Dec 1, 2019
Scripture Reading: Genesis 3:1-6, 14-19
The Christmas story begins in the garden of Eden. We are in need of a 'second Adam' because the 'first Adam' failed to obey the command of his Creator. There was one, and only one, command for Adam and Eve to submit to. ", , , but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat" (Gen 2:16).
Genesis 3 records the darkest day in the history of the human race. Soon after Adam and Eve were created, and maybe on the very day they were created, they rebelled against the God who made them. They did exactly what God had prohibited them from doing. The story of the entrance of sin into the human race is a statement of the reckless, suicidal, insubordinate, arrogant nature of sin.
Romans 5 is a theological commentary on Genesis 3. It contains what is called the doctrine of original sin. This is the concept that both Adam's sinful nature and the guilt of Adam's sin have been passed down (imputed) to the entire human race. "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned . . . For as through the one man's sin [Adam] the many were made sinners . . ." (Rom 5:12,19).
On the day of Adam's sin, God promised a deliverer from sin and sin's penalty. To the devil God declared, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel" (Gen 3:15). Since the beginning, the sin and guilt of the 'first Adam,' have been imputed to us. But, to God's glory and our everlasting joy, God sent His Son, promised from the beginning, so His obedient righteousness can be imputed to us, through faith in the Savior.