John Samson Fills in Today for a Lesson from Romans 1-4

Technical Setup and Prayer for the Durban Debate

Welcome to The Dividing Line. My name is John Sampson, pastor of King's Church in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, right at effectualgrace .com. It's a delight to be here filling in for Dr. James White who, this very moment, is preparing for a debate in Durban, South Africa.

Any update, Rich, that we need to know about? Anything you want to say? Okay, well, we're gonna stop and pray about halfway through the show. He is going to be doing a debate on Christology of the gospel, the Christology of the Gospel of John and the Christology of the Quran in the Gray Street Mosque in Durban, South Africa.

And so we're told that that's going to start at 830 their time. They're nine hours ahead of us. Right. So in just over 28 minutes. And again, I was a little confused last week. I may have thought that the mosque debate already took place because I get a little confused when they're doing it in an off room, which is like a conference room or something like that.

Yeah. This is the one they're going to be in the mosque. Okay. So this is the big one. This is the big one. So we'll be praying probably halfway through the show and we'll stop to do that. It'll be terrific to do that.

Amen. Wonderful. Well, today on the program, I'd love for us to turn to God's Word, this time on the subject of justification by faith alone. It is absolutely imperative we understand this and believe the right doctrine in this area because heresy flies at every corner.

And as Martin Luther said, it is the article upon which the church stands or falls. It's true for the church. It's true for any church and it's true for any individual. What you believe about the gospel matters.

I remember just recently having interaction with a fellow minister, someone I'd known since the early 80s, and he was upset with me, to put it mildly, because I was challenging him because he went into certain churches and talked very strongly about how much we had the gospel in common now.

And I will just be honest and say it was Roman Catholic churches. And I said, do you not preach justification by faith alone? I said, I had a funeral service that I was a part of at a Roman Catholic church.

They had no idea who I was. The family asked me to speak and I used the time to speak of the gospel and the fact that anyone who believes the true gospel can be saved. But if we don't, we're under the anathema of God.

And I said, I felt I was duty-bound to say that. And this gentleman said, well, there's been so much accord now between Protestants and Catholics. I said, the rhetoric is a lot kinder, but the anathemas of Rome still stand from the Council of Trent back in the 16th century.

And he came back with an illustration. He said, John, do you imagine Jesus at the judgment of heaven and standing there with a clipboard to make sure we have all our doctrine right before entering into heaven?

And we have to check off the list. And if we don't get it all right, we have to go to hell. I said, no, I don't imagine that at all, but we do have to get the gospel right. Jesus said, you have to believe that he is divine.

He says, unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins. That's Jesus. John chapter eight, verse 24. It's absolutely imperative. We believe the right thing about Jesus. And then I would just respond to your comment about Jesus with a clipboard, with one word, Galatians.

As long as Galatians is in the New Testament, what you and I believe about the gospel is important. As, as, as James White has pointed out many times, all the Judaizing heretics added to the gospel was one word circumcision.

Jesus with a clipboard would say, you get this one wrong. You're out of here. You're not even a true brother. Paul called the Judaizing heretics, false brothers. They had so much in common with the Christians in the gathered community.

They were singing the songs. They were believing perhaps in the true God, in the Messiah ship of Christ. They just believed that you had to do something other than simply believe to be saved. In our day, it's belief in the gospel plus a whole number of other things.

But for them, it's just one thing. You add one thing to the gospel and Paul writes that word anathema over the whole thing. Galatians chapter one. You want to see Paul ticked and upset and grieved and angry?

You read Galatians. He, under the power and influence of the Holy Spirit, wrote some of the strongest language imaginable about the issue and about the gospel and about those who would not affirm it. You think, does Paul not understand love?

Doesn't he understand that the fruit of the Spirit is love? Absolutely. Paul writes of that in the same book, the book of Galatians. The fruit of the Spirit is love and joy and peace and patience. You can love people by simply telling them, unless you repent, you will likewise perish.

Jesus loved people and said that. And Paul wrote what he wrote, knowing what love truly is and what truth really is, so that the truth of the gospel would stand. He opposed Peter to his face. Galatians chapter two talks about.

The Human Need to Stand Before a Holy God

So what is this issue of justification? It is the most important thing we understand regarding the gospel. It's the heart of the gospel and I'd love for us to take some time today to look into it. At the heart of the question that justification by faith alone is answering is, how do we stand before a holy God?

How can we approach him? David the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 130 verse 3, if you, Lord, if you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, who could stand? It's a rhetorical question that's not answered by the text, but the obvious answer is no one.

No one could stand before God if God marks iniquities. It only takes one iniquity, one sin to cause our record to be blemished and we need atonement. It's a drastic thing to sin. You and I are sinners.

I'm not talking to anyone who is not a sinner here. We are all sinners. We've all fallen short of the glory of God and are all going to be justified the same way Romans chapter 3 talks about. In our day it's not popular to talk about this because many have lost sight of the realities of heaven and of hell, yet we learn more about hell from the lips of Jesus than anyone else.

People have a hard time believing in a God who would send people to hell and yet the Jesus of the New Testament says he actually throws people there. They don't voluntarily jump into the lake of fire.

He throws them there. That's the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the Father of Jesus. That's his father he talks about. It's so important we get the right God in the biblical gospel and what does justification answer?

How can we who are unrighteous, who have sinned, who have committed cosmic treason by defying God by our thoughts, our words, our actions every day that we've lived, how can we stand before God? A lot of people are not aware of their sin because to be quite honest the church hasn't talked much about sin.

We've talked about how to have a happy life, happier pets, greener grass, wonderful vacations, seven steps to this, eight steps to that, but very few are talking the biblical gospel and I believe we need a re-evangelization of the church.

We need to know what God says. We need to know a biblical gospel and if we're to turn to anywhere in our Bibles to understand the gospel I believe the center point of it all would be the book of Romans.

I believe every book of the Bible is inspired by God but some are more clear on what the gospel is than others and Romans is all about the gospel especially the first eight chapters and Paul is writing to Rome having never been there and wanting to establish the gospel in the hearts and minds of the people and he writes in chapter 1 Paul a servant or slave of Christ Jesus called to be an apostle set apart for the gospel of God.

We could spend much time on each of the words because they are significant here but I remember learning from someone who knew Greek a lot more than I did at the time and I'm still learning it but he said the key word for him in this particular verse is one that goes under the radar and I was all ears and he said it's not the word slave or Christ or Jesus or called or an apostle or gospel or God he says all of those are highly highly significant but what is really important for me is the word of and I was all ears what the word of he says yes because there are two senses in which you and I can use the word of you can speak of something that is about someone.

It's the gospel of God the gospel about God or you could speak in the possessive sense and that is to speak of the gospel of God as belonging to God. He says that's the sense in which this Greek word is being used.

It is God's gospel. Paul is set apart for the gospel belonging to God and the high implication of this text is it's God's gospel. Don't mess with it. I'm a servant I'm a slave of Christ Jesus called to be an apostle set apart for God's gospel.

And in the book of Romans he wants to outline that and many would say his theme is outlined in chapter 1 verses 16 and 17. And depending on which commentary you pick up you probably all find that every one of them agrees that in verses 16 and 17 he outlines the theme of the entire book.

For I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it it's being the gospel. The righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith as it's written the righteous shall live by faith.

What an amazing couple of verses here loaded. These verses are in our society people don't see the need for righteousness. Oftentimes we want peace and harmony and feelings of adequacy and self-worth.

But our biggest need is righteousness. And in the gospel righteousness is revealed. I wonder if that's what you and I think when we think of the gospel oftentimes we think of the love of God rightly. So we think of the mercy of God.

But we should also think of the righteousness or justice of God because Paul writes and says that's what he sees in the gospel in it the righteousness of God is revealed in it being the gospel God's righteousness is revealed and it's from faith from first to last.

As one translation puts it we receive this righteousness by faith from beginning to end as it's written the righteous the just those declared just in the sight of God shall live by faith. Historically the church received much because of a Latin translation of the Bible except that in the Latin translation the word for righteousness is a word that is justificatory and it means to make righteous.

Except when we come to the Greek which is the original language of the New Testament the word is not meaning to make righteous but to declare righteous decay I soon a is the Greek word. And when Martin Luther was exposed to the Greek New Testament Erasmus had translated the New Testament into Greek.

And although Erasmus was on the wrong side of the debate when it came to grace he was used by God dramatically by producing the first Greek New Testament and Luther read it and saw that there was a discrepancy between the meaning of the Latin word which was the word that scholars had been exposed to and now for the first time in centuries the Greek of the New Testament was now being made available decay soon a which means to declare righteous.

And there's all the difference in the world. And for Rome the belief was God would not declare anyone righteous until they were inherently righteous grace has been given to them. They've cooperated with that grace and over a period of time oftentimes thousands even millions of years in purgatory because if someone dies and has any blemish on their soul they don't go immediately to heaven.

They go to a purging place called purgatory. In the Roman Catholic system I believe the place exists for one moment but that's the belief. And over a period of thousands of years even millions of years the purging takes place under the fires of purgatory whereby at the end of that process God see someone absolutely righteous.

He looks down and says I see that soul is now perfect because of my grace of course because of my working in them and now I can declare them righteous in my sight. And they can be escorted by the heavenly angels from purgatory to heaven come now receive the benefits of Christ cross.

That is the Roman Catholic doctrine of justification that God makes righteous and declares someone righteous when they are inherently righteous they would look at the Protestant position. And they did as a legal fiction they would say it's fictional to say that God declares someone right in his sight when they are not inherently right in his sight they are sinners.

But the gospel declares that God declares someone righteous when they are inherently unrighteous. And in Romans chapter 1 verses 18 through to chapter 3 and let me look at it verse 20 all the way through Paul then starts by talking not about the love of God or even the righteousness of God but the wrath of God.

Verse 18. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven. You would think wouldn't you that when Paul is saying the theme is I'm not ashamed of the gospel. It's the power of God for salvation. Let's talk about the gospel.

Well he does. But before he talks about any good news the word gospel is a word that means good tidings good news. Before he ever gets to that he explains what the bad news is. And the bad news is God is good and he's just and he's righteous and therefore he has to punish sin.

His anger against sin is the overflow of its righteousness. And the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness is not a strange place to start. It is for our modern minds who think it's not a positive message to talk about the wrath of God.

But the good news is only seen as good news in the light of the bad news of God's wrath being against us. And it's something Jesus laid out very very clearly. The same chapter of John chapter 3. This speaks of God's love for the world.

In chapter 3 verse 16 speaks of his wrath on all that do not obey the son and come to him and believe in him. John 3 36 Jesus makes that clear. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress or hold under the truth.

They know the truth but they don't allow it to come into their conscious minds. They want to keep it under. They want to just I don't want to deal with it. I want to suppress that. For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them.

And then it talks about his invisible attributes clearly revealed verse 20 on through the rest of the chapter there's a litany of sins listed as a downward progression of sins. And we won't take the time to to look at all of those.

But you read through that and you see really society today and society in every culture it's God's assessment of the entire human race. And for the Jew who might be looking over the shoulder of Paul as he's writing this he might say go get those dirty Gentiles.

Go get them. You you just lay the axe to the tree. You go get them. And in chapter 2 it's as if he says okay righteous Jews. You think you're righteous. You've got the law. You've got the Holy Commandments of God.

But do you keep them. And in chapter 2 he really goes for the Jews and says anyone with the law of God. Do you keep it. Do you observe the very law that you say you love. And in chapter 2 he lays the groundwork to talk about Jews being under the wrath of God as well.

He says there's a benefit in hearing the Word of God rather not hearing it. But if you don't do it it's not helpful at all. And in chapter 3 he sums it up in verse 1 says. What advantage has the Jew. What is the value of circumcision.

Much in every way. To begin with the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. You know the oracles of God. You know the statements that God has made. You're clear about them. You know which books are his.

What. If some were unfaithful does their faith less nest. Nullify the faithfulness of God. By no means let God be true though everyone were a liar as it's written that you may be justified in your words and prevail when you are judged.

And he goes on and talks about the standard of the law which is perfect. The law is holy and good as Romans 7 points out verse 9. What then are we speaking as a Jew. Are we Jews any better off. No not at all.

For we've already charged that all both Jews and Greeks. Greeks is another way of talking about Gentiles are on the sin. Both Jews and Gentiles are condemned under the law of God. They're on the sin as it's written.

And then he basically has obliterated all excuses and all attempts at self-justification. But he looks across the field of war and thinks is anyone still standing. They shouldn't be. But let's just make sure.

And he loads the machine gun with bullets. These bullets being verses from the Old Testament loads it up and boom boom boom boom. He just lets it fly. And with verses from the Old Testament of course the New Testament not yet written.

He tells the story of the universal guilt of the human race. None is righteous. No not one. Oh aren't you being just a little dramatic Paul. Isn't this hyperbole. Aren't you just going a little too far.

Aren't you just being poetic. You're wanting to fill up space in the New Testament. And you want to speak in these tones. Really. No. None is righteous. Now now get this. No not one. What about this lady of it.

No not. What about this guy of it. No not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. Not only is our condition repulsive in the sight of a holy God. We're not even wanting God. We don't even seek for God.

People like to devise services in churches for seekers which is strange. When God says there are none. There is no God seeker. If you are now someone who seeks after God it's because God first sought after you.

I believe services should be devised to please God number one. And for the people of God they should be evangelistic. I'm sure. But it's the people of God gathering to worship the one true God. And they should be regulated as he desires.

It's the same in the Old Testament. When God set up the tabernacle he didn't say. Take a survey of the Canaanites sees what type of service they'd love to come to. It was a tabernacle devised to the nth degree by God.

He says not only will you have this happen in the service but you will have it with this color worn by the priest by this kind of pole of this length with this kind of trapping and nothing else will suffice.

It's my way of the highway. Well I don't like that. I never thought you would. It's God who says this is the way I will be worship. You'll approach me in a holy way. And this is what I devise and design and define as holy.

And you try something else. Well there's chapters in the Bible that talk about two brothers who tried something else and God executed them personally. It's a holy thing to come before God. So what then.

Are we Jews any better off. Not at all. We've already charged that all both Jews and Greeks are under sin as it's written. None is righteous. No not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside together.

They become worthless. No one does good. Not even one. No one does good. Not if they're not doing things for the glory of God. You can build a hospital not for the glory of God. And building a hospital is better than going around murdering people.

There are different degrees of sin. But if you and I are not doing what we're doing for the glory of God and in the name of God and in the name of Christ. It's a good work in societal view. Culturally would say that's applaudable.

But if it's not for the glory of God it's not something that God is pleased with. Even our best attempts at righteousness of their sins. Where's that in the Bible. Isaiah 64 6. All our righteousness is as filthy rags.

The religious mind could understand it if it said all our sins are like filthy rags. But all our righteousness. Yeah. The best we can do is filthy before God. God. Are you not impressed. I build a hospital in your name.

Yeah. And you wanted your name on the side of it. Mm-hmm. You wanted people. Well. No. No. No. I really did. You do it for the glory of God. Fully. I don't know if I've done anything in my life fully 100 for the glory of God.

I'd like to fool myself sometimes. And that's part of my sin. God is so good he forgives even our splendid vices as John Calvin called our works splendid vices. It gets worse. Their throat is an open grave.

They use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. That's like snakes. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood in their paths. A ruin a misery.

The way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. These are probably not verses you'll find on your refrigerator anytime soon. And verse 19 sums it up. Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law.

Why did God send the law. I know I know the religious mind understands. God sent the law to show us his standard. That's correct. God sent the law so that we would be righteous. Uh-uh error. God gave the law to show up the fact that we could not keep it.

Because our hearts are depraved. Our hearts want sin. We love our sin. We don't loathe our sin unless God has converted us and given us a new heart. Hearts of stone do not weep over sin. Maybe they would weep over the effects of our sin but not sin itself.

So why was the law given. Is what says so that every mouth may be stopped. You could say so that everyone would shut up what every mouth may be stopped. Yeah. All the excuses all this all the attempts at self-justification that would stop the law shows us we have not kept the law.

When you ask what is the greatest sin. Martin Luther answered that question by saying. Well what is the greatest commandment. The greatest commandment is love God with all your heart soul mind and strength.

Oftentimes we think the greatest sin is murder adultery and all of the sins of the flesh which indeed are grievous sins. But if the greatest commandment Luther explained is to love God with all our heart soul mind and strength not doing that is the greatest sin.

And I don't know if I've done that one day of my life loved God fully with all my heart soul mind and strength. Even to think wrong thoughts is to dishonor God. Wrong thoughts about him wrong thoughts about his gospel.

All of that is sinful. So the law was given so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may become accountable to God may be held accountable to God guilty before God. Verse 20. It's a key verse.

For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight. Since through the law comes knowledge of sin. God has never accepted any man into heaven by observing the law for the simple fact that no one has kept the law except one.

And that is where the gospel begins to break force from the darkness of man's universal sin one emerges who is man fully man and fully God. He lived a sinless life and died an atoning death. And there we begin to hear about the good news of Jesus Christ.

And at the end of verse 20 when everyone is completely stripped of all attempts of self justification Paul writes. No one's getting into heaven. No one will be declared right in the sight of God. No one will be justified by law keeping ever since through the law comes a knowledge not of righteousness but of sin.

It reveals our sinful hearts. Thank God Paul did not stop there. There's another word in the text. It's the next verse verse 21. But but now the righteousness of God you remember. That's what Paul expressed as the theme of the gospel Romans 117 in it the righteousness of God is revealed.

Well up till now he hasn't talked much about the righteousness of God. He's only talked about the wrath of God. Well now having done so he says. Okay now we can talk about some good news. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law although the law and the prophets bear witness to it.

In other words the law the Old Testament the prophets speak of this even through the sacrificial system of the Old Testament it was pointing forward to something better than those sacrifices a once for all sufficient sacrifice for sin.

The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ. For all who believe we need to recognize even here is a revelation of justification by faith alone the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ.

For all who do what believe don't see anything else added believe. But there is no distinction for all who's the all Jews and Gentiles. Everybody for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift.

Justification by Grace Through Faith Apart from Works

We're going to stop there just for a moment and take time because right now the debate of James White in Durban South Africa is taking place. And let's just stop for a moment and just pray for that. Shall we those that are listening live watching live.

You please join me in prayer. Father we just thank you for this amazing tremendous opportunity in Durban South Africa in a mosque where your champion your man James is now about to stand up anytime now to proclaim the truth about God the truth about Christ.

Lord we pray that your providence would rule in this situation. We know it will but Lord we pray that it will. We pray father for your kingdom to come your will to be done. I pray for James that his health will be strong his voice would be strong his mind would be clear.

Lord that you bring to his remembrance the things that he's prepared in his heart for this debate. Lord we know that this debate will be not only witnessed by many to this very day this very hour but Lord through recordings many will see it afterwards and hear of it afterwards.

Lord would you accomplish all that's in your heart. Lord we think of that verse in Acts 13. And as many as were appointed to eternal life. Believe Lord we thank you. You've got many that are appointed to eternal life who will hear the gospel perhaps even for the very first time in a mosque.

Lord we pray father for the for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on on those that will hear. We pray for the sound system to work. We pray that there'll be no technical difficulties. We pray father for the outworking of your purposes not simply for today but beyond weeks and months and even years from now that you will use this time to cause many to come into the kingdom of God.

Oh God do what is in your heart to do. We believe you set this up. You've opened the way. How majestic is it how much how wonderful is it that your gospel is being proclaimed in walls that have never heard that gospel with hearts that have probably never heard the true gospel.

Oh God accomplish all it's in your heart. And we pray for this in Jesus name. And all who agree with that prayer said amen amen praise the Lord. I'm excited about it. I'm sure you are too. Let's go back to our text in the book of Romans where we've just encountered the righteousness of God being revealed in the gospel as Paul wrote about it in chapter 1 verse 17.

And that was a key verse for Martin Luther in fact the key verse of his lifetime he would later say. In fact I think I've got something on my I brought with me regarding the moment of awakening for Luther.

In fact in the last thousand years what came to be known as the tower experience of Luther might be the most significant historical event in the Western world of the last thousand years. Yep more remarkable than man walking on the moon.

This was it. This was the big one all the ramifications which ensued because of this breathtaking as the philosophy philosophical realm where people were allowed to think for the first time for themselves speak for themselves understand the gospel.

The ramifications are terrific and historic. Here are Luther's own words regarding that tower experience and he describes what happened. He was actually studying Romans chapter 1 verse 17 and reading the insights of a gentleman by the name of Augustine on this particular verse.

It was a fairly obscure article he was reading. It was written centuries before Luther was an Augustinian monk and had access to much of what Augustine had written. He was reading and he these are his words.

I greatly longed to understand Paul's epistle to the Romans and nothing stood in the way. But that one expression the righteousness of God because I took it to mean that righteousness whereby God is just and deals justly in punishing the unjust.

My situation was that although an impeccable monk I stood before God as a sinner troubled in conscience and I had no confident confidence that my merit would assuage him. Therefore I did not love a just angry God but rather hated and murmured against him.

Yet I clung to the dear Paul and had a great yearning to know what he meant night and day I pondered until I saw the connection between the righteousness of God and the statement that the just shall live by faith.

Then I grasped that the righteousness of God is that righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy God justifies us through faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise.

The whole of scripture took on a new meaning. And whereas before the righteousness of God had filled me with hate now it became to me inexpressibly sweet in greater love. This passage of Paul became to me a gate to heaven.

Luther's own words verse 24 of Romans 3 were justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus almost seems like a redundancy. If you're speaking of grace then it is a gift.

Grace and works cannot be mixed together and it still be grace. Romans 11 6 says. It makes it very very clear. Grace is g r a c e. It's not cheap in any way. It costs God everything g r a c e. One man said it this way.

It's God's riches at Christ's expense. G r a c e cost him everything cost him his son. The grace is given as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. How are we justified by grace plus something.

No grace is a gift grace plus works grace plus human merit. Not grace as a gift because of Christ and his person and his work. The redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith.

Propitiation is a big word. But if we once grasp what it means we'll be joyful in our hearts. Propitiation means wrath has been removed by means of a sacrifice. Jesus propitiated the father's wrath. Why.

Because Christ was punished in our place and God's wrath and anger was satisfied because his judgment was meted out on Christ. The Bible speaks of three transfers. Now I hope you get this. There are three transfers.

First listed in the Bible. Three countings. Three reckonings. The biblical word is imputation. The transfer of Adam's sin to the entire human race. We could read about that in chapter 5 verse 12. Therefore just a sin came into the world through one man and death through sin.

And so death spread to all men. Because all sinned. How. Because Adam was our legal representative and the best man possible. Perfect man really hadn't committed any offenses. And he was there in the garden representing all who would come after him.

And in Adam the Bible says. All die in Christ all are made alive from excuse me. 1st Corinthians 15 22 goes on to talk about sin was in the world before the law was given. But sin is not counted where there is no law says in verse 16.

The free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin for the judgment following one trans trespass brought condemnation. But the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. If because of one man's trespass that's Adam's death reign through that one man much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

Therefore as one trespass led to condemnation for all men. How. Through transfer imputation sins of Adam affecting everyone on planet earth who would come after him. As one trespass led to condemnation for all men.

So one act of righteousness talking of Christ and his work his life his death for us leads to justification and life for all men who are the all men all who are in Christ for us. By the one man's disobedience that's Adams the many were made sinners.

That's imputation. So by the one man's obedience that's Christ 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 the first transfer was the sin of Adam to the whole human race.

The second transfer was the sins of God's people to Christ on the cross. On the cross Jesus bore our sins in his body on the tree 1 Peter 2 24. Isaiah 53 tells us our sins were laid on him the iniquity of us all he bore there on the cross that was the second transfer.