Title: The Sin of One Man
Commentary on Romans 30
sin by one man
Romans 5:12
Introduction: How did the sin of one man affect mankind? Knowing about the world is an important key to answering the question of how one man's righteousness has affected all mankind. The fact that sin entered the world through the sin of one man, Adam, and death through this sin is a guide to the interpretation of the Bible and the correct answer to the history of mankind's redemption.
1. The world before sin
From the saying that “sin entered the world through one man,” we learn that there was a world before sin. The world before sin came in was a world of “good”. After God created all things in six days, He concluded these words: He said, “God saw all that he had made and saw that it was very good” (Genesis 1:31).
All the vegetables and all the trees bearing fruit with seeds on the earth were luxuriant and growing as human plants. On the ground, livestock and various kinds of animals live peacefully all over the ground in beautiful appearances. The sea was filled with various kinds of fish, and they were swimming freely in the wide and deep sea. Among them, especially human beings, created in the image of God, are loved by God and are living happily in Eden, their dwelling place, eating the fruits of various trees that are bearing fruit.
The world before sin was filled with the glory of God. Because God's creation was the fruit of “it was good,” it was always filled with the glory of God.
2. The sin of one man
Sin entered this world through one man.
(1) Adam failed to keep the covenant of life. This was the covenant of life that God commanded Adam. “From any tree in the garden you may eat freely, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you will surely die” (Genesis 2:16,17). Covenant is only possible with human beings created as human beings. The fact that Adam was created in the image of God means that he was created as a person like God. Adam received one covenant that he had to obey as a condition of personal fellowship with God.
This covenant was a reasonable covenant that Adam was able to keep. We sometimes mistakenly think that the law given to Moses is another covenant of life given to man. The law is not a covenant of life. “Therefore, there is no flesh to be justified before him by the works of the law” (Romans 3:20; Galatians 2:16; 2:21). The law was given only to glorify salvation through the cross of Jesus.
(2) The serpent's participation in Adam's sin teaches the origin of sin. Adam's transgression made man a slave to sin (Romans 6:17, 20). The word “servant of sin” has the same meaning as “servant of Satan”. Because sin came from Satan. However, since the origin of sin revealed in Genesis 3 begins with the serpent, then the question arises as to whether the serpent was Satan. “Of all the wild beasts the Lord God had made, the serpent was the most cunning” (Genesis 3:1).
The serpent is one of God's creations. Therefore, the creation of the serpent is also not an exception to the goodness of God who said that it was “very good” (Genesis 1:31). Then why is it that the serpent was the most cunning of the wild beasts? The word cunning is a word that expresses a cunning and cunning disposition. This is because the crafty Satan used the serpent to deceive Eve, so the serpent appeared as a crafty being. Snakes do not have the ability to speak. But the serpent spoke to Eve. And the serpent tempted Eve to become like God, so she ate of the forbidden fruit. Such cunning wisdom had never been given by God among the wild beasts. Satan entered the serpent and used the serpent to lead Eve into sin.
(3) Eve was the one who committed the sin, but Adam appears in charge. Because Adam also ate of the fruit. God gave Adam the covenant of life. Adam was responsible for his wife, Eve. They say that their eyes were not opened after Eve ate of the fruit, but after Adam ate. “The woman took of the fruit, and ate it, and gave it to her husband with her, and he also ate, and their eyes were opened, and they thought they were naked” (Genesis 3:6,7). What are we guilty of here? You will be able to answer this. Sin is disobedience to the Word of God.
Disobedience to God's Word has no respect. Is the mere eating of the fruit a sin that leads to death? Some people object to this. It is not important that Adam ate of the forbidden fruit or not. The fact that John disobeyed God's Word is important. Since the covenant between God and Adam is a declaration of death that the price for disobedience is death, we cannot avoid God's words.
(4) The consequences of disobedience were decisive for Adam. Adam became afraid of God. When God called Adam, Adam said this. “I heard the voice of God in the garden, and I was afraid and hid because I was naked” (Genesis 3:9,10).
Adam and Eve became ashamed of their nakedness. Adam, who said, “I am naked,” was naked even before he ate of the fruit. However, the reason I became afraid and ashamed of my naked body was because I came to know good and evil and my eyes were opened. The serpent's temptation to Eve came true. In Eden, where everything was good, they did not need to know evil. However, they were not the horns as they would have known, but rather the servants of evil, subject to that evil. Their eyes were opened to see evil. As a result, your eyes are opened anew with lust, covetousness, and lust toward all things very good and good. As a result, their personal communion with God was cut off.
3. The consequences of one man's sin
The sin of one man, Adam, revealed the following two important facts to human society.
(I) It is said that sin entered the world. It was through Adam that evil sin entered this world, whom he said, “It was very good.” Adam became the first sinner to bring sin into the world. This sin brought in by Adam brought a curse to God's very good creation. The sufferings of mankind, the lamentation of all things, and the curse of the earth are also due to Adam's sin.
(2) It is said that death has come. Death means the carcass of the body. According to God's declaration, "I will surely die," I have returned to the dust. The death sentence is not an immediate death sentence. The proclamation, “In the sweat of your face you shall eat food, and eventually return to the dust,” allowed Adam to have a limited continuation of life on earth. This same Adam's curse is also being applied to his descendants. And the declaration of the dead body indicates that it also includes the spiritual body, which is an eternal body in the New Testament era (Rev 20:14,15).
Conclusion: In this way, the sin of one man, Adam, brought sin and death to all mankind. “In the same way, all have sinned,” he said. Adam became the first sinner and as a result died. Adam, a sinner, produced sinners like himself in his own image, and they too came to die as sinners like Adam. The only way to be delivered from this sin and to be saved is by God's grace, and God gave us a new hope by sending His Son into the world to pay the price for Adam's sin.