Romans 5:15-16 | Verse by Verse Rightly Divided Bible Study

Thank you Father God for this time that we can spend reading and studying your word. Thank you Lord for teaching us that the result of sin is death and that we are all sinners in need of a savior. Thank you for providing us with a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ who died for our sins, was buried and rose again for our justification. When we recognize our sin nature and then simply believe the gospel, we have eternal life in Christ. In Jesus's name we pray, amen.

Romans 5:15-16

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.

Christ's atonement for our sins is a more powerful thing than Adam's spiritual death being passed upon all men. It has to be stronger or else we would all still be doomed! Because of Adam's sin, the sin nature is passed down to all people. Adam was previously innocent, with the choice to sin or not to sin which meant the choice to continue having eternal life or to loose it. Once he sinned, he was doomed! However, because of Christ's death, burial and resurrection as atonement for our sins, anyone in any dispensation, even Adam, can recognize their sin nature and then trust in God to save them and if they choose to believe they will have eternal life. Christ was VICTORIOUS over death. But, if they don't believe the gospel, they will die in their sins and spend eternity in the lake of fire. Once we believe the gospel we do NOT become like Adam was before the fall, instead we actually have Christ's righteousness imputed to us. He took our sins upon himself, and we received his righteousness in exchange. Wow! We are not just forgiven of our sin, but we have God's Spirit living in our spirit and we are a new creature in Christ and we have all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus too. Our old sin nature is also dead and we are spiritually alive in Christ. The free gift is God's righteousness imputed to us, giving us eternal life in Christ Jesus. This is a much greater gift than if we were to simply become like Adam was before the fall because if we were like that, it means that we could loose our salvation again. But because we have imputed righteousness, it's a much greater gift because no matter what we can never loose our salvation. We are identified now with Christ. It also says that this gift abounds to many but not to all because not everyone will choose to believe the gospel. We must believe the gospel in order to receive forgiveness of sins. The teachings of universalism, which teaches that everyone is automatically saved, is a lie. It's important to pay attention to every word in scripture, like the word "many" here in this verse, so as not to be deceived by false teachings. 

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.

Adam only had to sin ONE TIME for him to be a sinner and bring death and sin into the world! Just one sin is of great offense to God! God cannot allow sin to go unpunished or else God would not be holy. So, God knew that man could not save himself and that we need His very own righteousness imputed to us by grace through faith or else we would all be lost forever. The free gift is eternal life, including us having Christ's righteousness imputed to us, which means that we are so identified with Christ that we could never loose our salvation no matter what. This is very difficult for religious people to understand! The fact is that man is incapable of saving himself and incapable of maintaining our own salvation as well. 

Homework: Read over Romans chapter 5 again for yourself. Consider looking online for other Midacts Rightly Divided Dispensational Grace teachers and preachers that you can watch regularly to study the Bible with, and/or look for a Midacts Rightly Divided Dispensational Grace church in your area to attend for in-person fellowship and Bible study. You can also find groups on Facebook or pages to follow that teach rightly divided bible study on social media. 

Video