hey man this world is a pretty messed up place you know?
Yes, it certainly can be. Did you ever wonder how it got to be that way?
uh not really
Well in the Book of Romans, Paul the Apostle tells us that “…sin entered the world through one man and death through sin…” (Romans 5:12 NIV).
yeah so…?
When Paul talks about “one man” here, he’s actually talking about Adam, the very first man. You see, Adam made some bad choices and the effects of those choices are still with us today.
so like what does that have to do with people today?
Well in Genesis 1:26 the Bible tells us that people have been created in God’s image. Later on, it says that “God saw all that He had made, and it was very good…” (Genesis 1:31 NIV). The important thing to notice here is that God said that His creation -including humanity- was “very good.”
In the next chapter God speaks to Adam -the man created in God’s image- and says, “…’You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it, you will surely die'” (Genesis 2:16-17 NIV).
So far, so good, right?
umm yeah I guess
Well, you know what happened next: “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it” (Genesis 3:6 NIV).
Now keep in mind that God said that His creation (including Adam) was “very good”, right? When Adam made the decision to disobey God, he cut off the relationship with Him that he had enjoyed before. Now things were no longer “very good” like they were before. Of course, this isn’t hard for people to understand today when you think about it.
For example, let’s say that one of your friends owned a brand new Corvette automobile. Let’s also say that just before leaving on a trip, your friend said to you, “Don’t drive the ‘Vette while I’m gone.”
Now what would be the result if your friend returned to find that you had taken their Corvette out for a joyride, got it all dirty and used up all the fuel? Well, that’s easy. The result would be bad feelings and a loss of friendship between you and your friend. Why? Because you did exactly what your friend had asked you not to do and you also misused their property!
In a similar way, Adam did exactly what he was asked not to do as we saw in the Bible verses quoted above. This resulted in bad feelings and a loss of friendship between people and God. In other words, things were no longer very good between human beings and God like they were before. In the Bible, we see this situation referred to as a kind of death. When Adam sinned -when he disobeyed God’s commandment- the result was death. This death wasn’t an immediate, physical death (although that did come later) but spiritual death or separation from God.
so what? adam messed up so why should that affect me? why should I care about somebody else’s mistake?
Well, there are a number of reasons why Adam’s sin affects us today, all of which help make up the important idea of “Original Sin”. First, Adam is what scholar-types like to call the “Federal Representative” of the human race. This means that as the first human being, Adam also represents everyone who comes after him.
This idea can be easily illustrated by looking at the International Olympic Games. In the Olympics, do the speed skaters, sprinters and ski jumpers only represent themselves? No, these athletes also represent their respective countries as well.
For instance, if the Canadian Ice Hockey team wins the Olympic gold medal, we say that “Canada” has won even though a very small number of Canadians actually participated in the event. This is because the team (or individual) represents the entire country. In this same manner, Adam represents all of us and we are all guilty before God by our association with him.
Adam’s sin also affects us another way. Because Adam disobeyed God, he became spiritually separated from Him as did his children- that’s you and me. You see, Adam couldn’t pass along a good relationship with God to his children because he himself had lost it! This is an important point because you can’t give someone anything that you do not already have, right? For instance, you’ve probably heard the term “Like father, like son”, right? Well, because Adam no longer had a good relationship with God, his children grew up “like father” in this sense. Having only the example of his disobedience, Adam’s children followed in his footsteps- even to this day.
ok so like what’s the answer?
Well, the good news is that God has graciously provided a way out of this mess. Paul tells us what it is in his first letter to Corinthian church:
Because we are all related to Adam we will all eventually die some day. But, if you are also related to Jesus through your acceptance of His death on the cross in your place, you will be made alive! Everyone will suffer physical death at some point but remember this- if you are related to Christ as well as Adam, your salvation because of Jesus is as certain as your death because of Adam. The Apostle Paul sums it all up for us like this…
So does that help clear things up?
yeah i think so hey thanks man
Please don’t call The Doctor “man”
oh uh sorry man