Ready to Rule
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Introduction: Adam’s Response To His Fall
Introduction: Adam’s Response To His Fall
Tension: When we talk about sin, we often talk about the act of sinning. Yet, Paul shared a different view of sin that forms a more complete understanding for why sin is a major problem in the world and in the lives of human beings.
Our text today is undeniably rooted in an age-long narrative concerning the first family of God. It recalls the well-known history of two important biblical figures—Adam and Eve. We are first introduced to these figures in Genesis 2 as they grant definition to the abstract portrayal of man and woman in Genesis 1.
In Genesis 1, we have the general explanation of how male and female are to exist in God’s good creation. However, there’s no identity provided. They are mere abstract figures until we arrive at the total understanding of what it means to be human through the presence and formation of Adam and Eve.
As Adam and Eve were placed in the garden to live, they were granted a sort of paradise. And indeed, they lived. (I want you to think about that statement. When they were placed in the Garden of Eden, they were placed their to live.) What does it mean to live? It means to be under the complete and abundant providence of God. It means everything that is of necessity will be provided and that which is unnecessary is undesirable. Living means being at home with God—able to feel His presence, hear His movement, and feel His active work in your life.
Living does not mean being born. In fact, living/ life is truly about what you do after you’re born. This is why, though I’m alive before my birth, it doesn’t profit me or anyone else until I’m born. Because though life starts before the birth, it is only until one is born that we actually determine what a life will be. So, in Genesis 2:16-17, God’s warning is not simply a warning against mortality. Rather, it is a warning against the quality of one’s experience after being [birthed] into creation.
We get a very vivid description of what death truly is when we read through the judgments that were given after the fall
Serpent: You are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live . Hostility will be caused between the serpent and the woman, with serpent’s head being crushed (Genesis 2:14-15).
Woman: Pains will be sharpened during pregnancy and dominion of Eve is given to Adam (Genesis 2:16).
Man: The ground is cursed and man is forced to struggle to make a living.
Very evidently, we find that mankind lost a divine right to live in providence, and such a lost right made life very difficult. This reality makes the commandment in Genesis 2:16-17 all the more interesting. In fact, I am trying to figure out why Moses failed to share with us Adam and Eve’s response to dying. In fact, the rabbis inquired on the same point. Because many of the Hebrew traditions understood life and death is a reality one lives in after their birth, they began to wrestle with what it meant to live in death outside the Garden of Eden. By the time we reach Paul’s day, an entire narrative had formed, which was pretty common—even to the ears of Jesus and the apostles.
Interestingly, no one perceived that the detriment of Adam’s fall to simply be the act that led to man’s ultimate punishment in eternal hell. Rather, they saw Adam’s fall as the primary reason for why things are so difficult on earth. Stories about how Adam and Eve lamented their lives are common. There were mentions of how things like the food outside of the garden was incomparable to the food that they ate while in the garden. They spoke of how they no longer ate as citizens of paradise, but rather as animals. When I read this—I relate to the torturous reality of living in death.
Essentially, we experience so many difficulties in this life on earth because we are born dead and live in that death until something or someone comes along to give us life. Failed relationships, sickness, insanity, poverty, and homelessness are all symptoms of dying people in a dead world. It indicates significant signs of our need for the abundant life Jesus talks about in John 10:10.
At some point, God calls us all to make up our mind to live! In fact the call to salvation is nothing more than a call to life.
Paul’s Creational Idea in Romans 5
Paul’s Creational Idea in Romans 5
Paul seemed to embrace the earthly death narrative that was familiar to his contemporaries. In fact, he describes what I like to call a cosmic death. Furthermore, he sees sin as the chief commander of death’s army.
Paul presents the following paradigm:
Adam introduced sin, which rules through death, who itself is a ruler (Romans 5:17, 21)
In Romans, “Paul presents a massive treatment of the problem of sin in his letter to the Romans, where he uses the noun for “sin” (hamartia) forty-eight times, the noun “trespass” (paraptōma) nine times, the verb “to sin” (hamartanō) seven times, “sinner” (hamartōlos) four times, “bad” (kakos) fifteen times, and “unrighteousness” (adikia) seven times. (Morris, L. (1993). Sin, Guilt. In G. F. Hawthorne, R. P. Martin, & D. G. Reid (Eds.), Dictionary of Paul and his letters (p. 877). InterVarsity Press.”)
In Romans 5:1-16, Paul interestingly begins a conversation about faith and joy. It is no coincidence that he marries the idea of living in faith with the reality of living in joy. He argues that one can rejoice during times of problems and trials, because faith has [breaking sin and death’s power] brought us into a undeserved relationship with the Father, where we anticipate sharing in His glory (Romans 5:2).
Notice, while the cosmic paradisal experience is disrupted, God’s people, through faith can rejoice.
Point 1: My problems should never disrupt my praise, because I have too much faith and hope. Rejoicing, then, is an expression of my future not my present state.
Point 1: My problems should never disrupt my praise, because I have too much faith and hope. Rejoicing, then, is an expression of my future not my present state.
But then, Paul moves into showing how our trials always serve a purpose in personal and spiritual development (Romans 5:3-5). What was once a disruption is now a resource. What used to cause pain and sorrow now creates purpose and meaning. There are, now, no failures in life, but [as John Maxwell states] lessons.
Point 2: Living in faith [in Christ] is about repurposing bad experiences into meaningfulness.
Point 2: Living in faith [in Christ] is about repurposing bad experiences into meaningfulness.
From Romans 5:6-21, Paul enters into an explanation concerning how we are freed from sin and death.
He concludes that at just the right time, Jesus died for those who were helpless sinners and enemies of God (Romans 5:6-11). And this death brought a wonderful relationship with the Father that we did not have before Jesus’s sacrificial work. Notice, Paul concludes, man’s relationship with God determines their ability to live in God’s paradisal reality.
However, Romans 5:12-21 is where the tension is found. Because most times we assume that the problem with sin is based on what we have control over. That is, we are fine as long as we don’t do the wrong thing. For most people, sin is their wrongdoing.
Question: But what happens when your sin is the consequence of some other’s action? What happens when you miserable life is the result of something that didn’t even involve you?
Point 3: Our good works cannot get us out of sin, because it wasn’t our works that got is into it.
Point 3: Our good works cannot get us out of sin, because it wasn’t our works that got is into it.
Paul uses the following paradigm to explain how man entered sin and therefore, cancelled the paradise God’s family was created to live in:
Adam brought sin, which rules through death.
Jesus brought grace, which rules through righteousness.
Romans 5:12-21 demonstrates it is not that we want to be in misery, its that we were casted into misery. And since we were born in this miserable state, we never knew we had an opportunity to escape. So, we just settled for what misery has to offer.
We settled for the abusive relationship
We settled for living paycheck to paycheck
We settled for getting degree after degree to ignore not having purpose
We settled for hating on everyone else’s success because we don’t have any of our own
Here’s the key: Paradise was lost the moment mankind lost his dominion.
The solution: God dethroned sin and death through Jesus Christ who gives grace to everyone that believes.
However the key is death’s dethronement does not mean life’s enthronement. Rather, Paul says, we can now reign in life because of the grace that was extended to us through Jesus Christ.
However the key is death’s dethronement does not mean life’s enthronement. Rather, Paul says, we can now reign in life because of the grace that was extended to us through Jesus Christ.