THE FALL OF MAN
Genesis 3: 1-9
How did sin enter the world and death by sin? Why did God have to send his Son to save his people? If we are to get the answers to these questions, we need to go back to the garden.
The triune God created Adam after his image, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:…” (Gen 1: 26) “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” (Gen 2: 7) Then God made Adam a bride from Adam’s wounded side, “And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help, meet for him…And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.” (Gen 2: 18, 21-25) “And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Gen 2: 15-17)
ADAM’S RESPONSIBILITY
It was Adam’s responsibility and duty to obey God who created him. The first man had no sin. He was in a perfect environment. God gave him one command and God gave the consequence when he disobeyed, “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Gen 2: 16-17)
Man is not an independent creature. Man was created by God. Therefore, man is subject to God’s government. Man is responsible to serve, obey and glorify his Maker. We are either the servants of sin or the servants of God. The Holy Spirit said through the apostle Paul, “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” (Rom 6: 16)
SATAN ENTERED
We see satan enter the garden and put a question upon God’s word. Doing so, he beguiled Eve, “Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die.” (Gen 3: 1-4)
Brethren, try the spirits. Check every word someone says by comparing it with God’s word. The Holy Spirit says through the prophet Isaiah, “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” (Is 8: 20)
THE PROBLEM
Satan spoke of the forbidden tree as if God had lied, saying, “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat,…” (Gen 3: 5-6)
God never said there was something wrong with the tree. The wrong is not in things. Couches do not make us lazy, guns do not kill and forks do not make us overeat. The problem is in us, “When the woman saw, she took.” The reason it was wrong to eat of that tree is simply because God said do not do it.
THE TRANSGRESSION
Notice, when Eve ate nothing happened. Keep that point in mind. We will come back to it in a moment. But immediately when Adam ate something dramatic took place, “she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked.” (Gen 3: 6-7)
When Adam ate, he transgressed God’s law. They both died spiritually and began dying physically in that very moment. Not only did they die but all mankind died in Adam. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that [in whom] all have sinned:” (Rom 5: 12)
Adam was the head and representative of all mankind. He was head of Eve and of all who would be born from him. Adam was the legal representative of all men. Every child of Adam was in Adam’s loins in the garden. Therefore, what Adam did, his people did in him.
Since all would be born of Adam, every person would be born of Adam’s seed, therefore all have Adam’s nature. So Adam’s sin, legally, as well as his death, spiritually, passed upon all men. Legally, our standing before God was determined by what Adam did. Spiritually, our first nature was corrupt by Adam’s seed being passed on to us through natural generation.
Be sure to understand this. Adam is the only man who sinned to become a sinner. We sin because we are sinners. Every child of Adam is conceived in sin and comes forth with his nature of sin and under the guilt of Adam’s transgression. This is what David meant when he said, “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” (Ps 51: 5) Therefore, because we are sinners by conception, we sin, “The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.” (Ps 58: 3)
THE FRUIT OF SIN AND DEATH
Here is the fruit of sin and death, “The eyes of them both were opened, and they knew they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.” (Gen 3: 7)
No one had to teach them. They became self-righteous religionists, immediately. Right away, they went about to cover the sin that they really were. This is why every sinner is religious by nature. Every sinner tries to cover his sin by his own making. By nature, we commend ourselves and condemn others—fig leaves! We seek acceptance with God by our morality—fig leaves! We use our benevolent deeds in an attempt to obligate God unto us—fig leaves!
Their natural heart became enmity against God, “And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.” (Gen 3: 8) Normally, they had commune with the LORD God. Now, they hid from God. This is an example of what the apostle Paul meant when he said, “the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” (Rom 8: 7)
Also, they hated each other, “And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.” (Gen 3: 12)
God shows us in the fall the one reason for the present condition of the whole human race. It is not our environment that makes us sinners. We became sinners in Adam. It is not circumstances that makes us sinners. We died in Adam. The one reason sin exists in every person the world over is because in Adam all died.
THE FIGURE OF CHRIST
Now, we come to the good news! Adam was a type of Christ. After speaking of Adam, Paul said, “who is the figure of him that was to come.” (Rom 5: 14) How was Adam a figure of Christ? Just as Adam was the head of all whom he represented, the Lord Jesus Christ is the head and representative of all whom he represented. When we read “all” in connection with Adam it means all whom Adam represented; when we read “all” in connection with Christ it means all whom Christ represented.
Understand this. We had nothing to do with becoming condemned sinners. Adam did it all. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:..Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation;” (Rom 5: 12, 18) By the offence of one—Adam—judgment came upon all who Adam represented.
Likewise, we have nothing to do with being made the righteousness of God. Christ does it all. “Even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.” (Rom 5: 18) By the righteousness of one—by Christ's obedience—the free gift of justification of life came upon all who Christ represented.
CHRIST’S PEOPLE
In case someone thinks Christ represented the whole human race, listen to Christ speak. He says, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep…As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.” (Jn 10: 11, 15) Then the Lord spoke to religious Pharisee’s, telling the reason why they did not believe on him, “But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.” (Jn 10: 26)
Christ laid down his life for his sheep. By Christ’s obedience, he justified them and made them righteous. Sin can no longer be charged to them because it is God that justified them. As the apostle Paul said, “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.” (Rom 8: 33-34)
Therefore, in time, Christ shall give them spiritual life, teach them this good news and give them faith to believe on him. Not one will be lost because God’s justice demands they be saved. Christ declared this saying, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” (Jn 10: 27-29) “As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.” (Eze 34: 12)
REPRESENTATION
You and I we were not present physically when Adam fell, but we were in his loins. We were in Adam when he stood as the covenant head of the human race. Therefore, by Adam’s disobedience, we were condemned when Adam sinned.
In the same fashion, Christ’s people were not physically present when Christ fulfilled the law. But his people were in Christ as his seed and covenant people. Therefore, Christ made us accepted by his obedience.
Notice in Romans 5, verse 19, the words “were made” and “be made”, “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” Be sure to get this. Adam's sin did not put us on trial. His disobedience did not make us only susceptible to sin or lead us into sin so long as we do something to be made sinners. By Adam’s fall, all who Adam represented we were actually made sinners.
Even so Christ's obedience did not render those he represented savable if we will do something. His work did not enable us to be righteous before God by our own works. We were made righteous and sanctified entirely in Christ by what Christ did, “For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.” (Heb 10: 14) “When he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” (Heb 1: 3) The only future aspect of Christ’s finished work is to give life and faith to each one for whom he died by creating us a new in his righteousness.
THE LAW
If we have nothing to do with being made righteous then why did God give the law at Mt. Sinai? “Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound.” (Rom 5: 20) God gave the law that we might see the heinous crime we committed in Adam by his one transgression and that we might see how heinous our offence really is. The law was not given so that we can be made righteous by our obedience. It was given to declare us guilty. The Holy Spirit says through Paul, “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” (Rom 3: 19-20)
GRACE GREATER THAN SIN
As great as our sin is, grace is greater, “But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” (Rom 5: 20) Sin overflowed, abounded, and contaminated us in every way; but the grace of God in Christ, did much more overflow: in justification (Col. 1:21-22), in regeneration (Rom. 8:1) and in sanctification (2 Cor. 5:17). The result is, “That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom 5: 21)
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ADAM AND CHRIST
Now, let’s see some differences between Adam and Christ. They are found within the parenthesis beginning in Romans 5, verse 15, “But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.”
In Adam we lost all things; in Christ we gained much more than we lost. Christ brought in everlasting righteousness. His work can never be undone because it is eternal because Christ is the GodMan.
Also, Christ pardons not one sin but all sins, “And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one [offense] to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.” (Rom 5: 16) Christ justifies in such a way that the believer is righteous and can never perish.
Remember, when Eve transgressed nothing happened. Why? Adam was her representative. Only what Adam did counted toward her. So it is when the believer sins, nothing changes with us before God. Christ is our Representative. Only what Christ did counts toward us. “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 Jn 2: 1-2)
Therefore, “if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)” Sinner, has Adam’s death reigned over you? Indeed it has. If God has given you grace to agree then let that be a witness. God says those who Christ gives abundance of grace and the gift of Christ’s righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.
REGENERATED AND ROBED
Lastly, we must remember that we each received Adam’s sin nature. Therefore, we must be born again of the Spirit of God. All who Christ represented shall be regenerated, given faith and robed in Christ’s righteousness in our experience of his grace.
God shows us this in the first call of grace in the garden, “And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?” (Gen 3: 9) Adam was not seeking God. God is always the one who comes to seek and to save his lost child. He makes us confess our sins like Adam was made to confess his transgression.
Sinner, where are you this hour? You have sinned against God. Are you hiding in some fig leaves you have made? God makes his child to confess our sins, especially the sins of our so-called righteousness.
Then God strips away all our fig leaves and brings us to rest all in Christ. Through faith, he clothes us in the righteousness of Christ. We see it in type, “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.” (Gen 3: 21)
Notice, Adam sinned, God made a covering; Adam ran, God sought and found him; Adam blamed God and Eve, God brought him to confess his sin; Adam hid, God gave him faith; Adam was naked, God clothed him in the garments of an innocent victim slain in his place. So it is with us. We did the sinning; God does the saving.
Amen!