Romans 5:13-14

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned--for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.

Paul gives two proofs that v12 is true. First, in v13, he says that the law wasn’t given until the time of Moses, yet sin was still present. This fact alone is evidence that all mankind sinned in Adam. Second, in v14, all people still died before the law was given and before sin was taken into consideration, even though they had not themselves sinned by breaking a command of the law (yet to be revealed), so that’s further proof that men sinned in Adam. All had effectively violated the covenant of works. They were guilty by nature, by association, by representation, and God is just in condemning them. And furthermore, this is the reason that Christ had to be born of a virgin. Sin is passed on, or imputed, through the father. Every person born of a human father is by nature an object of wrath, a sinner. But Christ was not born of a human father, and thus He did not inherit the condemning sin nature of the rest of humanity. Adam’s sin nature was not imputed to Christ, and thus He is righteous, like Adam was, before God the Father.

The Westminster Confession of Faith (modern translation, 1993) states: “Our first parents, being seduced by the subtlety and temptation of Satan, sinned in eating the forbidden fruit. God was pleased to permit this sin of theirs, according to His wise and holy counsel, because His purpose was, through it, to glorify Himself. By this sin they fell from their original righteousness and communion with God, and so became dead in sin, and wholly defiled in all the parts and faculties of soul and body. Since they were the root of all mankind, the guilt of this sin was imputed to—and the same death in sin and corrupted nature were conveyed to—all their posterity descending from them by ordinary generation. From this original corruption, by which we are utterly disinclined, disabled, and antagonistic to all that is good and wholly inclined to all that is evil, all actual transgressions proceed.”

Think of a man raised in an abusive home. His wife has born the marks of that abuse in his own rebellion. He is the recipient of things which he himself contributed nothing to. But he now bears the effects of it. If it is difficult for a counselor to come along side of that man and bring restoration to his life, how much greater is the difficulty to redeem a people that are to the very core of their heart involved in a sin which has existed and grown in our humanity for 6000 years. Jesus alone can redeem that kind of person.

Finally, notice the closing to v14, “A pattern of the One to come.” Paul says that Adam was a “type” of Christ. And Paul explains that thought in v15-19, at which we will look, Lord willing, tomorrow…