Sermon Tone Analysis

First Adam or Second Adam

(Romans 5:12-21)

Introduction:

The title of our lesson this morning is . . . .

and for those who might not know, the second Adam is none other than Jesus Christ Himself.

This section of the letter to the Romans is generally considered to be one of the more difficult and profound passages in the Bible.

And the truth of this passage will often provoke anger in modern readers.

We rail against the perceived unfairness of what Paul seems to be telling us.

Because what Paul is saying here is so wrapped up in the idea of identification, it appears to lessen our modern notions of complete and unfettered freedom.

And our personal freedom, along with a tolerance of any and all behavior, is seen by most Americans as being what life is all about.

But Paul lumps all of humanity in one man, Adam, and his actions, or the other man, Jesus, and his actions.

And it might appear from what he is saying here that we have little choice in which camp we land.

That this is a difficult passage of Scripture will become evident as we delve into the passage.

Some commentators say that the Apostle Paul’s thoughts in this passage leap forth like a torrential mountain stream after a hard rain.

They rush on with such force that they do not always come to carefully formed expression.”

As a result, when we read this section it is difficult to stay with the flow of thought.

But as we read and study this important part of God’s Word, if we will keep the idea of identification in mind, we can perhaps follow what God is telling us.

If we can keep the idea in mind that God has designated the first Adam as the head of the entire human family, and of us as being identified in him with our sin, then the glory of God’s identifying us as being in the second Adam and in His righteousness will become all the sweeter to us.

This morning we are going to begin a discussion on one of the most troubling, and sometimes divisive, doctrines in the Bible: Original Sin.

What has been called the ruin of mankind in the Fall is a difficult subject, no doubt.

The inevitable question of fairness comes up, doesn’t it?

Why am I being punished for something Adam did?

One of the problems is really the way you and I in the modern world approach everything.

It seems to always, and in all circumstances, be all about me, me, me, doesn’t it?

Our individualism makes many reject, with little thought, the idea that we could possibly share in Adam’s sin.

But in order to understand Scripture, we often have to put our modern presuppositions aside.

You and I are not living in a cocoon.

Even though we are walking through this life encased in our own flesh, seemingly alone, God does not view us as merely isolated individuals totally disconnected from the mass of humanity.

God does love each of us as individuals, but He also sees each one of us as connected parts of the creation that He originally made very good.

And we must keep these two ideas in a tension of thought when we come to the doctrine of original sin.

God identifies all of us, as individuals, in the overarching category of being in Adam.

All of humanity.

But the glory of our faith is this: by grace, God identifies all believers as being in the second Adam, Jesus!

I.

The First Adam (Romans 5:12-14)

(1 What does the word Adam mean?

Is it merely the name of the first human?

Or is it both his personal name and a word that has broader application?

Adam is the Hebrew word for man, isn’t it?

But really it doesn’t mean just one man, but all of mankind.

So, I believe there was both a real individual named Adam, and that his name and his person had implications that affected all of us.

But let’s look back at our first three verses.

Look at verses, 12-14.

(2 Now, I am not sure that you could find three more difficult verses in the Bible than the three we just read.

One of the things that make it more difficult for us is that Paul does not end the thought he begins in verse 12 until all the way in verse 18.

You will notice a parenthetical phrase that begins in verse 13 and ends in verse 17.

Before Paul draws the parallel between the first Adam and the second Adam, he recognized the need to more fully explain what he meant in verse 12. Verse 12 begins with the word wherefore, doesn’t it?

That word is a compound Greek word that means because of this.

Because of what?

(3 The first eleven verses of chapter five lay out for us some the glorious results of our justification.

We have peace with God; access to God; we rejoice in the glory of God; even though we might suffer, we have the patience to endure the trials of life, which build experience, or character, which causes us to have hope.

(4 And then Paul tells us that Christ died for the ungodly, and that God demonstrated His love for us, in that while we were still sinners, still rebels against our sovereign Lord, Christ died for us.

God has reconciled us to Himself.

He has made the peace with us.

And the defining moment in God’s redemptive plan was the death of His Son on the cross, wasn’t it?

And then Paul writes that because of this–because of the great love God showed to us on Calvary, and because of sin entering into the world through the sin of the first man, we are identified with Adam, but have the hope of being identified with Christ.

Look at 5:18-19.

Follow me?

No? Let’s go back and look at verse 12 again.

(5 So, we are back again to the question of fairness, aren’t we?

We are also back again to the question of identity, identification.

And it might just be because of this perceived unfairness about God counting us as being in Adam when Adam sinned that all the theories seeking to cast doubt on the creation account in Genesis got started to begin with.

So, as we try to answer the question of God’s fairness and of our identification in the first Adam or the second Adam, let’s try to answer a more fundamental set of questions.

Was there one original man?

Did God create only one pair, and are all descended from them?

Were Adam and Eve real historical people, or were they merely myth?

How we answer these fundamental questions will, in large part, determine how we answer the question of salvation, won’t it?

If we reject original creation, we will reject the Biblical account of man’s relation to God, won’t we?

And if we reject how we are related to our Creator–we are the created beings, not accidents of chance plus an impossible amount of time–we will reject any idea of our rebelling against that Creator.

And if we have not rebelled, then why do we need salvation.

(6 So first, we must return to the Garden to gain a full understanding of the Fall.

We must believe that the creation account is true and not legend.

Go back to Genesis 1:26-27; 2:15-25; 3:1-6, 15, 21.

Look at your Bibles, first at 1:26-27, then 2:15-25.

(7 First, what does it mean when the Bible tells us that man is made in God’s image, after His likeness?

Without going into genuinely controversial areas, or areas that are simply unbiblical, let me say at the outset that everyone involved in the great debates of our time regarding the creation accounts in Genesis desperately need to develop some Christian charity.

The matter of a young earth or an old earth, in my mind has nothing much to do with the truth of our being made in the image and likeness of our God.

The time factor has much to do with other aspects of creation, but little to do with our being God’s image-bearers.

And that is where I want to focus right now.

I am not going to solve the young earth versus the old earth controversy this morning.

I am not even going to try.

(8 But Scripture is very clear that man is made in the image of his Creator, right?

And so, what does this mean?

It doesn’t mean that we physically look like God, does it?

The Father exists as spirit, doesn’t He?

The Son now exists permanently as man, the God-man; the Holy Spirit can be represented, if need be, as a dove, because the Bible does so at Christ’s baptism; but nowhere in the Bible is it stated that the Father, this Creator-God, exists in any other form but spirit.

So we don’t look like God, do we?

(9 What the Bible is telling us is that man has personality, doesn’t he?

Just as God does, we have emotions, intellects, and will.

God is infinite, of course, and we are not; but we possess the same elements of personality as God does.

We have the ability to think, feel, and make moral choices.

Listen, we are not the products of chance, with everything already decided for us.

We are free creatures of God, with the ability to think rationally, and to choose to worship and love our Creator.

That is how we were made.

And if that is not true then the entire Biblical drama of Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration is just incomprehensible.

It makes no sense.

And listen, the Bible gives no wiggle room here for theories that contradict the very real truth of, In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Regardless of the amount of time you might think this universe has been around, that is still not enough time for something to come from nothing.

There had to have been something to kick-start everything, right?

Even if the big bang happened, what came before the bang?