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Articles 2014-2017
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–
Talk about a picture of hopelessness. When Adam disobeyed the explicit command of the Lord, sin was unleashed on earth. And through sin, death was released like a plague infecting every descendant of our forefather. The whole human race had fallen and seemed irredeemably broken.
But could sin really be present among men if there was no specific written law from God that they had broken?
for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law.
Sin was not counted? By whom? Clearly, God considered sin to be sin and counted it as such. Just look at how He responded to humanity’s great evil in the days of Noah – many years prior to when He gave the Law to Moses. He brought great destruction through the flood.
So Paul’s words reveal that it was man who did not count sin, who did not evaluate it properly in the pre-law era. And so people did not hold each other accountable for moral failure in a time when they had no written code of conduct from God. It would be similar to a police officer today not giving a speeding ticket to a driver caught doing 70 mph if there were no 55 mph speed limit signs on the road.
But to some degree, the news of Adam and his failure had been passed down orally. And yet men defiled their God-given consciences so as to live as they pleased. As a result, they were without excuse when God sent the great deluge of Noah’s day.
And so men gave expression to their sin, and death reigned. It “called the shots”.
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.
How were the sins of that era different from the transgression of Adam? Very simply, he disobeyed an explicit command of the Lord. By and large, the ensuing generations did not. But while not disobeying explicit written commands they yet gave themselves over to their fallen natures, and death reigned. In a negative way then, Adam became a type of Christ. Both were fountainheads. Adam was the beginning of fallen humanity; Christ was the beginning of a new humanity, the new creation.[49] And while great destruction arose from Adam’s sin, great salvation and mercy were released from Heaven because of Calvary.
But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.
Did many die because of Adam’s rebellion? The number is staggering. Simply everyone who has ever lived was born in a fallen condition. So the question arises. Is Heaven’s solution to the need sufficient? Or does it fall short? Or could it be that our Lord’s supply is so far greater than human need that it is beyond comprehension? Yes, the grace of God and His gift of righteousness far surpass both the power of sin and its grip on anyone who would turn to Him.
And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification.
One trespass brought condemnation – the judicial verdict that the wages of sin is death. Condemnation has to do with people getting what they deserve. If a robber is found guilty and the judge condemns him to 20 years in prison, he is simply getting what he deserves. The human race deserved to die. We were by nature children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3) – born in a fallen condition due to the wrath of God that came upon our forefather. Since we were in him when he sinned and fell from grace, we fell too. While that may seem unfair to our western mindsets, our democratic perspectives that tell us that we at least deserved a vote on the results of Adam’s sin, yet it is the reality we face. Reality is not about what we consider to be fair or unfair. It has to do with facing up to the truth.
At the same time, how fair does it seem that our Lord who knew no sin would become sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21)? That certainly does not seem fair to Him. But at the end of the day, the Kingdom of God is not about what seems appropriate to us, but about embracing the reality of God’s sovereign rule.
And His decision was that in light of humanity’s many trespasses, He would bestow the free gift of His righteousness. How amazing in light of all the prevailing death among men. Notice the extravagance of His solution.
For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
Notice that the fallen sons of Adam have to receive the grace of God and His free gift of righteousness. Those who teach the doctrine of universal salvation constantly appeal to Paul’s words in Romans Chapter 5. If everybody fell in Adam, then everybody is saved because of Christ. But such a conclusion reads more into the text than what Paul is actually teaching. There is simply no promise held out in these verses for those who do not turn from their ways and receive the freely offered gift of God (See also John 1:12). On the other hand, those who do open their hearts and welcome His grace are promised that they will reign in life. Can such a promise be quantified? Yes.
Note that Adam’s sin brought the reign of death among mankind. How much has death held sway over the millennia since Eden? Consider the millions killed in the many wars among nations, or the many who perished through various plagues and diseases. And what about violent crime? Not to mention people simply dying of old age. The impact of death among men has been staggering in its expression and catastrophic in its results. But Paul says that those who receive the abundance of God’s grace and righteousness will reign in life much more than death did through Adam’s sin. Here is an amazing promise. Can we say that the Church is presently living in the full expression of God’s intent when He inspired Paul to write those words? I doubt it.
God’s work among His people is not yet complete. It seems that He intends to bring forth all across the earth a people who through His grace live a spiritually ruling lifestyle greater in its impact upon humanity than was the death released through Adam. Was not Christ reigning in life when He refused to harbor malice or bitterness toward those who were crucifying Him? To the degree that their actions dictated His response, they would have been the ones presiding over that circumstance. But to the degree that the will of God dictated His response, then Christ was indeed ruling in life even while dying. And how much impact has that one event had on the human race? The truth is that we do not know yet. The full influence of Calvary on humanity is still emerging. And its effects will only be increasing in the years ahead prior to and culminating in our Lord’s return from heaven.
The point is that we as believers are called to walk in the footsteps of our Lord. He reigned in life because He did precisely what He saw the Father doing, and spoke accurately what He heard the Father saying. Those who saw Him saw the One who had sent Him and they experienced God’s Kingdom, the manifest expression on earth of the rule of Heaven. That kingdom is still coming into clarity among men. Can the grace of God produce such a people who reveal Christ no matter what the circumstance, no matter what the temptation, no matter what the failures of other believers? And could He anoint and send them into every nation with no agenda but Christ?
He shall have such a people. And their impact upon the world will be greater than that of the death released through Adam’s sin. God intends to powerfully confront the earth with His grace. Here is a major theme in Paul’s letter to the Romans.
Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.
God’s heart desire was for all to come. But they were going to have to come the proper way (John 14:6). His solution to mankind’s fall was Christ, the last Adam. Because all were in the first Adam when he fell in the Garden of Eden, so also all who were in Christ when He died, rose again, and ascended to the right hand of God have risen to new life. This act of being placed into the last Adam in His death and resurrection was so important to Paul’s thinking that he devoted the next chapter of Romans to it. We must be careful that in our gospel we not leave out the essential nature of baptism if those who hear us are to come into everything that God has purposed for them in His emerging kingdom (Matthew 28:18 - 20, Acts 2:38 - 39).
For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.
Again, the two people groups that Paul refers to are those who were in Adam when he sinned and those who were in the Last Adam when He arose. Notice also that Paul looks forward in time to the future. Many will be made righteous because of Calvary. While the Lord could refer to His disciples as a little flock during His earthly ministry (Luke 12:32), we are simply not a little flock any more. There are presently millions who love the name of the Lord Jesus in our day. And the testimony of scripture informs us that at some point, we will be a people that no one can number (Revelation 7:9). May the Lord cause faith and hope to arise in the hearts of His saints as we consider the scope of His purpose and the sufficiency of His grace to accomplish it.
As Paul stated earlier, sin was in the world prior to the giving of the Law. But men were not evaluating sin properly. So He gave His written Law through Moses. Why?
Now the law came in to increase the trespass,
Once the Lord laid out His written commandments, mankind received clarity concerning His will that they had not previously known. Now when people sinned, they did so in the light of greater revelation. This increased the effects of Adam’s trespass upon humanity. To reject the Lord prior to the Law brought a deluge of water across the earth. To reject the Law and its fulfillment in Christ will bring a day of fire in which the heavens will pass away and the elements will melt with fervent heat (2 Peter 3:10 - 12). Fearful judgments indeed!
But keep in mind that Heaven’s present ongoing work among men in light of their great sin is far greater than sin’s power.
but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Here is the future for mankind. As sin and death reigned, acted as king, or “called the shots” in humanity because of Adam, so God intends that because of Calvary, His grace will reign or “call the shots” across the earth through His righteousness – the gift of righteousness in His people that comes by faith. And this grace will lead many to turn from death to the spiritual life that is in Christ. Here is God’s solution to the seemingly impenetrable spiritual darkness engulfing the nations.
Grace must reign. And to the degree that it does so among His people, we are in God’s divine order. The implications of this truth are stunning for Christianity. We simply must move from an organizational mindset to the simplicity of functioning as a body, an organism. Just as an unborn child is “organ-ized” in the womb because of life, so the structural identity of Christ’s Church must come into clarity as we learn to both discern and then submit to the grace of God among us.
In other words, there are to be no official positions in the Church. We do not speak to others based on an office we hold in a corporate structure. We speak because God has sent us with truth and empowered us by grace to reveal Him and His purpose. As He releases grace among us for each of us to function uniquely in His house, we must all recognize Christ’s authority revealed in that grace. And at the same time, we must all be accountable to one another, for we are all imperfect vessels. For example, when He calls one to be an apostle, others around that individual will make sure that he is a man of godly character and genuine humility before they lay hands on him releasing him to a greater sphere of influence. But they will have already seen to some degree an operative expression of God’s grace in him that must be released beyond the limitations of the local church structure.
For grace to reign among us, we must learn to speak what Christ our Head is saying and do what He is doing. To whatever degree we speak simply because we hold a position/office or title such as pastor, apostle, etc., we must make a course adjustment. We simply must get this right. The future of humanity depends on it. God intends to confront the nations with His manifold grace not the Church’s administrative and organizational prowess. In coming years He will raise up among us genuine New Testament apostles and prophets to help us build in harmony with His grace. The result will be a unified body speaking with one mind and revealing the one will of our King. And grace shall reign and impact the world more than did the death released through Adam.
Donald Rumble – October 2017
ramble888@gmail.com
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