Death through Adam

Last week, we looked at how Jesus saves us—the hopeless, the ungodly, and the sinner—from the wrath of God.

Paul revealed to us that the blood of Jesus on the cross satisfied the wrath of God, bringing salvation to all those who repent of their sins and put their faith in Christ.

In today’s passage, Paul is going to explain how we inherit life in Christ.

Before we understand how we receive life, we must first understand why we need it.

Let's dive into the beginning of this passage:

Romans 5:12–14 ESV

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

Sin entered the world through Adam.

At first glance, it's challenging to see how one man's sin could cause death for all mankind.

This can be especially hard for us because our society is very individualistic.

We're accustomed to the idea that everyone should face consequences for their own actions alone.

For instance:

It would seem unfair if your access to a phone at lunch was taken away because a few students misused theirs.

It would also seem unfair for the entire basketball team to run laps because one person missed a layup.

Yet, this passage is very clear that sin entered the world through one man.

Adam's single act of rebellion introduced sin to our world, a story detailed at the Bible's very beginning.

I don’t want to assume everyone's familiar with this story. Reviewing it may benefit newcomers and serve as a reminder for others.

Let us look at Genesis 2:15-17

Genesis 2:15–17 ESV

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

So let me set the scene:

God created the world.

He gave it light, land, and seas.

He filled it with grass, plants, bushes, and trees.

He placed the sun, moon, and stars bodies in the heavens.

He even filled it with creatures of every kind: fish, birds, reptiles, mammals, and insects.

God then created man, Adam, and placed him on Earth to enjoy this creation, giving him the best gift ever: woman, Eve.

It was awesome

Work was actually fun.

The lions wouldn’t kill you.

Childbirth didn’t hurt.

There were no arguments with your wife.

All Adam had to do was keep one rule, and he could enjoy this forever:

Do not eat of one tree, that tree being the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Which bring us to Genesis 3: 1-7

Genesis 3:1–7 ESV

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

In this passage we see Adam and Eve, unsatisfied with the perfect life God gave them, eating of the fruit so that they could be like God.

In this action, they raised their fists up to God and rebelled against Him.

This one sin brought death to the world.

As a result we have:

Murder

Wars

Cancer

Strokes

Heart Disease

Suicide

and if we can manage to survive all of this, our bodies are slowing dying on their own.

Our reaction could be, how in the world did you mess this up Adam.

I used to always think, if I was Adam, there is no way I would have messed up like he did.

I was so mad at Adam for making me struggle with sin, when all he had to do was not eat a fruit.

I mean, I say no to fruits all the time.

However, if we go back to Romans 5:12 we can see that I was clearly wrong to place blame on Adam alone.

The last part of the verse says “so death spread to all men because all sinned.”

Now, I want you to pay attention, it doesn’t say that death spread because Adam sinned, nor does it say that death spread because we all sin.

Death spread to all because we all sinned.

[Ask them to pay attention to who sinned and the tense]

Now how does that make sense? We weren’t there in the garden to eat of the forbidden fruit.

We may have not been there with Adam physically, but when Adam sinned, we sinned with him.

He was our representative.

I believe this quote from Kent Hughes helps this be a little more understandable:

“So Paul’s argument stands: the entire human race, because of its solidarity with Adam, stands under the ruin of sin and death. We all actually sinned in Adam! If we object, we should remember that if God had put each of us in Adam’s place individually, we would have done the same! But more important, our solidarity with Adam not only condemns us through one man but makes possible our salvation through one Man—and this brings us to the matter of our rescue.”

Now I don’t like giving you the problem without providing you with the solution, but the solution that Paul provides to death spreading to all of us through Adam takes more than just a few minutes to explain fully, and I don’t want to lose your attention.

So instead of moving onto the next part of this passage. I want to remind you that even though death reigns in us, Christ has victory over that death and brings us life.

How will I respond?

It's tough to know how to respond to such a message.

Despite that, there is a way to respond.

When we approach a text like this it should change the way we think about God. It should impact our worship of Him.

If you are a Christian:

You should realize how serious sin is and the death it brings to us all.

You should hate sin, knowing just one act of sin brought death to the world.

Most importantly, it should lead us to worship God, who didn't leave us in death but gave us life in Christ.

If you are not a Christian:

You need to realize that death is reigning in you.

You will die, and you will face judgment for your sins.

However, God has provided a way for you to be rescued.

You can find life through Jesus' sacrifice on the cross.

You most simply place your faith in Christ and repent of your sins.