We have seen two men, two acts, and two results. These two men with their two acts and two results have brought in four reigning things. We have to know these men, acts, and results, and we also have to know the four reigning things in order to be clear about Romans 5:12-21.
As we have seen, sin entered through the first man (5:12). Through the disobedience of Adam, the evil one, as sin, entered into the world. The world here refers to mankind in general, for, in a sense, the word world in the New Testament means mankind. For instance, John 3:16 says that God loved the world, meaning that God loved mankind. Thus, sin has entered into mankind, into human nature, through the first man Adam.
After entering into the human race, sin made its dwelling place in the fallen body of man (7:17, 18, 21, 23). Sin does not dwell in our mind, soul, or spirit. Sin’s lodging is our body. Paul said that sin dwelt within him, that the law of sin was in the members of his body, and that in his flesh was nothing good, only sin (7:17, 18, 23). Sin dwells in our body. Although our body was created by God as good, it became flesh once sin had been injected into it and had made its home there. Although God created our body, He did not create the flesh. The flesh is a mixture of God’s creation with sin, the evil one. Thus, the body has become the flesh, and sin dwells in this flesh. Every kind of lust has its source in the flesh.
Sin has the law as its power (1 Cor. 15:56; Rom. 7:11). Without law, sin is powerless. According to Romans 7:11, sin kills us through the law because the law gives sin its power. Sin uses the law as a knife to kill us. First Corinthians 15:56 says, “The strength of sin is the law.” Do not touch the law, for if you do, you will touch the killing knife of sin. We are absolutely unable to keep the law, and it is foolish for us even to try. If we attempt to keep the law, sin will use the law to kill us.
Sin reigns in death (5:21; 6:12). Sin, like every other king, needs an authority in order to reign. The authority of sin is death. Sin has authority to reign as a king in death. Romans 5:21 and 6:12 show sin reigning as a king.
Sin is in our flesh, our fallen body. This sin is not an act of wrongdoing; it is the personification of the evil one. In Romans 7:21 Paul said that “the evil” was present with him. The Greek word translated “the evil” in this verse is kakos, a word denoting that which is evil in character. This must refer to the evil character of Satan himself. I have no doubt that the sin which has entered into our body is the incarnation of Satan. When man ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge, that fruit entered his being. In fact, everything we eat comes into our body. As we have already seen, the tree of life in the garden denoted God, and the tree of knowledge signified Satan. Therefore, when man partook of the tree of knowledge, man took Satan, the evil one, into him. The body created by God originally had no evil in it. The Bible says that the man created by God was very good and upright (Gen. 1:31; Eccl. 7:29). However, after the fall another element was injected into man’s body. That element was sin, the very nature of the evil one. This sin reigns in us. Its power is the law and it reigns in death.