Where He Leads I Will Follow: One Man

 

For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.  Romans 5:19

 Adam. Poor guy got a bad rep. He made the biggest mistake any of us can, choosing to disbelieve and disobey God, and with it he brought us all down with him. You know he had no idea the breadth or consequences of his choice before he made it, but do we ever? Only God has the whole picture, knows all that will come from a given choice or action. But the point the scripture is making here is that it only took one guy, one sin from one guy really, to bring down the many – every person after him.

 That’s a pretty dark, sad thought, but the verse goes on! Because this was all brought on by one man, it could also all be undone by one Man, but it had to be the right Man, a perfect Man. It had to be the One without sin. Since we were so far past that even being a possibility, God had to come down and do it Himself. He was the only One able to live out a life on earth without sinning, and that is what was necessary to break the bonds of sin in our lives. You see, if someone sins, and then they die, they die for their own sins. They can’t take on the punishment for anyone else because they deserve it themselves. But when Jesus came, He came without sin. Some say that is because He didn’t have the “seed” of Adam in Him since He was immaculately conceived by the Holy Spirit. I’ve looked into the Doctrine of Total Depravity in the past and felt like it came up short of a clear scriptural basis, but it is clear that sin entered the world through Adam and his first, bad choice. And from there, that sin spread to all mankind and, as Romans 3:23 reminds us, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” So how do we know that Jesus didn’t sin? That we have scripture for!

1 Peter 2:22: He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth.

Hebrews 4:15: For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.

2 Corinthians 5:21: God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

John 8:46: Which of you can prove Me guilty of sin? If I speak the truth, why do you not believe Me?

Romans 8:3: For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.

 So, Jesus was sent in the likeness of sinful flesh (Romans 8:3), but He, Himself, did not sin. This is the result of another fancy sounding doctrine, one that does seem to hold up to scriptural basis, the Hypostatic Union. This basically says that Jesus was both fully God and fully man. That’s how He could live out His life on earth without sinning. Because He was still God while He was doing it. So, because Jesus was without sin, when He died on the cross He died as the perfect sacrifice and was able to officially break the bonds of sin on our lives and offer us grace and mercy in exchange. Now, because of this gift, we can be in relationship with Him, live with Him forever!

Here’s the Thing: One man was able to screw it up for everyone, but even better, one Man was able to fix it! What Jesus did was once and for all. It doesn’t have to be repeated over and over, it was a perfect sacrifice because He was perfect, without blemish or spot of sin in His life. Praise God!