Word of Salvation – March 2011
Where Does Sin Come From?
By Rev. John Haverland
(Sermon 3 in a series on texts related to the Heidelberg Catechism)
Text: Romans 5:12
Heidelberg Catechism LD 3
Readings: Genesis 2:15-17 & chapter 3; Romans 5:12-21
Theme: Sin and death entered the world through Adam and were passed on to all men.
Purpose: To explain the doctrine of original sin and direct you to life in Christ.
Introduction to the reading of Romans 5:12-21
In Romans 1-3 the apostle Paul described how all men and women are sinful. In Romans 4 he explained that we may be justified (made right with God) through faith. In Chapter 5 he outlined the benefits of being justified, and in this section we are about to read he explains how these can be passed on to all who believe. To do this he has to go back and describe the origin of sin. He traces this back to Adam.
Read: Romans 5:12-21
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Text: Romans 5:12
Just about everyone agrees that there is something wrong with the world, and with society and with us. They might describe the problem in different ways, but most will admit that we have a problem. The Bible describes this as “sin”.
While most agree that sin and evil exist, people disagree about where this comes from. All through the centuries theologians and philosophers and writers have pondered and debated this problem and have come up with a variety of explanations.
The evolutionist says that the problem is a lack of development – not enough time has elapsed.
Sociologists believe that the problem is one of social conditioning; people are good but they have bad homes and workplaces. This view goes back to a British monk named Pelagius who lived in the 4th century AD; he claimed that people are born good but they have bad examples.
Humanists also believe that people are basically good, rational and reasonable, and argue that our problem is a lack of education and proper information.
The Bible, however, tells us that the problem is far more deep-seated. Sin is inside of us; we are sinful by nature. This sin has a long and deep-rooted history because it goes back to our first father, Adam and it has been passed from him to us. The apostle Paul wrote about this in Romans 5 verse 12.
1. “Sin entered the world through one man.”
God made the world perfect: at the end of his creating work he looked over all he had made and saw that it was very good; everything was right, including Adam and Eve. “God created man good and in his own image.” (HC Q6) Sin did not come into the world through God.
Rather sin came from the disobedience of Adam: God told him not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam had a free choice about this and an entirely free will. He could choose to be obedient or he could choose to disobey.
He disobeyed God; he broke God’s law; verses 15 and 18 describe this as a “trespass”, which is a deliberate breaking of God’s command.
He went astray and offended God. He did this knowingly; it was a conscious action. Adam and Eve wanted to do things their own way; they wanted to make up their own minds, to run their own lives, to be independent of God. This is sin; it is disobedience to God’s law, doing what you want to do, choosing what pleases you.
2. Paul tells us that “sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin.”
Physical death was the punishment for sin. God had warned Adam that this would be the consequence of sin; “when you eat of it you will surely die.” (Gen 2:17)
Adam sinned and so he died. Not immediately on that day, but over time his body grew old and frail and eventually he died and was buried and his body returned to dust.
In Psalm 103:15 David wrote;
“As for man, his days are like grass,
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.”
But this death was not only physical; it was also spiritual. Through his sin Adam became separated from God, alienated from the Lord.
The Heidelberg Catechism describes this section as “Man’s Misery”. The German word for misery is “elend” which literally means, “out of the land”; it refers to our alienation from the Lord, our homesickness.
This is even more serious than physical death because unless you find eternal life in Jesus Christ you will be separated from God for all eternity.
3. “…sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.”
Physical death has or will come to all of humanity; every one of us will die.
In every little town and settlement in New Zealand you will find, not only a pub, but also a cemetery – because every person will die. The mortality rate for human beings is 100%. Physical death is part of the punishment for sin – a consequence and a result of sin.
And every person in this world is alienated from God; either ignorant of him or actively rebellious against him.
4. This death has come to all men “because all sinned.” All of us are involved in Adam’s sin.
You might ask; “Well, how is that possible? Adam was the one who sinned! He ate the fruit of the tree. He disobeyed God. I wasn’t even there!” Adam’s sin comes to us in two ways.
a. When he sinned in the Garden of Eden he was acting as the representative head of all of humanity. He was there in your place and in mine. What he did affected all of us.
When the Olympic games are held each country sends their athletes. When our athlete wins a medal in the games then our country wins. He represents us in New Zealand (Australia). His victory is victory, and his loss is our loss.
Or take another example. We have presbytery (Classis) meetings three (four) times a year. Two of the elders are delegated to represent our church. They speak and act and vote on behalf of the session and congregation of this Reformed church. Their decisions are our decisions.
In a similar way Adam acted on our behalf; he was our representative. Whatever he did he did for us. When he sinned, we sinned. His sin was reckoned to us, charged to our account, imputed to us. “By the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man. (vs 17a) “…the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men.” (vs 18a) That means that we are guilty and condemned because of his sin.
vs 12, “Sin entered the world through one man” because he was a representative.
b. Not only are we guilty because Adam is our representative head, but we are also sinners because he is our natural father. His sin is passed on to us like a hereditary disease.
Often you will see similarities in families; a son who acts like his father, a daughter who looks like her mother; sometimes those genes skip a generation and come back in grandchildren! Sin is also passed on from father to son, from mother to daughter. We have sinful parents and so we are born sinful, and we have sinful children. Sin is inherited, like a genetic defect. We are born with a sinful nature, “corrupt from conception on”. (HC Q 7)
Most ancient cultures accepted this because they understood that all people are connected together, that we are part of a larger community. That is true of most Asian and African cultures today; they know and appreciate that they are all inter-related to each other.
We find this harder to accept and grasp in our Western culture with its strong emphasis on the individual.
But the Bible teaches us that we share in the guilt of sin because Adam is our representative head; and we share in the pollution (or corruption) of sin because Adam is our natural father.
We call this ‘original sin’ because it is sin that originated with Adam and which we are born with. David acknowledged this in Psalm 51: “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” (vs 5)
That sin is seen in the life of every person in the world. Paul in Romans 3:23 wrote; “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
5. This sin has far-reaching effects.
a. It has affected every part of us – our heart, mind, emotions, body and will. No part of us is untouched; every part has been corrupted. In Reformed theology we describe this as total depravity – sin has permeated every aspect and part of our being.
ii. This sin is so extensive and so deep-seated that we are also totally unable to do anything that is good in God’s eyes. We cannot meet the standard of God’s law and we cannot save ourselves.
6. What is the answer to this problem of sin?
Just as people diagnose the problem of evil in many different ways so too they come up with a great variety of solutions.
The evolutionist claims the problem is a lack of time and so the solution is to give ourselves a few more million years! We have, they claim, been improving and developing all through the ages, and we are still progressing – we just have a bit further to go!
Sociologists claim we need better role models, better examples from parents and friends; a friendly and positive environment.
The humanist says we need better instruction, more time and money invested into schools, and more widespread sex education.
Psychologists tells us we need to get in touch with how we think and feel; we need more counselling, more therapy; we need to lie on the couch and have someone to listen to our troubles; we need to vent our feelings.
The Bible, however, tells us that we cannot deal with sin on our own. We are unable to help ourselves. We need outside help. God must act for us. God must step into our situation. God must rescue us. God must save us.
God has planned that he will save us in the same way we are lost; that is, through a representative.
We are lost through the sin of Adam, but we are saved through the righteousness of Christ.
This is a pattern in the Scriptures – when one man fails God provides another to take his place: Moses was succeeded by Joshua, Saul by David, Elijah by Elisha, and Adam by Christ.
Adam was a pattern, or a type of the one to come. God sent his son as the second Adam, as a new representative, as a new head of the human race.
God sent his Son to take on himself the curse of sin, to die in our place, to be forsaken by God in the hours of darkness on the cross, to pay the horrendous price of sin, to be condemned in our place.
God sent his son to give eternal life to all who believe in him, to save us, to make us right with him, to justify us, to give us his righteousness.
Paul’s point in verses 12-19 is that what God has done in Christ is much more powerful than what Adam did.
Jesus is greater than Adam.
God’s grace is more powerful than sin.
Christ’s obedience is more effective than Adam’s trespass.
The gift of God covers over the judgement of God.
Christ’s righteousness has dealt with our condemnation.
All this becomes ours through faith in Jesus. You are justified, or made right with God, through faith. Faith is the means by which we receive this salvation. Faith is the instrument that unites us to Jesus and all his benefits.
If you believe in Jesus then you have eternal life. You are no longer in Adam, but you are in Christ. You have a new representative. Death no longer reigns over you, but you are reigning with Christ in life.
Where does sin come from? From the disobedience of Adam, our representative head.
How can you be saved? By believing in the Lord Jesus and receiving his righteousness through faith.
Amen