“THE CALVINISM KRYPTONITE”
ROMANS 5:15-17

But Dear Reader, can we blame them?

Well … yes and no.

Calvinists believing that random unbelievers need an infusion of God’s grace … randomly delivered … you know … using as their defence the “who can understand the mysteries of God” mantra Blah! Blah! Blah! … prior to their salvation, the Calvinist also finds himself in the same bind … needing an infusion of God’s grace prior to their understanding of Romans chapter 5:15-17.

Talk about being victims of their own making … hoisted on their own petard … ouch!

Furthermore, armed with Rome’s prized publication, the ESV, they can only ever “… do their best …
” (2Timothy 2:15 English Standard Version).

The poor little Dears are explicitly told to leave Bible study to the big people with “Study to shew thyself approved unto God …” (2Timothy 2:15 King James Bible).

But even without all of the relevant documents, we can all trace our ancestry back to Adam … being the head of the human race.

When Adam fell, we all fell in him … and we became sinners … not because of something we did or experienced … but by something that happened entirely outside of us in the person of Adam … being an historical, objective and extrinsic event.

God laid down the law … and Adam of his own free will … he disobeyed it.

This was a legal problem for by the law is the knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20).

So similarly … coming to the historical Christ … … God did not redeem us by doing something within our experience.

While being dead in trespasses and sins, God gave us another Father (Isaiah 9:6) … a new head … the second Adam.

The result being that Christ now stands before the God’s legal bar of eternal justice as the representative man.

As though sitting in the football stand of history … we watch from the sideline … the two events that have happened outside of our own experience … the first being our fall in Adam … and the second being our salvation in Christ.

But here’s the rub for the Calvinist proudly steering his own course through the fog of his own conceit.

The forensic study of Romans 5:15-17 reveal a vast gulf fixed (Luke 16:26) between the two Adams.

In summary before we start:

Adam sin was forced INTO all … but Christ’s free gift is offered UNTO all … that is ‘UP AND TO’ ALL … NOT INTO ALL … and being a free gift … it can be accepted or refused.

Now let us study the three verses in full as set out below …

Romans 5:15-17

verse 15

But NOT as the offence (Adam’s), so also is the free gift (Christ’s).

The offence/sin of Adam being totally and 100% forced INTO the human race is the opposite of the free gift in Christ … offered UNTO … that is ‘UP AND TO’ … that can be accepted or refused.

For if through the offence of one many be dead,

That’s all men without exception

much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace

Grace is never infused into but is extrinsically imputed … imputed righteousness with out works.

which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.

The Dictionary meaning of the word ‘many’ can be several, dozens, thousands and all men in number.

Furthermore, we notice that the free gift of Christ is UNTO not INTO.

As stated … the meaning of the word ‘unto’ is ‘up and to’

This means that many are offered the free gift of salvation … that is … not forced into them.

verse 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.

This verse says it all … Adam’s sin made all men to be sinners without our choice … but Christ’s free gift is our choice that wipes out all offences/sin unto … that is ‘up and to’ our justification.

The first Adam … we had no choice

The second Adam … we have a free will choice

verse 17

For if by one man's offence death reigned by one;

Adam’s sin made all men dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:20)

much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)

Christ’s free gift of grace is offered to all … if they will receive it … a free will choice.

Conclusion:

Not understanding that a legal solution is necessary for a legal problem, the Calvinist wrongly believes that a subjective solution is necessary internally in man … prior to fixing an objective legal problem.

Ignoring the following scripture, the fog-stricken Calvinist will still wrongly believe that an infusion of God’s grace is necessary so that a man can believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

“… the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth ...” (Romans 1:16)

What is it? … The gospel is the power of God unto salvation … not a pre-salvation insertion of God’s grace.

Calvinism’s kryptonite has always been ignoring what the Bible actually says … not what they think it means.

Harley Hitchcock
November 2025

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