Christ and Adam

Man and Humanity in Romans 5

Barth, Smail

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2004
• eBook ISBN: 9781498270687
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

In this essay, Barth discusses the relationship between Christ and Adam as understood by Paul. Moving beyond traditional exegetical and theological scholarship done on Romans 5, Barth offers an entirely new interpretation of the conception of humanity presented in Paul's view of the Christ-Adam relationship. A valid contribution to the interpretation of Romans 5, 'Christ and Adam' is also an example of Barth's exegetical method and provides insight into his broader theological project.

Christ and Adam:

MAN AND HUMANITY IN ROMANS 5

ROMANS 5:12–21

12 Dia touto hōsper di’ henos anthrōpou hē hamartia eis ton kosmon eisēlthen, kai dia tēs hamartias ho thanatos, kai houtōs eis pantas anthrōpous ho thanatos diēlthen, eph’ hō pantes hēmarton: 13 achri gar nomou hamartia ēn en kosmō, hamartia de ouk ellogeitai mē ontos nomou; 14 alla ebasileusen ho thanatos apo Adam mechri Mōuseōs kai epi tous mē hamartēsantas epi tō homoiōmati tēs parabaseōs Adam, hos estin typos tou mellontos.	12 Therefore as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned— 13 sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
15 All’ oukh hōs to paraptōma, houtōs to charisma; ei gar tō tou henos paraptōmati hoi polloi apethanon, pollō mallon hē charis tou Theou kai hē dōrea en chariti tē tou henos anthrōpou Iēsou Christou eis tous pollous eperisseusen. 16 Kai oukh hōs di’ henos hamartēsantos to dōrēma; to men gar krima ex henos eis katakrima, to de charisma ek pollōn paraptōmatōn eis dikaiōma. 17 Ei gar tō tou henos paraptōmati ho thanatos ebasileusen dia tou henos, pollō mallon hoi tēn perisseian tēs charitos kai tēs dōreas tēs dikaiosunēs lambanontes en zōē basileusousin dia tou henos Iēsou Christou.	15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the effect of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brings justification. 17 If, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
18 Ara oun hōs di’ henos paraptōmatos eis pantas anthrōpous eis katakrima, houtōs kai di’ henos dikaiōmatos eis pantas anthrōpous eis dikaiōsin zōēs; 19 hōsper gar dia tēs parakoēs tou henos anthrōpou hamartōloi katestathēsan hoi polloi, houtōs kai dia tēs hypakoēs tou henos dikaioi katastathēsontai hoi polloi. 20 Nomos de pareisēlthen hina pleonasē to paraptōma; hou de epleonasen hē hamartia, hypereperisseusen hē charis, 21 hina hōsper ebasileusen hē hamartia en tō thanatō, houtōs kai hē charis basileusē dia dikaiosunēs eis zōēn aiōnion dia Iēsou Christou tou kuriou hēmōn.	18 Then as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to acquittal and life for all men. 19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous. 20 Law came in, to increase the trespass; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

[Greek transliteration from Nestle text; English translation from the Revised Standard Version.]

Romans 5:12–21, along with the first eleven verses of the chapter, is the first of a series of passages in which Paul develops the main theme of the first part of the epistle, as it is stated in the key verses Rom. 1:16–17. There it is made clear that the gospel is the revelation of dikaiosunē (righteousness)1 also called dikaiōsis (justification; acquittal [Rom. 4:25 and 5:18]) and dikaiōma (righteous decision [Rom. 5:16])—i.e., the revelation of the final righteous decision of God, which, for everyone who acknowledges it in faith, is the power of God unto salvation—dynamis Theou eis sōtērian. Paul brings out the full implications of that statement in chapters 5–8, in each of which, though the context is different, the theme and the way it is treated are the same.

The basis of the detailed arguments of chapter 5 is laid down as follows in vv. 1–11: when this righteous decision of God becomes known to us and effective for us through our acknowledgment and grasp of it in faith (dikaiōthentes ek pisteōs, justified by faith), we have peace with God (v. 1), our struggle against Him has reached its limit and so can go no farther, the lordship of sin over us is broken. The same thing is expressed in v. 10, “we are now reconciled with God”; in v. 11, “we have now received reconciliation”; and in v. 21 where we are told that every alien lordship has now become for us a thing of the past. The clearest description of how this righteous decision of God has been effected is in v. 5, according to which the love of God Himself, His love toward us, has been poured forth into our hearts. That this has happened is the presupposition of our future salvation before the judgment of wrath (vv. 9–10); and, on its positive side, and in relation to the present, it is the presupposition of our hope of partaking in God’s glory, of which (according to 3:23) we must, as sinners, have completely and finally fallen short. That is what has happened wherever God’s righteous decision has been acknowledged and grasped in faith. That is why this righteous decision and the gospel that reveals it are called (1:16) “God’s saving power.” That is why we glory in such hope (v. 2). It will not let us be put to shame (v. 5). For, on this presupposition, even in our present afflictions we can only glory, because they can only make us the more steadfast, can only provide us with assurance, can, in this indirect way, serve only to summon us all the more to hope (vv. 3–4). God’s righteous decision has such power to make peace with God for believers, to reconcile them to God, to pour forth God’s love into their hearts, because it has been carried out in Jesus Christ, who is, quite uniquely (v. 7), the way by which we gain access to the grace in which (v. 2) we have taken our stand. For God’s love toward us commends itself in this (v. 8), that Christ died for us while we were still weak (v. 6), still sinners (v. 8), still godless (v. 6), still enemies (v. 10). It has therefore not waited for us, but has come to meet us and gone before us. In sovereign anticipation of our faith God has justified us through the sacrificial blood of Christ. In the death of His Son God has intervened on our behalf in the “nevertheless” of His free grace in face of the apparently insurmountable power of our revolt and resistance (vv. 9–10). So He has made peace, so reconciled us, so commended His love toward us. Because God in Jesus Christ so exercises His sovereignty on our behalf, because this is the love of God poured forth through the Holy Spirit in our hearts, we have for our future only the bold word sōthēsometha “we shall be saved” (vv. 9–10), and there is nothing left to us but to glory in our existence. On the death of God’s Son there follows His life as the Risen One (v. 10). When we put our faith in God’s righteous decision carried out in Him, we immediately become sharers in Christ’s triumph—“how much more” (pollō mallon).

In this context Paul uses this phrase twice: “Since Christ died for us when we were yet sinners, how much more shall we”—on the ground of our justification which is already objectively complete—“be saved by Him” (vv. 8–9); and “Since, when we were yet enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, how much more shall we, as the reconciled, be saved in His risen life” (v. 10). Here it is explicitly made clear that this argument from reconciliation to salvation is logically based upon the fact that Christ has not only died but has also risen. Ahead of us lies salvation, and—since, having shared His death, we must now share His life with Him as well—we can do nothing but glory in it. In particular, the stupendous fact that the believer may and must glory in his existence has its ground and meaning here. We glory “in God” (v. 11) when we glory in our hope (v. 2). Put concretely, that means that we glory “through our Lord Jesus,” through His mouth and His voice, we glory in the glory which, as the resurrected from the dead, He proclaims. His risen life sets the seal upon the righteous decision of God effected in His death, and because He lives, this peace, and our reconciliation, and the pouring forth of the love of God in our hearts, mark a point in our journey beyond which there is no turning back, going on from which we have only one future, and in which we can only glory. His resurrection is the supreme act of God’s sovereignty; henceforth we are bound to live and think in its light.

It is clear that alt...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Christ and Adam: Man and Humanity in Romans 5