This is a great opportunity for meditation. Remember, the notes are my bullet points for preaching purposes and are not to be used as a substitute for the spoken message on Sunday morning. The notes are to be used as a supplement to the spoken message, prividing my presentation, Scripture references, and application points. Please let me know if you have any questions. I am providing these as a tool to help you meditate on the Word you have heard. God bless!
Genesis 2:4-17 The second Adam: Pardon and Perfection
The Covenant of Works
A covenant exists when there are multiple parties, a stipulation, a promise for obedience and a curse for disobedience. Last week we discussed how Adam, and all of us as represented by Adam, were placed on probation under a covenant of works. The reason God did not make man perfectly righteous, without the ability to fall, was discussed last week.
The Bible is clear: In Genesis 3:22, God declares that if man were to eat of the tree of life, he would have lived forever. Romans 7:10, “The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me.”
God’s standard never changes. Remember a few weeks ago, when studying the Sabbath? Hebrews 4 tells us that the Sabbath was to be obeyed by Moses and Israel (4th Commandment), by Joshua, by David, and the Hebrews (there still remains a rest for the people of God, so strive to enter into that rest).
We know from the overview of Genesis 1:1-2:3 that God created man on the sixth day, and that man never entered into Day 7 because of the fall in Genesis 3. Therefore, throughout Scripture God holds out the command and promise of the “Sabbath” or “Rest.” Consequently, we see that as God required good works to enter into Heaven (righteousness or perfect obedience) that is still the unchangeable requirement of an unchangeable God.
Saved by Works? Man gets into Heaven because he passes or fails the covenant of works. For Adam, the difference between life and death was not forgiveness or neutrality, but righteousness. Notice the same covenantal language throughout the Bible:
· God said to Cain, “Why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, you will be accepted. If you do not, sin is crouching at your door, but you must rule over it (Genesis 4:6-7).
· Turn and read Deuteronomy 30:15-20 (Moses)
· Exodus 19:3-6
· Joshua 24:14-28
· “And behold, a man came up to him, saying ‘Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?’ And he said to him, ‘Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments” (Matthew 19:16-17).
· “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). “Depart from me you workers of lawlessness” (Matthew 7:23).
· Matthew 5:20; Matthew 5:48 (the demand for righteousness to enter Heaven)
· “He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury” (Romans 2:6-8).
Man’s original state was a state of probation: he remained in possession of what he had, so long as he did not commit sin, but it was not a state in which the continuance of his religious and moral status could be guaranteed to him. Adam was not doomed to death, yet was not immortal either – his fate depended upon his works. Passing probation and walking in obedience promised man an irrevocable state of righteousness and communion with the Father (Genesis 3:22).
Through the Cross and the atonement of Christ alone, we would have been “reset” back to probation. In Christ, we have not only pardon, but pardon and perfection.
Westminster Shorter Catechism: Justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein he pardons all our sins, AND accepts us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone (Answer 33).
Not Only “Not Guilty”
Atonement and Justification or Righteousness
Even before the entrance of sin in the world Adam needed to be justified, that is, he needed a judicial declaration granting him the right to eternal life. Consider Adam as he was before the fall, innocent and without sin. He did not yet possess eternal life. Adam was not yet mortal (destined to die) as we are, yet he was not immortal either (he could die). According to Genesis 2, God entered into a covenant with Adam in order to give him the possibility of gaining the right to eternal life. God wanted to see that man would submit and would love Him, as displayed through obedience.
Just as one sinful act brought man under condemnation, eternal wrath, and perpetual sin - because it was committed against an eternal God, one act of righteousness would have brought man into eternal bliss and perpetual obedience.
Justification here includes but goes beyond the forgiveness of sins. It refers to our being declared righteous in God’s sight on the basis of Christ’s righteousness, even though we are guilty sinners who deserve a) God’s wrath b) the requirement for adherence to the law
· Romans 5:6-21 – especially v. 10 (5 parallels between Adam and Christ)***
John Piper’s Argument:
2 Corinthians 5:21
It follows from the parallel with Christ’s being “made sin” for us. Christ is “made sin” not in the
sense that he becomes a sinner, but in the sense that our sins are imputed to him. But if Christ’s being made sin for us implies the imputation of our sin to Christ, then it is not arbitrary or unnatural to construe the parallel—our “becoming the righteousness of God in him”—as the imputation of God’s righteousness to us. We “become” God’s righteousness the way Christ “was made” our sin. He did not become morally sinful in the imputation; we do not become morally righteous in the imputation. He was counted as having our sin; we are counted as having God’s righteousness. The meaning of the expression is explained by the prophecy of Isaiah 53:6: "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."
Our sin, with all its guilt and shame, was imputed to Him, put to His account, reckoned as if it were His—even though it was not. Or, to back up a few verses, in the words of Isaiah 53:4: "He hath borne our grief, and carried our sorrows."This is the reality of imputation.
Our sin, with all its guilt and shame, was imputed to Him, put to His account, reckoned as if it were His—even though it was not. Or, to back up a few verses, in the words of Isaiah 53:4: "He hath borne our grief, and carried our sorrows."This is the reality of imputation.
· Romans 4:22-25
· II Corinthians 5:21
Phil Johnson’s Argument:
Imputation Explained: Does Jesus' life count for me, or just His death?
In what sense was Christ like Adam? Just as Adam stood in relationship to the human race as our head and representative, Christ stands in relationship to the redeemed race as our head and representative. Again, by withstanding temptation, Christ did for us what Adam failed to do. That's why Paul says in Romans 5:19: "As by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous."
Again and again, Scripture says Jesus' death is what made atonement for our sins (I Corinthians 15:3; Romans 5:10; I Peter 1:18-19).
But is there any sense in which His life also had redemptive significance? I believe there is. Throughout His earthly life, Christ was acting as our substitute, so that everything He did as a man, He did on our behalf. And everything He did ultimately contributed to our redemption.There's a reason why Christ did not simply take on the body of a human adult and visit earth for a weekend in that full-grown incarnate form, die, and then ascend to heaven. Would simply dying in human form, apart from living a complete human life, have provided the same kind of sufficient atonement for us? Apparently not. There is great significance in Luke 4 (Jesus’ wilderness temptation). Jesus did not have to do “works of righteousness” to be righteous.
Meanwhile, keep this principle in mind: Christ's life, and not His death only, contributes something vital to our redemption.
Again and again, Scripture says Jesus' death is what made atonement for our sins (I Corinthians 15:3; Romans 5:10; I Peter 1:18-19).
But is there any sense in which His life also had redemptive significance? I believe there is. Throughout His earthly life, Christ was acting as our substitute, so that everything He did as a man, He did on our behalf. And everything He did ultimately contributed to our redemption.There's a reason why Christ did not simply take on the body of a human adult and visit earth for a weekend in that full-grown incarnate form, die, and then ascend to heaven. Would simply dying in human form, apart from living a complete human life, have provided the same kind of sufficient atonement for us? Apparently not. There is great significance in Luke 4 (Jesus’ wilderness temptation). Jesus did not have to do “works of righteousness” to be righteous.
Meanwhile, keep this principle in mind: Christ's life, and not His death only, contributes something vital to our redemption.
It means that God treated Him as if He were the very embodiment of everything vile, and contemptible, and base, and evil—and He did that "for us."
Christ was as far from sin as we are from righteousness.
And as we're about to see, Paul is actually describing a double imputation in this verse (2 Corinthians 5:21). In other words, the imputation goes both ways: the believer's guilt imputed to Christ, and Christ's righteousness reckoned to the believer.
· Jesus became sin for us (II Corinthians 5:21) – Jesus never sinned and never became a sinner. Jesus “bore” our sin and God poured His wrath out upon Christ as He should have us. Although Jesus was not a sinner, God treated Him as He was because Jesus bore our sin.
· Jesus became our righteousness by imputing His righteousness to us (II Corinthians 5:21). Although we are not perfectly righteous, Christ has given us His righteousness just as He bore our sin. Although we are not perfect, God treats us as though we are judicially perfect because Christ did, as our representative (Luke 4), what Adam failed to do (Genesis 2-3). Our imputed righteousness gives us the ability to live practically righteous on a daily basis (we will discuss this next week).
Some Implications
· People outside of Christ are under God’s wrath because they are sinners, not because they sin. You sin because you are a sinner; you do not become a sinner because you sin.
“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all SINNED” (Romans 5:12). This is why it was important that last week I prove the point – everyone would have done exactly as Adam did in disobeying God and failing probation.
· I John was written to give us assurance of our salvation. The chief evidence Scripture gives for a man who is born-again is obedience to God’s Word. Read Romans 6:1-11. Just as a “sin factory” wants to sin and cannot do otherwise, a “righteous factory” produces works of righteousness. Your justification does not depend on your sanctification, but your progressive sanctification must naturally follow your justification. We live with great hope and worship that God, in Christ, has forgiven us of our sin. However, we must live with equal hope that God has provided us with the ability to be obedient and to live joyful, God-honoring lives here on earth.
· Understanding the Covenant of Works and Imputation would keep us from moralism, legalism, and works-based righteousness (the loss of salvation). “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied” (I Corinthians 15:17-19). How could we continue to feel as if we gain merit or favor with God because of our works when our righteousness is based solely on the righteousness of Christ?
· Heaven: We are wrong to think that the “environment and circumstances” of Heaven are what keeps us from falling into sin again. Adam was in the perfect environment. You say, “Satan will be locked away.” It is not Satan who tempts, but Satan’s temptation that makes evident our deepest desire to sit upon God’s throne. If perpetual obedience and sinless existence were contingent upon environment and circumstance, Satan nor Adam would have sinned. It is the imputed righteousness of Christ that preserves us every moment in Heaven.
Last week, we saw why all of man is born lost (works or imputed sin). This week we have seen the basis on which man is saved (atonement and works or imputed righteousness). Next week I would like to examine how Genesis 2:4-17 instructs us how to live lives of obedience and joy while on this earth.
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