No. 21. >> I would like to explore the comparison between Adam and Jesus in Romans 5. It seems both interesting and important, especially in understanding original sin. What should I tell my confirmation students when they try to argue that it isn't fair that Adam's sin should affect all of us. What would you say in response to such an objection? >>PROFESSOR DAVID I. M. LEWIS: Well, Eric, I think you bring out probably one of the most practical implications of Romans Chapter 5, teaching confirmation. Both youth and adults. And teaching the meaning of original sin. I myself have been asked very difficult questions about original sin and not just in the confirmation class but sometimes by confessing Lutherans who have been Lutherans their whole life, who in the middle of a Bible study will suddenly raise their hand and say: Pastor, that's not fair, that we should all be judged because of what Adam did. Well, let's first it look at what Paul is doing here in Romans 5 Verses 12 through 21. Paul has just talked about the implications of being justified, the peace we have with God, the joy we have. He's gone back to talking about the Gospel in terms of reconciliation. And now here in the second half of Romans Chapter 5 he further presents the Gospel message. But now by contrasting Adam and Jesus. And it's a very interesting and important contrast that Paul does draw out in this place, as you noted, Eric. And this is the basic comparison: Adam's one disobedience, his one sin, has brought sin and death upon all mankind. It has brought judgment and condemnation upon all mankind. And so Adam did one act of disobedience. And this is referring to Genesis Chapter 3 when he ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil which God said he shouldn't eat. That was his one act of disobedience. As a result of that one act of disobedience, sin and death and judgment and condemnation have come upon all men. Well, that's the problem. The Gospel answer is that through one man's obedience and now the one man is Jesus, through one man's obedience, the free gift of God's grace, which includes justification against condemnation and it includes life against death, these gifts now come to all men. And so here is the contrast: Adam disobeyed. Sin, death, condemnation came to all men. Jesus obeyed. And therefore, God's free gift of grace, justification, righteousness and life have come to all men. And now we hear Paul actually talking about the Gospel in the objective sense. In other words, it is true that through what did in his death, salvation has come to all. Jesus died for the entire world's sin. God so loved the world. The cosmos. Everybody. That he gave his one and only Son. Subjective justification then is how this is received personally through faith. And so this is the truth that in Jesus all men have been saved. However, it is only those who receive that gift through faith who actually get it personally to themselves. But Paul here is presenting justification in a very wide and cosmic sense. Adam's disobedience cause sin, death and judgment. Jesus' one act of obedience caused grace, justification and life to come. Now, at this point you might ask, Eric, what was Jesus' obedience that Paul is referring to? Well, some people would interpret this that Jesus' entire life. That Jesus kept the law perfectly in our place. And it's by means of him doing that that God's grace, justification and life come to all people. Other interpreters would focus more specifically upon Jesus' death. That that is the one act of obedience. That Jesus obeyed his Father and went to the cross and died. And through that one act of obedience grace, justification and life have come to all. Now, into theological sense, Eric, I think either option is theologically okay. We could reference Jesus' entire life or we could reference specifically his death. The main point is that Jesus obeyed God where Adam disobeyed God. And now because of Jesus' obedience the curse of Adam has been reversed. And this has happened for all people. Although we know from the book of Romans that it is only received by those who believe in Jesus. And it's in this place, in this text, that we now find one proof text for the doctrine of original sin. And so we can talk about original sin. And what does original sin mean? Well, it's what Paul says. Through one man's disobedience, through Adam's disobedience, all men fell into sin. All men are subject to death and under the condemnation of God. And so this is the distinction we make when we talk about sin. There is original sin and there is actual sin. Original sin is that sin that we have inherited from Adam. And when we look at the Augsburg Confession No. 2 which deals with original sin, the Lutherans made the point to say that original sin is, indeed, sin and does deserve God's wrath and condemnation. Then actual sin is the actual transgressions that we commit in thought, word and deed. When we actually break God's law in our life, those would be the actual sins. So original sin is inherited sin. Actual sin are the things that we actually do against the law of God. And the relationship between these two is that original sin is the base cause for actual sin. And actual sin is the evidence that original sin is real. And so if you don't believe in original sin, just look at how a young child behaves. Even young baptized children. I have three. And I can tell the proof of original sin in their lives. Even that they are redeemed, they still struggle with sin. And you have to tell your kids to tell the truth. But you don't have to teach them to lie. Why is that? Well, because that lying is in them. It's inherited from Adam. That's why they need the Holy Spirit. That's why they need baptism when they are little to already have that gift to fight against the old Adam and the old sinful nature. And so that actual sins are proof that original sin does exist. Now, Eric, before I get to confirmation, I need to speak more specifically to your context in New Jersey. You mentioned before that there are many Roman Catholics where you minister and you have many former Roman Catholics in your congregation. Well, I think that we can talk now about how Roman Catholics understand original sin versus how Lutherans understand original sin. Because here our Catholic brothers and sisters would agree that original sin is a teaching of Scripture. However, they understand it a little differently than we do. And this difference is worth pointing out. Their understanding of original sin is more that it is a sickness that we have because we are born human, inherited from Adam a weakness and a tendency to sin. However in the Roman Catholic system of salvation, they still believe that it's possible for an original sinner to perform good works that might merit God's favor. In other words, it could happen in the Roman Catholic system that an unbeliever could do something good of his own free will that would then lead God to infuse some grace into him that might help him do a little better and then hopefully eventually get baptized and become a Christian. That's because they see original sin as being a reality. But it's not a total depravity. Well, this is where we Lutherans disagree. For us original sin signifies total depravity. That the human being who has not been baptized, who has not been saved, who has not received the Holy Spirit cannot of his own free will do anything that would please God. He is not inclined to fear God, to love God, to trust God. And instead, he is inclined to do evil things. Even the good works that he performs are done with the wrong motivation. And even the good works that he performs are sin against God. In other words, original sin for us is total depravity, total condemnation, totally lost. No hope other than what comes in the Gospel when God acts in Jesus Christ. And I would say, Eric, that this does reflect what Paul is saying here in Romans 5. Through Adam's one transgression, one act of disobedience, everyone fell. Everyone died. Everyone is condemned. But the answer is through Jesus' one act of obedience. And it's Jesus who is acting here. Grace, justification and life are now available to all men. So now, Eric, to get to that difficult matter of how to answer those confirmation questions. I can remember two times in confirmation where we had to discuss this at length because there were kids who just kept saying: It's not fair that I should be condemned, that I should die, because Adam sinned. And I can remember on one occasion one boy was very bold to say: Then I'm not going to worry about my sins. How can God blame me for my sins when it's all Adam's fault? And I'm sure, Eric, you have met these same questions, which is why you're asking the question. How then do we explain original sin to our youth confirmands and also to the adult confirmands and also to our life long Lutherans who may suddenly wonder about this and say: Well, pastor, it's not fair. I've got a three-part answer. The first part -- and this is kind of a practical way of dealing with it -- is I would ask these people: Let's not talk about original sin for the time being. Let's talk about actual sin. Have you ever willfully done something that you know was wrong? Have you ever willfully broken one of the Ten Commandments knowing that God wouldn't want you to do this? Is there anyone who can say they haven't done that? In other words, you can blame Adam all you want. But the fact of the matter is that each of us in our own lives have willfully, purposefully broken God's law through an act of our own will. And these would be actual sins that even if you don't consider original sin, actual sins themselves are enough of a basis for God to condemn us. We're accountable before God based upon what we've actually done. And in fact, Eric, this was the point that Paul made in that narration section back in Romans 1:18 through 3:20. Notice that Paul there does not reference original sin when he talks about the sin among the Gentiles and then the sin among the Jews. That Paul's focus is really upon actual sin in that narration. That Paul is really focusing on the fact that everybody has, in fact, sinned. Theoretically he argued, if you hadn't sinned and kept God's law, you would be justified by keeping the law. But in all actual fact, everyone is guilty of actual sins. That's what Paul argues in Romans 1:18 through 3:20. So the first part of my answer to those confirmands is: Let's not talk about Adam for a while. Let's just talk about you. Have you committed willful acts of disobedience against God? You have? Well, then you are a sinner. And you need God's help. Now, Point 2. Notice that Paul does not bring original sin into the discussion until he gets to Romans Chapter 5, the second half of the chapter. And here his point is really to draw out further the grandness of the Gospel. And the grand implications of the Gospel. And here Paul brings out original sin really to describe what reality is. In other words, here is the situation, people. Here is what it is: Adam sinned. And as a result of his one act of disobedience, everybody fell into sin. Everybody fell into condemnation. Everybody is subject to death. Now, fair or not fair, this is the fact of the matter. This is the way things are. This is reality. Like it or not, think God is just or not, nevertheless, this is your situation. And there's nothing you can do about it. Only God can do something about it. Now, when I do this, I often remind people that our cultural values were not necessarily values that have been shared by all people and all places. As Americans we very much value individualism. And the rights of the individual. So that it would seem very unfair to an American that I would actually be punished because of what somebody else did. Now, you know, this is not the way that all cultures have looked at it. To draw out one example in Joshua Chapter 7 when the people of Israel invaded Canaan, when they conquered Jericho, God commanded them not to steal anything from Jericho. Everything was to be given to God. Yet a man named Achan stole some gold and a robe that he found. And because of his one sin, the whole nation was judged by God until Achan was condemned and stoned to death. And only when that sin was taken care of did God once again reconcile himself to the whole nation. The idea being that the whole nation can suffer because of one man's sin. This is not an American way of looking at reality. But it is a biblical way of looking at reality. And this is a place where us Americans simply have to, you know, maybe check our American presuppositions in at the door. And when we look at Romans 5 what we actually see is Paul is describing the way it is. And the way it is is that everybody is subject to sin, death and condemnation because of Adam's one fall. Like it or not, that's reality, folks. That's the second part of my answer. Then the third part of my answer is Paul is talking about this not so we would fixate upon Adam and fixate upon original sin. Paul presents Adam this way because he's contrasting Adam with Jesus. What is the goal of what Paul is doing here in Romans 5? Well, the whole point is to focus our attention upon the answer to our problem. We have the problem of actual sin. We have the problem of original sin. And what has God done to take care of this problem? Well, he has sent his Son. He sent his Son to die. And Jesus was obedient even to the point of death. And because of that one man's obedience, the fruit of Jesus' work is God's grace for us, the declaration that we are righteous. And Paul also adds now the motif of a new life. While in Adam there was condemnation and death. Now in Jesus there is justification and life. And now this third part of the answer, Eric, really takes our focus away from sin and back to grace, which is where Paul is trying to drive our attention anyway. When Paul focuses us upon the problem that there is, it's always because God has solved that problem. God has solved the problem of original sin by declaring us righteous for the sake of Jesus Christ. He has solved the problem of original sin by undoing Adam's work. By sending Jesus who was obedient. So that now through Jesus we have both life and justification. Jesus has undone the work of Adam. And this is the answer to the problem of original sin. And so when you teach confirmation, Eric, I think what you should do is take the children's or take the adult's focus away from sin and bring it back to grace and forgiveness and reconciliation. Bring it back to the Gospel and what God has done for us in Jesus Christ.