The Gift Is not like the Trespass

The Gift Is not like the Trespass

Romans 5:12-21

Death through Sin

In this later half of Chapter 5, Paul deals with the theological issues of sin, death, grace, the role of the law, and the role of Christ. In studying this passage, we will find Paul’s general argument much easier to follow that his specific statements.

The difficulty in following Paul’s specific statements begins with the problem of simply understanding his grammar. If we look at verses 12-14, we see that Paul begins with one thought in verse 12, but does not quite complete it. He starts to tell us that sin, and through sin, death came into the world through Adam, but he begins this in a comparative way and never finished the comparison. The KJV treats all of verses 13-17 as a long, parenthetical thought. The NIV treats verse 12 simply as an unfinished sentence. However it is treated grammatically, Paul begins to make a comparison between Adam and Jesus, but follows another thought about the role of the law.

But what is it, exactly, that he says about the law? Before the law, he says, there was sin. But he seems to say that this sins did not matter, because there was no law, so sinners could not be held accountable. Nonetheless, everyone died, even those who did not “sin by breaking a command.” We could understand this as an argument based on the concept of “Original Sin”. In this idea, we are all sinners by nature, having inherited the sin from Adam (though, curiously, not from Eve).

Certainly, the story of the original sin (Genesis 3) tells us that sin changed the world. With the fall of man, all of nature fell. But did all humans inherit sin from Adam? The story of Cain and Able tells us that we sin by choice. In Genesis 4:7, the Lord says to Cain that he will be accepted if he does what is right. This implies that Cain knew what was right and would be held accountable for doing wrong, even though the law had not yet been given.

In fact, Paul himself has made this same claim for the Gentiles (Romans 2:14-16) who, he says, had the law written on their hearts. So how can he now say that the world was ignorant, and therefore not to be held accountable, before the law? We can address this question in different ways. The first, as has already been mentioned, is the idea of Original Sin, which says that we inherit Adam’s sin even if we do not sin ourselves. Again, this argument seems contrary to Paul’s statements here and previously (Romans 3:23) that we have all sinned.

We can also address the question by carefully parsing what Paul says. He says that all have sinned, and mentions “those who did not sin by breaking a command.” How could they break a command, if the commandments had not been given? So, perhaps he is speaking of those who sinned, but not by breaking the commands we know today.

Finally, we can address the question by remembering that when Paul, a Pharisee, speaks of the law, he means something quite specific and detailed. The Pharisees ritually observed a tradition of written and oral law, the extent of which is hard for modern Gentiles to understand. That law would certainly not be known to the Gentiles or to those who came before Moses, and those who did not know it could not be culpable for breaking it.

But, all of this is beside Paul’s main point, which is that sin brings death.

The Gift Is not like the Trespass

In verses 15-17, Paul goes on to contrast the gift of righteousness with the trespass of sin. The gift, he says, is not like the trespass. Here, we must understand that Paul is taking some poetic license when he says that “judgment followed one sin.” Paul was a careful student of scripture, and he knew that, in the garden, God found both Adam and Eve guilty of sin, and passed his judgment on the both of them. But Paul wants to compare the judgment that came through Adam (a symbol of the human race) to the redemption that comes through Christ.

“The gift is not like the trespass,” Paul says. Judgment comes as the result of the action of man but the gift is freely given. The trespass brings death, the gift brings life. There have been many trespasses, but the gift overflows to many.

One Man

In verses 18-19, Paul continues his comparison of Adam and Christ. This comparison is made more clearly and famously in 1 Corinthians 15:21-22: “As in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.” This is the same statement that Paul makes here: “For just as through the disobedience of the one man all were made sinners, so also through the obedience of one man the many will be made righteous.”

Again, we must be careful to understand Paul’s metaphoric usage of Adam. When he says we were all made sinners through his sin, does he mean that we would not be sinners if he did not sin? I know myself to be a sinner. If all humanity remained sinless before me, I would be Paul’s Adam. Like Adam, we are all subject to judgment for our sins. Through Christ, we are freed from that judgment.

Life through Grace

In the last verses of the chapter (verses 20-21) Paul returns to the law, saying that the law increases the trespass. Again, we must remember what the law meant to Paul. First, it had become an enormous burden, more than just a way of relating to God and each other, it had become a religion. Second, no matter how complete the law might become, or how carefully it might be followed, it is not the way to salvation – it will always show us as sinners, and the wages of sin is death. We only find life through grace.