( For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
God's law was already in force when Adam sinned as the foundation of God's government and written in human hearts, so his disobedience was real sin and was imputed. Those who hold the other side teach that sin was in the world before the law was given as a written rule of life, but without law it was not charged as transgression, and the law makes guilt and the condemned condition known. That one disobedience opened the floodgates of woe upon the world, forfeited dominion, separated man from God, and brought guilt, sorrow, bondage, curse and death upon the race, carrying a penalty that required the Son of God to leave heaven and suffer rejection and crucifixion. Christ as the second Adam stood in Adam's place and passed over the same ground where Adam stumbled, bore the test Adam failed to endure, and by His sinless overcoming and sacrifice paid sin's penalty and secured another trial and second probation for the race. Through His victory every son and daughter of Adam can receive divine power to overcome and keep God's holy law, so no one can use Adam's guilt and fall to excuse his own sin or plead inability to obey.
Law Before Sinai
God's law was already in force when Adam sinned, as the foundation of divine government in heaven as well as on earth and as written in human hearts, so his disobedience was real sin and was imputed, bringing wretchedness and death. Adam was placed under a test of perfect obedience and allegiance to the Creator, standing not only for himself but for his posterity, and if he had stood the test his obedience would have secured acceptance and favor with God and being forever established in holiness and happiness for himself and all his descendants. His revolt against God's law was sin, and because of it all his descendants have been sinners, while the law once written in hearts was afterward dimmed and nearly effaced by cherished sins. Sin was in the world before the law was given as a written rule of life, but without that law it was not charged as transgression, and the law makes guilt and humanity's condemned condition known.
The law is sacred and immutable and could not be abrogated or changed in even one precept to meet man in his fallen condition, so that not one jot or tittle of it could be altered. Because the law could not be changed, only the Son of God who created man could make atonement for its transgression, not even the life of an angel being accepted as a sacrifice for breaking it, and as Adam's sin brought death so Christ's sacrifice brings life and immortality. Christ therefore came to this earth clothing His divinity with humanity, and by His death made it possible for man to be restored to the favor that Adam lost. The provision of pardon did not abolish God's law to give man an unconditional pardon, for the Father did not set forth benevolence at the expense of justice and set aside the principles of righteousness, which would exalt the sinner in impenitence and encourage transgression instead of abating it. The transgression of Adam, the father of the race, lost Eden and revealed the justice of God, and the Son of God stepped in and pledged His own life as the penalty for that transgression that man might have another trial.
Adam and Eve's listening to the enemy's temptation and disobeying God's command in Eden was real sin against divine law that brought guilt and sorrow upon the world and put them under bondage to the law and under sentence of death as the penalty of sin. That crime carried a penalty that required the Son of God to leave the royal courts of heaven, take a humble place on earth, and be subjected to insult, rejection, and crucifixion by the very ones He came to bless in order to save man from its penalty. Christ as the propitiation for sins stands in Adam's place and takes the penalty of Adam's sin upon Himself, and by doing so He secures another trial and a probation with the privileges and opportunities of freedom and God-given power of choice, postponing the day of arraignment so that all are bound over to appear at the bar of God in the judgment.
Sin is not measured by the greatness of the act but by being at variance with God's expressed will in the least particular. Such variance shows sin reigning in the heart, communion with the enemy and cherishing his attributes, a divided heart, virtual denial of the Holy Spirit, and rebellion against God's law. It proves God means what He says and man cannot set aside His commands with impunity, and partial observance of His law is not accepted but contradicts profession and destroys sinners' faith in Christianity. Transgression of God's law brings God's wrath and punishment and liability to sin's penalty, dishonors the divine government, and justice required that penalty to be borne, with the iniquity of the whole world laid upon Christ. Christ endured that punishment and realized to the full the terrible consequence of transgression and how bad man may become by yielding to sin, and only the Son of God's sacrifice could satisfy justice and restore what disobedience had forfeited.
Adam's Fall Into Sin
God made man upright, perfectly holy and happy, and placed Adam and Eve in Eden in every way favorably situated with abundant provision of pure fruits, flowers and trees. They were put under a test of perfect obedience and allegiance to the Creator, in which Adam stood not only for himself but for his posterity, so that his standing would have secured acceptance and favor with God and being forever established in holiness and happiness for himself and all his descendants. His disobedience was transgression of the Father's express commands and law, and by it he lost divine favor and destroyed his own happiness.
Satan insinuated doubts of God's wisdom and accused God of selfishness for prohibiting the tree of knowledge to test loyalty. Eve fell under temptation and Adam accepted the fruit from her hand, falling under the smallest test of obedience by listening to the enemy. That one disobedience opened the floodgates of woe upon the world and made many sinners.
That fall forfeited the dominion given to him and his right to heaven, lost Eden, cut man off from God and separated man from God with no hope, and brought misery, despair, curse, disgrace, and death as its consequence upon the human race. Sin now seen in the world with death as its consequence is the result of that fall. By his revolt Adam by his own free choice and free will became a sinner, allowed himself to be overcome, lost innocence, favor, happiness, life and the divine image, and separated himself from God. His disgraceful fall brought violation of God's law and its penalty upon the fallen race.
Through Adam sin and guilt came into the world by inheritance and were entailed upon all his posterity, so because of his revolt all his descendants have been sinners. Children receive from Adam an inheritance of disobedience, of guilt and death. The race deteriorates from generation to generation in physical, mental, and moral weakness and decline, marked by sin, and fallen humanity stands helpless, degraded, and ready to perish. Without the law applied as a rule of life sin was not charged as transgression, but the law makes guilt and humanity's condemned condition known, and as descendants of Adam people inherit guilt and the sentence of death.
By Adam's sin the whole race was sold to the enemy of all righteousness, brought under Satan's control and claim, with Satan pointing to calamities and diseases as proof that God would have no mercy and spreading the feeling that it is impossible for man to keep God's law after Adam's disobedience. Men sold themselves to the enemy, were left totally depraved and hopelessly ruined, unable to redeem themselves and unable of themselves to do any good thing. The depth of that fall broke man's high and elevated connection with God and left man unable to rescue and restore himself. The first Adam was created pure, sinless, undefiled and able to fall, and he did fall from loyalty through disobedience to the commandments of God. His descendants were born with propensities to disobey and perpetuated his sin while finding fault with their first parents.
Adam's transgression did not cause God to give human beings a new order of energies and passions, for that would mean God implanted sinful propensities in the race. His fall is connected with his repentance and his resurrection and return to Eden.
Christ the Second Adam
Romans 5:13 sets the contrast between the first Adam and the second Adam as free moral agents held responsible for conduct. The first Adam abused his freedom, allowed himself to be overcome by appetite, freely chose disobedience, became a law to himself, and by his own free will became a sinner, losing his innocence and bringing discord and separation from the favor of God. The second Adam was placed in a much less favorable situation for leading a sinless life, surrounded by intensely subtle and misleading influences in the midst of sinners, yet He resisted every temptation to sin, maintained His innocence, was ever sinless, lived in perfect obedience, and set an example others could follow.
The Son of God came down to the level of those He came to save, clothing divinity with humanity to associate with fallen humanity and regain for Himself and for the world what Adam by disobedience lost. Though the express image of the Father's person, He laid aside His royal robe and royal crown, humbled Himself to take man's nature in its fallen condition without taking the taint of sin, was born a babe in Bethlehem, and became man's Advocate and Redeemer. He took sinful nature yet was ever pure and undefiled with no guile or sinfulness and no evil propensity, and never yielded to sin. The first Adam was created pure and sinless but could fall and did, and his descendants were born with propensities to disobey, while Christ took human nature and faced temptation with the human and divine combined, giving men probation and placing them on trial. In His own character He manifested the character of God, pleasing not Himself but living more than thirty years of pure disinterested benevolence going about doing good, to elevate humanity in moral value with God and teach in His own nature that obedience is possible.
Unlike Adam, who was created with a holy, sinless, pure, undefiled nature and placed in Eden in every way favorably situated and abundantly supplied with pure fruits, flowers and trees, Christ began where the first Adam began though in every way less favorably situated, to redeem Adam's failure. Adam fell under the smallest test of obedience by listening to the enemy when Satan insinuated doubts of God's wisdom and accused God of selfishness for prohibiting the tree of knowledge to test loyalty, so that Eve fell under temptation and Adam accepted the fruit from her hand, and that one disobedience opened the floodgates of woe upon the world and made many sinners with his posterity becoming depraved. Christ came after generations of sin had brought physical, mental, and moral decline, took human nature and bore the race's infirmities and degeneracy, in purity and holiness connected with God and beloved by God.
Christ stood in Adam's place as representative of the fallen race and passed over the same ground where Adam stumbled and fell, bearing the test Adam failed to endure. God made man upright, perfectly holy and happy, but by disobedience Adam lost divine favor, destroyed his own happiness, brought violation of God's law and its penalty upon the race, entailed sin upon all his posterity by inheritance so the race deteriorates from generation to generation, and plunged the whole race into hopeless misery and despair. God did not leave fallen men to perish but gave His well-beloved Son for their salvation, who entered the world with divinity clothed in humanity, took the nature of man, and with divinity and humanity combined reaches the race with His human arm while His divine arm grasps the Infinite, His name being the link that unites man to God and God to man. This is seen in His long fast and single-handed conflict with the prince of darkness in the wilderness where man's salvation was at stake, in which by a life of perfect obedience to God's law and by His victory over Satan He redeemed Adam's disgraceful failure and fall, defeated evil, placed the race on vantage ground with God, bore the penalty of the law for man's past transgressions to open a way for the sinner to be reinstated in God's favor with another chance and a second trial, and gave every possible advantage for strength to withstand temptation so there is no excuse for sin.
Christ redeemed Adam's failure and fall by withstanding every temptation of the wily foe, overcoming the three leading temptations whereby man is beset and enduring every test and temptation man will ever meet. It was the divine nature combined with the human that enabled Him to overcome, and the enemy overcame Him on not a single point. Where the first Adam failed, Christ bearing human nature conquered, withstanding every temptation Satan brought against Him and living a life free from spot or stain of sin. He came to give men the principles of truth and to teach them how to obey these principles, thereby placing human beings on vantage ground, so that sinners beholding the Man of Calvary and believing may be saved, and through His victory every son and daughter of Adam can be safe by taking hold of the crucified and risen Saviour, receiving divine power to overcome and coming off more than conquerors instead of going into iniquity. Had He transgressed the law of God in one particular He would have been a sinner and His offering would have been a failure, but He walked the same path He calls believers to walk in full, entire dependence upon God, and His sinless overcoming rescued a world perishing in sin and makes it possible for those who deny self, take up the cross daily and follow Him to depend on Deity as He did, endure test and trial as He did, overcome the world as He overcame, and at last be crowned conquerors to sit with Him on His throne. His part in overcoming temptation makes Him central to temperance from beginning to end.
As the second Adam He was a free agent placed on probation as Adam was and as man is, and He could be tempted in all points like as man is tempted only because failure was truly possible for Him. Transgression of God's law brings God's wrath and punishment, and the iniquity of the whole world was laid upon Him, so He endured that punishment and realized to the full the terrible consequence of transgression and how bad man may become by yielding to sin. Temptation is real only where yielding is possible, and is resisted when one powerfully influenced to do wrong and knowing he can do it resists by faith with a firm hold upon divine power. In His closing hours hanging on the cross He passed through that ordeal to the fullest extent, even to the fierce temptation that He was forsaken by God and the horror of great darkness pressing Him lest He swerve from uprightness.
Sin and its guilt belong to humanity descended from Adam, marking humanity and bringing widespread weakness and decline with curse and disgrace upon the race. Christ stood in Adam's place, bore the fallen race's sins and infirmities, and overcame temptation on its behalf. As humanity's substitute and surety He undertook to bear human guilt, was counted a transgressor, took the wrath that disobedience otherwise brought upon humanity, and endured the law's judicial punishment so that He could redeem them from its curse, becoming sin for us though He knew no sin so He could reach fallen humanity and raise it from sin's degradation.
Adam's fall brought misery and death and forfeited the dominion given to him, while Christ's humiliation and death brought life and immortality to light. Only through His death as the sin-bearer who took human nature, bore the sin of the whole world, and passed over the same ground where Adam stumbled and fell could man be redeemed, Satan's kingdom be overthrown, and God be glorified. His sacrifice pays sin's penalty and will restore what Adam lost, including the earth as the eternal home of the redeemed.
Adam fell by disobeying the expressed law of Jehovah, bringing the whole race under Satan's control and his claim that no man could keep God's law after Adam's disobedience, with the fall spreading the feeling that it is impossible for man to keep God's law as Satan pointed to human calamities and diseases as proof that God would have no mercy and men might as well be under his control. Christ, the world's Redeemer, the only begotten Son of God, came as a man, stood alone against Satan's declaration, retraced the very ground where Adam fell, passed over the same ground, stood against Satan's temptations and came off conqueror, to reveal that men could keep the law of God and to teach that obedience is possible. This proves that human beings can through the power of God live sinless lives, bringing light into moral darkness through suffering that led to the crucifixion, and providing abundant grace so that every person whose will is placed on the side of God's will can be an overcomer with all hope found only in Christ.
Atonement and Second Probation
Only the sinless Son of God who created man could make an acceptable atonement for transgression, for not even the life of an angel could be accepted as a sacrifice for breaking the law, and as death came through Adam's sin so life and immortality come through Christ's sacrifice. The law was already in force when Adam sinned, so his transgression was real sin bringing wretchedness and death, and the law could not be abrogated or changed in even one precept to meet man in his fallen condition. Through Adam's transgression humanity was lost, and through Christ came humanity's only hope of restoration to God.
Christ, the sinless sin-bearer, met the claims of the law through His self-offering, making it possible for sinners to receive His righteousness and stand before God as innocent and accepted. He stood in Adam's place and bore the test Adam failed to endure in Eden, taking humanity and with divinity and humanity combined reaching the race with His human arm while His divine arm grasps the Infinite. His name is the link uniting man to God and God to man, and by taking human nature He gave Himself as the ransom and sacrifice that seals the covenant of grace for the sins of the world.
As soon as man sinned Christ at once offered to stand as substitute and surety, taking man's guilt upon Himself to save the race, pledging His own life as the penalty for that transgression. He consented to take the work of restoration to bring the race back into the Father's favor, pay the penalty and the debt for past transgressions, satisfy justice, and open communication between man and God. Through Adam's sin guilt and sin came into the world bringing eternal ruin, men sold themselves to the enemy of all righteousness and were left unable to redeem themselves and able of themselves to do no good thing, and Christ provided a way of escape whereby the guilty race might return to loyalty and secure the heavenly reward. He clothed divinity with humanity to reconcile man to the Father and bring him back to His law, coming not to destroy the law but to honor it and give dignity to it by opening His bosom to suffer for the transgression Himself, and that acceptance was declared on the banks of Jordan when heaven was opened to man and heaven and earth were united again. That provision did not abolish God's law to give unconditional pardon, for benevolence was not set forth at the expense of justice nor the principles of righteousness set aside, which would exalt the sinner in impenitence and encourage transgression instead of abating it. He began His work of conversion as soon as man transgressed, passing over the ground where Adam stumbled and fell and meeting the temptations wherewith man is beset without swerving from allegiance, so that through obedience to the law of God and faith in Christ human beings might regain the lost image of God.
By standing in Adam's place as propitiation and taking the penalty of Adam's sin upon Himself, Christ secured another trial and a second probation with the privileges and opportunities of freedom and God-given power of choice. He postponed the day of arraignment so that all are bound over to appear at the bar of God in the judgment. He acted as instructor and mediator saving the race from immediate death and from the misery into which Adam's sin had plunged it, giving Adam and Eve and their descendants a probation in which they could return to allegiance to God, being tested and tried to prove whether they will return to loyalty. In time He would become humanity's head by taking human nature without its sinfulness.
His blood avails only for those who return to allegiance to God and obey the law they violated, for He never becomes a party to sin but imparts His righteousness to make it possible to keep God's holy law. His death does not mean He did all so man has nothing to do, for man comes to God through Christ by doing the commandments while Christ paid the debt for past transgressions as the accepted sacrifice. He resisted every plausible representation that sinners can be saved in their sins, and by overcoming every temptation made His righteousness distinctly apparent as the example humanity must live. As representative of the race He passed over the same ground where Adam stumbled and fell and by a life of perfect obedience redeemed man from the penalty, bearing the penalty of the law for man's past transgressions to open a way for the sinner to be reinstated in favor with another chance and a second trial.
Just as death was pronounced upon all because of Adam's sin, so life is imparted through Christ's righteousness to those who live by faith in the Son of God. He was made sin for humanity that humanity may be made the righteousness of God in Him, becoming partakers of the divine nature. This life is lived daily by faith through the operation of the Spirit of Jesus quickening, reviving, strengthening, and supporting the soul, with the promise that whoever believes shall live and never become extinct.
Disobeying God's commands brought sin into the world and brought man under condemnation of the law, and that fall called for God's grace to appear in behalf of sinners, without which the meaning of grace would never have been learned. Grace is God's attribute shown to undeserving human beings who have sinned; the sinless angels who obey all His commands are loved by God but are not given grace and know nothing of it because they have never sinned and never needed it. Grace was not sought by man but was sent in search of man, and God rejoices to bestow it on everyone who hungers for it, not because of worthiness but because of utter unworthiness, so that need itself is the qualification that gives assurance of receiving the gift.
Through Christ fallen people are given transformation to recover from the condition into which sin entered through Adam and the divine image was lost through sin and continued transgression. He began His work of conversion at the transgression so that through cultivation of righteous principles man may gain victory over bias to evil, the senses no longer warped and twisted and the faculties no longer perverted and wasted on objects that lead away from God, and in and through grace bestowed by heaven words, thoughts, and energies may be purified, a new character formed, and the debasement of sin overcome. Jesus Christ has been given to the world to restore the moral image of God in man and to reshape character, for children receive from Adam an inheritance of disobedience, of guilt and death. Because God's law remained sacred and immutable so that not one jot or tittle could be changed to meet man in his fallen condition, Christ came clothing divinity with humanity, and by His death made it possible for man to be restored to the favor Adam lost, with elevation to the highest position possible only through the merits of His blood by accepting Him as substitute.
Obedience in Christian Life
Romans 5:13 stands in the contrast between Adam and Christ, for Adam became a law to himself and his disobedience brought discord and separation from God, while Christ lived in perfect obedience and set an example others could follow. In His own character He manifested the character of God, pleasing not Himself but living more than thirty years of pure disinterested benevolence going about doing good. He came down to the level of those He came to save to regain what Adam lost for himself and for the world, withstanding every temptation and living free from spot or stain of sin, and He came to give men the principles of truth and to teach them how to obey these principles, thereby placing human beings on vantage ground so that sinners beholding Him and believing may be saved.
Through His victory every son and daughter of Adam can be safe by taking hold of the crucified and risen Saviour, receiving divine power to overcome and coming off more than conquerors instead of going into iniquity. Those who accept Him may be united to God and receive power to become His children, even though as descendants of Adam they inherit guilt and the sentence of death and the law makes their guilt and condemned condition known. He passed over the same ground where Adam fell and overcame in behalf of humanity, enduring every test and temptation man will ever meet, and had He transgressed the law in one particular He would have been a sinner and His offering would have been a failure, but the enemy overcame Him on not a single point. Those rescued must walk the same path He walked in full, entire dependence upon God, denying self, taking up the cross daily and following Him, depending on Deity as He did, enduring test and trial as He did, and overcoming the world as He overcame, to at last be crowned conquerors and sit with Him on His throne. Man must look to Him and not look to any human being as supreme in counsel and unerring in wisdom.
Abundant grace is provided so that every person whose will is placed on the side of God's will can be an overcomer, with all hope found only in Christ, who retraced the very ground where Adam fell to prove that man can keep the law of God. He by a life of perfect obedience redeemed man from the penalty brought by Adam's violation of the law, bearing that penalty for past transgressions to reinstate the sinner in favor with another chance and a second trial, and He imparts His righteousness to make it possible to keep God's holy law, His blood availing only for those who return to allegiance and obey the law they violated, for He never becomes a party to sin. No one can use Adam's guilt and fall to excuse his own sin or to plead inability to keep the law, for Calvary was a perfect sacrifice that gave a whole Saviour with sufficient grace and power to work away from natural defects and tendencies and advance in the divine life. When the Father gave His Son to live and die for man He placed all the treasures of heaven at man's disposal and gave every possible advantage for strength to withstand temptation, so there is no excuse for sin, people remain responsible for their own disobedience and cannot plead Adam's fall to justify breaking the law, and to make that excuse casts reproach upon God.
God as owner of man requires the human family to perfect faultless characters and to leave children and future generations an example of steadfast purity and righteousness that would improve the race instead of deteriorating it, until the world would become as Eden. Through the cultivation of righteous principles man may gain the victory over the bias to evil, so that when obedient to God's law the senses are no longer warped and twisted and the faculties are no longer perverted and wasted on objects that lead away from God, and in and through grace bestowed by heaven words, thoughts and energies may be purified, a new character may be formed, and the debasement of sin overcome. This redemption means believers belong to God in body and spirit, must try to reach the standard He has set before them, must glorify Him, must let His peace dwell in their hearts, and must be thankful for being bought with a price and brought where they can have His blessing, rather than disappointing Christ and pleasing Satan by being overcome. Christ redeemed Adam's failure by withstanding every temptation of the wily foe, and His part in overcoming temptation makes Him central to temperance from beginning to end.
The fall of man and the just condemnation of a holy God mean ministry must be judged by whether those ministered to show true conversion, and methods that spend means and labor without producing true conversion are not after the gospel order. Adam's transgression proves God means what He says, man cannot set aside His commands with impunity, and partial observance is not accepted. Christ as the second Adam redeemed humanity from the suffering brought by Adam's fall by overcoming the enemy in every point, and through His strength people can receive eternal life.
God's law was already in force when Adam sinned as the foundation of God's government and written in human hearts, so his disobedience was real sin and was imputed. Those who hold the other side teach that sin was in the world before the law was given as a written rule of life, but without law it was not charged as transgression, and the law makes guilt and the condemned condition known. That one disobedience opened the floodgates of woe upon the world, forfeited dominion, separated man from God, and brought guilt, sorrow, bondage, curse and death upon the race, carrying a penalty that required the Son of God to leave heaven and suffer rejection and crucifixion. Christ as the second Adam stood in Adam's place and passed over the same ground where Adam stumbled, bore the test Adam failed to endure, and by His sinless overcoming and sacrifice paid sin's penalty and secured another trial and second probation for the race. Through His victory every son and daughter of Adam can receive divine power to overcome and keep God's holy law, so no one can use Adam's guilt and fall to excuse his own sin or plead inability to obey.
Law Before Sinai
God's law was already in force when Adam sinned, as the foundation of divine government in heaven as well as on earth and as written in human hearts, so his disobedience was real sin and was imputed, bringing wretchedness and death. Adam was placed under a test of perfect obedience and allegiance to the Creator, standing not only for himself but for his posterity, and if he had stood the test his obedience would have secured acceptance and favor with God and being forever established in holiness and happiness for himself and all his descendants. His revolt against God's law was sin, and because of it all his descendants have been sinners, while the law once written in hearts was afterward dimmed and nearly effaced by cherished sins. Sin was in the world before the law was given as a written rule of life, but without that law it was not charged as transgression, and the law makes guilt and humanity's condemned condition known.
The law is sacred and immutable and could not be abrogated or changed in even one precept to meet man in his fallen condition, so that not one jot or tittle of it could be altered. Because the law could not be changed, only the Son of God who created man could make atonement for its transgression, not even the life of an angel being accepted as a sacrifice for breaking it, and as Adam's sin brought death so Christ's sacrifice brings life and immortality. Christ therefore came to this earth clothing His divinity with humanity, and by His death made it possible for man to be restored to the favor that Adam lost. The provision of pardon did not abolish God's law to give man an unconditional pardon, for the Father did not set forth benevolence at the expense of justice and set aside the principles of righteousness, which would exalt the sinner in impenitence and encourage transgression instead of abating it. The transgression of Adam, the father of the race, lost Eden and revealed the justice of God, and the Son of God stepped in and pledged His own life as the penalty for that transgression that man might have another trial.
Adam and Eve's listening to the enemy's temptation and disobeying God's command in Eden was real sin against divine law that brought guilt and sorrow upon the world and put them under bondage to the law and under sentence of death as the penalty of sin. That crime carried a penalty that required the Son of God to leave the royal courts of heaven, take a humble place on earth, and be subjected to insult, rejection, and crucifixion by the very ones He came to bless in order to save man from its penalty. Christ as the propitiation for sins stands in Adam's place and takes the penalty of Adam's sin upon Himself, and by doing so He secures another trial and a probation with the privileges and opportunities of freedom and God-given power of choice, postponing the day of arraignment so that all are bound over to appear at the bar of God in the judgment.
Sin is not measured by the greatness of the act but by being at variance with God's expressed will in the least particular. Such variance shows sin reigning in the heart, communion with the enemy and cherishing his attributes, a divided heart, virtual denial of the Holy Spirit, and rebellion against God's law. It proves God means what He says and man cannot set aside His commands with impunity, and partial observance of His law is not accepted but contradicts profession and destroys sinners' faith in Christianity. Transgression of God's law brings God's wrath and punishment and liability to sin's penalty, dishonors the divine government, and justice required that penalty to be borne, with the iniquity of the whole world laid upon Christ. Christ endured that punishment and realized to the full the terrible consequence of transgression and how bad man may become by yielding to sin, and only the Son of God's sacrifice could satisfy justice and restore what disobedience had forfeited.
Adam's Fall Into Sin
God made man upright, perfectly holy and happy, and placed Adam and Eve in Eden in every way favorably situated with abundant provision of pure fruits, flowers and trees. They were put under a test of perfect obedience and allegiance to the Creator, in which Adam stood not only for himself but for his posterity, so that his standing would have secured acceptance and favor with God and being forever established in holiness and happiness for himself and all his descendants. His disobedience was transgression of the Father's express commands and law, and by it he lost divine favor and destroyed his own happiness.
Satan insinuated doubts of God's wisdom and accused God of selfishness for prohibiting the tree of knowledge to test loyalty. Eve fell under temptation and Adam accepted the fruit from her hand, falling under the smallest test of obedience by listening to the enemy. That one disobedience opened the floodgates of woe upon the world and made many sinners.
That fall forfeited the dominion given to him and his right to heaven, lost Eden, cut man off from God and separated man from God with no hope, and brought misery, despair, curse, disgrace, and death as its consequence upon the human race. Sin now seen in the world with death as its consequence is the result of that fall. By his revolt Adam by his own free choice and free will became a sinner, allowed himself to be overcome, lost innocence, favor, happiness, life and the divine image, and separated himself from God. His disgraceful fall brought violation of God's law and its penalty upon the fallen race.
Through Adam sin and guilt came into the world by inheritance and were entailed upon all his posterity, so because of his revolt all his descendants have been sinners. Children receive from Adam an inheritance of disobedience, of guilt and death. The race deteriorates from generation to generation in physical, mental, and moral weakness and decline, marked by sin, and fallen humanity stands helpless, degraded, and ready to perish. Without the law applied as a rule of life sin was not charged as transgression, but the law makes guilt and humanity's condemned condition known, and as descendants of Adam people inherit guilt and the sentence of death.
By Adam's sin the whole race was sold to the enemy of all righteousness, brought under Satan's control and claim, with Satan pointing to calamities and diseases as proof that God would have no mercy and spreading the feeling that it is impossible for man to keep God's law after Adam's disobedience. Men sold themselves to the enemy, were left totally depraved and hopelessly ruined, unable to redeem themselves and unable of themselves to do any good thing. The depth of that fall broke man's high and elevated connection with God and left man unable to rescue and restore himself. The first Adam was created pure, sinless, undefiled and able to fall, and he did fall from loyalty through disobedience to the commandments of God. His descendants were born with propensities to disobey and perpetuated his sin while finding fault with their first parents.
Adam's transgression did not cause God to give human beings a new order of energies and passions, for that would mean God implanted sinful propensities in the race. His fall is connected with his repentance and his resurrection and return to Eden.
Christ the Second Adam
Romans 5:13 sets the contrast between the first Adam and the second Adam as free moral agents held responsible for conduct. The first Adam abused his freedom, allowed himself to be overcome by appetite, freely chose disobedience, became a law to himself, and by his own free will became a sinner, losing his innocence and bringing discord and separation from the favor of God. The second Adam was placed in a much less favorable situation for leading a sinless life, surrounded by intensely subtle and misleading influences in the midst of sinners, yet He resisted every temptation to sin, maintained His innocence, was ever sinless, lived in perfect obedience, and set an example others could follow.
The Son of God came down to the level of those He came to save, clothing divinity with humanity to associate with fallen humanity and regain for Himself and for the world what Adam by disobedience lost. Though the express image of the Father's person, He laid aside His royal robe and royal crown, humbled Himself to take man's nature in its fallen condition without taking the taint of sin, was born a babe in Bethlehem, and became man's Advocate and Redeemer. He took sinful nature yet was ever pure and undefiled with no guile or sinfulness and no evil propensity, and never yielded to sin. The first Adam was created pure and sinless but could fall and did, and his descendants were born with propensities to disobey, while Christ took human nature and faced temptation with the human and divine combined, giving men probation and placing them on trial. In His own character He manifested the character of God, pleasing not Himself but living more than thirty years of pure disinterested benevolence going about doing good, to elevate humanity in moral value with God and teach in His own nature that obedience is possible.
Unlike Adam, who was created with a holy, sinless, pure, undefiled nature and placed in Eden in every way favorably situated and abundantly supplied with pure fruits, flowers and trees, Christ began where the first Adam began though in every way less favorably situated, to redeem Adam's failure. Adam fell under the smallest test of obedience by listening to the enemy when Satan insinuated doubts of God's wisdom and accused God of selfishness for prohibiting the tree of knowledge to test loyalty, so that Eve fell under temptation and Adam accepted the fruit from her hand, and that one disobedience opened the floodgates of woe upon the world and made many sinners with his posterity becoming depraved. Christ came after generations of sin had brought physical, mental, and moral decline, took human nature and bore the race's infirmities and degeneracy, in purity and holiness connected with God and beloved by God.
Christ stood in Adam's place as representative of the fallen race and passed over the same ground where Adam stumbled and fell, bearing the test Adam failed to endure. God made man upright, perfectly holy and happy, but by disobedience Adam lost divine favor, destroyed his own happiness, brought violation of God's law and its penalty upon the race, entailed sin upon all his posterity by inheritance so the race deteriorates from generation to generation, and plunged the whole race into hopeless misery and despair. God did not leave fallen men to perish but gave His well-beloved Son for their salvation, who entered the world with divinity clothed in humanity, took the nature of man, and with divinity and humanity combined reaches the race with His human arm while His divine arm grasps the Infinite, His name being the link that unites man to God and God to man. This is seen in His long fast and single-handed conflict with the prince of darkness in the wilderness where man's salvation was at stake, in which by a life of perfect obedience to God's law and by His victory over Satan He redeemed Adam's disgraceful failure and fall, defeated evil, placed the race on vantage ground with God, bore the penalty of the law for man's past transgressions to open a way for the sinner to be reinstated in God's favor with another chance and a second trial, and gave every possible advantage for strength to withstand temptation so there is no excuse for sin.
Christ redeemed Adam's failure and fall by withstanding every temptation of the wily foe, overcoming the three leading temptations whereby man is beset and enduring every test and temptation man will ever meet. It was the divine nature combined with the human that enabled Him to overcome, and the enemy overcame Him on not a single point. Where the first Adam failed, Christ bearing human nature conquered, withstanding every temptation Satan brought against Him and living a life free from spot or stain of sin. He came to give men the principles of truth and to teach them how to obey these principles, thereby placing human beings on vantage ground, so that sinners beholding the Man of Calvary and believing may be saved, and through His victory every son and daughter of Adam can be safe by taking hold of the crucified and risen Saviour, receiving divine power to overcome and coming off more than conquerors instead of going into iniquity. Had He transgressed the law of God in one particular He would have been a sinner and His offering would have been a failure, but He walked the same path He calls believers to walk in full, entire dependence upon God, and His sinless overcoming rescued a world perishing in sin and makes it possible for those who deny self, take up the cross daily and follow Him to depend on Deity as He did, endure test and trial as He did, overcome the world as He overcame, and at last be crowned conquerors to sit with Him on His throne. His part in overcoming temptation makes Him central to temperance from beginning to end.
As the second Adam He was a free agent placed on probation as Adam was and as man is, and He could be tempted in all points like as man is tempted only because failure was truly possible for Him. Transgression of God's law brings God's wrath and punishment, and the iniquity of the whole world was laid upon Him, so He endured that punishment and realized to the full the terrible consequence of transgression and how bad man may become by yielding to sin. Temptation is real only where yielding is possible, and is resisted when one powerfully influenced to do wrong and knowing he can do it resists by faith with a firm hold upon divine power. In His closing hours hanging on the cross He passed through that ordeal to the fullest extent, even to the fierce temptation that He was forsaken by God and the horror of great darkness pressing Him lest He swerve from uprightness.
Sin and its guilt belong to humanity descended from Adam, marking humanity and bringing widespread weakness and decline with curse and disgrace upon the race. Christ stood in Adam's place, bore the fallen race's sins and infirmities, and overcame temptation on its behalf. As humanity's substitute and surety He undertook to bear human guilt, was counted a transgressor, took the wrath that disobedience otherwise brought upon humanity, and endured the law's judicial punishment so that He could redeem them from its curse, becoming sin for us though He knew no sin so He could reach fallen humanity and raise it from sin's degradation.
Adam's fall brought misery and death and forfeited the dominion given to him, while Christ's humiliation and death brought life and immortality to light. Only through His death as the sin-bearer who took human nature, bore the sin of the whole world, and passed over the same ground where Adam stumbled and fell could man be redeemed, Satan's kingdom be overthrown, and God be glorified. His sacrifice pays sin's penalty and will restore what Adam lost, including the earth as the eternal home of the redeemed.
Adam fell by disobeying the expressed law of Jehovah, bringing the whole race under Satan's control and his claim that no man could keep God's law after Adam's disobedience, with the fall spreading the feeling that it is impossible for man to keep God's law as Satan pointed to human calamities and diseases as proof that God would have no mercy and men might as well be under his control. Christ, the world's Redeemer, the only begotten Son of God, came as a man, stood alone against Satan's declaration, retraced the very ground where Adam fell, passed over the same ground, stood against Satan's temptations and came off conqueror, to reveal that men could keep the law of God and to teach that obedience is possible. This proves that human beings can through the power of God live sinless lives, bringing light into moral darkness through suffering that led to the crucifixion, and providing abundant grace so that every person whose will is placed on the side of God's will can be an overcomer with all hope found only in Christ.
Atonement and Second Probation
Only the sinless Son of God who created man could make an acceptable atonement for transgression, for not even the life of an angel could be accepted as a sacrifice for breaking the law, and as death came through Adam's sin so life and immortality come through Christ's sacrifice. The law was already in force when Adam sinned, so his transgression was real sin bringing wretchedness and death, and the law could not be abrogated or changed in even one precept to meet man in his fallen condition. Through Adam's transgression humanity was lost, and through Christ came humanity's only hope of restoration to God.
Christ, the sinless sin-bearer, met the claims of the law through His self-offering, making it possible for sinners to receive His righteousness and stand before God as innocent and accepted. He stood in Adam's place and bore the test Adam failed to endure in Eden, taking humanity and with divinity and humanity combined reaching the race with His human arm while His divine arm grasps the Infinite. His name is the link uniting man to God and God to man, and by taking human nature He gave Himself as the ransom and sacrifice that seals the covenant of grace for the sins of the world.
As soon as man sinned Christ at once offered to stand as substitute and surety, taking man's guilt upon Himself to save the race, pledging His own life as the penalty for that transgression. He consented to take the work of restoration to bring the race back into the Father's favor, pay the penalty and the debt for past transgressions, satisfy justice, and open communication between man and God. Through Adam's sin guilt and sin came into the world bringing eternal ruin, men sold themselves to the enemy of all righteousness and were left unable to redeem themselves and able of themselves to do no good thing, and Christ provided a way of escape whereby the guilty race might return to loyalty and secure the heavenly reward. He clothed divinity with humanity to reconcile man to the Father and bring him back to His law, coming not to destroy the law but to honor it and give dignity to it by opening His bosom to suffer for the transgression Himself, and that acceptance was declared on the banks of Jordan when heaven was opened to man and heaven and earth were united again. That provision did not abolish God's law to give unconditional pardon, for benevolence was not set forth at the expense of justice nor the principles of righteousness set aside, which would exalt the sinner in impenitence and encourage transgression instead of abating it. He began His work of conversion as soon as man transgressed, passing over the ground where Adam stumbled and fell and meeting the temptations wherewith man is beset without swerving from allegiance, so that through obedience to the law of God and faith in Christ human beings might regain the lost image of God.
By standing in Adam's place as propitiation and taking the penalty of Adam's sin upon Himself, Christ secured another trial and a second probation with the privileges and opportunities of freedom and God-given power of choice. He postponed the day of arraignment so that all are bound over to appear at the bar of God in the judgment. He acted as instructor and mediator saving the race from immediate death and from the misery into which Adam's sin had plunged it, giving Adam and Eve and their descendants a probation in which they could return to allegiance to God, being tested and tried to prove whether they will return to loyalty. In time He would become humanity's head by taking human nature without its sinfulness.
His blood avails only for those who return to allegiance to God and obey the law they violated, for He never becomes a party to sin but imparts His righteousness to make it possible to keep God's holy law. His death does not mean He did all so man has nothing to do, for man comes to God through Christ by doing the commandments while Christ paid the debt for past transgressions as the accepted sacrifice. He resisted every plausible representation that sinners can be saved in their sins, and by overcoming every temptation made His righteousness distinctly apparent as the example humanity must live. As representative of the race He passed over the same ground where Adam stumbled and fell and by a life of perfect obedience redeemed man from the penalty, bearing the penalty of the law for man's past transgressions to open a way for the sinner to be reinstated in favor with another chance and a second trial.
Just as death was pronounced upon all because of Adam's sin, so life is imparted through Christ's righteousness to those who live by faith in the Son of God. He was made sin for humanity that humanity may be made the righteousness of God in Him, becoming partakers of the divine nature. This life is lived daily by faith through the operation of the Spirit of Jesus quickening, reviving, strengthening, and supporting the soul, with the promise that whoever believes shall live and never become extinct.
Disobeying God's commands brought sin into the world and brought man under condemnation of the law, and that fall called for God's grace to appear in behalf of sinners, without which the meaning of grace would never have been learned. Grace is God's attribute shown to undeserving human beings who have sinned; the sinless angels who obey all His commands are loved by God but are not given grace and know nothing of it because they have never sinned and never needed it. Grace was not sought by man but was sent in search of man, and God rejoices to bestow it on everyone who hungers for it, not because of worthiness but because of utter unworthiness, so that need itself is the qualification that gives assurance of receiving the gift.
Through Christ fallen people are given transformation to recover from the condition into which sin entered through Adam and the divine image was lost through sin and continued transgression. He began His work of conversion at the transgression so that through cultivation of righteous principles man may gain victory over bias to evil, the senses no longer warped and twisted and the faculties no longer perverted and wasted on objects that lead away from God, and in and through grace bestowed by heaven words, thoughts, and energies may be purified, a new character formed, and the debasement of sin overcome. Jesus Christ has been given to the world to restore the moral image of God in man and to reshape character, for children receive from Adam an inheritance of disobedience, of guilt and death. Because God's law remained sacred and immutable so that not one jot or tittle could be changed to meet man in his fallen condition, Christ came clothing divinity with humanity, and by His death made it possible for man to be restored to the favor Adam lost, with elevation to the highest position possible only through the merits of His blood by accepting Him as substitute.
Obedience in Christian Life
Romans 5:13 stands in the contrast between Adam and Christ, for Adam became a law to himself and his disobedience brought discord and separation from God, while Christ lived in perfect obedience and set an example others could follow. In His own character He manifested the character of God, pleasing not Himself but living more than thirty years of pure disinterested benevolence going about doing good. He came down to the level of those He came to save to regain what Adam lost for himself and for the world, withstanding every temptation and living free from spot or stain of sin, and He came to give men the principles of truth and to teach them how to obey these principles, thereby placing human beings on vantage ground so that sinners beholding Him and believing may be saved.
Through His victory every son and daughter of Adam can be safe by taking hold of the crucified and risen Saviour, receiving divine power to overcome and coming off more than conquerors instead of going into iniquity. Those who accept Him may be united to God and receive power to become His children, even though as descendants of Adam they inherit guilt and the sentence of death and the law makes their guilt and condemned condition known. He passed over the same ground where Adam fell and overcame in behalf of humanity, enduring every test and temptation man will ever meet, and had He transgressed the law in one particular He would have been a sinner and His offering would have been a failure, but the enemy overcame Him on not a single point. Those rescued must walk the same path He walked in full, entire dependence upon God, denying self, taking up the cross daily and following Him, depending on Deity as He did, enduring test and trial as He did, and overcoming the world as He overcame, to at last be crowned conquerors and sit with Him on His throne. Man must look to Him and not look to any human being as supreme in counsel and unerring in wisdom.
Abundant grace is provided so that every person whose will is placed on the side of God's will can be an overcomer, with all hope found only in Christ, who retraced the very ground where Adam fell to prove that man can keep the law of God. He by a life of perfect obedience redeemed man from the penalty brought by Adam's violation of the law, bearing that penalty for past transgressions to reinstate the sinner in favor with another chance and a second trial, and He imparts His righteousness to make it possible to keep God's holy law, His blood availing only for those who return to allegiance and obey the law they violated, for He never becomes a party to sin. No one can use Adam's guilt and fall to excuse his own sin or to plead inability to keep the law, for Calvary was a perfect sacrifice that gave a whole Saviour with sufficient grace and power to work away from natural defects and tendencies and advance in the divine life. When the Father gave His Son to live and die for man He placed all the treasures of heaven at man's disposal and gave every possible advantage for strength to withstand temptation, so there is no excuse for sin, people remain responsible for their own disobedience and cannot plead Adam's fall to justify breaking the law, and to make that excuse casts reproach upon God.
God as owner of man requires the human family to perfect faultless characters and to leave children and future generations an example of steadfast purity and righteousness that would improve the race instead of deteriorating it, until the world would become as Eden. Through the cultivation of righteous principles man may gain the victory over the bias to evil, so that when obedient to God's law the senses are no longer warped and twisted and the faculties are no longer perverted and wasted on objects that lead away from God, and in and through grace bestowed by heaven words, thoughts and energies may be purified, a new character may be formed, and the debasement of sin overcome. This redemption means believers belong to God in body and spirit, must try to reach the standard He has set before them, must glorify Him, must let His peace dwell in their hearts, and must be thankful for being bought with a price and brought where they can have His blessing, rather than disappointing Christ and pleasing Satan by being overcome. Christ redeemed Adam's failure by withstanding every temptation of the wily foe, and His part in overcoming temptation makes Him central to temperance from beginning to end.
The fall of man and the just condemnation of a holy God mean ministry must be judged by whether those ministered to show true conversion, and methods that spend means and labor without producing true conversion are not after the gospel order. Adam's transgression proves God means what He says, man cannot set aside His commands with impunity, and partial observance is not accepted. Christ as the second Adam redeemed humanity from the suffering brought by Adam's fall by overcoming the enemy in every point, and through His strength people can receive eternal life.