Adam's sin is his failure to obey the 'law of works' that was set to him by God. Ironically, in breaking this first law, or commandment, Adam brought upon the 'law of works' to all men in revealing to Man morality. Moses later gives a more defined Law to the Jews, but the 'law of Nature' continues to exist in the Gentiles (Romans 2:15). God also can give specific instruction to Man, which then becomes added to the 'law of works' for the people in question, as with the Jewish political and religious law, or when God commanded Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. Disobedience to this natural law is punishable by death, as with Adam. Adam is made mortal and becomes capable of death by being removed from the presence of God.
This relocation carries two consequences. First, Adam is physically relocated, and as is logical, his posterity is physically born apart from God's presence in the Garden. Likewise, Adam's posterity acquires the same mortal characteristics as Adam in that they too will die. But in reality, being born mortal is not so much a punishment as a circumstance. It is not something being taken away, but something not being given. Immortality is no more our right than it was Adam's; God gave it to Adam and for his sin took it away. The second consequence is that of Morality, or knowledge of good and evil, while at the same time lacking the local example of God. Man knows God with his mind but does not experience Him with his heart, and chooses to act according to evil rather than good (Romans 1:20-21).
As for the judgment of this sin, I'm not sure I can admit to being born worthy of eternal damnation. That Hell exists, no reasonable man or Christian can disagree; that all men deserve Hell's torment due to another man's transgression, and furthermore deserve that torture simply by their being birthed, no just man can agree. John Locke writes it in this way:
...nobody can deny but that the doctrine of the gospel is that death came on all men by Adam's sin, only they differ about the signification of the word death, for some will have it to be a state of guilt, wherin not only he, but all his posterity was so involved that every one descended of him deserved endless torment in hellfire. I shall say nothing more here, how far, in the apprehensions of men, this consists with the justice and goodness of God, having mentioned it above, but it seems a strange way of understanding a law, which requires the plainest and directest words, that by death should be meant eternal life in misery. Could anyone be supposed [to understand], by a law that says, 'For felony thou shalt die,' not that he should lose his life, but be kept alive in perpetual exquisite torments? And would anyone think himself fairly dealt with, that was so used?
To this they would have it be also a state of necessary sinning and provoking God in every action that men do, a yet harder sense of the word death than the other. God says that, 'in the day that thou eatest of the forbidden fruit, thou shalt die,' i.e., thou and thy posterity shall be ever after incapable of doing anything but what shall be sinful and provoking to me and shall justly deserve my wrath and indignation. Could a worthy man be supposed to put such terms upon the obedience of his subjects? Much less can the righteous God be supposed, as the punishment of one sin wherein he is displeased, to put man under the necessity of sinning continually, and so multiplying the provocation. (Reasonableness of Christianity, 3-4)
It is not unjust for God to remove immortality from Man, who received it as a gift anyway. But for God to punish Man in such a way that all men should only act in ways that deserve further punishment, what good is life in that sense? Being mortal is better than not being. But receiving "life" with the inherent desert of hellfire is unjust, and it would be better not to live (Matthew 26:24). That is not to say that men do not at some point become deserving of Hell (James 2:10-11). And in fact, being given freedom to live righteously and choose good over evil, yet lacking the present goodness of God (as per Adam's removal from the Garden), "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). But we must note the key terms in Paul's writing. "All have sinned," not "Adam has sinned" or "Eve has sinned" but ALL, meaning that we are guilty of our sin, not another man's. Also, "sinned" is important, because it implies that action was necessary to deserve punishment. Paul has not given us "all were born and fall short of the glory of God," but "all have sinned." Lastly, we read "and fall short of the glory of God." By this is meant eternal torment in fire? It seems to me that falling short of the glory of God (namely freedom and holiness) is equivalent to man's loss of immortality, and his loss of the LORD's consistent presence that enabled him to do good.
Man is guilty because he transgressed against the Law (whether of conscience or Moses), but not because he was born. Jesus is asked how to inherit eternal life and replies "What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?...You have answered rightly; do this and you will live" (Luke 10:25-28). Romans 2:13 tells us, "for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified." And God says directly in Leviticus 18:5, "'You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them: I am the LORD.'" Again in Revelations 22:14, "Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city." If a man were to follow the Law entirely, perfectly, he would live. That warrants that man has the opportunity to be obedient unto God, and that he is not born into uncontrollable perpetual sin.
It follows, that if man may receive life by following the law perfectly, that when he fails to follow the law, he should be counted guilty for his actions. But it must be noted, the judgment is for his actions, not the failure of another. Jesus says that when He returns with the Father, "He will reward each according to his works" (Matthew 16:27). Even more examples of personal judgment for workers of iniquity can be found in Matthew 7:23, Matthew 25:41-46, Luke 13:27, Matthew 5:29, 2 Thessalonians 1:8, Revelation 14:9, Revelation 20:10 and John 5:29.
Now I must entwine these statements. Scriptures show that if man follows the Law perfectly he will live; if man fails at any point to follow the Law his just desert is death and he will be punished according to his transgressions. To these truths, it must also be reconciled that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Man is not born into a state of perpetual sinning; it would be better for him not to live, but receiving life is not in man's control - thus God would be considered unjust for forcing upon man a state of being which was torment. Yet even being born with the opportunity to obey, Man cannot of his own will. Granted with the terrible result of God's trust in, and love of, man, that is Freedom, having obtained knowledge of good and evil by Adam's action, and being removed from God's presence as a consequence, Man is unable to live without choosing evil. It is different than being predestined to evil, or being born into punishment. Man acts of his own will and receives consequences for his iniquity. That he is unable to perfectly do good (which is equal to holiness, or the glory of God which we all fall short of) is logical in that he has no Presence, Power, or Example of Good by which to adhere.
Here enters Jesus Christ with a new Law. By obeying the 'law of faith' and believing in the redemptive grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the gap between the Law's standards and Man's obedience is filled. Furthermore, God's grace forgives man his failings, both past and future; for, being outside of time, all of man's failures simply represent a difference between God's standard and man's adherence. Jesus Christ makes up the difference (it is a complete and total difference) so that no work of man has an affect on his claim to eternal life any longer. Instead, being faithful to Christ grants eternal life. In His own words, Jesus says, "'Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill'" (Matthew 5:17). What is Christ if not the great Mediator? Between God and Man, disobedience and Law, sin and sanctification?
In addition to being justified in Christ, Man receives the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is the restoration of God's presence to man as Adam and Eve experienced in the Garden. Just as they did good while walking with the LORD, so followers of Christ may do good. John 14:23-26, "Jesus answered and said to him, 'If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me. These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.'" Through faith alone we fulfill the Law, and by faith in Christ alone do we receive the Holy Spirit which empowers us to live in accordance to God's nature. I pray, for the reader who does not know our mighty Savior, yet who tries to adhere to the Law without the Presence of God, or who simply chooses evil over good. There is nothing more necessary than relationship with the Father, through the Son, by the Spirit.
In faith,
Jason
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