https://youtu.be/9eZTxgtRWeo
In our verse by verse study of Romans last time we completed the exegesis of Rom 5:19; our Expanded Translation "For as through one man's disobedience (Adam's) the many (human race) were set up as sinful (the OSN ruling human life through spiritual death), so also through one man's obedience (Christ) the many shall be set up as righteous (imputation of divine righteousness and subsequent justification)."
We noted that God establishes or sets up everyone who believes in Jesus Christ as "righteous" regardless of the fact that they are already set up as sinners in Adam. This means God sets up believers as righteous sinners and then instructs them on how to stop committing sin.
"Dikaios" (righteous) refers to the irrevocable imputation of God's perfect righteousness to believers in Jesus at salvation. The justification that results establishes potential for direct blessing from God's justice. These direct blessings are temporal blessings that glorify God in time and preserve the client nation.
This righteousness creates a pipeline for direct blessing from God's justice. On God's end is God's perfect justice and on the believer's end is God's irrevocable perfect imputed righteousness.
All blessings from God's justice to the believer flow through the grace pipeline. Justice is the source and imputed righteousness is the recipient. God's justice can only bless God's righteousness. This is a judicial imputation because there is no antecedent for it.
God's provision of grace through the grace pipeline provides more blessing for man in the devil's world than Adam lost in the fall and subsequent expulsion from His perfect life and environment in the Garden of Eden.
Rom 5:20; describes the deployment of God's grace since the fall of Adam in the garden. The first sentence of this verse explains that the Mosaic Law is an instrument of condemnation.
Remember that God's justice has to condemn you before you can become a candidate for God's grace.
"But the law entered, that the transgression would increase." "De" (but) is the postpositive conjunctive particle translated (but) that is used as a transitional particle.
Then the word "nomos" (Law) it is nominative singular subject without the definite article so it is anarthrous emphasizing the quality of the noun.
Since the law came from God the law is perfect. There is nothing wrong with the law but like anything that comes from God it is often distorted and misused by untaught people.
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The verb is the aorist active indicative of "pareiserchoma" (came in). It is a dramatic word that means to come onto the stage in the role of a minor actor in order to play a small part.
So the law is a minor actor that plays a small part in life. "Now the law came in as a minor actor to play a small role," or we can just simply translate "But the law came in as a side issue."
The aorist tense is a dramatic aorist that states a present reality with the certainty of a past event. This idiom is a device for emphasis and it states what has just been revealed in the preceding passage.
We have seen that spiritual death existed all of the way from the fall of Adam to the giving of the Law at the time of Moses. All of that time personal sins were not imputed, and yet everyone was condemned because Adam's original sin in the fall was imputed to the old sin nature at the point of physical birth producing spiritual death in physical human life in everyone.
From Moses to Jesus Christ, the Law is there but personal sins are still not the basis for spiritual death. Only one sin (Adam's original sin) is the basis for spiritual death and all personal sins were collected and became the judicial imputation of sins to Jesus' perfect physical human body on the cross.
This is in the middle voice but it is a deponent verb, so it is middle in form but active in meaning. The Mosaic Law produces the action of the verb it enters history as a minor actor to play a small role.
That role is to magnify and augment or increase in order to make the condemnation that comes from the imputation of Adam's sin to its genetic home the OSN.
The Mosaic Law is given for the purpose of augmentation or increasing sin and that is the end of its role as it relates to spiritual death.
"so that the transgression would increase" the conjunction "hina" (that) introduces the final clause that provides the purpose or goal of the Law. Plus the nominative singular subject with the article " ho paraptoma" (trespass) with the article" ho" (the) so it is monadic (the trespass).
This is a technical description of Adam's original sin. The verb is the aorist active subjunctive of "pleonazo" (increase) that means to be present in abundance, to have more than is necessary. It also means to be augmented, to enlarge or to increase.
"in order that the transgression of Adam might be (augmented enlarged or increased)." It is a constantive aorist tense that refers to a fact or action that is extended over a period of time in human history.
The constantive aorist gathers into one entirety this function of the Mosaic Law. So from the time the Law was given until the end of time it acts in a small role of making the consequences of spiritual death and condemnation from Adam's sin more obvious by increasing its visibility.
The active voice: Adam's original sin produces the action of the verb. The subjunctive mood is a potential subjunctive that is qualified by the element of contingency. In other words, the potential depends on the proper use of the Mosaic Law.
Paul who is the human author of Romans under the ministry of the Holy Spirit draws an analogy from the Greek theatre to describe the purpose and place of the law in God's plan.
The law is analogous to an actor who enters the stage to play a small role. The law reveals condemnation in terms of the existence of the old sin nature by making it more obvious.
This anticipates Rom 7:7; where Paul states that he was not even aware of the existence of the old sin nature apart from the tenth commandment.
While the Law is a minor actor on the stage of life Paul recognizes its true function and purpose. He describes the Law's purpose in Gal 3:24;
The Mosaic Law also reveals the person and work of Jesus Christ so the law receives an award for being the best supporting actor in history.
The imputation of Adam's sin that produced the condemnation of spiritual death is increased through the law's disclosure of personal sin. Personal sin is not a means of spiritual death but it is the manifestation of the production of spiritual death.
Adam's transgression is imputed to the entire human race at birth as the condemnation of spiritual death. As a result of our spiritual death from Adam's transgression we commit personal sin that increases our awareness of our spiritual death.
This augmentation or increase from the Law leads to more awareness of personal sins but we must understand that personal sins are the result of our spiritual death not the cause of our spiritual death.
Our personal sins are not imputed to us but they are reserved for their judicial imputation to Jesus Christ on the cross.
Adam's transgression results in our spiritual death through a real imputation at birth, but the augmentation or increase of personal sins results in our salvation through a judicial imputation all personal sins committed by the human race to Jesus Christ on the cross.
The imputation of Adam's sin at birth is a real imputation because it has the genetically formed old sin nature as a home. The imputation of our personal sins to Jesus Christ on the cross is judicial because Jesus Christ did not have an old sin nature, or any personal sin therefore there was no home for them in Jesus Christ because He was perfect.
The Mosaic Law enters history as a minor actor to distinguish between Adam's original sin and its judgment that is the basis for our condemnation and our personal sins that are judged on Jesus Christ that is the basis for God imputing His perfect righteousness to us when we believe in Jesus for justification and salvation.
God's solution for sin through the imputation and judgment of our personal sins on the cross to Jesus Christ is the basis for the imputation of God's righteousness to us for justification and eternal salvation.
In other words, spiritual death is the real imputation of Adam's sin to mankind at birth while salvation is the judicial imputation of our personal sins to Christ on the cross.
Personal sins are never imputed to the perpetrator; they are all reserved for Jesus. Only one sin, Adam's original sin, was imputed to us at the point of birth is the basis for our condemnation.
The Mosaic Law demonstrates that we are spiritually dead at birth by defining personal sins in terms of the production of spiritual death.
The Mosaic Law also defines the old sin nature as a part of spiritual death and resultant condemnation, but at the same time the Mosaic Law defines personal sins as the increase or the augmentation on the basis of spiritual death from Adam's original sin.
God's justice' imputation of Adam's sin condemns but God's justice' imputation of the augmentation of (all personal sins) to Christ provides righteousness, justification and eternal life.
"But where sin increased" the adverb of place, "hou"(where) is used to indicate a circumstance, not an actual place. Plus the postpositive conjunctive particle "de" (but) sets up a contrast between the increase of Adam's sin through personal sins and the super increase of God's grace to cover any and all increase of sins on the basis of Jesus Christ's work on the cross.
We see from this that God's provision of grace is always greater than any historical increase of sinning from mankind's spiritual death. Spiritual death occurs at birth; personal sins are merely a production of spiritual death. No increase of personal sins is ever greater than what God's grace can cover.
Next we have a nominative singular subject "hamartia" (sin), referring to personal sin in contrast to "paraptoma" (transgression) that refers to Adam's original sin.
"But where personal sin" is a better translation; " (increased) the verb of augmentation is the aorist active indicative of "pleonazo" (increase or abound) that describes the increase of personal sins through the sovereignty of the old sin nature in the biological bodies of spiritually dead human beings.
The aorist tense is culminative so it views the imputation of Adam's sin to the old sin nature at birth, resulting in spiritual death, but it regards it here from the viewpoint of the existing results of committing personal sins.
The active voice: personal sin produces the action of the verb by increasing as history continues. The indicative mood is declarative so it views the action of the verb from the viewpoint of historical reality, the increase of personal sins throughout human history.
Expanded Translation: "But where personal sin increased (overflowed in great abundance), grace abounded did much more."