Question 20: Did all mankind fall in Adam's first sin?

All mankind, descending from Adam by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him in his first sin.

DAY 1: 1 Corinthians 15:21-22

Paul takes the first eight verses of chapter fifteen to elaborate on what the gospel is. He tells the Corinthians that they heard this gospel, they received this gospel and that they now stand in it (vs. 1). His gospel is given in detail in verses 3-4. He tells us that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and that He rose again from the dead on the third day according to the Scriptures. He goes on to tell that it was witnessed to in verses 5-8.

Paul wants to correct some of the problems with the Corinthian thinking. They do believe that Christ was resurrected, but the problem is understanding the resurrection’s practical implications on the believer, which is the bulk of what he says throughout the chapter. However, he starts where the emphasis is and that is on the gospel itself. Some of the Corinthians had a hard time understanding the resurrection of believers and some of these apparently denied that it would even happen (vs. 12). Paul begins by stating that if there is no resurrection, then Christ is not risen (vs. 13). The process continues: if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty (vs. 14). Not only that, but we become false witnesses before God (vs. 15). In conclusion, Paul says that if there is no resurrection and Christ is not risen, then we are still in our sins! (vs. 16-17). Paul basically tells these people that they are wasting their time if there is indeed no resurrection. They would have a better time enjoying the things of the present life, rather than abstaining from them.

Notice the problem that continues to persist if Christ is in the grave: we are still in our sins! (vs. 17). The Scriptures make it abundantly clear that we find ourselves facing an inevitable end. Romans 6:23 tells us that the payment for our sins is death. Jesus told the Pharisees of His day that their continued unbelief, which is sin, results in death (John 8:24). Our sin is inherit in our nature and our nature breeds sin. Ultimately our sin will bring forth death (James 1:15).

Paul tells us in verse 21 that it was the one man, Adam, who spread sin to the rest of the human race. Sin so infected him that it incapacitated his ability to obey God from a heart of faith. Now he had taken on a nature which was unchangeable apart from the grace of the God who created him. He had taken the step of the angels and had sinned against God and had passed a point of no return and the Scripture tells us that the same nature Adam took on of sin. Verse 22 tells us that he also passed death onto us. Sin is definitely not without its consequences. Sin not only effected Adam, but it continues to effect the entire human race, even to the point of their very destruction.

Even though we are discussing the fact that all sinned in Adam, if we are to look at the passage here we will find that God has made a provision in Christ for sin and death. While we all sin because we are sinners and die as a result, Paul says Christ the Man makes all of us alive. The term all here is used to speak about the elect. All, in the context of sin, really speaks to the entire human race, each individual. However, when it is used to speak about those to whom Christ gives life it is a reference to all of the elect.

But just because it was Adam in the garden, doesn’t mean that we would not have done the same thing. We all sinned in him according to Romans 5:12. God chose Adam to be the representative of the whole human race. It did not matter whether or not it was him or you or me who was standing in the garden, the results would have been the same. The great thing is that when Christ gave of Himself on the cross to die in the place of sinners, He was unique. Not one of us could take His place. He had to take ours. Though priests would sacrifice around the clock, their work was never accomplished. But Hebrews 10:12 says that when Christ offered only one sacrifice, He sat down forever at the right hand of God.

DAY 2: Romans 5:12, 18-19

We have looked at Romans chapter five several times before. We have seen verses 12 and 13. Since we have down this, we will focus in on verses 18-19. Again, Paul is in the midst of a monologue about the state of man. He is speaking over and over again contrasting Adam and Christ.

He has told us about Adam bringing sin into the world. Now he goes step further to say that condemnation was brought to all men as a result of the offense of Adam. The word judgment is not in the original Greek manuscript. It is simply given to help us understand the meaning of the text. Rather, we can look to the end of the verse to see what Paul is saying. He uses the word katakrima. This word means, “a damnatory sentence”. In other words Adam, as well as, the whole human race was judged and condemned right there in the garden at the moment Adam sinned.

Interestingly, the term offense in Romans 5:18 is where we get the concept of the term we use, “The Fall”. Paul uses the Greek word paraptoma, which means, “to fall beside or near something; a lapse of deviation from truth and uprightness”.

In verse 19 he tells us that Adam’s offense was far from a slip or just a lapse. It was disobedience. He did not pay attention to the counsel of God. He chose to think for himself and act upon his own initiative. Therefore his decision to partake of the forbidden fruit was far from a mistake. It was intentional. It had great consequences. Adam’s disobedience made all men sinners. Paul uses the term hamartolos here for the word sinners. The word means, “devoted to sin, a sinner, not free from sin, pre-eminently sinful, especially wicked”. We are not just sinners, but we are preeminently sinners. We are not free from sin, but are enslaved to sin (Rom. 6:16). Thus sin is our way of life. It is who we are. Why? It is because we fell when Adam fell. We disobeyed when he disobeyed. We sinned when he sinned. We now carry the sinful nature within us that he possessed.

Again, Paul does not leave us in despair. God has not chosen to leave us in this condition. Though Adam’s offense brought condemnation to all men, Christ’s one righteous act brought the free gift, resulting in justification of life. Paul uses the term dikaiosis. The meaning of this word is, “the act of God declaring men free from guilt and acceptable to Him”. Later in verse 19 Paul says that Christ’s work made many righteous. The word he uses there for righteous comes from the same root word as justification in verse 18. He causes those of us to whom He has died for to keep the commands of God. He causes us to live as unto God. First God declares us just and righteous because of the work of Christ. Second, He causes us to be righteous practically, so that there is evidence of the first work, that being justification.

DAY 3: Romans 3:9

Paul has been dealing with the issue of the sinfulness of man for two chapters now and is gaining momentum as he comes into chapter 3. In chapter two he precisely singles out the Jews to show them their sins. They think that somehow because they are declaring something is wrong, because God says its wrong, makes them ok. However, Paul points out to them that whatever they are commanding others not to partake of, they themselves are doing (cf. 2:17-24). He also strikes at their pride in the sign of the old covenant, circumcision. He simply says it is to no avail (2:25-29). The point of circumcision should be the circumcision of the heart (2:29).

So what advantage does a Jew have over a Gentile? Paul says he is advantaged. Chapter three, verse two tells us that they received the oracles of God, or the words of God. This is a reference to the writings of the Old Testament. But does simply having the Word of God make one justified before God? Not at all. What it does do is give advantage in understanding their condition and gives them a prescription for the solution. Paul goes on to say that God will judge the world. He is righteous and He is able to do so righteously. He also compares his people and himself with the Gentiles in the verse we are looking at. He asks, “Are we better than they?” He is asking if the Jews have any more superior qualities about them or if they are in a place of preeminence above the Gentiles. The answer is a resounding, “No”. He says both Jews and Greeks are all under sin. We are all sinners. There is not one of us that have not sinned. Thus he launches into a diatribe about how no one is righteous (vs. 10), no one seek after God or understands (vs. 11), all have turned aside and become unprofitable and does no good (vs. 12), how we are corrupt from the inside out (vss. 13-17), and how we have no fear of God before our eyes (vs. 18). Why is this the condition of man? Our father Adam sinned. His sin cursed each one of us. Once we were mutable creatures. Now we have become immutable. We are lost and enslaved in our sin and incapable of breaking free. It is not just limited to Gentiles, but Jews alike. All men are sinners (3:23).

But God has not left us immutable. He is able to change us and make us into His own children and adopt us into His family. He is able to take away the stigma of sin and to judge it properly and maintain His holiness, righteousness, and justice. He is able to reverse the effects of the curse of sin. He is able to being man into a right relationship with Himself and cause the field of conflict and war between God and man to be brought to the peace table a an effective settlement be made. How does He do this? It is through the person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the One who is able to pay for sinners, what they themselves are totally incapable of paying. Blessed is God for He is able to bring back those from the dead and restore them to fellowship with Himself.

Comment: God considered all mankind as being in Adam so that when Adam went bad we all went bad in him. The nature that we have by virtue of belonging to Adam's race is morally corrupt. We are under the wrath of God "by nature" (Ephesians 2:3) from the time we were conceived in the womb. This is why conversion and salvation must be much more than a "decision" for Christ. It must be a new creation, a rebirth, an exchange of hearts.