Romans 5:12-21 The Adam Family pt. 2. Romans 5 12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread.

Romans 5:12-21The Adam Family pt. 2

Romans 512 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— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 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. 15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17 For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned 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. 18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 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. 20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

To deal with the end of Romans 5, you have to understand Genesis 1-3

The modern day problem of reading the Bible

The idea of reading the Bible, and especially Gen. 1-3 as symbolic is not a new one

Historical event retold theologically

In some ways this is better because it asks questions not of the event, but of the reader

However you read, this is not a test of faith (Thief on the cross)

Literally or Literarily

Written to who by whom?

Israelites and Moses or later by priests during the Babylonian exile (oral tradition?)

Reread Genesis 1 through the eyes of a recently freed slave of Egypt…

This God creates spaces for things, then puts things in those spaces

Not HOW As Much as WHO

Every other creation story you know has violence and struggle at its core

Marduk and Tiamat

But Yahweh creates (BARA)with words

In the Bible, no one else BARAS

No struggle, He is sovereign

God enters into culture to redeem it

Not HOW As Much as WHO

The most neglected doctrine in the church today

God as a community of persons that are united as one

How we see God colors everything

If God is Trinity, then relationship is at the core of who God is

Unlike the Zeus-like images of God we have that have power at the core of who God is

Power serves love, not love power

Trinity

Creation is a moment of pure grace and joy because God didn’t need creation

Creation is by nature other-centered and moved by love

If relationship is at the center, it colors the way we view everything

Sin’s fundamental problem is not legal, but relational

Trinity

Creation was “without form, void, dark”

Already there are problems with traditional readings if you are paying attention

Did God create the earth this way or was it this way already?

Some have said there is a gap between V.1 and V.2 were Satan led his rebellion

The other options are that God made something to call good from it or that it was already there

However you slice it, evil and chaos are present and God doesn’t eliminate the darkness or the sea in V.4 as He will at the end of the Bible

In the beginning…

What does this mean for how we understand God?

God is looking to mature creation, to have a relationship with it

Creation was to grow and develop as were people, not finished products

There is an inherent freedom built into this view

A dangerous one

As is true of all relationships

Material vs. functional understandings of creation

Creation as unfinished but good

Don’t forget the Trinity or relationship

The whole world seems to be interrelated, from subatomic particles to the sun and the moon

God says “us” in 1:26 (Trinity or royal court)

Notice how God makes man (forms and breathes)

Three ways people are the image of God: 1. Substantive 2. Relational 3. Functional

In ANE, kings would put statues of themselves in cities they ruled

At the center is relationship, this works well with all other biblical understandings (Shalom, righteousness, justice)

Image of God

God give the man and woman work, what they need, and boundaries

The essential human task is to hold these three together

Adam is told in 2:15 to “Shamar” or keep the garden

The command is given to Adam and the covenant made with him

It’s important to note that CREATION and COVENANT are intertwined and rooted in relationship

Notice God lets Adam NAME the animals (Co-creating with God)

Vocation, Permission, Prohibition

When the serpent comes on the scene (a chaos animal in ANE), he is the first to encourage talk about God instead of to God

Ancient pagans believed the gods wanted humans to stay mortal

Eve adds “touch”

The trees? What is up with those?

The Judgment Tree, maybe for a later time, a test of faithfulness, the natural process of growing up…

What’s interesting is we didn’t eat from the Tree of Life

What does this say about our desire for power?

The Danger Of Theology

If humanity fails here…

Everything else but human beings responds to God’s Word

Notice the TAKING element of Sin

Free will is not always free, choices don’t equal freedom

At the root of it all is a desire to be like God

Notice the effects of Sin: hiding, blaming, fear, realize nakedness, the introduction of “I”

The Sin of Man

God comes to them, the pattern of the whole Bible, and clothes them by killing an animal

Adam and Eve are sent out so they can’t eat the Tree of Life

Death is not the result of rule breaking, but of being away from God, the source of life

To live forever and not understand good from evil would hell

To be alienated from God affects everything about a person

The Mercy of God

God doesn’t want relationship like this

All of Sin is relational (C. Wright)

Expulsion from the Garden has to do with wrong thoughts about God that lead to disobedience and destruction of “good”

The Torah begins and ends in kindness

But God makes a promise in V.15, NIV says “crush”

The Proto Evangel

The Mercy of God

For Paul, the worst affect of the curse was death and Sin

Man would be forever cursed to repeat the pattern of Adam

But the source of death is non-relationship with God

For him, the place where COVENANT and CREATION meet is Jesus

The singular act of Adam that plunged humanity into death and despair is overturned by the act of Jesus on the cross

Jesus becomes the keeper of both sides of the COVENANT

Paul and Adam

Adam TAKES, Jesus GIVES

Adam HIDES, Jesus is EXPOSED

Adam acted for HIMSELF, Jesus gives HIMSELF

Adam BLAMES, Jesus is SILENT and takes the blame of others

Adam is CAST OUT of the garden, Jesus is truly CAST AWAY from the presence of God

Adam GIVES in to Satan in the Garden, Jesus RESISTS by knowing God’s Word (Luke 4)

At the cross, God Himself died and shed his blood to cover the sins of all humanity

The Tree of Knowledge becomes the cross

Reversal of Chaos

Jesus’ whole life is a redeeming act (the incarnation) and the means by which God reclaims Creation and confronts evil

The authoritative interpreter of God’s Words

Phil. 2:8

As Adam and the Law are types and shadows, Jesus and the Spirit are the real thing

Jesus comes back to breathe new life into humanity again and move God’s good world to its intended end (John 20:22)

Humanity is back in the garden again and must choose whom they will follow as God moves forward away from the darkness

More than “going to heaven”

The Good World Back On Track

Faith and trust is the means to restore any relationship

The core of the problem is not trusting God

The gift is righteousness through what happened at the cross, faith is the open hand that receives it

To choose to believe God’s Word in Jesus is to reverse the curse and open the door for relationship with God

It involves REPENTING, rethinking your thoughts about God, yourself, your life, the universe and moving a different direction

The Response of Faith

Prayer