Rom 5:13-14 | KingComments | STEP | . A new section of Romans begins here. It’s important for your spiritual life to think deeply about these verses. So far, Paul has talked to you about your sins, the deeds you did in disobedience to God. Paul told you that God has forgiven your sins and that He could do this based on the fact that Jesus Christ has shed His blood. God no longer sees your sins. He now looks at you as a righteous person, as someone who has a right to belong to Him. Nothing is left that hinders God from having you close to Him. This should make you feel at home with Him. Think again of the first two verses of this chapter. Although you do not have any more problems about your evil deeds keeping you from the Lord, you probably have discovered you’re still capable of sinning. You don’t want to swear, steal, say bad things or hurt others anymore, yet these things suddenly happen. How can this be? The answer is that you still have an evil nature. This thought can be compared to a tree. If you pick all the apples from an apple tree, all the fruit will be gone, but it will still be an apple tree. The following year the tree will again grow apples. The apples can be compared to our sins , the wrong deeds we have done. God has put away your sins, but their root is still within you. This is where those evil deeds come from. This root is sin still dwelling in us, which ruled us when we were sinners. The remaining part of this chapter and the next two chapters explain what God has done with sin , with this evil nature. The way God dealt with sin living inside you, your evil nature from which your evil deeds come, was different from the way He dealt with the evil deeds. Therefore you should allow yourself enough time for the teaching of these chapters to become clear to you. This portion isn’t simple, but it is important for you to understand it so your faith can grow balanced and healthy. This importance is indicated by the extensive treatment Paul gives to this subject. Paul starts off in by stating that sin entered into the world by one man, Adam, the first man. Death entered by sin. Therefore, sin and death are inseparable. In Genesis 2 God said to Adam: “But from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die” ( ). The serious consequence of Adam’s sin was not just limited to him. All people born after Adam have inherited from him the same evil nature. Consequently all people who have ever lived have died, except Enoch and Elijah – both saved people – who were taken to heaven without dying. No one of Adam’s posterity has remained alive. In this, you can see how serious the consequences of Adam’s deed are. Since everyone sins, everyone makes it clear he is a descendant of Adam. But happily, as the next verses demonstrate, this is not all that can be said. . form a parenthetical section. First, say it was not just the Jew who was confronted with the problem of sin. Sin had been in the world long before the law was given to Israel: sin did not begin at that time. The only thing the law did was to command or prohibit something. As long as no law had been given, you could not trespass (overstep) the law. Therefore you could not be punished according to the law. But this doesn’t change the fact that death reigned. Adam had violated a commandment not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and died. Everyone who lived in the time between Adam and Moses also died, even if they hadn’t violated such a commandment. It is clear that by Adam and since Adam, sin and death entered the world. But death and sin do not have the last word. Where such terrible things entered by one man, Adam, another Man has come, Christ, Who has worked wonderful things. And so, in a certain sense, Adam is an example of Christ Who was to come. This is explained in the following section. Now read Romans 5:12-14 again. Reflection: Do you know events from your own or someone else’s life that had consequences for someone else?

‏ Romans 5:13-14

Original Sin

Rom 5:12. A new section of Romans begins here. It’s important for your spiritual life to think deeply about these verses. So far, Paul has talked to you about your sins, the deeds you did in disobedience to God. Paul told you that God has forgiven your sins and that He could do this based on the fact that Jesus Christ has shed His blood. God no longer sees your sins. He now looks at you as a righteous person, as someone who has a right to belong to Him. Nothing is left that hinders God from having you close to Him. This should make you feel at home with Him. Think again of the first two verses of this chapter.

Although you do not have any more problems about your evil deeds keeping you from the Lord, you probably have discovered you’re still capable of sinning. You don’t want to swear, steal, say bad things or hurt others anymore, yet these things suddenly happen. How can this be?

The answer is that you still have an evil nature. This thought can be compared to a tree. If you pick all the apples from an apple tree, all the fruit will be gone, but it will still be an apple tree. The following year the tree will again grow apples. The apples can be compared to our sins, the wrong deeds we have done. God has put away your sins, but their root is still within you. This is where those evil deeds come from. This root is sin still dwelling in us, which ruled us when we were sinners.

The remaining part of this chapter and the next two chapters explain what God has done with sin, with this evil nature. The way God dealt with sin living inside you, your evil nature from which your evil deeds come, was different from the way He dealt with the evil deeds. Therefore you should allow yourself enough time for the teaching of these chapters to become clear to you. This portion isn’t simple, but it is important for you to understand it so your faith can grow balanced and healthy. This importance is indicated by the extensive treatment Paul gives to this subject.

Paul starts off in Rom 5:12 by stating that sin entered into the world by one man, Adam, the first man. Death entered by sin. Therefore, sin and death are inseparable. In Genesis 2 God said to Adam: “But from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die” (Gen 2:17). The serious consequence of Adam’s sin was not just limited to him. All people born after Adam have inherited from him the same evil nature.

Consequently all people who have ever lived have died, except Enoch and Elijah – both saved people – who were taken to heaven without dying. No one of Adam’s posterity has remained alive. In this, you can see how serious the consequences of Adam’s deed are. Since everyone sins, everyone makes it clear he is a descendant of Adam. But happily, as the next verses demonstrate, this is not all that can be said.

Rom 5:13-14. Rom 5:13-17 form a parenthetical section. First, Rom 5:13-14 say it was not just the Jew who was confronted with the problem of sin. Sin had been in the world long before the law was given to Israel: sin did not begin at that time. The only thing the law did was to command or prohibit something. As long as no law had been given, you could not trespass (overstep) the law. Therefore you could not be punished according to the law. But this doesn’t change the fact that death reigned.

Adam had violated a commandment not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and died. Everyone who lived in the time between Adam and Moses also died, even if they hadn’t violated such a commandment.

It is clear that by Adam and since Adam, sin and death entered the world. But death and sin do not have the last word. Where such terrible things entered by one man, Adam, another Man has come, Christ, Who has worked wonderful things. And so, in a certain sense, Adam is an example of Christ Who was to come. This is explained in the following section.

Now read Romans 5:12-14 again.

Reflection: Do you know events from your own or someone else’s life that had consequences for someone else?