Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 94:373 (Jan 1937)
Article: The Two Adams (Exposition of Romans 5:12-21)
Author: George C. Westberg

BSac 94:373 (Jan 37) p. 37

The Two Adams
(Exposition of Romans 5:12-21)

George C. Westberg

In the Epistle to the Romans we have God’s beautiful story of redemption. But it is also a book of unsparing derailment of sin in all its exceeding sinfulness and disastrous consequences. In the same epistle we have also the complete redemption of man and brute creation at the second advent of the Lord Jesus.

Redemption means deliverance according to righteousness. This righteousness of God is provided through the Person and the work of His Son, 3:21–26. This righteousness which God provides is offered to all in the message of the Gospel and is bestowed upon all who believe that message. Because this righteousness is reckoned over to the account of the believer, he is freely justified from all things. This is asserted in 3:24 : “Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” This truth is described, enforced, and illustrated in the verses that follow, that is, 3:25 to 4:25. Then in 5:1–11 the believer is seen to be at peace with God and rejoicing in God through the Lord Jesus Christ having been made the recipient of Christ’s perfect reconciling work.

Up to chapter 5:11 guilt have been in view. We see in chapters 1 to 5 how God delivers from sins-personal transgression and resultant guilt, and we note in chapter 6 His way of deliverance from the power of indwelling sin. Sin is the root of which sins are the fruit. This deliverance, in a practical way, is unfolded in

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chapter 6, while the foundation of such deliverance is set forth in 5:12–21.

The righteousness of God is here shown to provide the ground for a new creation. Into this new creation believers necessarily enter. The acceptance of the righteousness provided by God as the believer’s justification involves a living, spiritual union with Christ, the result of which is sanctification. In the death and resurrection of our blessed Lord, not only is justification by faith secured, but a foundation is also laid for a new creation. We are detached from the old creation by the power of His death, and attached to the new creation by the power of His resurrection. A believer in Christ is incorporated into Ch...