15:22
Truth Nugget #1: When Adam sinned, all humanity sinned with him, because all humanity was embedded in the seed of his loins.
Adam’s decision to obey the devil through the voice of his wife, virtually sold the human race into a life of slavery to sin and rebellion against God. The apostle Paul confirmed this truth when he expressed his frustration with his life before knowing Christ as Messiah, Savior and Lord.
We know that the Law is spiritual; but I am a creature of the flesh [carnal, unspiritual], having been sold into slavery under [the control of] sin.
Romans 7:14, AMP
Before we were even born into this world, we were bound by the law of sin and death that was already at work in our nature, through the corrupt seed of our forefather, Adam.
For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, 23but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.
Romans 7:22, 23
Consequently, ALL humanity commits sin because we are ALL “natural-born” sinners; and we do not become sinners based on the sins we commit. In other words, it is the sinner that produces the sinful behavior and not sinful behavior that turns the person into a sinner. Our noblest attempts to obey God’s law are always undermined by the law (principle) of sin, naturally ingrained in our mind and members of our body. This reminds me of a story I once heard from a former Bible professor and evangelist:
A scorpion desperately wanted to get across a very wide river. He spotted a turtle on the river’s edge just ahead of him. He quickly approached the docile creature and asked her very politely to allow him the privilege to ride on her sturdy back to the other side. The wise turtle said very kindly, “I am sorry Mr. Scorpion, I would have gladly taken you across, but I am afraid of your poisonous sting.” “You may kill me in the middle of our swim over this river.” “Nonsense, Mrs. Turtle,” replied Mr. Scorpion. “If I should sting you in the middle of our swim, you will not only die, but I would certainly drown; and I definitely do not want die.”
The wise, old turtle thought for a little while, and then she said: “Alright, you had me fooled for a moment, but you have a very valid point; drowning is no fun at all.” “Come on, hop aboard, and I’ll gladly take you over.” The scorpion got unto the back of the turtle and they began their journey over the river. Sure enough, when they got a little more than mid-stream, the scorpion jumped on the unprotected head of the turtle and delivered its venomous sting. The turtle gave a very loud “squawk” and in its dying breath said: “Mr. Scorpion you deceived me; now we are both going to die.” The scorpion replied sadly, “I am terribly sorry Mrs. Turtle, I tried very hard not to harm you, but it is just my nature to sting. It’s what I was made to do!”
Like “Mr. Scorpion,” it is the nature of Adam’s descendants to commit sin; it is what we were born to do. We were born in sin and fashioned in iniquity
Alienation from God
The most far-reaching effect of Adam’s sin is that it separated humanity from the life and light of God. The result of that separation was a life totally opposite to who God is and what He represents. The Holy Scriptures indicate very clearly that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). The eternal God is also the Originator of ALL life, and life apart from Him can only lead to death and decay.
Paradoxically, the Bible refers to this life of separation from God as one that is dead in transgression and sin (Ephesians 2:1). In other words, from God’s perspective, a person who is living a life without any meaningful reference to His moral authority over him, is, for all spiritual and eternal purposes, really dead while he lives on the earth. That person is dead to his true condition before God; dead to the salvation that God has provided for him in Jesus Christ; and completely oblivious to all God is doing in his life and in the world, to lead him in the direction of eternal life through Christ.
Truth Nugget #2: Humanity’s alienation from God has given the race a false sense of reality, and a corrupt understanding of morality and evil.
The apostle Paul gives us a very colorful “clip” of what characterizes a life that is alienated from God in the following passage of scripture:
So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.
Ephesians 4:17-19
Some observers may consider this a very troubling portrayal of fallen humanity, yet this picture is what is so very typical of our modern secular society. Human beings seem to have lost all sense of moral direction, being swept away in the raging seas of hatred, crime, violence, drunkenness, sensuality and un-godly acts of every description.
However, such moral and social depravity is the direct result of the vain thinking, darkened understanding, and hardened hearts that emerge as the fallout of humanity’s alienation from the life of God. In this regard, Paul gives a more comprehensive, jaw-dropping depiction of estranged humanity in Romans 1:18-32 that is worthy of our prayerful review.
18For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
21For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
24Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. 25For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
26For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.
28And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, 30slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31without