The Finished Work of Christ - Ch. 8

Chapter 8 - Dead in Adam, Alive in Christ

I. Introduction

A. Last Week: Justification results in Peace with God
B. This Week: Adam and Christ

II. Peace with God

A. God is at peace with us because we accept His gift
B. We can be at peace with God and ourselves if we...
1. acknowledge and accept that we are sinners
2. ask for forgiveness and accept God's gift of grace
3. Thank God for His gift of grace

III. Adam and Christ

A. Passage this week, Romans 5:12-21, describes our path from ruin to rescue, from one sin to one redeemer
B. Barclay - "No passage of the New Testament has had such an influence on theology as this; and no passage is more difficult for us to understand today."
1. Reading the scripture it's easy to see why he said this.
2. Especially the first half, about Adam and original sin
B. First the path to ruin - Adam and original sin
1. Many do not believe Adam and Eve were real historical figures, rather just an idea or an allegory
2. Schaeffer makes the point that Paul did believe Adam and Eve were real historical people
a. v.12 - "by one man sin entered unto the world..." clearly speaking as Adam was a real person.
b. again in 1 Corinthians 15:22, and again in 1 Timothy 2:13-14
3. Not only did Paul believe it but Christ proclaimed it, see Matthew 19:4-5
4. OK, that begs the question how did one man's sin get passed onto the rest of us?
1. Barclay says passage must be read with two basic Jewish ideas in mind
a. idea of solidarity - Jews don't think of themselves as individuals but as part of a clan, family, or a nation. Thus, as Adam did, they all did.
b. death is the direct consequence of sin. Jews believe if Adam and Eve had not sinned they would have been immortal, i.e. immune to death.
5. Schaeffer and Barclay seem to disagree on one point - did people between Adam and the giving of the Law of Moses sin?
a. Barclay - "the law did not come until the time of Moses. Now, if there is no law, there can be no breaking of the law; that is to say, there can be no sin. Therefore, the men and women who lived between Adam and Moses did in fact commit sinful actions, but they could not be counted sinners, for the law did not yet exist.
b. Schaeffer - "As we saw in 2;1, those who lived from the time of Adam until the giving of the law will not be judged by the Law of Moses, but on the basis of what they knew, apart from the law, about right and wrong...So all come under condemnation, for even before the Law of Moses all were guilty."
C. Passage has two historical acts
1. First we just discussed, Adam and original sin
2. Second, Jesus who came to fix what Adam had ruined
D. Because it has fallen, humanity is far less than God meant it to be
E. Schaeffer speaks a great deal about how we are Christ's children
1. Uses parallel of Jewish law that brother shall take his dead brother's wife as his own and have children with her such that his brother's blood line can continue.
2. Unsaved people are still in the dead blood line of Adam
3. Saved people are children of God because Christ died for us.
4. In light of this how should we live? That is the topic for the Romans Ch. 6-8, which is what we will begin studying next week.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. The Finished Work of Christ, 1998, Francis Schaeffer, Good News Pubishers, Wheaton, IL
2. The New Daily Study Bible - The Letter to the Romans, 1955, William Barclay, Westminster Press, Louisville, KY