abound.” It does not say that the law entered that sin might abound. God could never do anything that could make sin abound. It would be inconsistent with His nature to do that. The effect of the law, when it came into this world where sin already abounded, was to make every act of sin a positive transgression of God’s law. That is what it means when it says that the entrance of the law made the offense abound. It was doing wrong before, but when the law came it was doing what God forbade—each sin became a positive offense. In the next clause it says, “where sin abounded.” It changes the word there. If it had said, “where the offense abounded,” the Gentile would have said, I do not come under that, because I was never under the law. When it is a question of grace He says, “where sin abounded.” That takes in the Jew under law and the Gentile who was not under law.
“Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” There is no possibility of confining the grace of God to narrower limits than man’s sin, and it closes up with this, “that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign” ―not righteousness; if it had been righteousness reigning, we should have been condemned; if righteousness was to reign where sin abounded, the result would have been condemnation to everybody. But it changes the word there, “as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.” That is to say, God is sovereign in His grace. If righteousness had reigned where sin abounded, there would have been condemnation; but God is superior to man’s sin, and, therefore, where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, that as sin had reigned unto death, so might grace reign. But God is righteous, and, therefore, if grace reigns, it must reign in righteousness. If God saves me, it is because He is sovereign in His mercy: He is righteous too, and if He is going to save me, He must save me in a righteous way. “Grace reigns through righteousness.” They go hand in hand, and that is the only thing that gives me settled peace. God has found the way of dealing righteously with my sins, and no one can say, You have no right to have that person in heaven. The devil might say, You have no right or title to heaven, but he cannot say anything to God when He opens heaven to a dying malefactor; he was too bad to live upon the earth, and yet God has taken him into Paradise, and He took him there in righteousness, and, therefore, where sin has reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life.”
And there we get a wonderful grouping of truths― grace, righteousness, life― the three things we need when we are sinners. We need the grace of God to deliver us, for we deserve nothing but wrath; we were guilty, and we needed a righteousness in which to stand before God; we were dead, and we needed life, and we get them all linked together in Christ. “Grace reigned through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.”
The close of this fifth chapter may be difficult, but all difficulty will be over if we once see that it deals with Adam as the head of a fallen and sinful family, and Christ as the head of a saved and justified one.