Through many ages man tried and failed to raise himself out of the state he was in. Although there were moments of greatness, glimpses of freedom, there was no permanent victory over the law of sin and death that operated in man. Good deeds and noble thoughts were constantly contradicted by the evil and depravity that was never far away. Even the most sincere religious endeavours failed to release man from the battle raging within him. For those who sincerely sought after righteousness, the realisation came slowly but surely: we can do nothing to save ourselves; we are completely helpless.
In God’s long range plan, there is a movement from fall to grace, from darkness to light, from death to life, from condemnation to justification, from bondage to liberty, from identification with Adam to identification with Christ. This movement has only one conclusion, only one destination. We saw in the previous chapter how this new day began in the fullness of time in the event of Jesus Christ.
Adam represents man’s choice to exist in a lesser reality ... a non-reality compared to that for which he was designed. Man, as identified in Adam, does not live in the freedom he was made for; he does not enjoy the relationship with God or man that he could. This however is not man’s destiny. In the death of Christ, God judges and condemns this existence, reveals it for the nothingness it is and as such dooms it to pass away.
In the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, He proclaims and achieves the final end of the old and the endless reality of the new. His death is both the judgement and condemnation of the old man, the man as identified in fallen Adam, as well as the vindication of the new man, the victory of grace. In this achievement He reveals that His grace ultimately prospers, His love never fails, His purpose cannot be withheld. Although man, as identified in Adam, stands guilty sinful and condemned, His word is indeed one of forgiveness, release and justification. In Christ, His final word about man and the only word that will endure, man stands blameless, innocent and accepted.
Romans 5:12-21 (AMP)
Therefore, as sin came into the world through one man, and death as the result of sin, so death spread to all men, [no one being able to stop it or to escape its power] because all men sinned.
[To be sure] sin was in the world before ever the Law was given, but sin is not charged to men’s account where there is no law [to transgress].
Yet death held sway from Adam to Moses [the Lawgiver], even over those who did not themselves transgress [a positive command] as Adam did. Adam was a type (prefigure) of the One Who was to come [in reverse, the former destructive, the Latter saving].
But God’s free gift is not at all to be compared to the trespass [His grace is out of all proportion to the fall of man]. For if many died through one man’s falling away (his lapse, his offense), much more profusely did God’s grace and the free gift [that comes] through the undeserved favor of the one Man Jesus Christ abound and overflow to and for [the benefit of] many.
Nor is the free gift at all to be compared to the effect of that one [man’s] sin. For the sentence [following the trespass] of one [man] brought condemnation, whereas the free gift [following] many transgressions brings justification (an act of righteousness).
For if because of one man’s trespass (lapse, offense) death reigned through that one, much more surely will those who receive [God’s] overflowing grace (unmerited favor) and the free gift of righteousness [putting them into right standing with Himself] reign as kings in life through the one Man Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
Well then, as one man’s trespass [one man’s false step and falling away led] to condemnation for all men, so one Man’s act of righteousness [leads] to acquittal and right standing with God and life for all men.
For just as by one man’s disobedience (failing to hear, heedlessness, and carelessness) the many were constituted sinners, so by one Man’s obedience the many will be constituted righteous (made acceptable to God, brought into right standing with Him).
But then Law came in, [only] to expand and increase the trespass [making it more apparent and exciting opposition]. But where sin increased and abounded, grace (God’s unmerited favor) has surpassed it and increased the more and superabounded,
So that, [just] as sin has reigned in death, [so] grace (His unearned and undeserved favor) might reign also through righteousness (right standing with God) which issues in eternal life through Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) our Lord.
Adam missed the mark and opened the door for death to reign. The death he speaks of here is not merely physical death, although that is part of it. Adam cut himself of from the source of life - life that awakened expression and exuberance in man. Instead he allowed the government of death to take control. Death suppresses; death silences; death dominates, manipulates and controls. This spiritual death spread to all men.
Under this government, everyone gets exactly what they deserve ... the wages of sin is death. And ignorance is no excuse! If you have a deadly disease, it does not matter whether you know it or not, it will still kill you. That is exactly what happened before the Law was given. Even though men sinned in ignorance, they were still under the sway of death.
So Adam and Christ are alike in the sense that what they did affected all men, whether men knew it or not. But that is as far as the comparison can go. What they achieved and what they represent is in fact incomparable. It is not equal parts of one whole, it is out of all proportion. The effect of Adam’s fall is doomed to pass away. The last Adam - Christ - pronounced final judgement on that state of affairs and simultaneously introduced a new creation, a new kingdom and “...of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end”.
Adam’s one offence meant that the whole mass of humanity deserved death. God’s gift however is not based on what is deserved; it is not based on men repeating his deed of righteousness, the way men repeated deeds of sin. No this free gift has nothing to do with anything man does or does not do. It overflows out of the superabundance of God’s own gracious character. “For out of His fullness we have all received one grace after another and spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing and even favor upon favor and gift heaped upon gift. “For while the Law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ”. “Who was put to death because of our misdeeds and was raised because of our justification”. the Amplified adds the following: making our account balance and absolving us from all guilt before God. (John 1:16, Rom 4:25)
The effect of their deeds is also incomparable in that one sin resulted in condemnation for everyone. Yet after many transgressions, which logically would mean even greater condemnation for everyone, Christ achieves a feat which results in everyone being proclaimed righteous!
The government of death enforced itself on all who came after Adam yet its influence is destined to pass away. The overflowing grace of God does not enforce itself on anyone, but persistently presents itself to be received. It never loses hope, it believes the best, for it knows the truth about man. In receiving this gift we take back the dominion that death had over us, the dominion that rightfully belongs to us, and reign as kings in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
Christ established a new order, a new creation. Although it is not fully visible yet, is has been fully accomplished and as such is fully available to each of us. It is a new order, but also the original order - the order in which we stand in a unique relationship with God and a unique relationship with creation. The potential that Adam never achieved, the heights of intimacy he never fully knew, the depth of connection that he only started to appreciate, was demonstrated and achieved in Christ. He is the measure of the perfect man - man as God sees him.