Cheryl Schatz

Last thing that Paul says about Adam is in 1 Cor. 15. “In Adam” all die.

1 Cor. 15:22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

Now let’s take a look at Genesis to see where Paul got all of this information.

The curse on the earth comes directly because of Adam’s sin.

Gen 3:17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life.
Gen 3:18 “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field;
Gen 3:19 By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”

This is judgment and condemnation because of the one man. God says “because” Adam listened to the voice of his wife (his silent listening was the watchman doing nothing) and then the designated watchman on the wall not only failed to sound the alarm but also openly participated in a rebellious act. Because of this act, God has pronounced judgment on the whole earth because of the one man’s sin.

The next question is how the “one man’s disobedience” affected him. These are the verses under dispute in Genesis 3.

Gen 3:22 Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”–
Gen 3:23 therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken.
Gen 3:24 So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.

Is God’s reaction to Adam a sign that Adam now has a sin nature that makes him untrustworthy? The fact that God drives only the man out of the garden shows that he possesses a rebellious sin nature that will be passed on to us. If Eve had been designated as a rebellious sinner and was also removed from the garden because of her propensity to sin, then Paul could not say the words he said about Adam. Paul could not say that it was the transgression of the one man.

Paul has identified that it is the transgression of the one man and this corresponds with the identification of Adam’s sin as treachery in Hosea 6:7. Adam’s rebellious sin was an act of treachery that brought sin into the world and we were all condemned “in” Adam.

Paul makes it abundantly clear that Adam’s sin was worthy of condemnation. Adam’s expulsion from the garden was a result of his rebellious nature and his punishment to work by the sweat of his brow was a condemnation because of his treachery.

It was Adam and Adam alone who was the father of all dying. In contrast it was Eve who was the mother of all living. Through Eve would come the Messiah who would be the faithful watchman who would sacrifice Himself to protect and save us. He was the last Adam who succeeded where the first Adam failed. Jesus became the victor and the one who purchased back what the first Adam lost.

Those who point to Adam as a designated “ruler” and “leader” of the woman have completely failed to recognize that Adam’s place is not one of honor but one of disgrace. God did not designate the one who was unfaithful as a watchman to now be a sole “ruler” intended to take control of his wife. Instead of obeying God’s design for the man to be loving and sacrificing for his wife, Adam practiced his sin nature by ruling over her as a controller and dictator. It was Adam alone who sinned in rebellion and Adam alone had a condemnation upon him as the only one who had the nature that would cause him to continue to practice his rebellion.

If we take the Genesis account as it is written and understand that it is Adam alone who experienced a condemnation from God as a rebellious traitor, then Paul’s words about the one man who brought sin into the world fits perfectly.