Paul Penno
October 15, 2007
I am one among you who is determined to know “nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” The proclamation of the cross is the business of Seventh-day Adventists. God has given us an understanding of the cross that is unique in the Christian world. Jesus truly died the second death when He had our wages of sin. He willingly laid down His life for the joy that was set before Him. In the end no one took His life from Him. He gave His life for the whole world.
On January 11, 2003, Governor George Ryan of Illinois, commuted all of the 156 death row inmates in the correctional system of the state. He said, “Our capital system is haunted by the demon of error, error in determining guilt and error in determining who among the guilty deserves to die.”
God has revealed to us His unique system of justice. In Christ He has temporarily justified the guilty and treats them as innocent. This marvelous gift He has given the sinful human race. In so doing He has commuted our pending death sentence to eternal life if we so choose, during this short time that we have to spend on this earth. Let us look into this marvelous Bible teaching of “justification of life.”
When Adam sinned, the cult of death passed upon all. “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. Adam was the first man on earth. In his body were the headwaters of the whole human race. When these headwaters were poisoned by sin, every stream and tributary that flowed from him were contaminated by sin and consequently death. This is the reason why we go to funerals and witness death. It is a consequence of Adam’s sin. The whole human family is tied together as one because of Adam.
Because of Adam’s sin the entire world came under the penalty of the divine law. A guilty verdict was handed down. The death penalty was invoked. “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.” Romans 3:19. This is the condemnation that comes upon all because of Adam’s sin.
At this point we may feel inclined to cry “Unfair!” I wasn’t responsible for what Adam did thousands of years ago. Why should I be held accountable for his sin? I wasn’t there! That is true.
But consider this. If you were riding on a school bus along with other children, and the driver took a curve too fast, the bus rolled over, and many were injured or killed. Who was responsible for the accident? Was it the passengers, or the driver? Of course, the driver was responsible for the accident? So why were the passengers injured or killed? They were in the bus. They suffered the consequences of the actions of the driver.
Likewise, because Adam was the father of the human race, and we were in him from the beginning, as the progenitor, he could only pass on to his children that which he had to give, and that was sin and its consequence, which is death. Adam had nothing else to give to his family tree.