Ep. 162: Death entering the world

In the name of the glorious Trinity, Father and Son and Holy

Spirit, forever Amen. Glory be to the everlasting

mercies which sent you to us, O Christ, the light of the world

and the life of all. Give us wisdom by Your law and

enlighten our impulses by Your knowledge.

Sanctify our souls by Your truth and grant that we may be

obedient to Your words and may fulfil Your commandments at

every hour. O You who enlightens the

rational with the knowledge of Your greatness, do enlight, O my

Lord, our thoughts, that we may meditate upon Your holy and

divine Scriptures at all times. O Lord of all, Father and Son

and Holy Spirit, forever. the Epistle of Saint Paul to the

Church in Rome. We're in chapter 5.

Just a little brief background again for those who are joining

us for the first time listening to this series.

The the Epistle to the Romans was written obviously to the

church in Rome. Now we know that the the Jews

were taken out of the city of Rome and they were Gentiles.

And I'm talking about the Jews, the Christian Jews, the

believers Jews, they weren't called Christians back then, but

the believing Jews were taken out of the city of Rome.

And then the Gentiles were there and the believing Gentiles were

there, and there was a church where they were operating.

There was no synagogue there. When the Jews come back again,

one more time, the Jewish members come back to the city.

You know, the Jews there was a concern that the city or the

church may be split into a Jewish church and a Gentile

church. Now they met may have been

beginning brewing. But that's why Saint Paul writes

his letter to the Romans so that he can clarify everything to to

show and to to to teach and explain that listen, what was in

the past, It's in the past. And he he goes back to Abraham

and justification and the law, what have you.

We are now one with Christ. There is no more Jew, no one

Gentile, no more male, no more female.

We are all one in Christ. That's why he's been talking

about the the nature of justification and we know

justification. You know, some people have a

different understanding of justification.

You're going to go to heaven because you're justified.

No justification. Again, we've spoken so many

times doesn't make right. You know, just like God when we

reading the scriptures, there was a chaos in the world, There

was water, there was darkness. The first 3 verses God fixes

everything, brings everything in order, the sky, the land, you

know, the space, the air. And then he starts filling those

places with birds, with fish in the sea, with trees and with

the, the sun and the moon. So, so it's another way of

saying he justified that the world, he made it right.

He put everything in its place and again until the Lord Jesus

Christ one more time the world was in another turmoil of sin

and corruption and what paganism and and you know, you know, non

belief in God, non worship of the true God Jesus Christ came

one more time to justify one more time to make man right.

This might this time, not the creation, not the birds, not the

sky, not the earth, but man to justify men, to set it right, to

set it straight one more time. Put everything into perspective,

put everything in the right place where God want, wanted

everything to be. Steven, can you turn up a little

bit? God wanted everything to be as

far as men. Now again, the world is in

another turmoil and even worse, and it's getting worse day by

day. Sin, immorality, filth,

paganism, atheism, non believing God, it's just increasing and

increasing all those false faiths that are out there that

are not related to the Lord Jesus Christ, not worshipping

and kneeling and bowing before Jesus Christ, intensifying.

You see what's going on? Well, let me tell you something,

be of heart, be of heart and and and don't, don't be in despair.

Wait for the Lord. Blessed is he who waits for the

Lord best, blessed is the soul who has has waited for her Lord,

and he's repented and ready to receive the Lord.

When the Lord Jesus Christ comes, he will one more time

correct everything, justify everything, but this time in His

justification, in his correction, putting everything

in order, some will suffer and this is the eternal

justification. Some will suffer and some will

joy in that eternal bliss with Jesus Christ.

He talks about Abraham and his faith.

He talks about how the Gentiles didn't have the law yet.

They were still sinning, but God was.

You know, lack of a pen of term is turning a bland blind eye.

God had compassion towards them, but now he's saying that now

that Jesus Christ has come, that grace has come, that the

justification is there, it's done, it's ready to be, to be

for the taking of anyone who believes.

They too, now the Gentiles too are under the new covenant of

the law and of the Spirit. So now the Jews who believe and

the Gentiles who believe are under the covenant of the law

and of the law, but the law of the Spirit.

So we're going to pick it up from verse 12 and we're going to

conclude chapter 5 by the grace of God.

Paul writes Romans 512. Therefore, therefore, just as

through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin,

and thus death spread to all men because all sinned, that means

people continue to live in sin. No word of condemnation.

Keep that thought. Keep that word.

No word of everyone was condemned.

No, no, no death. Death entered the world and

because of death it entered into mankind and all began and lived

a life in sin until the law, by the way, until Moses and Paul's

going to make make mention of that.

So Adam introduced sin. Adam introduced mortality into

human history. It was Adam.

Notice I said Adam introduced sin, or through Adam, sin

entered the world and not Adam established and created sin.

We're going to talk about that. Adam introduced sin and

mortality into the human history, in the human race.

How? How?

By disobeying. Let me ask you a question.

Didn't Adam believe in God? God would talk to Adam.

God would. Adam was God's handiwork.

He had no faith in God like he was telling, let's say Eve and

you know, speaking to him so that there's no God.

I've just, I just popped here. I just came from nothing.

I was a just imagine Stephen and Shamaja.

Just imagine Adam saying I came from a soup.

I came from nothing, right? Just like there was a an atheist

or a scientist trying to explain what nothing is.

It's ridiculous. And then he's saying why are you

laughing? Because it's ridiculous to

explain to me what is nothing. It's nothing, period.

Anyway, let's not go there. So didn't Adam believe in God?

He had faith, but then why was what he did counted as sin?

But he believed in God. It's OK, I can do this.

I just believe and I sin. I continue to sin for all those

heresies that are out there. And if you're listening and to

confine to that and you believe in that, stop.

You've been fooled. You've been misled just because

you believe. That's it.

Adam believed. Adam had a life in the garden

with God. God would communicate with Adam,

yet what he did did was counted as sin.

He believed, didn't he? Of course he did, but he had

faith, but his faith was dead according to James chapter 2,

James 2:17

verse 17. Hence, because of that

disobedience, because of what he did, because of he did what God

told him not to do, and he believed in God, death entered

the world. So sin followed death.

Death spread to all humanity. Keep in mind, I'm just saying

death. No word of condemnation there.

Death spread to all humanity. Why?

Because all the people participated in Adam's mortal

condition. Because our race, our kind, our

being was corrupted and was participating in the mortal.

The death part of our condition of mankind being the beginning

of our race. Adam being the beginning of our

race. Now please consider this very

well, and I hope that I don't give you this message.

This is not my intent. We did not participate in Adam's

act of sin as rights, the Church fathers as right, the Church

fathers. My issue that all the Syriac

Church Fathers, we did not participate in Adam's act of

sin. Disobedient.

I wasn't there. We didn't do that.

We didn't do it like Bart would say.

I didn't do it, but death when mortality entered the human race

and then the human race was seen to commit sin because sin, you

know the the the human race, the the nature of man or the the

inclination of man became to sin because it came through one man

and through that one man many others came beginning with Cain

and Abel and maybe daughters as well.

The Bible says unto Adam and Eve were born sons and daughters.

Now this is in no way introducing inherited guilt.

Augustine taught this that we inherited the guilt the Church

of the East and many Syriac fathers right.

We did not inherit the guilt, according to to Augustine.

No, we didn't. The Catholic Church also

prescribes to this. The Protestant churches teach

and understand this, the Assyrian Church of the East.

And obviously this program is presented to you by the Assyrian

Church of the East, according to the teachings of the Fathers of

the Church of the East, of the Life of the Church of the East,

the framework of the Church of the East and the Scriptures.

The Assyrian Church of the East understands and teaches that

humanity inherited the consequence, the consequence of

Adam's fault, the corruption, the mortality, the inclination

to sin, not Adam's personal guilt.

And we're going to continue. This is what Paul is going to

tell us, not condemnation. Because I too was a part of that

guilt, because I did it. I didn't do it.

My first father did it. And that was Adam verse 13 and

14. For until the law sin was in the

world, people were sinning. But sin is not imputed when

there is no law. There's no law, but people are

still sinning because people were dying as well.

Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses.

That is the law. Moses is the law even over those

who had not sinned according to the likeness of the

transgression of Adam, who is a type of him who was to come.

People sinned and died before Moses, before the Law, even

though the Mosaic law had not yet been given.

Cain killed Abel murdered Abel, sin crime.

And they say he murdered 1/4 of the world's population, but we

don't know. There may have been daughters

there as well, right? This demonstrates that death's

reign originated from Adam's transgression.

Not because I committed or I was guilty of that, but I became a

part of that sin, meaning the effect of that sin.

Also, let us keep in mind that sin itself, let me ask you a

question. Did sin originate from Adam's

disobedience? Did sin?

Do we read that sin originated? No, no, no mortar sin entered

the world, right? So did Adam originate the sin,

or did sin originate from Adam because of his disobedience?

Why am I asking you things? Because we got to keep in mind

that no, there was one person, there was one being before Adam,

the tempter, Satan, the serpent. Who was it?

He was a means of the revolt among the angelic heavens.

He revolted, he was disobedient to God.

There is a, a Jewish tradition that when God created Adam, when

God created man, he commands the angels to worship.

Now this is a Jewish tradition. He commands and, and I've, I've,

I think I've maybe some of the Syriac fathers who also comment

on this, that when God made Adam, he commanded the angels to

worship. Now worship doesn't mean that,

you know, someone would say, oh, worship is only for God.

Worship is not only that worship that you give to God.

Worship means Revere, respect, honor.

You're going to be serving, for example, you're going to be

serving this man, just like Paul says angels are serving

ministers for mankind. But he didn't, he revolted,

right? So that's where sin originated.

But it comes into the world through Adam, when he too

becomes a part of that, when he too disobeys God and revolts on

God's commandment. Do not eat.

And he ate he and his wife. Verse 15 to 17.

But the free gift is not like the offense, for if by the one

man's offence many died, much more the grace of God and the

gift by the grace of the one man capital, O one man, Jesus Christ

abounded to many and the gift and the gift is not like that

which came through the one who sinned.

We're going to talk about that. It's greater for the judgement

which came from the offence results resulted in

condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offences

resulted in justification. For if by the one man's offence,

death reigned through the one, much more through one through

much more, those who receive abundance of grace and of the

gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one Jesus

Christ. Wow, lot of information there.

Let's start unpacking number one.

Do you see that Adam is a type of Jesus Christ, is a foreshadow

of Jesus Christ? Adam was the negative, the

corruption, the morality, immorality, the mortality.

Christ is the positive, the holiness, the life, the

immorality. He's a type of Christ, but in a

reverse way. Remember, we just learned that

the actions of one man affected many.

Adam introduced death by his action.

Jesus introduced life. Adam brings condemnation.

Jesus brought justification. One person's trespass harmed

many. One act of obedience of Jesus

Christ benefits many. However, Paul writes.

Christ's gift. This is why salvation and grace,

it's not something to be played with.

It's not something to be taken lightly, because those who took

grace and take grace lightly find it as a license to sin.

That's what Paul writes to Jude. They took grace as a license to

sin. Saved by grace, I can do what I

want. No, no, no.

That is the most evil teaching, heretical teaching.

That is so away from the truth, beloved.

No, no, don't believe it. If someone says to you Jesus has

done it, there's nothing else you need to do.

Well, why are you preaching? May I ask?

May I ask if Jesus has done everything, there's nothing we

need to do. Why is there a Bible?

Why is there a preaching? Why are there commentaries?

Be it orthodox, Catholic, Protestants, Why are they

commentaries? Why do our brothers, the

Protestants ring their leaders and ask them questions?

It's been done. It's finished, done.

Don't just read the Bible. The Bible will tell you

everything. No need for commentaries.

No need for Talkback shows to ring in and ask questions.

No, no, no, no. So grace is not something to be

taken lightly. And don't ever, for your own

benefit, for your own eternal benefit, don't use it and abuse

it for a license to sin. Saint Paul writes this sin is

punishable by death. The wage of sin is death.

When you work and you receive wages, it's because you've

worked. That's it.

Your boss cannot say, hey, I just gave you a paycheck here

because I've worked. When you sin, the wage is death.

You cannot say why? Because you sinned and sin

brought death into the world. So Christ's gift of grace is far

greater than Adam's offence. Why?

Because grace not only reverse the fall, beloved, if you know

God, Christ didn't just come and reverse the fall, the corruption

and and fulfill the redemption. No, no, no, Christ bestowed the

grace of God, which is Jesus Christ through him and him only,

only Christ. I'm not concerned you have

friends from other faiths if you love that friend.

That is from a faith that has no connection to Christ.

If you really love that friend, you'll talk to that flame about

Jesus Christ, to bring him into Christ.

OK, only through Christ and what it did, what did it do?

Adam brought death, but Christ bestowed adoption of sonship in

baptism. In baptism, righteousness we

made right. We made justified, made right

again, salvation, forgiveness, compassion, mercy, repentance,

right, absolution, eternal life, eternal life, this all through

Jesus Christ and all that Adam did.

And by we, we don't take death lightly and sin lightly as well.

But through Christ we have all these victories, praise and

glory be to His name, salvation and eternal life.

Not bound by time, but you know by at one time at one instance.

No, no, beloved, no Always remember if you are asked, are

you saved? Are you entering the Kingdom of

God? Your answer should be as a

Christian. This is the correct true

biblical and you know the church fathers that teach this.

I have been saved through my faith in Jesus Christ.

I've been made righteous or justified means I've been

corrected through my faith in Jesus Christ.

I am being saved through my life with Jesus Christ, the new life

that I received from the waters of baptism being put to death

and brought to life. And I continue to live that life

through Jesus Christ. And I will be saved if I endure,

if I suffer, if I persevere with Jesus Christ, and if I sin, I

ask for forgiveness, I repent, I continue this life of battle

until the Lord returns and, and and justifies and makes

everything right for the last time, and then I will enter

eternity with my Lord and my Savior Jesus Christ.

Verse 18 Therefore, as through one man's he keeps he keeps

repeating to tell them that they're both in the same boat,

both the Jews and the Gentiles. As through one man offence, one

man's offence, judgement came to all men.

What is judgement? What was judgement?

God came to set things right because again it was out of

order. It was in chaos there.

Through therefore, as through one man's offence, judgement

came to the all men, resulting in condemnation.

Even so, through one man's righteous act, the free gift

came to all men, resulting in justification of life.

For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also

by one man's obedient once many will be made righteous.

Now this is the new King Jem version.

That word condemnation is, I think, mistranslated.

There's no mention of the word condemnation, that we were all

condemned. No, we weren't.

We all became part of the repercussion and the outcome of

that sin through Adam's disobedience, humanity entered a

condition of corruption and death.

Remember what God said in Genesis chapter 2 verse 17.

Genesis 2:17

He said in the day that you will eat from it.

That is the fruit you your race. I just added that will die the

death not just die in the Syriac versions mortar bit meted.

You will die the death not be put to death not I will kill

you, I will bring death upon you.

No, no, no, you will die the death.

So through Adam all this happened.

Death entered the world. See this is the the condition of

mankind when they are born into this world by by means of their

humanity. Through Adam this all happened,

but through Jesus Christ, through his obedience, humanity

receives the possibility that the the provision, the the gift

of righteousness and restoration.

By believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, Christ initiates, Christ

establishes, brings forth a new humanity, just that as Adam was

the head of the old humanity, God is the establisher, the

initiator of new humanity. Moreover, verse 20.

Moreover, the law entered that the offence might abound, but

where sin abound, grace abounded much more, so that as sin

reigned in death, Even so grace might reign through

righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The law came to, to control, to manage sin.

The law exposed sin more clearly, clearly, but it didn't

cure sin. That's why the law was weak,

because man was weak in the flesh.

It just came to it just came to put things in order.

For example, again, I give you this example.

I always do it. You're driving on a road.

There's no street signs. No, you know, no speed signs

whatsoever. You're out in somewhere where

there is no street signs and you drive as you wish.

And then there's going to be chaos.

There's going to be accidents, there's going to be tragedy,

tragedies. But the government puts up a, a

speed sign. Why?

So that it can control your urge to drive fast.

It manages you. It manages your your driving

right, but it doesn't cure that. Even if you do have a car

accident while driving at the speed limit, there could still

be death. It's there to manage it.

The grace in Jesus Christ supersedes that and and

increases over sin. Beloved, as we spoke, we're sin

multiplied. That means people knew sin

because the law came. God's mercy, Paul Rice and grace

abounded even more where they were sinning and they knew it's

sin. God showed grace and mercy by

forgiving. If my people shall come back and

repent and ask for forgiveness, I will forgive them and remember

their sins no more. This is mercy.

This is grace. Marishu that writes it very

nicely summarizes this. He writes Adam introduced cause

death and corruption, not inherited guilt.

We didn't inherit the guilt. Death spread because humanity

shares Adam's fallen condition. Christ is the second Adam or the

last Adam who restores humanity. The law reveals sin but cannot

heal it. Grace in Christ is greater than

Adam's transgression because it can heal the sin.

Romans chapter 5, he writes, teaches the movement from death

Romans 5 · chapter mention

to life, corruption to restoration, and Adam to Christ.

He puts it so beautifully, and this is what he's telling both

the Gentiles and the Jews. You had the law, you sinned.

You didn't have the law, you sinned.

It was corruption. There was death, there was sin.

The law came before the law by the way, let's go pre law Jews,

you were living, you were sinning, you were dying.

Gentiles, you were living, you were sinning, you were dying.

There was no law. Law came to manage that sin.

The Jews accepted, but they were still sinning and they were

still dying. The, the, the Gentiles didn't

accept they were sinning, they were dying as well, right?

Jesus Christ, praise and glory comes into the picture into the

world to just or to make everything right now there is no

more excuses for the Jews or the Gentiles.

There's no excuses for the Christians and the non

Christians as well. There's no excuse.

Christ has come. We who have accepted we need to

do away with sin, live a pious life through Jesus Christ, and

we have the gifts we have. We have so much gifts above,

more than what Adam brought on upon us.

Christ has given us again confession, forgiveness, the

Holy Eucharist, the Church, Baptism, the Sacrament of

Baptism, the sacrament of Absolution.

We have all these gifts and then we live in this life waiting for

the Lord to return, for that final justification, for that

final righteousness, for that final process where Christ makes

everything right for the Jews, for the Gentiles, for the

Christians, for the non Christians, for every man on

this earth. Because every man will kneel and

will confess now, either confess in shame or in fear and not

having a an opportunity to make things right, or we will confess

in pride, in glory, in confidence, and in that that joy

that Christ will bring to take up His Church into His heavenly

bright chamber. Praise and glory be to His name

now and not all times and forever.

Amen. We hope you enjoyed this week's

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Until next time, God bless you all.