Christ, Even as Adam

...but the free gift following many trespasses brings justification.

 - Romans 5

Imagine the chaos if each one of us had to act for ourselves, and make our own case, as to whether or not we should have our sins forgiven and our lives made eternal!

The disobedience of Adam, representing all of us (for we all are present in his genetic makeup), lead to his death, and his death was then passed on to, or inherited by, all of us. We are born mortal. Why? Because we are sinners. Before there was death, there was sin. There is evil and wickedness in the world, because of sin, and we all sin.

But the obedience of Christ brought forgiveness and life to all of us. The entire passage of Romans 5 repeats the concept that sin and death started with one man, and passed on to all of us. But likewise, the concept of justification and life started with one man, and passed on to us. The statements are structured accordingly: "Even as in one man death reigned, even so in one man eternal life was passed to all of humanity." 

If our DNA is in Adam, then it must be in Christ as well, since Christ was our representative, even as Adam was. And Adam was ours, because our DNA is in him.

So it came down to one man, for each situation. This is simplicity. We know that we act an awful lot like Adam . . . but we also know that we are capable of acting like Christ.

And so Christ, The Second Adam, must have been born, in the fullness of time, as a complete DNA match to Adam. And so, this is how it works.

One man's obedience. We are in Him and He in us (and I think this is the greatest symbolism of Communion). And when he obeyed, it was enough to make pure and holy . . . all of us.