Death in Adam, Life in Christ

Preached Sunday, April 26, 2009, Grace Family Church of Americus

Romans 5:12-15

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Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, (Romans 5:14, NKJV)

Death reigned….people died…between the time of Adam and Moses. The question, again, is, why did they die? Personal sinning, or something else? Paul's argument, and the argument for the Gospel, is…..they died because of something else. Their death is a symptom of a disease, and Paul sees past the superficial diagnosis, that wrong diagnosis being that death is due to personal sinning, by looking at when exactly the symptom began to manifest itself. That's the mark of a good doctor. Instead of giving a patient Tylenol for a headache, a good doctor will ask the patient to recall when he first started getting the headaches. Allergies. Food. Diabetes. Many other causes. So when the doctor and patient can come together and pinpoint when the symptoms started, they can together see what causes it, and avoid that cause, or in this case, give a cure that specifically removes the cause.

When did death begin, and under what circumstances? Death reigned from Adam to the Lawgiver…… even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam. Paul's nailing the point here…and I want you to see it! I have read over these verses hundreds of times and did not see this HUGE point….I want you to see it. Death reigned…..even in those who did not sin personally. Who are these people who did not sin personally, but died anyway? And why does it matter?

One thought was that these are the "sinless perfectionists", who deny the doctrine of Original Sin, and therefore believe that a person can live sinless. Impossible. They die. End of argument. Another is those who do not know the Law of Moses. They die too. Scripture teaches that the Law is written on their hearts. People die. All people die. Paul is getting us to see why. So what Paul is speaking of here….whom he is speaking of here…that there are those who did not have knowledge of God's commands, and died in complete innocence. They never sinned personally. Who are these people?

Scripture is clear….there are none of these people alive. No one does good…all have turned aside. So who can these people be, that paid the penalty for sin that they did not personally commit? Those in whom death reigned, but did not sin like Adam (with personal knowledge of the command)….must be babies. Infants. I agree with the Puritan commentator Matthew Henry here….the only people these can be and move Paul's argument forward and focus it like a laser…are infants who died.

Embryos do not peruse a buffet of attributes, and decide which ones they will take on and which ones they will refuse. No child has ever looked at the vast array of eye colors and said…."I think I'll have hazel eyes. Take these blue ones and give me hazel." Or, "I want to be tall, so take this short stature and let me trade it for tall." How ridiculous is that! In the same way, no embryo has the ability to choose a sinless nature. They are created like their father, Adam, conceived with the penalty of death being standard equipment. It is not an option…..

They did not commit sin, because they did not have the capacity to know a Law to sin against….but they died. They did not die because of personal sinning, but of something much deeper than that….sin was imputed to them….by their union with Adam. They died because sin was imputed to them by the one man….Adam….who is a type of Him who was to come. (Romans 5:14, NKJV)

Then Paul gives us some strange words here….Adam was a type, or a pattern, or figure. He was like Christ in some way that Paul is teaching us here. How so? In Adam, through this one man, sin, and death through sin, was IMPUTED to us. This was given to all people without exception, by virtue of our being in Adam. It was given to all who are IN ADAM. Given without our assent, but sovereignly, by God. All who are in Adam….die. And Adam is said to be a pattern…a type….of Christ. Read on…. But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. (Romans 5:15, NKJV)

There is more in this verse that we will be able to tackle today, but I will use it to conclude the argument Paul is making in our time together this morning. Adam is a type Christ, in that through this one man, what was Adam's (sin) was imputed to all people who are
in him….which is all people. He is like Christ in that way…that all who are in Him receive something freely, and without choice. Even infants, the most helpless of all, who have no choice to make good or bad, receive what Adam has given them. And Christ gives freely in the same way. In that all who are in Him receive freely what is Christ's alone…..to the most helpless of all creatures, unable to do anything for righteousness sake…..all who are in Him receive the free gift of His righteousness, not by our own will or decision, but by the free mercy and predetermined will of our God.

God used one man, Adam, that sin and death would enter all that are in him, not by anything that we have done, but by virtue of our being in Adam…..so that He could use One Man, that sin and death would be defeated, in all that are in Him….not by anything that we have done, but by virtue of our being in Him….Jesus Christ, the Righteous.

This is an amazing truth that could never be conceived by mortal man. It is far too glorious to be man's invention. Well does the Scripture say, "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:9, NKJV).