WWUTT 138 Federal Headship (Romans 5:18-21)

Federal Headship and Original Sin in Romans 5

You are born under the federal headship of Adam. You are born again under the federal headship of Christ. Federal headship, where is that term in the Bible? Well, you won't find it there, but it's still an important doctrine when we understand the text.

This is when we understand the text, a daily study of God's word, that we may be filled with the knowledge of his will. Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. We continue our subject of original sin this week, today in Romans chapter five, verses 18 through 21. If you want to open up your Bibles and join with me there, our oh so riveting subject today is federal headship.

What is that? Well, how do you typically associate the word federal? Usually with government, right? You have the Federal Bureau of Investigation or a federal offense. Well, as this ties in with original sin, as we talked about earlier in the week, we are all descendant from Adam and have inherited Adam's sin because Adam is our federal head.

Now, it's a little bit difficult for us to understand this concept since we live in a republic, which is a government by the people and for the people. But if we were to compare this to a monarchy, maybe you would see the connection a little bit better.

Like a king who declares war against another king commits his entire nation to war because he is that country's, those people's federal head. So they all have to do what that king says that his people must do.

He declares war against another nation. All those people are therefore at war since he is their federal head. So Adam is our federal head. And because of Adam's sin, his sin was then imputed upon each and every one of us.

And we are under that curse. Condemnation came to all men because of Adam's sin. And that's what we read here, starting in verse 18. So Romans 5, verse 18. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.

For as by the one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience, the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.

So that as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness, leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. All right, let's go back to verse 18 here. Therefore, as one trespass, because remember, Adam just committed one sin.

He broke one law that God had laid down in the garden. You shall not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eve was tempted by the serpent. She gave the fruit to Adam. He ate it. They disobeyed God.

Sin came into the picture and then death as a result so that one trespass, the one law that Adam broke, led to condemnation for all men. So one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.

Now, of course, we're talking about Christ's act of righteousness, but we're not just talking about his death on the cross. We're talking about his entire life, which he lived perfectly and Adam did not.

Jesus accomplished everything that Adam failed at doing. When you look at Matthew chapter four, Jesus's temptation in the desert, Jesus was tempted in very specific ways. It was the same three ways that Adam was tempted, but gave into every one of those temptations.

Jesus, however, resisted the temptation of the devil and was perfected as a sacrifice for our sins. Let's look at it. Matthew chapter four, starting in verse three. The tempter came to him and said, if you are the son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.

But Jesus answered, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, if you are the son of God, throw yourself down for it is written, he will command his angels concerning you and on their hands, they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone.

Jesus said to him, again, it is written, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test. Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdom of the world and their glory, all the kingdoms of the world.

And he said to him, all these I will give you if you will fall down and worship me. And then Jesus said to him, be gone, Satan, for it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.

Then the devil left him and behold, angels came and were ministering to him. First John 2 .16 talks about the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes and the pride of life. It is those three sins, those three ways that the devil tempted Jesus, but Jesus resisted the temptation in all three of those occasions.

Adam, however, failed at being tempted in that way. So Adam, by his sin, all sin came into mankind. By Christ's obedience, he becomes that living perfect sacrifice so that we might receive justification.

So we're back in Romans 5, again, verse 18, that one trespass of Adam's led to condemnation for all men. So one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. So again, Christ's act of sacrifice on the cross was made perfect by his acts of obedience and perfect living in the years prior to that with his whole life, all right?

For as by the one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience, the many will be made righteous. Now, none of us can blame Adam for our sin. We are willing participants in Adam's sin.

We have inherited his sin nature, but you have done things that Adam did not do in the garden, all right? You have lusted, you have committed adultery in your heart, as Jesus talks about in the Sermon on the Mount.

If you've ever hated another person, then you've committed murder against them in your heart. If you have called them names, then you're liable to the fires of hell, as it also talks about in Matthew 5.

You've coveted, that is a sin of the heart. You have taken God's name in vain, that is blasphemy against God. All of these things you have done on your own, and you cannot blame anyone for those things.

You will have to give an account of yourself before God, as it says in Romans 14. So nobody's gonna be able to point the finger at Adam and say, hey, he messed up in the garden, and that's why I sinned.

You are willing participants in Adam's sin nature. By his disobedience, we were made sinners, but by Christ's obedience, the many will be made righteous. Verse 20 now, the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.

So now we're talking about the law as it was given to Moses. The law came in to increase the trespass. If you'll remember back to Romans 3, verses 19 and 20. Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

For by the works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. So we heard the law of God like the 10 Commandments. Don't do this, don't do this, don't do this, and as we're hearing those 10 Commandments being ticked off, we're thinking to ourselves, yeah, I've done all of those things.

I have violated the perfect law of God. So we became aware, we became knowledgeable of those trespasses, but where sin increased, where a knowledge of that sin became apparent to us, grace abounded all the more.

We had to hear the bad news in order to understand that Jesus' sacrifice on the cross for our sins is the good news. You first had to hear that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. As we talked about in Romans 3, 23, that you have broken God's perfect law, and you stand condemned before God because of your unrighteousness.

And as you had heard that news, and your mind was open to your sin, and your apparent imperfections in light of God's perfection, grace increased all the more for you when you realized that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has died in your place, which was what you deserved.

You deserved death for your sin, but Christ took that penalty upon himself on the cross, and now the gospel of Jesus Christ is good news. So that as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness, leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

We also have this concept of federal headship understood for us this way in 1 Corinthians 15, starting in verse 45. Thus it is written, the first Adam became a living being. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

The last Adam, of course, being Christ. But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the natural and then the spiritual. First we are born physically, and then we are born again spiritually. That's basically what that passage is saying.

Verse 47, the first man was from the earth, a man of dust. The second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are all those who are of the dust. And as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are from heaven.

Just as we have born the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. And that is what we are undergoing now. If you are in Christ Jesus and you are a follower of Christ, you are being shaped into the image of your creator as it talks about in Romans 8, verse 29.

That is because we are born under the federal headship of Adam physically, but we are born again under the federal headship of Christ spiritually. And Jesus is our federal head. Now, let me ask you this.

How is it that Jesus is our federal head and not Adam? Because wouldn't Adam be Jesus's federal head? No. Why? Well, because Jesus created Adam. No, that's not the reason why. It's because Christ was virgin born.

He was not conceived of the seed of a man. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit. This is why Jesus's perfect life matters. He would not have been able to live a perfect life if he was born of the seed of a man because Adam would be his federal head and Jesus would have been born into sin.

But because Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit, this is why his impeccability matters. Every once in a while, I'll hear somebody say, well, it's not necessary to have to believe the virgin birth. I know that's a complicated deal.

You just have to believe that Jesus lived a perfect life. If Jesus wasn't virgin born, then he could not have lived a perfect life. So all of these things matter as we come to understand not only federal headship, but the doctrine of original sin.

Jesus was without sin because he was virgin born and then verified his sinlessness by living a perfect life, perfecting himself as that perfect sacrifice on the cross for our sins. And now because his righteousness has been imputed to us.

Adam's sin was imputed to us from birth, but from our rebirth, Christ's righteousness is imputed to us. And now when God looks at us, he sees that perfection of his son. Praise God. Lord, I pray that we would be committed to understand deep truths like this because it increases our joy and our worship of this God who has saved us.

Teach us these things as we grow and especially as we understand the words that Paul wrote to the Corinthians, we were born in the image of the man of dust, but we shall bear the image of the man of heaven.

Continue to shape us in the image of Christ. In his name we pray, amen.

You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. We hope you are a part of a church family committed to gospel teaching. And we thank you for including us in your Bible learning.

Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in God's word, when we understand the text.