Week of 5/26-6/1: Living in Light - The King Declares Guilty People Righteous

Day One: Romans 5:12-14 “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all men, because all sinned. In fact, sin was in the world before the law, but sin is not charged to a person’s account when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin in the likeness of Adam’s transgression. He is a prototype of the Coming One.”

IT DOES NOT TAKE BEING AN EXPERT in trees to know that if the root system of a tree is diseased, the entire tree will be affected. This impacts the appearance and functioning of all parts of the tree, including the branches. For example, if an apple tree is failing to produce apples, or if the apples produced are rotten, the solution is not to staple apples to the branches. The problem does not originate from the fruit on branches, but rather starts in the roots of the tree. If the roots are healthy, the tree is likely to be healthy. But if the roots are diseased, the whole tree suffers.

We can think of the entire human race much like one enormous tree. Unfortunately, this tree has a very diseased root system. If each person is a branch of this tree, the root of the tree would be Adam. Adam is the father of humanity and, because of this, all of humanity is born into sin. Adam sinned against God, bringing his offspring, or branches, into sin with him. All the branches of this tree of Adam have a sinful nature like him. Just as branches cannot claim autonomy from the roots, neither does any person have the ability to claim autonomy from their first father, Adam. Because of our sin, we are guilty before God. We are under the curse of Adam.

Fortunately, the story doesn’t end there. There is a treatment for this curse of sin, which is found in the gospel. By believing the gospel of Christ, we are given the ability to live on mission for God.

PAUSE AND REFLECT

▷▷In what ways do our lives show that we are corrupt and born into sin?

▷▷What are our natural objections against inheriting a sin nature?

▷▷How are those natural objections countered by truth of Scripture?