THE TWO ADAMS
(Romans Bible Study Series Tape Twelve)
Recommended reading Romans 5:15-18.
The truth of the two Adam's, is one of the most
neglected doctrines of the scriptures. The understanding of this doctrine
is one of the most important in relation to the proper understanding of
the gospel. If this doctrine is properly understood and applied by God's
people, it will do at least three things. First, it would cure the church
of legalism in all of its' forms. Secondly, we would be cured of the
antinomianism, the cheap grace that has infiltrated the Church of God.
Cheap grace simply means that Christ did it all, and we can live as we
like. The gospel does not give us that liberty. Thirdly, there will be a
revival and a reformation in the Church of God that will brighten the
earth with God's glory. Our lives will change completely, if we properly
understand these scriptures.
I. Adam is a type or form of Jesus Christ.
· Adam is a type
of Christ in only one sense - what Adam did affected all mankind.
Likewise - what Christ did affected all mankind.
· The two lives
were parallel, but they were opposite in what they did and what they
accomplished. Adam sinned; Christ obeyed. Adam brought condemnation and
death; Christ brought justification unto life.
II. It is important to know when we, in fact, entered into life.
· Did our life
begin at our conception or in Adam? Genesis 2:7, addresses this
issue.
· God breathed
into Adam the breath of life. The word life, in the Hebrew text, is in
the plural form. God breathed into Adam the breath of lives.
· God created all
men out of one as, explained in Acts 17:26. We are the
multiplication of Adam's life. We were all alive in Adam. The life that
was passed from Adam to us was a life that has sinned, a life that is
condemned, a life that legally has no right to live.
III. The opposite of our life in Adam is our life in Christ.
· Christ is the
second or the last Adam. The obedience of Christ can legally be credited
to us. All mankind obeys in Christ. Every one of us died in Christ, II
Corinthians 5:14. All men died in one man.
· The central
theme of Paul's theology is the In Christ theme. The central
theme of the bible is that God is creating man in His image and man will
be a part of His family forever. The heart of the message of
righteousness by faith, is to be in Christ.
· In Romans
5:15-18, there are two things that Paul says about our situation in
Christ, that he does not apply to Adam.
1.) Paul refers to the obedience of Christ which
justifies us, by using the phrase, "free gift". The term is
applied only to Christ and never to Adam. A free gift cannot be
enjoyed, until we receive it. What is true of us in Adam is not a
gift, it belongs to us by native right. We are not naturally in
Christ, that is a gift. We can reject that gift; we cannot reject
being in Adam.
2.) The phrase, "much more". What we
receive in Christ is much more than what we lost in Adam. It is
awesome, what we receive in Christ.
· Romans 5:15,
explains that Christ did not do the same thing that Adam did. The word
offense in this scripture refers to Adam's sin. The word is in the
singular, referring to the one sin that Adam committed. The sin that
brought death to all men. God then gave us a free gift, a gift that he
defines as grace. Grace is doing something very special for your enemy,
as defined in Romans 5:6-10.
IV. What Adam did brought death to many; what Christ did was a gift
to many.
· Christ did not
just cancel out Adam's sin. Christ's death canceled Adam's sins plus our
sins, past, present, and future. That is not all that Christ did. The
cancellation of sin did not save us.
· The Bible is
clear that only the righteous can be in the Kingdom of God. The
cancellation of sin does not make us righteous, it makes us neutral. The
state that Adam was in before the fall was one of neutrality. Christ did
much more than simply cancel sin; Christ also brought in justification.
We see in Romans 5:18, that Christ brought justification to life.
· Christ took
care of the sin problem and in Him we are righteous. We stand perfect
before God and His Holy Law. Christ is a mirror of the Law, the truth,
and the love of God our Father.
V. Adam's sin did not just bring condemnation unto death.
· Adam's sin
brought death as a conqueror as defined in Romans 5:17. The word
reign means to rule over.
· There is only
one man who conquered death and that is Jesus Christ. Christ did more
than the opposite of what Adam did. Adam brought death; Christ brought
much more than just life. The last part of verse 17 says that, we
will reign in life.
· We are joint
heirs with Christ; Christ will share with us His throne. In Revelation
20:6, The believers will be blessed to have part in the first
resurrection over which the second death has no power. We will have
already died the second death in Christ, and we have accepted that.
· We shall not
just have eternal life, we shall reign with Him. When Christ
redeems us, Ephesians 2:6, Christ will take us and share His
throne with us. We have an awesome future in the family of God. We have
justification of life as Paul explains in Romans 5:18. We are
qualified for life in Jesus Christ.
· One man legally
condemned all men. One man legally redeemed all men. God so loved the
world, everyone, that whosoever believed should not perish. In Christ,
the whole world stands legally justified unto life. Justification of
life is a gift that has to be received. If we do not receive it, it is
not effective.
VI. The first Adam's offense brought mankind under the first and
second death.
· The first death
being a necessity because of the gospel, the second death being the
actual wages of sin.
· If there was no
gospel, there would be no first death. If we look at the Hebrew text in Genesis
2:17, God said, the day you sin you are dead.
· The reason Adam
and Eve did not die the same day; was that there was a lamb who was
slain from the foundation of the world. Legally, Adam had no right to
live one minute after he sinned. If Adam would have died, all would have
died in him.
· The actual
death that came to Adam because of disobedience, is the second death.
Apparently, God did not discuss with Adam the two deaths. Adam only knew
of one death.
· Adam had a
conditional immortality. The condition was, if you obey you will live;
if you disobey, you will die forever.
VII. Christ's obedience did several things for all mankind.
· Christ's
obedience saved all humanity from the second death.
· Christ's death
did not save us from the first death. The wages of sin is the second
death. When Christ bore the curse of the Law, Christ bore the second
death. Christ tasted death for all men as stated in Hebrews 2:9. In
II Timothy 1:10, Christ abolished death and brought to light
immortality and life.
· Christians must
die the first death. We do not need to mourn as an unbeliever, the first
death is only sleep. It is a short wait for the resurrection. We see in Revelation
20:6, for those who accept Christ, the second death will have no
power because Jesus Christ abolished that death.
· There are two
things that are very important for us to understand about God's gift to
us.
1.) Salvation from the second death.
2.) The verdict of justification to life is God's
supreme gift in Christ to humanity.
These two things constitute the good news of the
gospel. This is what Jesus commissioned His disciples to go and tell
the world.
VIII. God the father wants the world to know that He rewrote history
in His Son.
· In that history
man has been liberated from the second death and has received eternal
life.
· We must receive
the gift to enjoy the gift. The gift is of value once you accept it; if
you refuse the gift you cannot enjoy it.
· Those who
knowingly, willfully, and persistently reject God's gift of salvation in
Christ, are deliberately choosing the second death instead of eternal
life. Since God is a just God, in the judgment, He will give everyone as
they choose. At that point Adam cannot be blamed. Christ canceled the
death that pertained to Adam, as well as our own personal sin. The only
person to blame is ourselves.
· The only reason
man is lost is because of unbelief. The one sin God cannot forgive is
unbelief. All has to do with our willingness to lay our life down and
accept Christ. The definition which Christ gave for sin is in John
16:9, unbelief. Hebrews 10:26-27, if we willfully sin there
no longer remains a sacrifice. There will be judgment and fiery
indignation which will devour the adversaries. The third angel of
Revelation discusses the mark of the beast, which is unbelief. If the
Sabbath is a sign of belief, what is the sign of unbelief? You will
receive the wrath of God poured out without mercy.
· Hebrews
10:28. describes the punishment for those who deliberately,
willfully, and persistently reject the gospel.
Jesus said that before the end comes, the gospel of the
Kingdom will be preached in all the world. When is the end? The biblical
end of mankind is not until the latter part of the millennium. We do our
part at this time for a witness. We must present the two Adam's because
whether we are saved or lost depends to which humanity we belong; to the
humanity in Adam, or to the humanity initiated in Christ. When we have
accepted our position in Christ, we have said good-bye to Adam. When we
say good-bye to Adam, we say good-bye to sin. When we choose Christ, we
accept life and righteousness!
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The Two Adams 