Just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned (Romans 5:12).
Commentary and explanation. We have mentioned many times the word sin, but we haven't dealt with sin by itself; let us see in this chapter what the Scripture teaches us about sin. For a better understanding we will divide the subject in three topics: 1. The fact of sin, Step 51; 2. The consequences of sin, Step 52; and 3. The remedy for sin, Step 53. In this Step we are going to study the first topic, The fact of sin, and we are going to see:
a) Distinction between sin and sins. Let us begin saying that, in the Bible, we find sin, in the singular, and sins, in plural; they are not exactly the same.
Sin, in singular, is that condition of enmity and separation from God that affects all mankind, due to Adam as father and representative of all humanity, because he didn't obey God's commandment. As the text of this Step says: Through one man sin entered the world. But sins, in plural, are the individual transgressions of God's law. Sins are personal, and they affect each individual in particular.
b) Sin is universal and affects all mankind, except Jesus Christ. Sin is something that has passed to all human beings, because all sinned, as the quotation says. To be sinners is therefore something we are since birth; it is something we carry in ourselves; we all are born without the justice of God; we all are born in sin, because in Adam we all have sinned.
The only exception to this universal law mentioned in the Bible, is Jesus Christ. Hebrews 4:15, says: We do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
The Bible gives us many examples of personal sins; among them we can mention the sins of David, Samson, Solomon, Peter, and the worst of all, Judas.
c) Before the law of Moses there was sin in the world but there were not exactly sins. Sins, on the other hand, as we have said, are personal transgressions of the law of God. But God didn't promulgate any law, that we know, until Moses.
The consequence of this is that human beings who lived between Adam and Moses didn't have a law to obey or that they could break. As there was no law, there was no breaking of the law; there were not sins: sin is not imputed when there is no law (Romans 5:13).
But sin was in all human beings, because since Adam all men are born in sin; and because we have sin, we are sinners. Paul says: For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law (Romans 5:13).
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Just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men... Through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation... For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners... (Romans 5:12, 18,19).
Commentary and explanation. In this Step we are going to see the consequences of sin. According to the above quotation, the three main consequences of sin, are:
a) Death entered the world through sin. God had said to Adam: "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die" (Genesis 2:16,17).
But the serpent (Satan) tempted Eve, and told her: "You will not surely die" (Genesis 3:4). So the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked; and they heard the voice of the Lord God, who said: "What is this you have done?" The woman said: "The serpent deceived me, and I ate" (Genesis 3:13).
God cursed the serpent, and then said to the woman: "In pain you shall bring forth children" (Genesis 3:16). And to the man, God said: "In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you shall return" (Genesis 3:19). With these words, God condemns man to death; death is the consequence and punishment for sin.
b) Through one man's offense, condemnation came to all men. The second consequence of sin is condemnation, namely, the condition of enmity with God in which man stands, until he is reconciled through Christ.
Damnation is spiritual death, as a contraposition to the physical death of the body. Paul speaks of this spiritual death when he says: The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23).
This condition of damnation is universal and includes all mankind: Through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation.
c) The condition of man is to be sinner. The fundamental disposition to attain the justice of God, by faith, is to recognize the condition of being a sinner. As there is nothing that moves us away from God more than believing and considering oneself righteous, there is also nothing that attracts the mercy of God more than considering oneself sinner.
Jesus Christ made many references regarding the need of being humble and recognizing himself sinner before God, but probably the clearest reference is the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. The former was giving thanks because he wasn't a sinner, as the tax collector was; but this one would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, "God be merciful to me a sinner!" I tell you, —Jesus said,— this man went down to his house justified rather than the other (Lukes 18:13,14).
Justifying faith, which is called faith of conversion, originates in the recognition of the condition of sin, in repentance, in conversion to the Lord. We explained all this in the Steps related to faith; it is convenient to look at them again. We'll talk more about these subjects in later Steps when we talk about Imputation and Forgiveness, Steps 56 to 64.
Paul boasted, not in his gifts, but in his weaknesses: he said: Most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me (2 Corinthians 12:9).
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Now, once at the end of the ages, He (Christ) has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself (Hebrews 9:26).
Commentary and explanation. We are going to study in this Step the remedy of sin, and we will see:
a) Christ put away sin through His sacrifice. The antidote against sin is to take way sin, to oust sin. That was what Jesus did with His sacrifice; He put away sin, as the quotation for this Step says.
Once sin is ousted, the cause of condemnation is also put away, for where there is no sin, neither is condemnation: No condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).
Christ displaced sin with His sacrifice; He took away its base. For this reason, Paul may say: Sin shall not have dominion over you (Romans 6:14). Sin, which was reigning in the world since Adam, was left without strength, without breath, without any power; sin was overcome by the sacrifice of Christ. Through His sacrifice, we have been set free from sin (Romans 6:22); we are not under the chains of sin; we are now acquitted from the condemnation to which we were subjected before.
Any time that we have mentioned, so far, the name of Jesus Christ, we have said that the cure of sin is faith in Jesus Christ. Through faith in Him, we receive the fruits of His sacrifice, a sacrifice whose purpose was to save us and to free us from sin, for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive (1 Corinthians 15:22).
b) The gift and the grace of God were larger than the damage of sin. The most wonderful aspect of this plan to heal the sins of the world is, that the gift and the grace are larger than the sin and transgression; Paul says: But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense (Adam's) many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many (Romans 5:15).
The redemptive work of Christ was so perfect that, it not only repaired the evil done by sin, but it set a new order, the grace, which is more perfect than the justice that Adam had before his sin. That is why Paul says: much more the grace of God and the gift abounded to many.
c) Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more. These words of Paul refer to that sphere of grace where the believer is introduced by his faith in Jesus Christ. According to his words, grace went farther than sin, since where sin abounded, grace abounded much more (Romans 5:20). This is the strongest way Paul was able to ponder the sphere of grace as opposed to sin.
The reign of sin does not exist any more for believers; that is something from the past; there is only the reign of grace now, because as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 5:21).
We are then dead to sin but alive to God, as the Apostle said: reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:11).
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