“Therefore just as sin entered the world through one man, and death
through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned ....
God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the man, Jesus Christ came
to the many.” (Romans 5:12, 15)
God fashioned Adam from dust and put him in charge of all that he had created in the span of six days. By giving him dominion over his creation, God had granted Adam a free hand. He even let him name all the animals “... and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field. ” (Genesis 2:19-20)
Thereafter God created Eve who became Adam’s helpmate. He commanded that they “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” (Genesis 1:28) That in a nutshell constituted Adam and Eve’s job description. Then God commanded the man: “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17)
The couple had been living peacefully in the Garden until one day Satan appeared on the scene disguised as a serpent and deceived Eve into tasting of the fruit, thus disobeying God’s instruction. Eve was not vigilant enough and to make matters worse, Adam consented to eat of the fruit when it was offered to him by Eve. That was highly irresponsible on Adam’s part, particularly when it was to him that the commandment was given. If he had turned down Eve’s offer outright the story would have been different for humanity today. So it was that through one man’s disobedience death (the consequences of sin) was introduced into the world. Henceforth, Adam and Eve lost their privileged position in the Garden. They had to leave. God does not cohabit with sin.
The Bible characterises this separation as the ‘Fall of Man.’ Ever since, anybody born of a human being – with the exception of Jesus - “And in him is no sin.” (1 John 3:5b), manifests the traits of Adam’s sin, naturally and effortlessly. It is a spiritual thing. We have sin running in our veins. Sin has been passed on to us. The Bible confirms that; “...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...” (Romans 3:23) Sin has become the birthmark of all human beings. Adam’s actions brought us death. But the second Adam –Jesus, restored to humanity what Satan had stolen from the first Adam.
The second Adam
God in his infinite wisdom found a definite solution to this nagging issue. He gave up his Son, born of a virgin - who knew no sin - to buy us back as it were. The matter was settled on the cross where as Jesus breathed his last he exclaimed; “It is finished!” Sin can no longer hold us captive because Jesus came down from heaven, lived as a man and conquered death. Henceforth, death ceases to be the final stop. Yes, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) Because our Lord Jesus has crushed death and its author by dying for our sins, we have life everlasting in him. Anyone who believes in him, anyone who calls on his name shall be saved.
“For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:17)
Where Adam’s act brought death, Jesus’ shed blood brought life. “I have come that they (us) may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10b) The essence of such a life is that it is eternal and that is the God kind of life. We no longer have to die as sinners because our Lord Jesus has already paid for it all. Adam ceased to be our role model or standard bearer. We live for Jesus when we accept his ‘finished work’ on the cross of Calvary.
The good news we preach is that we have been released from the fetters of sin and the clutches of death. We are debt-free because someone died in our place. Even though we shall die, yet we shall live.
Are we worth dying for? Yes! For such a good cause a righteous man did die. Our Lord Jesus has triumphed over death, therefore we live.
“For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many (including you and I) will be made righteous.” (Romans 5:19)
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