Then we move to verses 12-­21 this week. Paul begins with “Therefore” and the next several verses are Paul’s fleshing out what it means to have received reconciliation through Christ. But he begins with what seems grammatically as a side road or two thoughts about the same idea ­ reconciliation coming only through Christ. That’s why it’s necessary to follow him closely here because this is in some ways the very heart of the
Epistle to the Romans.

1. “Just as sin entered the world through one man” is where we begin this morning. We all know the verse and we know this is the origin of our doctrine of Original Sin and the Fall of Mankind. Because of Adam and his sin we are all in need of a savior. There is none righteous ­ no not one.

Several things are interesting here.

First, the word “entered” does not mean sin was lying around waiting to be activated. It is a much stronger word than that. It means sin “invaded” the world. Martyn Lloyd­Jones says, “The Apostle does not mean that ‘it began to be”. Sin broke in; it intruded into man’s life. There was a period in the history of the world when it was entirely free from sin. Sin is an invader.” Think of it as it is described in Genesis 4 when God says to Cain, “But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door;” Sin broke into the world unannounced and, ironically, in the same way that Christ will break into the world again ­like an intruder or a thief. When I was young my father took me to the Indianapolis 500 as Mobil was one of his clients. They left me alone in one of the hospitality suites in the pit area with the clear instruction not to let anyone into the suite. Being curious about what was going on I opened the door and standing there was one of the drivers I had read about. When he asked to come in I could hardly say no. He and several of his friends headed straight for the bar and the food. When my father and the Mobil executives returned they found me and a crowd of drivers and mechanics instead of what they expected. The driver and his friends had not broken down the door but just waited for an opportunity to intrude where they didn’t belong.

Second, if we take Paul’s meaning literally, and I think we should, then he is saying that a literal man named Adam chose to sin and it was through the choice of that one man that sin broke into Paradise. Adam is not a myth or a representative figure for mankind. He was real and his choice opened Paradise to an invasion. If we don’t accept Paul’s belief in a literal Adam then it is hard, if not impossible, to see how we could all be in sin because of Adam’s choice. It would have to be sin being an infection that might have affected a few or even many but it would not have the weight that Paul gives it ­ that sin entered into the world through a literal person. Tim Keller puts it this way:

“If you don’t believe in the fall of humanity as a single historical event, what is your alternative? You may posit that some human beings began to slowly turn away from God, all exercising their free wills. But then how did sin spread? Was it only by bad example? That has never been the classic teaching of the Christian doctrine of original sin. We do not learn sin from others; we inherit a sin nature.”

Third, while it is hard for us to understand one person being responsible for everything that comes afterwards, that is exactly what Paul is saying here ­but for a reason. Adam is the head of a sinful humankind in the same way that Christ is the head of a redeemed world. Adam is held responsible by God for the universal effects of his behavior. “In Adam’s fall we sinned all” is the way the New England Primer put it and taught it to all the children. Choices have consequences far beyond what we can see or imagine.

Of course, not only that but we know through this that we are not perfectable. We have to decide what we believe about the nature of mankind. Are we innately sinful with the potential to do good or are we innately good with the potential to do evil? The first does not exclude the possibility of people doing good things but it recognizes that we need a Savior. The second recognizes we have the potential to do evil things but we don’t need a Savior as much as we need more education or ethics or exposure to better ideas. It’s an important choice.

2. “But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the 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! Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man’s sin…”

What do we see here? A couple of things.

First, the effects of sin are specific, fatal and inclusive of everyone. However, they are not final and they are not without limit. Sin was able to break into the world and shatter the perfection. Because of sin we have the “reign of death”. I think we all know what the reign of death is. Not only do living things ­- plants, animals, people,-­ die but the effects of eventual death and the fear of death is always present. Death destroys everything. It sweeps clean. It explains why Shakespeare said in his play “Macbeth”:

“Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.”

But while Paul recognizes the power of death ­ the reign of death ­ in this world he sees grace as not only defeating it but overwhelming it. Grace is not the equal of death. It is not just adequate to replace it. It is abounding, even ever increasing. There is no end to it. It never stops creating and expanding. It doesn’t rest when it has defeated death. It has a much larger purpose in mind. It does not just wipe out the infection. It continues to overflow. Do you remember the German folktale called “The Magic Pot”? A little girl, because of her kindness, is given a pot that when told “Little pot boil” produces porridge until she says, “Little pot stop”. One day while she is away from home her mother is hungry and says, “Little pot boil” which it does and quickly produces enough porridge to fill her bowl. But, unfortunately, her mother cannot remember how to stop the pot from boiling and soon the porridge overflows the pot, the house and runs out the door into the street.

“The porridge rolled down the streets and into everyone’s house. As she walked back home, the little girl saw a great river of porridge flowing down the street. When she saw the porridge, she immediately shouted, “Little Pot Stop!”

The Little Pot stopped! But, by now, all of the townspeople had to eat their way back into their houses. It was surprising, but no one complained. They weren’t hungry again for months, and that was good.”

That is grace. It is not just enough for salvation. It is not just enough to defeat death. It does not merely restore us to Paradise. It overflows and cannot be stopped. It is the reign of unlimited life.

In a sense, we cannot even imagine from looking at a world under the reign of death what a world in the reign of life would be like. Think about it this way. If all you could know about Einstein or Beethoven or Mother Teresa was what you could discover from looking at a picture of their corpse you would not know very much about them. Without seeing them alive or even hearing about their life you could only know what little you saw. In the same way we are only able to see through a world almost totally given over to the reign of death. We cannot even imagine what the reign of life is going to be like. This world is a corpse ­ as beautiful as it is ­ compared to a world fully alive.

It’s important to underscore that in Christ we are not simply restored to our original condition. “Salvation does not just stop there; it includes more than putting us back to where Adam was before he fell. Consider the situation. Adam was made in the image and likeness of God. He was in a state of innocence. He had not sinned and his nature was without sin. And yet there was something negative even about that state; innocence suggests the absence of something. But that is not the position to which God’s abounding grace introduces us. We are put into a position in which…we have a better status than that of Adam. We have something that Adam lacked; for we are ‘in Christ’. Adam was not in Christ. Adam was made in God’s image but he was, as it were, outside the life of God…We are incorporated into the life of Christ. We are members of the household of God. Not so, Adam. He was perfect man, he was innocent, he had not sinned; but he was not a member of the household of God.” God is not interested in restoring us to the standard of Adam with all original equipment. He is interested in reconciling and recreating us completely.

3. Finally, we read “The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

The law was added that the trespass might increase seems confusing. You would think the law was added to help us become better people and to avoid sin completely. That is what the Jews thought as well. That is why Paul was such an enigma to them. He saw everything so differently! Worse than different. He totally turned things inside out. If the law was not for making us right with God then what was it for?

Again, Martyn­Lloyd Jones is helpful here.

The Law has actually increased, and was meant to increase sin in three main ways.

The first is that the Law increases our knowledge of sin. Without the law I might be aware of right and wrong, bad and good but it would not be sin. It would not be separation from God. I might have bad feelings about doing something wrong or good feelings about doing something right but it would have nothing to do with sin. “One of the greatest troubles in the Church today, as well as in the world, is that men do not have a knowledge of sin as they should have. It is when men and women realize the depth of iniquity and sin that is in them that they begin to cry out to God. But if men have no real understanding of sin, if they are lacking in the knowledge of sin which is given only by the Law, then they will be content with a superficial evangelism.” Evangelism becomes therapeutic but not convicting of sin.

Second, the Law increases our conviction of sin. With the knowledge of sin the law has given us, we not only do wrong but we know now that we are doing wrong. But, it is not only that we know we are doing wrong we now know we are offending God in doing so. By the Law our sin becomes far more visible and we recognize it for what it is. It is not just human nature or a slip but we are turning ourselves however slightly away from God. The great work of sin is to gradually relieve us of the sense of sin. The work of preaching and teaching is not to stimulate a morbid conscience but to state the truth in such a way that sin is exposed for what it is.

Third, the Law not only increases our knowledge of sin, and not only strengthens our conviction of sin, but, because of what sin has done to us, it actually incites us to sin. “Because of what sin has done to us, because it has perverted our nature, and because it has such a grip on our hearts, the very Law that tells us not to do things creates within us a desire to do them all the more. Far from being designed to save us, it was given in order to show us that nothing and nobody can save us but the Son of God.”

4. So, there we are. Just as sin and its companion death invaded a perfect world so did God invade the same world through Christ and he will break in again. We do not live in a closed system. While we are busy looking for UFO’s and visitors from other planets our world is subject to all sorts of invasions, isn’t it?

And just as sin entered through the choice of one man that ended in death so righteousness has entered the world through the choice of death by one man bringing life.

And while death and the effects of death reign now over every created thing, we cannot even suppose what it will be like when Life reigns and brings with it our ability to finally see the grace that overflows every obstacle set before it.

And then at the name of Jesus every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.