Contrasting Adam and Christ

Romans 5:12-17

Genesis 1 and 2 tell the story of God creating the world and everything in it. Genesis 2:16-17describes an instruction and warning God gave Adam. “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Eve may not have even been present to hear the instruction, since her creation is not described until later.

In Genesis 3, Satan convinced Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. She then gave some to Adam, and he also ate as well. I Timothy 2:14 declares, “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.” Adam was culpable for his sin because he knew he was doing wrong. Eve had been tricked, but Adam had not. As Timothy explains, it is because of man’s culpability that men have the primary responsibility for teaching mankind about God. It was the man’s fault they became sinners, not the woman’s.

“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.” (Romans 5:12-14)

Knowing that God had said death was the consequence of eating the fruit, Adam deliberately ate it. We all inherit the rebellious nature that caused Adam to disobey. As a result, we all die because we all sin. Prior to the Law being given to Moses, people sinned, but their standard was based on conscience, rather than an absolute standard. Since there was no written standard, no law against many things, even serious individual sins could not be penalized. Nevertheless, they still resulted in death, even of those who had not done exactly what Adam had done. Like Christ, Adam was representative of the human race. Their actions affect every human being. There are some differences however.

“But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. 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. For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)” (Romans 5:15-17)

Adam’s one sin, coupled with inheriting his sin nature, made sinners of everyone of us. We all sin. Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death.” It does not specify a sin, or how many. Adam’s one sin guaranteed his death, even though many feel it was a minor sin. How many deaths do we actually deserve? Hebrews 9:27 tells us, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” Matthew 9:42-48 describes the judgment as being cast into hell, “Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” The picture is of a person burned almost to the point of death, suffering as if he were burning to death, but never finished dying. Burn treatment centers give us a small glimpse of hell. Their patients eventually die.

Jesus Christ, died for our sins, making full restitution with his one death. We do not all automatically inherit his propitiation, like we inherited sin. We choose whether to receive his sacrifice as a gift, or not. Even the faith to believe is a gift from God. As Ephesians 2:8 states, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” Jesus said, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him,” in John 6:44. Fortunately, II Peter 3:9 tells us the Lord is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” It is available to everyone, and as a result, Romans 10:13 promises, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”