WWUTT 1232 Death Through Sin? (Romans 5:13)

Original Sin Comes from Scripture, Not Human Invention

The doctrine of original sin comes from the Bible. It's not something that man made up, but that the spirit reveals to us through the word of God, which we have laid out for us here in Romans chapter five, when we understand the text.

This is when we understand the text, a daily study in the word of Christ for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness. Find all our videos and other ministry resources at www .utt .com.

Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

Romans 5:12–14 and the Doctrine of Original Sin

Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study in Romans five and continue in the section that we're looking at this week, verses 12 through 14. The apostle Paul wrote to the church that was in Rome. Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.

For sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

Now, as we go through this section this week, I'm dividing up each one of these verses into each respective day. So yesterday we were looking at verse 12. Today, we're kind of looking at verse 13, and then tomorrow will be verse 14.

I say today we're kind of in verse 13 because I really want to spend a lot more time in verse 12, but then we'll get to the point that Paul is making here in verse 13 as well. To summarize what we were looking at yesterday, what we were considering regarding the doctrine of original sin, I'm gonna read to you from the Baptist Catechism.

So this also referred to as Keech's Catechism begins with question number 17. I'm gonna start there and then continue on to the next several questions. So in the Baptist Catechism, question 17, what is sin?

Answer, sin is any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God. And the reference that's given there is 1 John 3, 4, which plainly states that sin is lawlessness. So when we've broken God's law, we have sinned, all right?

There's your definition of sin, keeping that in mind as we continue on. Question 18, what was the sin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created? Answer, the sin whereby our parents fell from the estate wherein they were created was their eating of the forbidden fruit, the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil that God told them not to eat from in the Garden of Eden.

Question number 19, did all mankind fall in Adam's first transgression? Answer, the covenant being made with Adam, not only for himself, but for his posterity, all mankind descending from him by ordinary generation sinned in him and fell with him in his first transgression.

So everybody who's descended from Adam is born with the same sin nature that Adam had once he sinned. So everyone descended from Adam has Adam's sin nature. He is our federal head. We who have been born in the line of Adam through ordinary generation or natural generation as it's stated there in the question.

Now in Hosea 6, verse seven, it mentions there that God made a covenant with Adam. So if you're ever trying to figure out like where do we get this idea that God made a covenant with Adam? Well, Hosea 6, 7 plainly states that God had a covenant with Adam, that Adam transgressed and Israel's transgression, according to Hosea 6 is like Adam's transgression.

So God had a covenant with Israel and they broke the covenant just as God had a covenant with Adam and he broke the covenant. They dealt faithlessly with me. That's what God says of Israel in Hosea 6, 7.

So likewise, Adam dealt faithlessly with God. He did not obey by faith and instead not believing and trusting in God, not rejoicing in God and worshiping him for all his goodness and all his completeness, Adam turned to the one thing that he could not have, believing that that would bring him satisfaction and what it brought him was death.

So we go on here to question 20. Into what estate did the fall bring mankind? Answer, the fall brought mankind into an estate of sin and misery. So now sin is our natural estate. Having been born in the line of Adam under the curse, we are born with a sin nature.

So it's not that we're good until we sin, we sin because that is our nature. It is our very desire to sin and the sin that we sin is like the sin that Adam sinned. It is, it's no different. So just like it says there of Israel in Hosea 6, our sin is like Adam's sin.

1 John 2 .16 says, for all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life is not from the father, but is from the world. Another translation says the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.

And that is the same sin that Adam and Eve committed. They saw the fruit that they could not have. They desired it with their flesh, saw it with their eyes, desired it with their eyes. And in pride, they took from that tree, believing that there was gonna be no consequence.

Believing I need this and what God has given to me is not good enough. I know what's good for me and so I'm gonna take this other thing. Trusting in themselves rather than trusting in God. So that sin which Adam committed is at the heart of every sin that we commit, we who are descended from Adam.

So question 21, wherein consists the sinfulness of that estate wherein two men fell? Answer, the sinfulness of that estate wherein two men fell consists in the guilt of Adam's first sin. The want of original righteousness and the corruption of his whole nature, which is commonly called original sin together with all actual transgressions which proceed from it.

I'm gonna read that one more time so that you got that. Okay, question number 21, wherein consists the sinfulness of that estate wherein two men fell? Where is the sin that we have that we've fallen into as a result of Adam's transgression?

That's another way of saying the question. Answer, the sinfulness of that estate wherein two men fell consists in the guilt of Adam's first sin, Adam was guilty, the want of original righteousness. So that pining once again for that righteousness that existed in the Garden of Eden before sin came into the picture.

And as I said yesterday, what we're seeing happening in the world right now, even like when there's groups setting up the Capitol Hill autonomous zone or they're protesting and rioting and they're storming Walmart and they're ransacking grocery stores and Best Buy and all this other kind of stuff, or they're shouting, defund the police.

This is chaos that's going on, but this is people believing that they can establish an original righteousness. We can create our own utopia. It's absurd what it is that we see that's going on. But even when you're talking about in a civil manner, like a civil group of people enacting laws to try to create their own utopia on earth, any of this stuff that is not in pursuit of Christ is always gonna be an imitation righteousness.

It's never that original righteousness in the Garden of Eden, but in that continued sinfulness and that continued pride of life, people think that they can achieve this on their own. So it's that pining for that original righteousness, but not of Christ.

You want the benefits of Christ, but you don't actually want Christ himself. So there's that continued strain of sin that we see existing even in the world now, all who are descendant from Adam. We're continuing to rebel against God.

We're continuing to say, we can do this without you. We can even create our own righteousness, which is not actually any righteousness at all. So continuing on with this question here, and the corruption of his whole nature, Adam's whole nature became corrupt since God is holy and perfect and now Adam was not.

So he was completely corrupt at that point, which is commonly called original sin. The answer to the question goes on, together with all actual transgressions which proceed from it. So we're all guilty as a result of that first sin.

That's what original sin means. It was the first sin that was committed, that sin in the garden of Eden. That sin is why we're under a curse and why all of mankind descended from Adam has fallen. But every sin that's been committed since then is in the same manner and in the same fashion as Adam's sin.

Once again, 1 John 2 16, all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes and the pride of life is not from the father but is from the world. That describes every sin. And in the Baptist catechism, underneath every question there's a list of references, of Bible references backing up these questions and answers.

To every one of these questions that I've read to you from question 19, 20 and 21, all three of these questions have had Romans 5 12 in the reference list. So Romans 5 12 again, therefore just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin.

So death spread to all men because all sinned. That's the doctrine. And these are the questions that are resulting from that statement so that we come to a full understanding of what's being communicated.

The fact that all of mankind is sinful and fallen because of Adam's transgression. And we can't point the finger back at Adam and say it was all your fault. We're all willing participants in Adam's sin.

And every sin that we commit comes right from the sin that Adam and Eve committed. So going on here now to question 22, what is the misery of that estate where into man fell? Answer, all mankind by their fall lost communion with God.

We are under his wrath and curse. And so made liable to all miseries in this life to death itself and to the pains of hell forever. Question number 23, did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?

Answer, God having out of his mere good pleasure from all eternity elected some to everlasting life did enter into a covenant of grace to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a redeemer.

Now we're getting to the gospel, right? The solution to our sin problem. Question number 24, who is the redeemer of God's elect? Answer, the only redeemer of God's elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who being the eternal son of God became man.

And so was and continue with to be God and man in two distinct natures and one person forever. And then the Baptist catechism goes on from there. But here we have the understanding of our sin and need for a savior.

And that every single person descended from Adam is under that curse because Adam is our federal head. But then being born again, having heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, repenting of our sin, becoming followers of Jesus, Jesus is now our federal head.

And so whereas we were under the curse of Adam, now in Christ, we are under the righteousness of the son of God. And when God looks at us, he sees us as justified. Our sins have been atoned for, we have been redeemed, we have been purified, we are being sanctified, being grown in holiness and righteousness.

And when we stand before God, he receives us in love, in adoption because of what Jesus has done for us. And this all by the measure of his grace. God had elected before the beginning of time whom he was going to save from mankind's sinful estate, all who had descended from Adam.

And he purchased their salvation through the blood of Christ. He elected who was gonna be saved and then atone for their sins by sending his son to die on the cross for us. So everyone who becomes a Christian, God had elected, he had decreed their salvation before the foundation of the world.

That doesn't mean we know who the elect are. So we must share the gospel with everybody. God knows who they are, we don't know who they are. So with no discrimination, we share the gospel with all that the whole world may hear, you have sinned and you need a savior.

And Christ is that savior. Turn from your sin, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, follow him and you will live. This is the gospel proclamation that we must make to turn from your wickedness and turn to righteousness.

And only Christ has that righteousness. If we continue in the estate that we're in in this world, if we continue to live in a worldly manner, also known as pagan, if we live and walk as pagans in this world, well, then we're not really saved and we're not in the grace of God and wearing and walking in the righteousness of Christ.

But if you're truly a follower of Christ, you'll turn away from the ways of this world and walk in a way that is not of this world, but rather something that is other worldly as a citizen of the kingdom of God with heaven above what we are seeking.

Not the things of this world, but the treasures that are above laid up for us in Christ Jesus. All right? I mean, there's many ways that I could go about saying this, pointing you to Christ and away from this world, but that's ultimately where this is going in my varying presentations of this gospel.

Look to Jesus, not to this world. Strive for heavenly things, do not strive for earthly things. Christ is our savior. Nothing in this world will ever satisfy.

Okay?

You get it?

It's all pointing to Jesus. That's the gospel. Christ is the gospel. But if you're truly a follower of Christ, you will demonstrate that. I mean, this is basic Jesus teaching. This is Sermon on the Mount stuff in Matthew chapter seven, verses 13 and 14, enter through the narrow gate.

Wide is the way that leads to destruction. Many find that way because that's the easy way. Narrow is the way that leads to life and few will find it. Verses 15 through 20, a tree and its fruit. A good tree bears good fruit.

A bad tree bears bad fruit. So you will know them by their fruit. Verses 21 through 23, depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. I never knew you. Even among those who will say, Lord, Lord, didn't we do many mighty things in your name?

The only ones that Jesus says will enter the kingdom of heaven are the ones who do the will of my father who is in heaven. So it's not just about knowing the name of Jesus and being able to say, Lord, Lord, but that knowing Jesus has changed your life from a worldly pagan into a godly Christian.

Amen?

Understood? So this is our doctrine of original sin. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, which we had back in Romans 3 .23. And now Paul is laying that out with greater clarity and more distinction here in Romans 5 .12.

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, Adam, and death through sin, that was the consequence for our sin. Paul will sum that up again when we get to Romans 6 .23. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

So continuing on with Romans 5 .12, so death spread to all men because all sin. Now that looks like kind of a strangely worded sentence, but some of the scholars that I read from there basically believe that statement that says, and so, right after the comma, right in the middle of verse 12.

And death through sin, and so, death spread to all men because all sin. In the English, that would probably make more sense translated, and in this way. So it would be like this. Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way, death spread to all men because all sin.

Now I want to make one more statement about this before we jump to verse 13. I've taken up most of the time here talking again about verse 12. This statement is also why I am a young earth creationist.

It's not just because I take a literal reading of Genesis one and two, although that's certainly part of it, but also because to have a consistent hermeneutic all the way through scripture requires you to be a young earth creationist.

Death did not come into the world until Adam sinned. That is the consequence for sin. That's the penalty. Again, the wages of sin is death. And so in order to have a consistent hermeneutic throughout scriptures, you would have to be a young earth creationist.

If you were an old earth creationist, or you're trying to marry some form of Darwinism with Christianity, which by the way, the two don't go together. But if you're trying to marry these two things together, you're going to come up with some wild inconsistencies because to have this old earth idea would be to say that death existed in creation before Adam and Eve, and it simply can't be done.

That means that death is not the consequence for sin. And it has to be. Death did not come to mankind until Adam sinned. Adam and Eve were the first two people, literal man and woman created in the garden of Eden.

Without that, then there is no doctrine of original sin. And mankind is basically good. We just do some bad things occasionally. So there's really not a need for you to have a savior. So long as you can do enough good things, then you can merit your own righteousness.

This is where you're going to end up by believing some sort of old earth creation model. You have to be young earth to keep this consistent. Now that doesn't mean that a person who's an old earth creationist is not a Christian.

Don't hear me saying that. But I am saying that their hermeneutic is inconsistent. They're trying to bring ideas together that simply don't work. When you take a literal reading of scripture from Genesis to Revelation, you can't help but come to the conclusion, this earth is really not all that old.

Anywhere from six to 10 ,000 years, maybe at the oldest. God created everything with age. I think that's evident because Adam and Eve were fully grown man and woman. You had fully grown trees, fully formed mountains, a fully established sea and land even described for us in Genesis.

So it looks like it's old, but it's not. It's really quite young. God can do that because he's God. Anyway, that's my soapbox on young earth creationism there at that particular point. We didn't even really get to verse 13 here and we're out of time.

But I guess I at least have to read it because it's in the title of this episode of the broadcast. So here we go. For sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law.

Now I'm going to mention briefly what this means. We'll come back to talking about it some more tomorrow. So remember that our definition of sin is lawlessness according to 1 John and according to what we read in our catechism question.

Sin is breaking the law of God. So how was there sin in the world from Adam to Moses if the law was not given until Moses? So the point that Paul is simply making here is that the guilt of Adam still continued even though there was no law.

So there did not have to be a law for there to be a demonstration of the sinfulness that was inherent in mankind. People were still rebelling against God and the wage of that sin was still death hence God's judgment upon the world.

Otherwise God would have been unjust when he judged the world through the global flood if there had not been sin reigning in man even from Adam to Moses. That's simply the point that Paul is making there.

Sin was even still in the world before a law was given but then the law came in and we became aware of our sin. The law pointed out to us the fact that we had hearts that were rebelling against God as the natural consequence of Adam's sin in the garden and therefore everyone who is descendant of Adam.

Make sense? Okay, we'll stop there and then I'll pick up more about verse 13 and on into verse 14 tomorrow. Let's pray. Heavenly father, we thank you for the goodness that you have shown us in Christ and I pray that we walk in his righteousness today.

Teach us to do what is right according to your word not in the ways of this world and certainly let us not fall into despair or depression or anxiety over the things that are happening in this world whether we're seeing it happen on a large scale or we're just concerned about our own private matters going on in our lives but we commit every way unto you and teach us to live in these moments in a way that is pleasing and glorifying unto Christ our savior.

In Jesus name we pray, amen.

You can find a complete list of videos, books, devotionals and other resources online at www .utt .com. Thanks for listening.