The Comparison Between Adam and Christ
Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. Romans 5:18,19
In 5:15-17 Paul contrasted Adam and Christ using ‘not like’ and ‘how much more’ language. He now develops the comparison, this time using ‘just as … so also’ phraseology. The contrasts and comparisons were not entirely mutually exclusive. In 5:15-17 the contrasts of trespass and gift, condemnation and justification, death and life had a comparison of the one affecting the many (5:17). So in 5:18-21 while emphasising the parallel, he will not leave out the contrasts. His ‘just as (Adam)… so also (Christ)’ structure highlights the similarities between Adam and Christ: the single act of the one determined the destiny of the many.
Verses 18 and 19 are similar in structure. Each has Adam in the first (‘just as’) clause and Christ in the second (‘so also’) clause. Each contrasts what Adam did with what Christ did. Adam committed a ‘trespass’ (5:18); he disobeyed (5:19). Christ, by contrast, committed an ‘act of righteousness’ (5:18); He obeyed (5:19). Adam turned away from God and violated His commandment. Christ turned toward God and continually did the will of the Father.
Each verse also contrasts the results of Adam’s sin with the results of Christ’s obedience. Adam’s disobedience led to ‘condemnation for all men’ (5:18) and that ‘the many were made sinners’ as a result of what Adam did (5:19). Christ’s obedience led to ‘justification and life’ (5:18) and ‘many’ being ‘made righteous’ (5:19).
‘Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people’ (5:18). Paul is taking up the immediate results of the work of Adam and Christ (as in 5:16) – condemnation and justification. The singular ‘one righteous act’ suggests Paul is thinking of a single act of Christ’s obedience to His Father – almost certainly in submitting to the Father’s will to die on the cross.
Paul then takes up the nature of the actions of these two men as in 5:15 but using different language. There it was ‘trespass’ and ‘gift’; here it is ‘disobedience’ and ‘obedience.’ ‘For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous’ (5:19). The wording ‘made sinners’ and ‘made righteous’ might put in some readers’ minds that Adam’s sin led some people to become sinners while Christ’s obedience enabled some people to be righteous. The Greek verb is forensic, giving the sentence a meaning more like: because of Adam’s sin, ‘the many’ were legally constituted sinners and because of Christ’s obedience ‘the many’ were legally constituted righteousness.
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote “Look at yourself in Adam; though you had done nothing you were declared a sinner. Look at yourself in Christ; and see that, though you have done nothing, you are declared to be righteous. That is the parallel.”