By one tempted human being sin passed unto all humans.
By one God in human flesh life is offered to all humans.
Before we start going off on how unfair it is that we personally are condemned by the actions of another human being, you have absolutely no idea whatsoever whether you would have succumbed to the same temptation that brought sin to humanity. You cannot say with any iota of truth that you could have kept from sinning, you just CAN'T. You can sit there and say you never would have, but where do you get your facts from to base that statement upon? Do you give into any temptations right now? Do you? Are you holding up the excuse that you can't help but give in because you were born into a sinful humanity? Stop right there, you have an Advocate with the Father, you have a Savior, you have hope, you are told to go and sin no more, and why would the Savior tell you to do the impossible? Can you, right this moment, think of an instance when by God's grace you kept from giving into a temptation to sin? Just one instance, do you have that memory? By the grace of God we can keep from sin. Only by the righteousness of God could Adam and Eve keep from sinning. They had to exchange the righteousness of God for the sin they committed. We too exchange that same righteousness for every sin we commit. We make a choice. To sit back and even believe for a single moment that you would not have done as Adam and Eve, well that is a fool's belief, a fool's excuse to place blame elsewhere, in fact anywhere other than on yourself.
Sin exists. Salvation exists.
Fairness, righteousness both exist.
*
A Series of Contrasts Romans 5:12-19
12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
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.
15 But not as the offense, so also is the free gift; for if through the offense, so also is the free gift; for if through the offense of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
16 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift; for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offenses unto justification.
17 For if by one man's offense death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
18 Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
(Excerpt)
There is probably no passage in Romans [considered] more difficult to understand than verses 12-19.
The reason is that there is so long a parenthesis in the midst of the main statement, and there is so much repetition of the same form of expression. There is really no greatly involved argument. In this study we shall not attempt to deal with every particular, but will note the main thought running through the whole, so that the reader can read and study it more satisfactorily for himself.
First Principles.
It will be seen from verse 12 that the apostle goes back to the very beginning. "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." There can never be any presentation of the gospel, if these facts are ignored.
Death by Sin.
Death came by sin, because sin is death. Sin, when it is full grown, bringeth forth death. See James 1:15.
Jas 1:15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
"To be carnally minded is death." Rom. 8:6. "The sting of death is sin." 1 Cor. 15:56.
There could be no death if there were no sin.
Sin carries death in its bosom. So it was not an arbitrary act on the part of God that death came upon men because of sin. It could not possibly be otherwise.
Righteousness and Life.
"To be spiritually minded is life and peace." Rom. 8:6.
"There is none good but one, that is, God." Matt. 19:17.
He is goodness itself. Goodness is his life. Righteousness is simply God's way.
Therefore righteousness is life.
It is not merely a conception of what is right, but it is the right thing itself.
Righteousness is active.
As sin and death are inseparable, so are righteousness and life. "See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil." Deut. 30:15.
Death Passed upon All Men.
Note the justice here. Death passed upon all men, "for that all have sinned." "The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him." Eze. 18:20. And this is also a necessary consequence of the fact that sin contains death in it, and that death can not come in any other way than by sin.
The Conclusion.
It will be noticed that the twelfth verse begins a proposition that is not completed. Verses 13-17 are parenthetical; we must pass on to the eighteenth verse to find the conclusion. But as the mind would naturally lose the first part of the statement on account of the long parenthesis, the apostle repeats the substance of it, so that we may perceive the force of the conclusion. So the first part of verse 18 is parallel to verse 12.
"As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men to condemnation." The conclusion is, "Even so by the righteousness of One the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life."
