Who is your Champion? (Rom 5.12-21)

Adam and Christ Must Both Be Historical

Before diving into the passage, a crucial point of introduction: Paul's entire argument depends on the fact that both Adam and Jesus Christ are historical characters who actually existed. You cannot draw parallels and contrasts between a mythical figure and a historical one — it would be like building an argument on the parallel between Mickey Mouse and Jesus Christ. If Adam didn't exist as the father of the human race, Paul's argument collapses. If the fall of one real, historical man didn't bring humanity down, then we cannot argue that salvation comes through one man either. To deny the historicity of Adam is, in effect, to destroy Christianity — for if Adam didn't exist in the way the Bible says, then we are looking in vain to the last Adam, Jesus, to save us.

1. Representation — The Key Concept

The fundamental idea driving this passage is representation. It is not a strange concept — we are all familiar with it. If you are an Irish rugby fan, you have probably said "we won the Grand Slam" — even though you weren't on the team, weren't at the match, and may not even have been born when Ireland beat Wales in the Five Nations in 1948. The players represented the supporters: when the team wins, the supporters win; when the team loses, the supporters grieve. Or consider politics: last Thursday the European Union proposed tariffs worth 95 billion euros on American imports. You and I were not consulted — and yet those decisions bind us and affect us all, because our representatives acted on our behalf.

That is what Paul is talking about in Romans 5. Every human being who has ever lived is either "in Adam" or "in Christ," and God deals with each person through their representative. The great Puritan theologian Thomas Goodwin put it memorably: "Paul speaks of Adam and Christ as if there had never been any more men in the world, nor were ever to be — except these two men." Why? Because these two between them had all the rest of the sons of men hanging on their belt.

Imagine two immense, towering giants — forget Goliath at a mere nine feet; these giants have their heads in the clouds, their shoulders in outer space. Each wears a huge leather belt around his waist, and billions upon billions of human beings are hooked onto those belts. Whatever happens to the giant happens to everyone attached to him. If he falls, they fall. These two giants are Adam and Christ — and every person alive is hanging from one belt or the other. This is your deepest identity: not race, gender, nationality, or social standing, but whether you are in Adam or in Christ.

2. Condemnation — What Happened in Adam

Paul has already spent chapters 1–3 proving that all without exception are sinners. Everyone dies — just across the road from our meeting place there is a large cemetery, as if we need reminding. But why do we die? Paul's answer is striking: not merely because each individual sins, but because of what our representative did. He makes this point six times so that it cannot be missed: sin entered through one man (v. 12); many died by the trespass of one man (v. 15); judgment followed one sin (v. 16); death reigned through one man (v. 17); one trespass brought condemnation for all (v. 18); through the disobedience of one man the many were made sinners (v. 19).

The proof comes in verses 13–14. Everybody dies — even people who never broke an explicit commandment from God. Adam had a clear command in the Garden: do not eat, or you will die. Moses later received the Ten Commandments. But between Adam and Moses there were countless generations who had no direct, spoken law from God — and yet they all died. Even infants, even babies in the womb die — they haven't sinned, they can't choose to do wrong, they don't understand God's law — and yet death claims them. Why? Because they are hooked onto Adam's belt and share the penalty of their representative.

3. Salvation — What Has Come Through Christ

If all humanity was lost through the actions of one representative, then salvation must come the same way — through one representative. Many people assume God sets billions of individual exams and each person passes or fails on their own merit. But that is not how we fell, and it is not how we are saved. Paul says in verse 14 that Adam was "a pattern of the one to come" — the symmetry is deliberate. Just as we were lost through one man, we must be saved through one man. Salvation cannot depend on our performance; it can only come through Christ as our representative.

But "symmetry" is not quite the right word, because it implies two equal, balanced sides — and they are anything but equal. What Jesus accomplished is infinitely more glorious than what Adam destroyed. Paul keeps saying "how much more": "If the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace overflow to the many" (v. 15). "If death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace reign in life through Jesus Christ" (v. 17). In Adam, death reigns over us; in Christ, we reign through life. The maths of grace is gloriously lopsided: one trespass produced death for millions; one act of obedience floods the world with life and justification.

4. Objection — "That's Not Fair!"

The most obvious objection is: I didn't choose Adam to be my representative. I didn't put him on the ballot paper. How can I suffer the consequences of what he did thousands of years ago? Several things need to be said.

First, humility. Deuteronomy 29:29 tells us that "the secret things belong to the Lord our God." There are matters in God's counsel that are above our pay grade. If you think you can understand everything about the ways of God, you are claiming to be God yourself. Even if God were to explain His reasons, we wouldn't be able to comprehend the infinite web of possibilities that make this the wisest possible arrangement.

Second, the universe does not run as a parliamentary democracy — thank the Lord. God chose Adam to be our representative, and God makes far wiser decisions than we ever could. No one could have picked a better representative, and God gave Adam every possible advantage. If you had been there in Adam's place, you would have done exactly the same thing.

Third — and this is the decisive point — if you object to falling through a representative, then by the same logic you have made it impossible to be saved through a representative. Are you really going to say, "It's not fair that Christ's sufferings should count for me; I insist on going to hell and paying for my own sins myself"? If we have no problem being saved by a representative, we cannot honestly quibble about being lost through one. And indeed, representation is the only way Christ could save a countless multitude at once — not one person at a time, living and dying millions of times over, but once for all His people through one decisive act.

5. Application — Which Belt Are You On?

This passage was not written to provide material for theological PhDs. It was placed here by the Holy Spirit for its immense practical value — to confirm the assurance, peace, and joy that Paul has been describing throughout this chapter.

Consider the utter inevitability of the results of being in Adam. What is the great universal fact of human existence? Death. There is no escaping it, because you were born in Adam. What, then, does that say about those who are in Christ? The same certainty applies — but in reverse. If you are in Christ, life is inevitable. You cannot escape the consequences that flow from your representative. Every death, every funeral, every coffin, every gravestone is preaching to us: you must share the experience of your representative. And just as surely as death comes through Adam, life comes through Jesus Christ.

Becoming a Christian is not a minor add-on to your life — saying a few prayers, reading a few verses, dropping a few euros into the offering. It is the most radical, life-transforming experience possible for a human being: God unhooks you from Adam's belt and transfers you to Christ's. You have a new representative, a new champion — and all of His obedience, His righteousness, and His victory become yours.

It is like being on the Titanic: as long as you are on the ship, you are going to be dragged to the bottom, no matter how good a person you are. Being a Christian is not a question of whether you are moral or immoral, religious or irreligious, Catholic or Protestant. It is about which representative you belong to. And if you call on Christ by faith and put your trust in Him, that is exactly what happens — God, by the Holy Spirit, takes you out of Adam and unites you to Jesus Christ, forever and ever.

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