Sovereign Grace Baptist Church

Free Grace Media

Of Princeton, New Jersey

 

AuthorClay Curtis
TitleAdam, the Figure of Christ
Bible TextRomans 5:12-21
Synopsis As all who Adam represented were made sinners and died by Adam’s disobedience, so all who Christ represented shall be made righteous and live eternally by Christ’s obedience. Listen
Date04-Nov-2018
Series Romans 2018
Article Type Sermon Notes
PDF Format pdf
Word Format doc
Audio HI-FI Listen: Adam, the Figure of Christ (32 kbps)
Audio CD Quality Listen: Adam, the Figure of Christ (128 kbps)
Length 37 min.
 

Series: Romans

Title: Adam the Figure of Christ
Text: Romans 5: 12, 18-19
Date: Nov 4, 2018

Place: SGBC, New Jersey

 

Romans 5: 14:…[Adam] is the figure of [Christ] that was to come.

 

In Headship only, Adam was a figure of Christ.  Adam was the Head of his bride and Head of all who would be born in natural generation of Adam.  In that Adam is a type of Christ.  Christ is the Head of his bride the church, which includes all who are, and shall be, born-again in supernatural regeneration of Christ.

 

1 Corinthians15:45: And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

 

Some mistakenly think that since Adam was Head of all mankind then Christ must be Head of all mankind. Not so!  Adam is the figure of Christ simply because Adam was a Head and Representative Man.  Adam was Head of all his family, who happens to be all men without exception, because all are born from the first man, Adam.  He was the Head of the whole human race.  Christ is Head of all his family, but that is not all men without exception because all men are not born-again of the Spirit, only God’s elect who Christ represented.  Christ is the Head of God’s elect, the Israel of God.

 

So when we read the word “all” in our text, when referring to Adam it means “all who Adam represented” and when referring to Christ it means “all who Christ represented.”  We will add those phrases to our text to make it clear.

 

Romans 5: 12: Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men [who Adam represented], for that all have sinned:...18: Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men [who Adam represented] to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men [who Christ represented] unto justification of life. 19: For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

 

Title: Adam the Figure of Christ

 

Since Adam was Head of all his people, what Adam did his people did in him.  Therefore, what Adam did was imputed to all who Adam represented.  Since Christ was Head of his people, what Christ did his people did in him. Therefore, what Christ did shall be imputed to all who Christ represented.

 

Proposition: As all who Adam represented were made sinners and died by Adam’s disobedience, so all who Christ represented shall be made righteous and live eternally by Christ’s obedience.

 

ADAM

 

Romans 5: 12: Wherefore, as by one man [Adam] sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men [who Adam represented], for that all have sinned:…

 

Adam being the head of all men, all men did what Adam did and were made what Adam was made.  A few weeks ago, we saw in Genesis 3, how Adam sinned by breaking God’s one law by eating of the one tree God forbid him to eat.  Death is the result of sin.  So it says “by one man sin entered the world, and death by sin.”

 

The wages of sin is death.”  Adam died three ways. 

 

One, immediately, legally in accord with the law and justice of God, the just Judge imputed sin to Adam so that death and condemnation passed upon Adam.  God imputed sin to Adam because Adam had sinned.  Therefore, legal death passed upon Adam. 

 

Two, Adam died spiritually, morally.  When God removed his Spirit from Adam due to his transgression, Adam’s nature became corrupt.  In his nature, Adam became impotent to all that is good.

 

Three, Adam began dying physically due to sin.

 

Since Adam was the head of his family, all his offspring were in Adam’s loins. Therefore, before God, we all did what Adam did.  I was in Adam in that garden; I sinned by disobeying God’s command; and so did you and you and all Adam’s descendants.  Does God teach us that that is the truth of headship?  Before God, were all Adam’s children really in Adam?  Before God, did we all really do what Adam did?  Indeed!

 

Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek.  And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, payed tithes in Abraham.  For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him. (Heb 7: 9-10)  Levi was not born till many years later.  But God says that Levi paid tithes in Abraham because Levi was yet in the loins of his [great, great, great, grand] father, when Melchisedec met him.  Though you and I were not born until thousands of years after Adam broke God’s law, God says we sinned that day in Adam because we were yet in the loins of Adam when he sinned.

 

God says it was for that reason that God imputed sin to us and the judgment of death and condemnation came upon all men.  It was because in Adam all really and truly have sinned—"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; AND SO death passed upon all men, FOR THAT ALL HAVE SINNED.” or as the margin says because “in whom” all have sinned.  Verse 18 says “by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation.”  It means by the offense of Adam God imputed sin upon all men to condemnation.  Verse 19 says “For…by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners.”

IMPUTATION

Romans 5: 13: (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.  14: Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression…


God gave this to show that the reason God imputed sin to us and death reigned over us is because we were did sin and were really made sin by Adam’s disobedience.

 

“For until the law sin was in the world”—until God gave the law at Mt Sinai men sinned—“but sin is not imputed when there is no law”God is righteous. God does not arbitrarily impute sin to innocent men.  God will not impute sin to a man unless he has really been made sin under law"Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses”—nevertheless, God imputed the guilt of Adam’s transgression to them so that legal death and condemnation reigned over them—"even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression.”—even over them that had not sinned by breaking a known law as Adam did in the garden.

By this God proves they had “original sin”: one, they were conceived with Adam’s corrupt nature that is why they sinned.  Two, God imputed the guilt of Adam’s transgression to them so that death and condemnation reigned over them.  But how was God just to impute sin to them if they did not sin by breaking a known law as Adam did?  This is the point of verses 13-14, God was just to impute sin to them because in Adam all really have sinned.  This shows us that God only imputes to a man what the man has been made by a prior act.  This shows us that God does not make men sin or righteous by imputing sin or righteousness to us; God imputes sin or righteousness to us when we are made sin or righteous by a prior act. 

 

That is not the traditional way men say that God imputes.  There is a saying, “If it is new then it is not true.”  That is true if it is something new which is not according to God’s word.  But it can be new to you and be true if it was in God’s word all along and you did not see it.

 

Scripture declares that God imputes what a man has been made by a prior act.  If God imputed sin or righteousness to someone who had not first been made sin or righteous, it would be unjust.  Here are a few examples from scripture of how God imputes:

 

Leviticus 17: 3: What man soever there be of the house of Israel, that killeth an ox, or lamb, or goat, in…or…out of the camp, 4: And bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer an offering unto the LORD before the tabernacle of the LORD; BLOOD SHALL BE IMPUTED UNTO THAT MAN; HE HATH SHED BLOOD; and that man shall be cut off from among his people:

 

In 2 Samuel 4: 2, in the parenthesis it speaks of a town called Beeroth.  The people “reckoned” or imputed Beeroth to belong to Benjamin.  But they did not make Beeroth to belong to Benjamin by imputing it to be his town.  They imputed Beeroth to Benjamin because when Joshua took them into the land of Canaan God gave Beeroth to Benjamin.  (Jos 18: 25) 

 

In 1 Samuel 22: 15, King Saul thought it fact that Ahimelech committed treason by enquiring of God for David while knowing David was enemy to the king.  Therefore, thinking Ahimelech had committed treason, Saul imputed treason to Ahimelech. But Ahimelech had not committed treason.  Knowing he had not done that prior act, he told Saul not to impute to him that which was not true.  He said, “Did I then begin to enquire of God for him? be it far from me: let not the king impute any thing unto his servant, nor to all the house of my father: for thy servant knew nothing of all this, less or more.”  Both men knew that only imputation of fact is true imputation.  Saul imputed treason because he thought Ahimelech had committed treason.  Ahimelech said do not impute treason to me because he knew he had not done so.  Both knew imputation is accounting the fact of what a man truly is by a prior act.

In 1 Samuel 16: 5-7 Shimei cursed David, cast stones at him and called him a bloody man.  That was the prior act by which Shimei was made sin.  Then in 2 Samuel 19: 19-20, after David became King, Shimei “said unto the king, Let not my lord IMPUTE INIQUITY UNTO ME, neither do thou remember that which thy servant DID perversely the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart. For thy servant doth know that I HAVE SINNED.”  Shimei had sinned. Therefore, David would have justly imputed sin to him. 

 

In Psalm 106:30-31, Phinehas executed judgment upon two people who had sinned so that the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.  And that was COUNTED unto him for righteousness unto all generations for evermore.”  It was a righteous act that Phinehas had performed.  Due to that fact, it was imputed to Phinehas as being a righteous act.

 

In the new testament, we find other examples.  In 1 Corinthians 4:1 the apostle Paul said, “Let a man so ACCOUNT of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.”  It is not our “accounting” (imputing) Paul to be a minister of Christ that makes Paul a minister of Christ.  Christ made him a minister by a prior act.  Therefore, we impute Paul as the minister of Christ.

In 2 Peter 3: 15, the apostle Peter said, “And ACCOUNT that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation.”  Our “accounting” (imputing) the longsuffering of our Lord to be salvation does not make it salvation.  We account the longsuffering of our Lord to be salvation because God’s longsuffering is salvation.

 

I have said, as others have, that God made us sin by imputation.  But Romans 5 says God imputed sin to us because Adam made us sin.  That harmonizes with scripture.  The Greek Lexicon defines imputation as dealing with fact not supposition (as if).  Men may impute to another man what he is not but the just Judge of heaven and earth only imputes what a man has been made by a prior act because that, alone, is just.  Creeds and traditions of men are not the inspired word of God, his scripture are.  Therefore, we have to submit all to God’s word.

 

It is so very important to understand how God imputes because “Adam is the figure of him that was to come.”  The very reason Christ came as Head and Representative of his people is to declare the righteousness of God, to show that God only judges right judgment.  God prohibits imputing righteousness or sin to a man unless they are so.  To do otherwise, is iniquity.  God shows how he judges by commanding earthly judges:

Deuteronomy 25: 1: [Judges]…shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked.

Proverbs 17: 15: He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD.

Proverbs 24: 24  He that saith unto the wicked, Thou art righteous; him shall the people curse, nations shall abhor him: 25  But to them that rebuke [the wicked] shall be delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them.

God imputed to sin to all men and death/condemnation passed upon us because by Adam’s one transgression, Adam made all men sin.

 

CHRIST

Romans 5:
18: Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men [who Adam represented] to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men [who Christ represented] unto justification of life. 19: For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

 

As we did what Adam our Head did and were made what Adam was made, so all who Christ represented did what Christ did and was made what Christ made us.

 

The prior act by which Adam was made sin was Adam’s offense to God, Adam’s disobedience to God.  God did not impute sin to innocent Adam to make him sin; God only imputed sin to Adam after Adam made himself sin by his offense, by his disobedience.  Therefore, God did not impute sin to Adam’s people to make us sin; God imputed sin to us because Adam made us sin by his offense and disobedience.

 

The prior act by which Christ was made sin was by Christ’s righteousness, by Christ’s obedience.  God did not impute sin to our innocent Lord Jesus to make him sin.  God only imputed sin to Christ and death/the curse only passed upon him, after the Spotless Lamb of God righteously obeyed his Father by presenting himself so that “he hath made him sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Cor 5:21)


One, when Adam sinned by his disobedience, he died legally when God imputed sin to him.  Likewise, having been made sin then God numbered him with the transgressors by imputing sin to him and Christ made a curse in behalf of his people and suffered death that justice demanded.

Two, when Adam was made sin, he died by his nature being corrupted when God forsook him.  But when Christ was made sin and God forsook him, his nature never was corrupted because he is the GodMan! We see in the Psalms what the Hebrew writer stated, the holy Lord Christ resisted unto blood striving against sin.  He never ceased praying to the Father from his holy heart for God to deliver him when justice was satisfied.

 

Three, our Lord Jesus suffered physical death.  But it was only after Christ suffered that living death of separation from God which his people would have had to suffer.  He suffered that living death to the full satisfaction of justice in only three hours because he is the eternal GodMan!  When he cried It is finished and yielded his spirit to the Father in physical death, eternal death died for his people.

 

Here is the good news!  I was as truly in Christ’s loins so that “I am crucified with Christ!”, as I was in Adam’s loins and fell and you too, who are his people! The apostle Paul did not say it was as if I was crucified with Christ.  He said, “I am crucified with Christ.”  He said in emphatic, dogmatic language,

 

Romans 6: 6: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 7: For he that is dead is freed from sin. 8: Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: 9: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 10: For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 11: Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

Believer, please see what good news this is and how this glorifies the righteousness of God as Christ came to manifest.  Our text declares plainly that God does not impute righteousness to the believer to make us righteous but God imputes righteousness to the believer because Christ our Head made us righteous by his righteousness, by his obedience unto the death of the cross!

 

Romans 5: 18: Therefore as by the offence of one [sin was imputed, the judgment of God came] upon all men [who Adam represented] to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came [God imputes righteousness] upon all men [who Christ represented] unto justification of life. 19: For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

 

Amen!