|
"For
as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made
sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the
many will be made righteous." Romans 5:19
"Knowing this, that our old
self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of
sin might be done away with. . .for he who has died is
freed from sin." Romans 5:6-7
A man is not a sinner because he sins, but sins because
he is a sinner. David said that he was conceived in sin
- meaning that he had inherited the nature of Adam who
was the first sinner. Through Adam’s disobedience we all
inherited sin and death, but through the obedience of
Christ, the last Adam, we inherit His righteousness and
life. We are not sinners because of what we have done,
but because of what Adam did. Likewise, Christians are
not righteous because of what they have done, but
because of what Jesus did.
It is not only what we have done that is wrong, but our
very nature in the flesh is wrong and cannot please God.
This is why the flesh must be crucified with Christ and
we must be made a new creation in Him. Since Adam’s
nature is sinful we must be born of the divine nature of
God through the Spirit of God, -"He
has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises,
so that by them you may become partakers of the divine
nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the
world by lust." (2 Pet.1)
When witnessing we must always point to the problem of
man’s sin nature rather than merely focusing on bringing
to light the personal and individual sins which have
been committed. A sinner can easily be deceived into
believing that they are a good person who has done some
bad things. And they can quickly conclude that if they
simply work a little harder at being good they will be
fine. We must always point out that God must deal with
more than past sins committed, but also with the very
source of sin which is the sin nature of Adam.
The Bible plainly says that there are none good, not
even one. In Adam we are all sinners, but in Christ we
are made righteous and holy. This is why there is no
other Way but Christ for salvation. One may think that
kind, benevolent and loving people who do not confess
Christ can be saved, but there is no salvation outside
of Christ. We inherit sin and death from Adam and
inherit reconciliation, righteousness and life in Christ
Jesus.
You and I exist because of Adam. If Adam had died before
he produced offspring then we would have died with him
because in the flesh, we are the fruits of his loins. In
the flesh we are all associated with Adam, but in the
Spirit we are identified with Christ.
As we see in our text, the old self which is from Adam
must be crucified in order to deliver us from his sin
nature. In Hebrews 7 Paul makes a case that the
priesthood of Melchezedek is eternal and better than
Aaron, the Levite’s priesthood which was temporary. To
prove his point, the Apostle argues that when Abraham
gave tithes to Melchezedek Levi was offering tithes too
though he was still in his grandfather’s loins. So,
because Abraham was the head of the family, what he did
was also credited to Levi even before he was born.
Likewise, "in Christ" what the Lord has done is
credited to us who have been born in Him, and even now
exist in Him. By His perfect obedience we were made
righteous. Our sins were paid by His Blood. And with Him
we receive the divine nature, and the old self was
crucified with Him.
|
