Romans 5. The Imputation of Adam’s Sin and Christ’s Righteousness. 

1. What are the benefits of justification? Verses 1-5. 

   1. Peace with God (1). 

1. Do not look over this statement. Being at peace with God is different from the peace of God we receive through prayer (Philippians 4:6-7). If we are now at peace with God then we had to have been at war with God (Romans 5:10, Ephesians 2:1-10). While this statement is certainly frightening, the most terrifying part about it is that it also means God was at war with us (Psalm 5:4-10, 1 Corinthians 15:25). 

2. Access to God (2). 

   1. A right relationship with Him. Not only are we in a right relationship with God but we are able to approach Him with confidence! He cares so deeply for His people! This is a stark contrast to what we talked about with the OT high priests in the second part of Chapter 4. 

   2. “Everyone has a relationship with God. He is either your final judge or your faithful savior.” - Michael Horton on Twitter. 

3. Hope in God (2-5). 

   1. We have hope in a future glory, that we will not face God’s judgment but will have eternal life in the presence of our Heavenly Father. There is no hope outside of God. Whatever we experience in this life we know God is with us and will work all things for our good and His glory (Romans 8:28) and are therefore able to count even the trials and sufferings we face in this life as joy (James 1:2, 1 Peter 1:3-9), knowing it is part of God’s specific or concealed will. Note that this doesn’t mean we will not mourn over tragic events or be angry at sin, both of which are biblical, but there is hope even when these things happen. 

4. The love of God (5). 

   1. Justification is more than just paperwork somewhere in heaven. It is not less than a legal transaction, but it is more. We now have the love of God poured out in our hearts and can show this love to others (1 John 4:19). 

   2. “That is about as real, personal, and internal as it gets. It is not splashed on the skin, on the façade, or the external wall of our life. God is pouring out His love, and He is not doing it with a little eyedropper, a few drops here and there – no, it is pouring. This is Niagara Falls gushing into our hearts, filled to overflowing.” - Steven Lawson. TO BE REWRITTEN. 

5. The Spirit of God (5). 

   1. Believers are sealed by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13, 4:30). This means God will never forsake us (Romans 8:38-39, John 10:27-30). 

   2. “First of all, it is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to channel this love into us. The way He channels it into us is not by air dropping it. The Holy Spirit moves in and sets up home within us and distributes everything that we need from the inside.” - Steven Lawson. TO BE REWRITTEN. 

2. Who is Paul describing in this passage? How are we described? Verses 6-11. 

He’s describing believers before they were saved. This reflects what we discussed back in Chapter 3 and Ephesians 2:1-3 by showing us the depth of the gospel. 

3. What happens to sin in our lives as a result of salvation? Verses 6-11. 

We are immediately justified by God and receive the benefits we discussed in the first question (and more). Our lives continue in sanctification until we die physically. Upon the resurrection of the dead, we will be given new and glorified bodies. We will one day be completely freed from sin and all the effects that come from it. 

4. Why do we want to talk about this? Verses 12-21. 

   1. The Doctrine of Original Sin is often misunderstood or not talked about at all, if not flat-out rejected. It is a biblical doctrine that leads us straight to the Gospel. Without the Doctrines of Original Sin and Total Depravity, we have no reason to evangelize nor warn people of their sinful nature and its effects. This builds off of what Historic Reformed theology often goes by, “Covenant Theology.”

5. What is original sin? What is actual sin? Verse 12. 

   1. Original sin is the result of Adam and Eve’s first sin, not their action itself. Adam was the representative for all mankind when God made what theologians call the “covenant of works” with him. This states that if Adam obeyed God he would live and bring himself and his posterity into confirmed and unlosable life, but if he disobeyed God he would “surely die” (Genesis 2:15-17). This led to the fall of man and the imputation of a sin nature from the fall. 

   2. Actual sin is when we do something that transgresses the law of God, when we miss the mark of His perfection. We will look more into this in Chapter 7. 

      1. “A baby in the crib, though it bears the weight of original sin, does not bear the weight of the guilt of actual sin because actual sin requires a conscious awareness of right and wrong and an actual violation of the law…If that is the case, if there is a period of time between birth and accountability before a person commits actual sin, why is it that people die? How do we account for babies dying in infancy? Since death is the punishment for sin, and if an infant is incapable of actual sin, how is it possible for the infant to die in his crib?” 

• RC Sproul, Romans: An Expositional Commentary, Pg. 155.

6. If there is no law, how is sin counted? Why did death reign? Verses 13-14.  

   1. The only way this can be explained is found in verse fourteen, that though there was not yet the moral law given by God, there was still sin as a result of Adam’s sin. This begins to show us the extremity of the fall of man. Adam was the representative of mankind, which had dominion over all the earth. Due to his sin, not only was mankind plunged into sin but the entire world became tainted too. 

   2. “As Adam's spiritual life would have consisted in remaining united and bound to his Maker, so estrangement from him was the death of his soul. Nor is it strange that he who perverted the whole order of nature in heaven and earth deteriorated his race by his revolt. "The whole creation groaneth," said St. Paul, "being made subject to vanity, not willingly," (Romans 8:20, 22). If the reason is asked, there cannot be a doubt that creation bears part of the punishment deserved by man, for whose use all other creatures were made. Therefore, since through man's fault a curse has extended above and below, over all the regions of the world, there is nothing unreasonable in its extending to all his offspring.” 

• John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 2, Ch. 1, Sec 5.

7. How did the fall and the imputation of Adam’s sin affect the once free will of man? 

We talked about the effects of the fall of man back in Chapter 3 and will come back to this in Chapter 8, but here’s a table to summarize how the fall affected the will of man. In Chapters 8 and 9 we will delve further into what this means for the salvation of man. 

8. So what hope is there if man failed the covenant of works and fell into sin? 

   1. As we went through in the end of Chapter 3, God shows grace to sinners. 

   2. After man failed the covenant of works and began receiving the punishments thereof, God made a new covenant with man that theologians refer to as the “covenant of grace.” In Genesis 3:14-19 the Lord promises to provide a way of salvation for man, what we find later to be the Messiah, Jesus the Christ. 

   3. Because of this new covenant between God and man we have a chance to be restored to a right relationship with God, a chance to receive a new heart and the Holy Spirit, a chance to truly honor and please God, something the natural, unregenerate, man cannot do. We will delve into this in Chapter 8. 

9. Let’s walk through the next section and look at what these verses tell us about the imputation of Adam’s sin and the imputation of Christ’s righteousness. 

What is the implication of each verse? Verses 15-17. 

10. Can you out-sin God’s grace? Are you too sinful for God to redeem? Verses 18-21. 

    1. Absolutely not. You cannot out-sin God because God is mercy, God is grace. He does not have a limited quantity of either, for He is infinite.

    2. NOBODY IS TOO FAR GONE FOR GOD TO REDEEM! 

11. Even though Scripture is clear on this, have you ever felt this way? Have you ever felt like you have sinned too much for God to save you or care for you?

    1. I know I have. Even after being saved there have been times where I’ve doubted my salvation because of my sin. However, we know that God’s grace abounds all the more. We know He will not leave us nor forsake us. We will delve more into this in Chapter 8 when we touch on the Preservation of the Saints. In short, you can’t sin yourself out of God’s grace because you didn’t work your way into it. 

12. In summary, how is Christ’s righteousness imputed to us?

    1. He bears our sin so that we may bear His righteousness. This is clearly presented in this passage and in 2 Corinthians 5:21. 

    2. “This is a twofold act; God imputes - that is, counts, credits, or reckons - our sin to Christ and punishes Him in our place, and He imputes Christ’s righteousness to believers and grants them eternal life in Him.” 

• John MacArthur, Biblical Doctrine, Pg. 615. 

3. “I would argue that the New Testament clearly teaches the lifelong passive obedience of Christ (His penalty-bearing work) and the lifelong active obedience of Christ (His will-of-God-obeying work), culminating in the cross. We then receive the benefit of this through the imputation of the obedience of Christ (the reckoning of Christ’s complete work to our account when we trust in Him for salvation and are united to Him).” - Justin Taylor, The Gospel Coalition. 

13. Resources: 

    1. Covenant Theology Multiple authors and editors. 

    2. The MacArthur Bible Commentary John MacArthur. 

    3. The Institutes Of The Christian Religion John Calvin. 

    4. Romans: An Expositional Commentary Ligonier, RC Sproul. 

    5. Biblical Doctrine: A Systematic Summary of Bible Truth John MacArthur. 

    6. What Is the Biblical Evidence for the Imputation of Adam's Sin? dG, Matt Perman and John Piper. 

14. Sermons: 

    1. Romans, Vol. 04 (4:3-6:10) GTY, John MacArthur.