Bible Truth #217 - Romans 5:12-19

Romans 5:12-19
12  Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all 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 until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.

15  But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.

16  The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification.

17 For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

18  So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.

19  For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous..

This Bible Truth is one that not only supports God’s sovereignty in Election, it also answers the Arminians who claim verse 18 refutes the entire idea. Some Arminians claim this single verse proves Salvation is available for all men. However, they will not respond to similar “single verses” that refute the idea of man having a free will to choose righteousness - verses like Genesis 6:5, Jeremiah 13:23, John 1:13, 3:20, 6:29, 6:37, 6:44, Romans 8:8, and 1 Corinthians 2:14. So if Arminians have only one verse that refutes the idea of God's sovereignty in election, I just listed 9 “single” verses, each of which refute Arminianism - and there are many more.

But - on to replying to their misunderstanding. Read verse 18 again - “...condemnation to all men, ...justification of life to all men.” When Paul writes “all men,” if he is writing about all of humanity then the only idea that can be inferred is Universalism. Everyone will go to Heaven! Think about it - if the first phrase is not hypothetical, but reality, the second phrase must also be reality! Of course, both ARE reality.

To be true to the context of the passage you must understand that he is writing about two groups throughout the passage - all of humanity (vv12,18,19), and all of the Elect (vv17,18,19).

Since most Christians do not believe ALL men will be saved there is only one other explanation that can be reconciled with the rest of God’s Word and even within this same passage. That explanation is NOT the Arminian theory that the discriminating factor is “those who choose to accept it.” Paul never writes that, neither in this passage nor anywhere else in the New Testament. That theory is assumed because of what this particular text does not say, while ignoring the rest of God’s Word. I’ve shown over and over that a lost man is unable to make a spiritual decision FOR God. He is spiritually dead and can do ONLY evil, continually (Genesis 6:5), he hates the Light and will NOT come into it (John 3:20), he is an enemy of God (Romans 8:7), he can NOT please God in any way, shape, manner, or form - which includes believing Who Jesus is (Romans 8:8), he can’t understand ANYTHING from the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:14), he runs from Jesus because Jesus is a stranger to the lost man (sheep that do not belong to Jesus) (John 10:5). The bottom line is that there is no natural man that wants to be saved. He is running as fast as he can away from God.

The discriminating factor in the soteriological process is God, not man. Look at verse 17 “...those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness...” Who will receive this gift from God? The answer: only those whom God has chosen. God chose a bride for His Son before the foundation of the world and placed them in Christ (Ephesians 1:4) - God has it rigged.

I am not a scholar nor have I been educated at any seminary. I get my guidance from those men more educated than I, books, commentaries, etc. but all of that information goes through the filter of the Holy Spirit Who give me guidance to all truth (John 16:13). There may be another answer but the only one I can see that conforms with the rest of God’s Word is that YES, because of the one offense, judgment came upon all men (people), each and every single human being ever born. However, because Paul clearly writes of two different groups of people throughout this passage, a believer must use discernment to rightly divide the Word of Truth to ascertain which group will “receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness...”

Do you believe each and every single human being ever born will be saved? If so, you’ve got other issues more important than this topic that need to be addressed.

If you don’t believe each and every single human being ever born will be saved, then you are well on your way of rightly dividing the Word of God to come to the correct conclusion that those who “receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness” are God’s Elect. Not here, nor anywhere else in Scripture, does Paul write of salvation, or “the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness” being made available for whoever wants it.

This passage contains the use of the word “all” in a way that is denied by many Christians. One of the biggest stumbling blocks Arminians have, and anyone who believes in decisional salvation, is that they believe the word “all,” translated from the Greek word pas (Strong’s #3956) can only mean individually (all without exception) every time it is used. This Greek word can be used two ways:
1) individually - each, every, any, all, the whole, everyone, all things, etc. OR
2) collectively - some of all types or groups. I give several examples of “all” being used collectively (some of all types) in Bible Truth #330.

Here are a few words from famed 19th century preacher Charles H. Spurgeon

“... ‘The whole world is gone after him.’ (John 12:19) Did all the world go after Christ?

‘Then went all Judea, and were baptized of him in Jordan.’ (Matthew 3:5-6) Was all Judea, or all Jerusalem baptized in Jordan?

‘Ye are of God, little children’ (1 John 4:4), and ‘the whole world lieth in the wicked one.’ (1 John 5:19) Does ‘the whole world’ there mean everybody? If so, how was it, then, that there were some who were ‘of God?’

The words ‘world’ and ‘all’ are used in some seven or eight senses in Scripture; and it is very rarely that ‘all’ means all persons, taken individually. The words are generally used to signify that Christ has redeemed some of all sorts — some Jews, some Gentiles, some rich, some poor, and has not restricted his redemption to either Jew or Gentile.” (Charles H. Spurgeon, Particular Redemption, A Sermon, 28 Feb 1858).

If this was understood 150 years ago, what has changed? Certainly it hasn’t been God.

It has been my daily prayer that God would open the eyes of other believers who are my friends, and who believe they chose God. They do not see the beauty of God’s sovereignty in Election nor the false belief of taking the choice of salvation out of God’s Hands and making it a joint effort between God and man.

Jesus Christ raises up every man God draws (John 6:44). If He didn’t, He would be a failure.