Romans Chapter 5

Federal Headship

 Chapter 5, Verses 12-21

Rom. 5:12 "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have 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 to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. 15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. 16 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.

17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) 18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. 19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. 20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: 21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord."

The above passage of scripture sets forth what is often referred to as the "doctrine of federal headship." A "federal head" is someone who is the representative of all that he is the head over and whose actions and subsequent consequences are imputed to the whole of those he represents. Throughout history, there have been only two true federal heads. These two federal heads are Adam and Christ. Adam was the head of all mankind when he stood before God in the Garden of Eden. All of mankind descended from Adam and were from the seed of Adam. Christ is the head of all the elect which were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. This doctrine is also stated in 1 Cor. 15:22, "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."

"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." It was through the one man Adam that sin entered into the world of Adam multiplied. God made a covenant or law with Adam in the Garden of Eden in which God said, "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." This is commonly known as the "law of sin and death." Sin is the disobedience of the commandment and death is the consequence of sin. When Adam ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he sinned and he died. However, the effect of Adam's sin was not just upon Adam but upon the world of Adam multiplied. Furthermore, this verse teaches us that we sinned in Adam. Even though we were not bodily present in our own bodies, we were just as guilty of sin as Adam was as Adam acted as our federal head before God.

Next, we see that sin did not pass from Eve to all of mankind. Chronologically, Eve took of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil before Adam did. However, Eve's sin was not passed upon all of mankind even though she is said to be the mother of all living. We conclude that sin passes from father to child and not from mother to child. Since all of us, both men and women, have natural fathers, therefore, sin passes to all of mankind, except to Jesus Christ who had no biological natural father as he was born of a virgin and was conceived of the Holy Ghost.

"For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law." The "law" in the above sentence has reference to the law given by Moses. The ten commandments and the other laws given to the nation of Israel and depicted the moral laws of God had not been given until over 3,000 years into mans existence upon earth. Therefore, all those who lived from Adam to Moses had not had sin imputed to them for the transgression of those things set forth in the law of Moses. Sin is a function of law and if there is no law then there is no sin imputed. However, sin was still in the world from Adam to Moses. The sin, in the world, was the sin of Adam. The effects of sin were the same over those who lived from Adam to Moses even though they had not sinned either by eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil or by breaking the commandments given to Moses. The fact is we were all guilty in Adam and the sinfulness and the consequences of sin were passed upon all generations of mankind.

Death from Adam to Moses

"Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression." After Adam sinned, God drove the man out of the Garden of Eden and then fixed it so that man could not return to the Garden. It would be over 3,000 years before God gave another law to men at the hands of Moses. Yet we see a trail of death from Adam all the way down to Moses. Thus, the sin of Adam had passed with each subsequent generation upon man and the effects of sin brought forth both natural death, but also condemnation, and the corrupt fallen state upon all of mankind.

"Who is the figure of him that was to come." This teaches us that Adam was a figure of Christ. Now Adam was a figure of Christ in a very limited sense. He was a figure of Christ as a federal head only. The effects of Adam's transgression upon his posterity are compared to the effects of Christ's righteousness upon his elect in the next several verses of scripture.

"But not as the offence, so also is the free gift." The subsequent comparison is between the effects of the offense of Adam and the effects of the free gift of righteousness by Jesus Christ.

"For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many." The offence of one is the offence of Adam. Through Adam's offence many be dead (that is all of Adam's posterity). Through the free gift of righteousness by grace of Jesus Christ, the gift of righteousness hath abounded unto many (all of the elect).

"And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification." The judgment unto condemnation of all of mankind was brought about by the one sin of Adam. All of mankind was condemned by the one sin of Adam whether any of Adam's posterity sinned or not after this one sin of Adam. Yet the free gift of righteousness given to the elect by Jesus Christ did not just cover the sin of Adam, but it covered all of the offences of the elect and brought about their justification before God.

"For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." By one man's (Adam) offence death reigned by that one offence over all of mankind. To reign is to rule over. Death had its rule over all of mankind because of the offence of Adam. We were in total bondage and dead under the law of sin and death and had no ability to deliver ourselves out of that bondage or death. Just as death had reigned over all of Adam multiplied, yet now we see life reigning over the elect through the abundance of grace and the gift of life by Jesus Christ. Life now reigns over the inner man of those who have been born of the Spirit of God and life will reign over the mortal bodies of the elect when those bodies are changed in the resurrection of the dead.

"Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." Adam through his one offence brought judgment upon all men to condemnation. Simply put, we are and were condemned in Adam for his offence in eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. We were under the full condemnatory wrathful judgment of God because of that transgression. Except for the redemptive work of Jesus Christ we would all have been cast into the lake of fire of God's eternal judgment because of the one offence of Adam. Now we all have our sins that we are guilty of, yet we were condemned in Adam's transgression and had no ability to overcome that condemnation or the condemnation of our own sins.

Disobedience and Obedience

Thanks unto God that by the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ the free gift of righteousness has come upon all the elect unto justification of life.
Please note that the "all men" in Adam are not identical to the "all men" in Christ. The all men in Adam are all of Adam multiplied, whereas the all men in Christ are all that were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4).

"For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." One of the consequences of Adam's disobedience is that his nature changed from a state of innocence to a fallen state of sin. This fallen nature is described in Rom. 3:9-17 as well as several other places. Unlike the teaching of many, we do not become sinners when we first sin. David taught that we become sinners at conception: Ps. 51:5, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." We, therefore, are conceived in sin, shapen in iniquity, and go astray as soon as we are born speaking lies (Ps. 58:3, "The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies." Some teach an age of accountability. It usually goes somewhat like this: a man is not a sinner until he reaches a certain age of accountability (usually 12 years). However, there teaching is not scriptural. We are sinners at conception and we begin sinning very early in life. We did not make ourselves sinners, but we are made sinners by Adam's transgression.

In contrast, by the obedience of one, Jesus Christ, many (the elect) are made righteous. If it took the obedience of the preacher to preach the gospel and the obedience of the sinner to believe and accept and the obedience of Christ to die to give us a chance then the above should say by the obedience of three many are made righteous. The fact is only the obedience of Christ was necessary to make the elect righteous. While it is good for us in this life to believe the gospel and to believe on Jesus Christ and to obey the commandments of God, yet the effect of this is in this life, and not in eternity. Through the obedience of Jesus Christ and his obedience alone we are made righteous. All praise and glory belong to God.

"Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." The law was not given in order that there be more offences, but rather the law entered that we might see the exceeding sinfulness of sin and to recognize our own sinfulness and the subsequent condemnation of sin. To the elect, where sin abounded grace did much more abound. We were not just delivered from the condemnation of sin by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were delivered to a far better state through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, through the miraculous work of the new birth, and through the promise of eternal inheritance through the resurrection of the body.

"That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." The effects of the second federal head (Jesus Christ) have far exceeded the effects of the first federal head (Adam) on the elect. The end result is eternal life for the elect to which we who are the elect should give all praise honor and glory to our Lord Jesus Christ and to the Father and to the Holy Spirit.