Book of Romans Bible Studies
Romans 5:12 - The two men, the two seas and the reality of the fall
By Fraser Gordon
We're in the book of Romans and we’re going to be here for a while at this rate. I was thinking it'd be really good to get out of chapter 5 so I thought I'd do verses 12 through to the end, and then we can just get into a new chapter. But it didn't quite happen that way. I really want to look at verse 12 this morning. You can't rush these things!
The rest of this chapter from verse 12 looks back to Adam as our representative, and also forward to the second Adam, meaning Christ. All of humanity is either under the first Adam or the last Adam. Two representatives for all humanity. We either look to what Adam did, and all humanity comes under him as our representative, or we look to the last Adam, Christ, and all the work that He did. So humanity is either under one or the other. They are our representatives.
The two seas
A good example of this is in Israel, where there are two main bodies of water. In the north is the Sea of Galilee. What does the Sea of Galilee look like? Is it a big lake? Is it alive? Yes, it has - and I did a little bit of reading on this - 22 different varieties of fish. It is 13 miles long and 7 miles wide. It has lush vegetation on all its banks and is a lake that is fully alive and bountiful. But if you head around 60 miles south you come to another body of water, the Dead Sea. Of all the places in the east to have these two bodies of water which are a picture of these two representatives, it is Israel. The Dead Sea is a lot longer at 31 miles and 9 miles wide. I thought it was almost like, wide is the road that leads to death and narrow is the one that leads to life. So, the Dead Sea is a lot bigger, and is the lowest point on earth. Water flows into it but has no outlet, it evaporates. If you swim in it, it is almost impossible to go under, I would like to try to bomb in it or see if I could get under! The waters of the Dead Sea are extremely saline at around 31%, which creates a natural buoyancy. How much life is there? Zero. Nothing can live because it is so high in salt and minerals and it is incredibly barren.
So you've got these two pictures. One of a sea that's rich and bountiful and produces life, which is a type of the second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ. But the Dead Sea, where nothing can live, is barren and can't produce any life. That is what we're going to be looking at today. The first Adam, our representative and a type of all humanity.
Our representative
Rom 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—
You've probably heard the comment, “Why is it that we should all suffer because of what Adam did thousands of years ago?” “Why should we pay the price for what one person has done?” Romans 12 points out that Adam is our representative. What he did brought about the universality of sin upon all mankind. He was the first man, the representative. What happened to him is true of everyone else born into this world. You may not have voted the current Prime Minister or President into office but the decisions they make affect every one of us, whether we like it or not, because they are our representative. If on a sports field someone is offside, the ref blows the whistle, if that person is offside again and again, the ref blows the whistle and keeps blowing it. The whole team suffers as a result.
Remember when Achan sinned in Joshua 7? The whole nation of Israel suffered because of one man's sin. In Jos 7.11 God said Israel has sinned. When David numbered the children of Israel, all Israel suffered because of what one man did. So God looked at them as a whole. Adam is that representative for us and what he did has an influence that trickles down to all humanity.
The fall
This passage starts with, therefore, just as through one man, sin entered the world. I thought, where did sin come from? How did it even come about? The Bible says that there is a mystery of lawlessness 2Th 2.7. This is the sin principle. You see its existence before Adam was even created. Let’s have a look at the first instance of it in Ezekiel 28.
Before man was created, God created the angelic kingdom. There are two main passages about that time in Ezekiel and Isaiah. Before man fell there was another falling in the angelic realm. One of these angels, Lucifer, was a cherub, one of the highest angels. In Ezekiel he is depicted as the king of Tyre. Obviously these scriptures can't be attributed to a human man. Ezekiel is talking beyond this human king of Tyre to Satan.
Eze 28.12b "You were the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. It's amazing to think of Satan, our adversary, in this light, perfect on the day he was created. We need to remember that he is a created being. 13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes Was prepared for you on the day you were created. He was created for worship and adoration toward God. 14 "You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. 15 You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you. 16 "By the abundance of your trading You became filled with violence within, And you sinned; Therefore I cast you as a profane thing Out of the mountain of God; And I destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the fiery stones. 17 "Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, That they might gaze at you.
Here is quite an interesting passage concerning our adversary. He was a created being but he was created with a free will and the ability to choose. Something happened that brought about this principle of rebellion toward God and the principle of sin. His heart was lifted up because of his beauty, so some say that pride was at the heart of his fall. The other passage is in Isaiah 14, which talks about the five ‘I wills’ within the heart of our adversary when he fell.
Isa 14:12 "How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! 13 For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.'
The sin of Lucifer, or Satan, was that he desired to lift himself above the position for which he was appointed. He was created with the power of God as an anointed guardian angel to worship God. He had a specific role, but in his heart there was a desire to rise above it and be like the Most High. Somewhere in this process the sin principle came about but where did this sin principle come from? God is holy, righteous and just it can't be part of God’s character to create this. I thought long and hard for about 30 seconds and then my brain packed a little suitcase and went to the beach because I couldn't get far with it at all.
Free will
I eventually came across a passage by C.S. Lewis in his book Mere Christianity (pgs 48-49). “God created things which had free will”. That means creatures which can go either wrong or right. Some think they can imagine a creature which was free but had no possibility of going wrong. I cannot. If a thing is free to be good, it is also free to be bad. And free will is what has made evil possible. Why then, did God give them free will? Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having. A world of automata - of creatures that worked like machines - would hardly be worth creating.”
One of the arguments is, “why couldn't God have created Adam good without the ability to choose wrong?” I will read it out again “Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having.” C.S. Lewis goes on to write, “of course God knew what would happen if they used their freedom the wrong way: apparently He thought it worth the risk.”
When you think about how good and great our God is, free will is an amazing thing. He created the angelic kingdom, and then man, with the ability to choose. If your husband or wife was programmed in such a way to respond to you perfectly, it wouldn't be true love because they're not choosing to act that way. Free will gives you the ability to choose. Your computer only responds in one way because it's been programmed, and that's what you expect. Ella, my daughter was sitting on the couch and our dog Flash came up and put his head on her lap. He wanted to be near her and let her pat him. I said to her, imagine if he was programmed in such a way to do that, it wouldn't be a free will decision by him to be close and experience your comfort and love. It's like that with God, it's what God wants from us. He knew that people could choose wrong, but He considered it worth the risk. It's a massive risk, but it says something about the goodness, the graciousness, and how big God really is. Because of free choice there are people who will love Him and choose Him. Obviously there will be some that don't but God considered it worth it.
Adam’s fall
Let’s go back to the heart of the matter, which is in Genesis 2. Let's see where it all went horribly wrong.
Gen 2.15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. Don't let anyone tell you there's an older profession than gardening. Because it says it right there. Gardening is the oldest profession.
Gen 2:16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." God gave them a warning and a command. It's interesting that in the beginning when everything around Adam is full of life God gives them a warning of death. When you contrast that to now, when we are surrounded by so much death and decay, what does God speak of? Life. Jesus is the bread of Life Joh 6, and the way the truth and the life, Joh 14.
Gen 3:1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?" Straight away the serpent Satan, even though he's already fallen, comes to attack what God has created in his own image, mankind. He has such hatred for God, right from the beginning and through to the very end. He hates what God loves. God created man and woman in His image and immediately Satan is there attempting to corrupt what God created. He starts by questioning God's word to the woman first of all.
Gen 3:2 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.' " Eve added something to what God said, saying, "Not only are we not allowed to eat it, but we’re not allowed to touch it either." Now, did God say anything about touching it? When a man goes shopping, he just wants to conquer that thing. He goes into the shop, buys it, and he’s done—boom, it's over. When you go shopping with your wife, she'll take something off the rack, and touch it. It's not enough just to look at it and say, "Yep, that's what I want." You say to your wife, "Yeah, that's really good, take that one." She puts it back and grabs another one, touching it, feeling it. You say, "That looks really good, buy that one." She puts it back again, forever looking, touching, and feeling. I think this is the way God created women—it's not enough just to look; they have to feel it, use touch and their other senses. That's why they love shopping. God said nothing about touching the apple, but when the woman looked at it, I think in the back of her head she was thinking, "I'd like to touch that, I'd like to feel it." So she added to God's word and contradicted what God had said.
Gen 3:4 Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." First, Satan questions God's word, then Eve adds to it, and then Satan, our enemy, contradicts what God has said. He openly defies God and tells the woman, "You will not die." He suggests that by eating the fruit, her eyes will be opened, and she will know good and evil. What he's doing is attacking God's love for Adam and Eve. He's telling her that God is holding something back from them that they need. If she had been content in God's love, she wouldn't have entertained the thought that something was being withheld. But now, she feels like she needs to know something—she needs to know about good and evil.
Gen 3:6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. The Bible portrays Eve as being deceived, but Adam as disobeying. Eve was tricked, but Adam knew it was wrong and did it anyway. In Hosea 6 (ESV), it says But like Adam they transgressed the covenant. Adam knew it was wrong and still did it. In the universality of sin, if we had been there, we would have done the same thing. Honestly, I think I would have fallen even quicker! Romans 12 tells us that sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned, meaning we all sin in the same way as Adam.
Satan lied when he said they would be like God. Their desire was to rise above their created state, to gain something special—the knowledge of good and evil. But he lied to them. What they got was the knowledge of good, but they lacked the ability to act on it. They also got the knowledge of evil, but no ability to avoid it. Everything was wrapped up in their relationship with God, yet now they had stepped out of dependence on Him and chosen an independent path.
Romans 5:12 says, "Sin entered the world and death through sin." God had told them that the day they ate, they would die. How did they die? They were cut off from God. Many commentaries only attribute physical death to Adam, but spiritual death was the more direct consequence. Physical death started its slow decline then, but spiritual death happened immediately.
Spiritually dead
1 Co 15:45 …"The first man Adam became a living being." Before he fell, Adam was made of flesh, had a soul (mind, will, and emotions), and was spiritually alive in fellowship with God. His mind, will, and emotions were directed by God's Spirit. But on the day both Adam and Eve fell, they died spiritually. Though they were still physically alive, they were spiritually dead. Rom 6:13 tells us to …present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead. Adam was physically alive but spiritually dead. 1 Corinthians 15:22 says, For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. Ephesians 2:1 says, And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins. So you can be physically alive but spiritually dead—that's what Paul is saying. Every child is born physically alive, with an active mind, will, and emotions, but spiritually dead—cut off from the life of God.
Humans are egocentric. We are self-centered. If I took a photo of all of us and printed it out, who’s the first person you would look for? Yourself. You’d think, "Do I look good? Do I look old? Do I look happy?" We always look for ourselves first. We live in a world bounded on all sides by "me." Satan deceived Adam and Eve into thinking they would be like God, but instead, they lost everything.
Genesis 3:7 says, Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. Their first realization was inward—they felt shame. Before, they had no concept of good or evil, but now they were overwhelmed with guilt and tried to cover themselves. G.K. Chesterton once said, "One thing is clear about man—he is not what he is capable of being. Some kind of twist has come in, a taint, a moral poison that makes us act irrationally. Even when we know something is wrong, we still do it."
This fallen nature, which the Bible calls the "flesh" or "sinful nature," dominates humanity. The Minnesota Crime Commission—a secular group—once concluded that "every baby starts life as a little savage. Completely selfish and self-centered, they want what they want when they want it. If denied, they rage. If allowed to continue unchecked, they would grow into criminals, thieves, and killers." Even non-Christians recognize that sin reigns.
Gen 8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. How sad. They thought they would gain something, but instead, they were driven away from God in shame.
Gen 9 Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, "Where are you?" Those are wonderful words. God is the one who seeks humanity. All throughout the Bible, God is actively calling, "Where are you?" To come under the second Adam—Jesus—you must answer that question honestly. "I am fallen, wretched, sinful, and I need Jesus."
Although man is fallen, there is hope. If I hung potatoes from my ceiling, would they produce light? No, because they aren't designed to. If I hung my dog from the ceiling, would he light up? No, because he isn't made for that. Within fallen humanity, there is potential to be made alive again. Jesus answered Nicodemus, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Spirit gives birth to spirit. Humanity lost this at the fall but can regain it through Christ.
This is why we need to look beyond Adam and toward Jesus. Romans tells us that because of sin, death reigned—but there is another representative, Jesus Christ and under Him, grace reigns.
Next time, we'll look at that. God Bless!