May 17, 2026, Sunday School Lesson

The Second Adam

Lesson Text: Romans 5:12-21

Related Scriptures: Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-6, 22-24; 5:1-27; Luke 3:23-4:14; 1 Corinthians 15:20-22, 42-49

TIME: A.D. 57

PLACE: from Corinth

Golden Text – “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous” (Romans 5:19)

Introduction

As ten people to list the top ten most influential people who ever lived. Tell them the influence can be positive or negative, and that will surely change the list. As negative influences go, they will most likely forget to mention the man whose negative influence affected the whole world. His name was Adam. In Hebrew, his name means “mankind.” The name fits, because he represented all mankind not just symbolically but spiritually.

There is an Old Testament concept sometimes called corporate solidarity that feels foreign to modern Western folks. Modern Western culture thinks about the world individualistically. Sometimes that can be helpful. But Israel’s Scriptures view the one in connection with the many and the many represented by the one. Hebrews 7:10 is a good example of the Hebraic way of thinking, for a descendant was considered somehow present with his ancestor before his birth. The ancestor and the descendant are connected.

LESSON OUTLINE

1. The First Adam – Romans 5:12-14

2. The Second Adam – Romans 5:15-21

QUESTIONS

1. In what ways was the name Adam fitting for the first man?

2. What is corporate solidarity?

3. Besides humanity, what else did Adam’s sin impact?

4. Why can no one claim that condemnation due to Adam’s sin is unfair?

5. How did the law make sin clearer?

6. What does it mean that Adam is a “figure” of the coming Christ (Romans 5:14)?

7. What is the similarity between Adam and Jesus?

8. What does it mean that the gift by grace, which came by Jesus Christ, abounded to reach many (vs. 15)?

9. Although Adam’s sin spread automatically, why is the same not the case for Christ’s gift of grace?

10. What does it mean that grace much more abounded over sin (vs. 20)?

ANSWERS

1. His name was Adam? In Hebrew, his name means “mankind.” The name fits, because he represented all mankind not just symbolically but spiritually.

2. There is an Old Testament concept sometimes called corporate solidarity that feels foreign to modern Western folks. Modern Western culture thinks about the world individualistically. Sometimes that can be helpful. But Israel’s Scriptures view the one in connection with the many and the many represented by the one. Hebrews 7:10 is a good example of the Hebraic way of thinking, for a descendant was considered somehow present with his ancestor before his birth. The ancestor and the descendant are connected.

3. Now, we can look at the four outcomes of Adam’s sin in Romans 5:12. First, sin came into the world. Sin’s entrance impacted all the human race, but its impact is not limited to human beings. Genesis 3:17 says that the ground was affected too, and Romans 8:19-20 indicates that sin impacted all creation. It seems that every atom in the universe was affected by sin.

4. Fourth, because of corporate solidarity, Adam represented all of humanity. That is why no human can say that death and condemnation traveling to them is unjust. All people receive sin, death, and condemnation from their ancestor Adam, and then they show symptoms of this pre-existing condition when their sin manifests itself in selfishness, pride, envy, lust, and harming others. This terrible news of cosmic proportions.

5. Before the law, people simply broke the moral laws that God embedded in their consciences. After the law, the gravity of sin became clearer. People broke specific commands of God. That is why two words for sin are used in 5:14. “Sin” (Greek hamartia) is a general term for displeasing God “Transgression” (Greek parabasis) refers to stepping across a specific ethical line. Adam had a specific line – the command in Genesis 2:17 – that he crossed. But until the Law of Moses, there were no specific lines to cross in the form of specific commands to diagnose the extreme depth of human sin. Certain moral truths were available all along (cf. Rom. 2:14-15), but the specific parameters of human sin were not yet disclosed.

6. What has thus far been terrible news takes a positive turn in Romans 5:14. Adam is referred to as a figure or type, which conveys the idea of pattern. Paul said that Adam was a figure or pattern of another man to come. Adam and Eve probably sensed this when God told the serpent in Genesis 3:15 that a male descendant of Eve would strike his head. Adam went toe-to-toe with the serpent and failed, but Genesis 3:15 foreshadowed another who would go toe-to-toe with the serpent and win. He would somehow fit the figure or type of Adam but be successful version crushing the serpent’s head.

7. But there is one similarity. In the case of both the first Adam and the Second Adam, there is one man dramatically influencing all creation. That goes beyond modern notions of influence because only these two men could affect the cosmos on the level of eternal destiny.

8. Second, Christ’s gift come to the many by a word translated as “abounded” (vs. 15). The word occurs in the feeding of the five thousand to refer to leftover food, because the work connotes a surplus or overflow (Matt. 14:20). Christ’s gift of grace overflows to those who trust in Him. The way Adam’s influence came to people was described as traveling or spreading. But the grace from Christ abounds and overflows to those who are united to Him by faith. Again, in the contrast between an infectious spread of death and an abundant gift, it is clear which one wins.

9. This contrast rules out a misinterpretation of verse 18. Some have read verse 18 as saying that since Adam’s influence spread to everyone, so too Christ’s justification and life would necessarily be enjoyed by all automatically. Both the word “receive” (vs. 17) and the gift imagery undercut this misinterpretation because the blessing of the Second Adam only comes when people trust in Him (and thereby receive the gift)

10. To describe the way grace outpaces sin in Christ, Paul said that “grace did much more abound” (Rom. 5:20). He used a compound word meaning “beyond increase.” Sin increased, and grace increased much more! The result is that for those who believe, God’s grace overwhelms the sin, death, and condemnation inherited from Adam unto eternal life with the heroic Second Adam.