Troublesome Topic: The Actions of Adam and Jesus Affect All of Us

When Adam and Eve sinned, their inner being was changed, twisted toward sin. They passed that tendency and its corresponding curse of death on to all their descendants.

To the human mind this seems unfair. We did not do anything to deserve the curse of death; we are being punished “in Adam,” or on account of Adam’s sin (in reality we are punished if we ignore God’s offer of salvation through Jesus, which means it’s not just about Adam).

However, that coin has two sides, just like all coins do.

Just like we were harmed by Adam’s sin, we can now benefit from the sinless life of Jesus Christ and his redemptive work of dying on a cross and being raised from the dead.

The term “justification” has been explained as “just as if I never sinned.” This is so because once someone has asked God for forgiveness and committed himself to following God, God looks at him and sees the holiness of Jesus rather than the sinfulness of that man (or woman). The life and death of Jesus cover us. We are counted as righteous, not because we are righteous but because Jesus is righteous.

While the first arrangement seems unnecessarily harsh, the second one is undeservedly kind.

Instead of bemoaning the fact that we are all under a curse, we should all take advantage of the generous offer to do something about it, for which we must depend on Jesus Christ, whose actions can replace those of Adam.

The next lesson in the Full Series on Covenants is: Jesus is Our Peace Offering