Death And Life Rest In. . .

Can you image the most powerful system in the world?  What did you imagine it to be?  Was your first thought a governmental type system?  Or, was that first thought a military type system?  Perhaps your first thought was some type of financial system.  Regardless of the system that first came to mind, there is one system more powerful than all of them combined.

Now imagine that you have been given the power to control just such a system.  Yes, that’s right!  Imagine that you have been given the authority to command this system.  What would you do with such a system?  How would you use such a system?  Do you think you could be trusted with such power, with such authority?  Would you want to be in control of such a system?  Well, there is a system in existence that has been ordered not to do anything until something is said.  This same system has been order not to do anything until some type of announcement is made.  And here is the beauty of it all; you have been given the power to control and the authority to command this very system.

Sin vs Sin, This Is Not A Play On Words Part-7

The Conclusion

Many believers use some type of dictionary to aide them in their studies.  In an attempt to gain a better understanding of certain words, we have used Strong’s Concordance, Smith’s Bible Dictionary, Easton’s Bible Dictionary, and Vine’s Expository Dictionary.  Normally, what the dictionary defines a word to be is what we tend to accept and believe that word to be.  But have you ever wondered how a word gets into the dictionary?  We discovered that the dictionary is not designed to tell us what a word means.  The dictionary is designed to give us the correct word spelling, to tell us the history of a word, to tell us how that word has been used throughout the years, and to tell us when it first appeared in the language.

Sin vs Sin, This Is Not A Play On Words Part-6

So, God has taken the sinless Christ and poured into him the sins of the world.  And in exchange, God poured his goodness into us.  Therefore, it is with Christ, the same as it was with Adam.  The independent actions of each of these men affected the entire human race.  First, there was the principle of imputation that reduced all men to the same ultimate condition, making all men sinners, because of the offense of one man.  Then, there was the principle of imputation that provided for all men the same ultimate answer, giving all men the opportunity to become the righteousness of God, because of the obedience of another man.

Sin vs Sin, This Is Not A Play On Words Part-5

Death came into the world because of what man (Adam) did, and it is because of what this other man (Jesus) has done that now there is the resurrection from the dead.

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned (Romans 5:12).

We have already found that because of what one man, Adam did, sin entered the world and death spread throughout the world.  We know that everything began to grow old and die.  But now we want to look at the contrast between the one who started all of this and the one who end all of this.

Sin vs Sin, This Is Not A Play On Words Part-4

Yes, it dawned on us that there could be another definition or meaning for the word sin.  We now believed the phrase; All have sinned referred to a point in time when everyone sinned.  The only time that this could be referring to had to be back in the beginning, in the beginning of God’s creation.  The phrase actually points to the very moment when all were in one man, Adam.  You see, when Adam fell, the entire human race was constituted or formally established as sinners.

For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous (Romans 5:19).

Sin vs Sin, This Is Not A Play On Words Part-3

Adam is the one who started all of this.  When Adam sinned, sin entered the world and affected the entire human race.  With the sin, death entered the world and it too affected the entire human race.  Therefore, through the one man sin entered into the world and death caught a ride, both affecting the entire human race.  Adam’s sin spread death throughout all the world, so everything began to grow old and die (for sin entered into the world and death followed sin into the world).

We know that it was Adam’s sin that caused this because according to the scriptures, people were sinning from the time of Adam until Moses and God did not judge them guilty of death for breaking his laws, because he had not yet given his laws to them, nor had he told them what he wanted them to do.  We also know from the scriptures that when their bodies died it was not for their own sins since they themselves had never disobeyed God’s special law against eating the forbidden fruit, as Adam had.

Sin vs Sin, This Is Not A Play On Words Part-2

After defining the word all, to mean all-inclusive or everyone, the group was asked another set of questions:  How does that definition apply to this scripture, For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin?

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (II Corinthians 5:21).

For God took the sinless Christ and poured into him our sins.  Then, in exchange, he poured God’s goodness into us (him who knew no sin, he made sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in him).