The Foundations of the Faith

Studies in Genesis 1-11

Sermon Number Twenty: The Doctrine of the Fall (part 5)

Jim Bordwine, Th.D.

Introduction

REVIEW

In our continuing study of the doctrine of the fall, we have reached the point where we are considering how this teaching develops in Scripture after the initial presentation of the material in Gen. 2 and 3. I want to take the time to review the most significant aspects of the last sermon as we prepare to move to the next matter of interest.

In the last sermon, I stated that the doctrine of the fall develops according to two primary themes: depravity and redemption. Recognizing that these two categories of doctrine cover a great deal of theological ground, I noted that they are, nevertheless, sufficient descriptions in terms of an overview of how the doctrine of the fall relates to the rest of God’s revelation. Most of what we find in Scripture is related, either directly or indirectly, to these issues of man’s depravity and man’s redemption.

So, our concentration last time was on the issue of man’s depravity. We looked at two passages, both in Paul’s monumental work, the epistle to the Romans. In the fifth chapter, we considered a passage which treats the fall of man in a broad sense. In this particular passage, we also had explained Adam’s exact role in the whole episode of the fall. I noted two primary truths taught in this passage in regard to Adam’s role and the results of the fall. First, Paul teaches that Adam functioned as a representative of the human race. He states that “sin entered into the world” through Adam and with sin came death (v. 12). This was, of course, just what God warned. As Paul explains it, death must be seen as an all-encompassing way of describing the results of Adam’s disobedience.

More significantly, however, is the rest of v. 12: “and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.” I asked: How is it possible for Paul to say that “all sinned” even when “all” were not present in the Garden and “all” did not disobey the Creator? The answer, of course, is that Adam must have had some unique relation to the rest of humanity. Paul gives us details about something which was true at the time of the fall, even though it was not specifically stated to Adam or specifically mentioned in the text: Adam functioned not just as an individual, but as the representative of all people. This is known as federal or covenant headship. The Scripture teaches that Adam, as the first man and the one from whom all other men would descend, carried on his shoulders the responsibility of his race as he reacted to the condition established by the Creator. I emphasized that there is no other way to explain Paul’s statements here in Rom. 5.

Second, Paul teaches that, as our representative, Adam’s sin resulted in universal condemnation. The first place where this truth is specified is in v. 16: “And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation...” The Bible makes plain the idea that the death threatened and the death experienced by Adam and his descendants is something greater than the mere cessation of physical life. As creatures in rebellion against the Creator, we became unacceptable to Him. Our corrupted natures could not be tolerated by His perfect and sinless nature. The result was death to us, yes, but death in a broader, all-encompassing sense, death not only of body but also of soul.

The word (katakrima) which Paul uses is a legal term; it represents the result of a judgment. The state described by this word relates to fallen man’s status in the eyes of God following Adam’s transgression. And, as Paul continues, he states that the essence of our condemnation is that we have been “made sinners.” (v. 19) Here, the word translated “were made” (kathistemi) means “to be made to be something.” The apostle explains that we were “made to be sinners” by nature through the disobedience of the one man, Adam; we became something which we were not before Adam transgressed.

After looking at a broad presentation of the doctrine of depravity in Rom. 5, we moved to the third chapter where Paul speaks about the specifics of our fallen natures. Generally speaking, we have been made sinners, but what exactly does that mean? What does it mean to be a sinner? What characteristics belong to the nature of a sinner? The apostle begins with a stinging, universal declaration: There is none righteous, not even one. In 3:10-18, he then presents a disturbing account of man in his state of sin. Here we learn what Adam’s transgression did to us; we see what we really are like in the eyes of God: There is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; we have turned aside and have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one; our throat is an open grave; with our tongues we keep deceiving; the poison of asps is under our lips; our mouth is full of curing and bitterness; our feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in our paths, and the path of peace have we not known; there is no fear of God before our eyes.

This is what it means to be “made a sinner,” as Paul said in the previous passage. This is death, death of the soul, death of the mind, death of affections, death of will. This is what we are and we cannot escape. What Paul presents is known as the doctrine of total depravity or total inability. This Biblical teaching, so forcefully and completely presented by the apostle, says that fallen man is corrupt in every faculty of his being; it says that fallen man does and must act and desire and speak according to this corrupted nature. He has no choice and is in bondage to this corrupted nature. He cannot escape—he has no thoughts of escape, but revels in his corruption! This is where Adam’s sin led us; this is what it means to die; this is my nature and your nature and the nature of every human being ever conceived.

END OF REVIEW

02. The Development of the Doctrine (continued)

I closed that portion of the sermon by asking another question: What is our hope? We know what Adam’s transgression did to us. We know that we were “made sinners” in him and we know that as sinners, we give manifold expression to our depravity at all times. We know that we are dead and incapable of changing what we are by nature. So, what is our hope? Or, is there hope? Thanks be to God, our hope is the second theme which shows up as the doctrine of the fall develops in Scripture. Our only hope is redemption. Let’s return to Paul’s master-work of theology, the epistle to the Romans, and continue following his line of reasoning as he explains what God has done in response to the fall of man.

Listen again to the words of Paul: “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.” (5:19) There it is! There is our redemption! There is the Second Adam obeying, persevering and rescuing! Adam disobeyed and plunged us all into misery and hopelessness, but even so, Paul declares, Christ obeyed and delivered us from that misery and gave us hope.

I mentioned before that Rom. 5 covers both our condemnation in Adam and our redemption in Christ. Paul explains how each figure, first Adam and then Christ, functioned as the representative of his people. So, yes, through Adam’s disobedience, we all were condemned, we all were made sinners and we all have the characteristics described by Paul in the third chapter. This goes for adults, young people, children and infants. There has never been a human being conceived who has not been condemned as a sinner; there are no exceptions, no excuses and there is no way out of this condemnation because what Adam did affected our natures, it changed what we are and, therefore, as we have seen, we stand condemned before a holy and righteous God.

Even so, Paul writes, even in spite of that, even though our father Adam fell, even though we all fell in him, even so, through the obedience of the Christ, we are made righteous! Do not miss the focus of this remark. Condemnation came in Adam, but righteousness comes in Christ Jesus. Death came in Adam, but life comes in the Savior. In Adam we were made sinners, but in Christ we are made righteous. Paul contrasts Adam and Christ—one failed, the Other succeeded; one’s actions brought about damnation, but the actions of the Other resulted in redemption. There is no mistaking Paul’s emphasis—the whole race was lost in Adam, but salvation is in Christ; all were alienated from God in Adam, but restoration is in Christ. Adam does nothing to redeem us and could do nothing to redeem us; likewise, all of his descendants do nothing and can do nothing to redeem themselves. Paul speaks of Christ’s role in redemption in an exclusive manner. There is no salvation outside Him, there is no restoration except in Him. Just as surely as we were lost in Adam, so we are restored in Christ.

Paul elaborates upon this idea in the sixth chapter and explains the concept of union with Christ:

3 [D]o you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin.

Those who have Christ as Savior have, as it were, died with Him and have, as it were, been raised to newness of life with Him (vv. 3, 4). Paul’s language underscores the vicarious nature of redemption. Christ acted on our behalf. He died, not because He was a condemned sinner, but because He was our Substitute and we were condemned. Consequently, in salvation, God considers the payment made by Christ to be full satisfaction for our transgressions; and, in salvation, God graciously imputes to us the righteousness of the sinless Savior. So, in Christ, the sinner is forgiven because his debt is paid and he is “made righteous” because God credits to the sinner the perfection of His own Son. Before, God declared us condemned due to sin, but in Christ, He declares us righteous because of what His Son provides.

Further, Paul explains that, in Christ, the absolute power of our corrupted nature is broken so that we no longer must live as slaves to sin. If we have died with Christ, the apostle declares, we are freed from sin (vv. 6, 7). He doesn’t mean that sin disappears and we are found without sin; he means that the controlling power of sin is disrupted, he means that we are brought to spiritual life from spiritual death. Paul also admonishes us that since all this is true, we are to be done with sin. Sin must not reign in our mortal bodies (v. 12); previously we were servants of unrighteousness, now we are servants of righteousness.

We must ask: What do all these statements indicate? Taking into account what Paul taught about the fallen state of man in Rom. 3 and 5, what is he now saying as he continues writing? Clearly, such statements, let me stress, indicate a fundamental change in the sinner’s status before God. Remember that Paul spoke at length of the result of Adam’s transgression. Adam’s disobedience meant that we are “made sinners” and, therefore, condemned before God. Adam’s disobedience left us incapable of any good desire or any good act. Adam’s disobedience left us without the fear of God before our eyes. But now, in the sixth chapter, Paul is describing us in a different manner. Now we are freed from sin, now we have died with Christ, now we have been raised with Christ, now we walk in newness of life. Now, as Paul describes our status in Christ, he indicates a fundamental change in the way God views us. The only explanation which he gives for this change in status is Jesus Christ. Paul’s comments are based upon Christ’s work, which the apostle detailed in the previous section:

5:17 For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

5: 18 So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.

5: 19 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.

5: 20 And the Law came in that the transgression might increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Let me repeat that the only explanation given by Paul for the change in our status is Jesus Christ. He did something which countered the disobedience of Adam and which was able to change us and change God’s perspective on us. Jesus, our beloved Savior, redeemed us from condemnation and death.

In chapter seven, Paul supports his admonitions regarding holy living; he uses himself as an example of the continuing struggle the believer faces as he subdues his sinful impulses according to the law of God. The dominating power of sin has been broken, but the influence of sin remains with us in this life and must constantly be opposed by the righteous principles of God’s revelation. Toward the end of chapter seven, the apostle sums up the conflict experienced by every true child to God:

22 ... I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, 23 but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.

Paul’s statement that he “joyfully concur[s] with the law of God in the inner man” must be compared to 3:10 ff. There, this same apostle said that he is not righteous, that he doesn’t understand, that he doesn’t seek after God, that he has turned aside and become useless, that he is not good, that his throat is an open grave, etc. There, in the third chapter, this same man described his fallen nature, but here he says that he “joyfully concurs with the law of God.” Paul is proving the reality of redemption. He is introducing the doctrine of sanctification. Coming out of chapter five, Paul teaches that those fallen in Adam, those bearing the characteristics listed earlier in chapter three, can be restored and can be reconciled to God in Christ. But, as was made plain in chapter six, the redeemed man, the man who is in Christ must deal with the continuing presence of sin. In his regenerated mind, he now knows good and desires to do good, but his flesh battles against the expression of good. This is the struggle which Paul details in chapter seven.

Paul pours out his soul for us to that we might fully understand the joy of redemption and the agony of fighting against the continuing presence of sin in us. He is giving us an honest presentation of what happens when a condemned sinner is redeemed in Christ. That sinner longs to know and obey the law of God, but that sinner must wrestle with the sinful nature which yet belongs to him in this life. Sin no longer reigns, as Paul says, but sin still is present and this is what causes the truly born again man to grieve before God. He wants to be free of sin’s influence and he wants to be found spotless in the eyes of God, but, in this life, he must settle for an ongoing contest.

And, so, the apostle comes to a conclusion in v. 24: “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” Consider what a remarkable comment that is compared to what Paul said about sinners in chapter three. No sinner would, under normal conditions, ever lament his condition because there is no desire for good in him and no fear of God before his eyes. No sinner would ever express such grief over his condition unless some change had occurred in his nature. This is what Paul has been teaching. In Christ, we are awakened from death and are able to have a true perspective on ourselves and our condition. Then we mourn as we long to be done with sin and enjoy the holiness of God in every respect.

In Rom. 7, we come face to face with the “already, but not yet” aspect of redemption. We are redeemed in Christ and God will cause us to persevere, but in this life we have this continuing struggle to do what we now know is right and what we now want to do. We are saved, yes, but, as Paul said in v. 25, “on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.”

All that Paul tells us in this section (chapters 5, 6 and 7) leads to an important question. He has told us that we were condemned in Adam and has told us that we find redemption in Christ and that we, from that point, seek to master the sin which remains in us. But there is a question which lingers; there is one question which Paul has kind of answered, but has not answered fully: What about the condemnation of 5:18, 19? There, Paul wrote that “through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men...” and “through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners...” Then, Paul wrote about union with Christ and about his own struggle with sin, but he has not yet explained exactly how that sentence of condemnation was lifted. We know that is was lifted thanks to Christ, but how exactly? What did He do for us or how did God find us acceptable in Christ when, before, we were unacceptable?

We must remember that one of the chief issues in the book of Romans is our condemnation. Paul made an “air-tight” case against fallen man based upon Adam’s relationship to humanity. He was our representative, our head, and the consequences of his actions belonged to all of us. In him, we were made sinners. But, Paul also declares that those who were “made sinners” are “made righteous” in Christ. So, that which Paul has emphasized regarding Christ is now driven home with incredible force and authority:

8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

Paul explains exactly how the condemned sinner is made righteous. The sentence of condemnation which rests upon us as sinners is removed by God when we are considered “in Christ Jesus.” It is that truth which ultimately delivers us not just from God’s condemnation and not just from sin’s reign, but even from sin’s influence. This is the answer to Paul’s lament. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, so there will be an end to our struggle with sin. Christ has set us free from sin and death. The law, as Paul taught all the way back in chapter five, could only expose sin, it could only confirm that we were, in fact, sinners. But, what the law could not do, God did by “sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh.” (v. 3)

Jesus became a Man and presented Himself an offering for sin. This is why the sentence of condemnation has been lifted for us. Jesus died in our place, Jesus took our punishment, Jesus was our Substitute. All of this has been implied by Paul in chapters five and six, but here he states it with absolute clarity. God’s law, which is a representation of His holy character, condemned us because we have a fallen, sinful nature. But God’s Son came from heaven and gave Himself for us. He was condemned for us and that is why there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. The price has been paid, the punishment has been received, the sentence has been carried out. Again, Paul has already implied this in previous statements, but here he spells it out for us: Christ has set us free from the law of sin and of death” by becoming one of us and, like Adam, representing us before God.

This is where the doctrine of the fall concludes. It concludes with our restoration, our redemption in Christ. In the Savior, we return to God and God receives us once again. What Paul teaches in Romans is the reason we declare that salvation is by and of Christ alone. We were lost, we were God’s enemies, we had no power or desire to be restored to God’s favor, but Christ delivered us from that lost state.

03. The Application of the Doctrine

In terms of application, one thing, in particular, comes to mind: What is your response to this wonderful news? You are fallen in Adam, you are what Paul says you are in Rom. 3. You have no possibility of deliverance from that miserable state. You know that you do not keep the law of God perfectly. You know that you have done what God forbids and you know that the lest sin makes you guilty and unacceptable before God. You know that you give testimony daily to the truthfulness of Paul’s assessment of your nature. What is your response? This is the gospel. This is what most of us have heard many times; this is what some of you are taught in your home by your parents. What is your response? Have you fled to Christ for salvation? Have you embraced Him as your Redeemer? Have you heard what the holy Word of God says about you and have you seen that your only hope is in the One who came to this earth to die in your place? If so, then you have cause for rejoicing and thanksgiving. If not, then you have cause for trembling only. If you face God without Christ, then you will be judged according to the works produced by your fallen nature.

Conclusion