Rom 5:13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
Verses 13-17 are a parenthetical statement elaborating upon the sweeping, weighty premise of verse 12. By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin. Clarification is made in these following verses. Though there was no revealed law from God until Moses, it does not mean there was no death, no consequence of sin and no presence of sin. It is evident that without law there can be no legal standing of guilt, but our legal standing before God is not our only problem. Our nature is our problem.
Before Moses, man could not be condemned by the law, because there was no law. The law imposed in the Garden, namely to dress and keep the Garden, to multiply and replenish the earth, and to abstain from eating the forbidden fruit, was null and void, because man was banished from that Garden.
Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, upon all those multitudes who were born after the fall, yet before the law was given, because though they had no revealed law, they did have a sin nature before God. God promised death as a result of eating, and He delivered on that promise.
The law did not make us sinners when it came, but only revealed that we were sinners. Even those who did not sin “after the similitude of Adam’s transgression,” were under penalty of death. That is, they did not sin in open rebellion to a revealed law from God, as Adam did. Some say this refers to infants, but not only infants, though the same principle applies to them. The context is clear that the difference between Adam and these is that there was no revealed law in the case of these. Notice he does not say that they had not sinned, only that it was not after the similitude of Adam’s transgression. This reveals truth that most will never acknowledge, though it is undeniable. Sin is not only what I do, nor is it simply a legal standing before God. It is what I am. This is important, because it is the basis for the truth revealed in the following verses.
Because my sin is more than just a legal standing before God, being my very nature, Christ’s atonement is of necessity more than just a legal transaction. 1Peter 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. In 2Cor 5:21 this truth is set forth, that my blessed Saviour became what I am, that I might (not only be legally declared righteous, but) be made what He is, the righteousness of God.
Why is this important? Because to suggest, in opposition to revelation, that Christ did not actually take my sin, my guilt, but that God just pretended He did, does violence to the character of God almighty. If God imputes sin, and carries out the penalty for sin, it is because there is sin, and if He justifies it is because there is none. It was not His sin He paid for, but mine, yet He bore them in His own body, and was made sin (2Cor 5:21).
God’s dealing with sin, both in judgment and forgiveness, is not just a juggling of the books. The depth of what my Saviour endured and accomplished for me redounds to His everlasting glory. He took my place and gave me His, and this is true in the “books” of God’s justice and reckoning, because it is true IN REALITY. The law came afterward, but the sin was already there, real and devastating in its effect. Just so, I am legally declared righteous by God, not in order to make me righteous, but because I AM righteous in Christ. Glory to His name, both right now, and from now on. |
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