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"The sin" which entered into the world when Adam fell was a blow aimed at the
prerogative of Christ, "The Image of the invisible God" (Col. 1: 15). This sin attacked the
glory of God in the person of Adam, who was made in the image of God, and in the
dispensation of the mystery we have the first definite reversal of this satanic sin:--
"And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of
Him that created him" (Col. 3: 10).
Eph. 4: 27 glances back to the entrance of sin when it says: "Neither give place to
the Devil."
There is no need to enlarge upon this further. Once we get the right view of the matter
in Gen. 3: the truth becomes patent. It is more than piety; it is the soul of our high
calling that Christ is all and in all. Col. 2: reveals a veritable pantheon of "gods many",
with their "Touch not, taste not, handle not", all of which are placed upon the throne that
should be occupied by none except the Lord. Members of the one body, with Eph. 5: 5
before them will realize that John's words, "Keep yourselves from idols" (I John 5: 21),
may be but a variant of the exhortation, "Putting away the lie" (Eph. 4: 25).
The mystery of the inner teaching of Romans deals with this sin which is behind the
fall of man and the chaos of Gen. 1: 2. In Rom. 5: 14 & 21 sin and death are said to
"reign". In Rom. 6: 9 & 14 sin and death are said to have "dominion". Just as there is
a oneness about righteousness, so is there about iniquity. "The sin" that underlies all
"sins" can be well expressed in the words that describe the attitude of Amalek:--
"Because the hand of Amalek is against the throne of the Lord" (Exod. 17: 16, margin).
#29.
Death, in Adam and in Christ (5: 12-14).
pp. 41 - 46
We have given consideration to the doctrine that inheres in the repeated reference to
"one man" in Rom. 5: 12-21. We now have to consider what this one man did: "By one
man sin entered into the world." Immediately we are aware of a blessed connection
found in Heb. 10: 5: "Therefore when He entered into the world." Here we have a highly
illuminating contrast. As we think of Adam, his disobedience, his offence, his
condemnation, and how the consequences of that one act passed through to all his seed,
we gratefully remember that Christ ("this Man", Heb. 10: 12) contrastingly came to do
the will of God, and by doing it sanctified all the true seed.
In contrast with the one act of disobedience and the one offence of Rom. 5: 15 we
have in Heb. 10: 10 and 14 the "one sacrifice" and "offering" of the Lord Jesus Christ,
"once". There is, moreover, in Heb. 10: the same insistence that we found in Heb. 2: 14:
"A body hast Thou prepared Me." There can be no identification of the sons of Adam
with the Son of God, except He, too, shall become flesh. Prominence is given to this in