Death Through Adam, Life Through Christ

Posted by scottsiegel on Dec 5, 2008 in Daily Bread | 2 comments

I grew up fully Jewish. I was Bar Mitzvah’d at 13. I had always had what I considered to be a close relationship with God. At 16 I really began questioning whether the legalism that I saw in Judaism was how God wanted to be worshipped. I always felt like I had a more personal relationship with God, and Judaism seemed “incomplete” to me.

Between a few of my cheerleading team members and Ashley, I began to investigate Christianity. After MUCH discussion, prayer, reading, and listening, I became a believer in March of ’98.

After I became a believer in Christ there was understandably much discussion to be had with my Jewish family. One of the main modern Jewish arguments is, “how can one man atone for other’s sins.” Well, of course for a long time the priests would make sacrifices to cover the sins of the congregation. But this section of scripture highlights the fact that while the sins of Adam and Eve condemned all mankind to a distance from God, the acts of Jesus Christ allows all of us to return to glorious closeness and “rightness” with God.

John Piper puts it really well in his sermon, ‘Adam, Christ, and Justification, Part 1′: “Because now Paul has connected it with Adam. And Adam is the historical ancestor of every people group on the face of the earth. This is not a myth; it’s not an analogy; it’s not an illustration. It is historical fact. Adam, the first human being, sinned and in him all human beings sinned, and all died and all are condemned. And the remedy for that is another historical Person – the God-man, Jesus Christ, who came in space and time to undo what Adam did. He trusted and obeyed God perfectly, so that all who are in him by faith have that obedience imputed to them and become right with God forever.”

So, as you can see, this passage really speaks to me about the historical/old testament scriptural precedence for Jesus Christ atoning for all our sins. It’s wonderful to feel right with God.