Issue link: http://denverseminary.uberflip.com/i/215736
Our New Adam DAVID MATHEWSON, PHD ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF NEW TESTAMENT n Romans 5:12-21, Paul shows of to this IAdam, Paul shows thatthe Apostle whatundo whatthatin the coming did:Christcomparingearth had implications reaching far beyond happened the 1st century. By Christ to Christ came to the first human "For just as through the disobedience of the one man [Adam] the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man [Jesus] the many will be made righteous" (v. 19). But Christ did much more than just undo the consequences of Adam's sin. Christ came to do what Adam failed to do. According to Genesis 1-2, God made Adam and Eve in His image, to represent God's rule and to spread His glory throughout all creation. As those with whom God established a relationship and who were to be God's representatives, Adam and Eve were to respond with unqualified obedience: They were forbidden from eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden (Gen. 2:16-17). God required nothing less than complete obedience from His image-bearers. Yet Adam and Eve fell into temptation and sinned. The rest of the Old Testament can be seen as the story of how God is looking for someone who will respond with that complete obedience. Yet the Old Testament also shows that every human being who God selects to enter into a covenant relationship—Abraham, Moses, David, and so forth— fails to offer that unqualified obedience. But with the coming of Jesus Christ, there is finally someone who will offer the perfect obedience! Jesus not only reverses the effects of Adam's sin, and ours, but He does what Adam failed to do—offer perfect, unqualified obedience to God, even to the point of death on the cross. "...THROUGH THE OBEDIENCE OF THE ONE MAN [JESUS] THE MANY WILL BE MADE RIGHTEOUS." (ROM. 5:19) But this is the good news of Christmas: This one person, Jesus, who has offered that perfect obedience to God, acts on our behalf. Through faith in Christ, we have been united with Him. By virtue of being united with Him, we have overcome sin and death, and Christ's own righteousness becomes ours! What Adam (and we) failed to do, Christ has accomplished. The perfect obedience required by God of His people was met perfectly in the person of Jesus Christ. And we meet the demands of obedience by being united to our New Adam, DECEMBER Jesus Christ. 03 In light of this truth, how can we not respond as Paul instructs: "Offer yourselves to God, as those who are living from the dead, and offer your members to Him as instruments of righteousness" (Romans 6:13)? 8 DENVER SEMINARY CHRISTMAS 2013