Salvation
22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being;” the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.
1 Corinthians 15
Meditation
Paul presents a theological discourse that is presented to us as a two-part story. If it were a play, we could consider it to be a play with two acts. Act One puts Adam on the stage before us and his disobedience. Act Two puts Jesus on the stage before us and his obedience.
In Act One we see Adam on stage, who is instructed by God that everything in the Garden of Eden is for him to behold, except the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Enticed by Eve, Adam eats a piece of fruit from that tree. Tradition holds that it was an apple, and with that bite, with that gesture of disobedience, sin came into the world. It is a sin that you and I live in today, and it is the sin that we still practice today.
In Act Two we view Jesus posed on stage. We watch enthralled as the scene moves from the Garden of Gethsemane to Calvary Hill. We are spellbound by his perfect obedience to the command of God.
Paul considers Adam and Jesus to be more than individuals, but corporate entities. They are, for Paul, the first Adam and the last Adam. In the first Adam, all of us have sinned. In last Adam, all of us are saved. The decision is placed before us – will we live in disobedience or obedience. Will we leave the theater after Act One, or will we stay after the intermission to live in Act Two.
It is Act One and we are invited on stage to fellowship with Adam in the garden. We are there as Adam has just eaten the forbidden fruit. Eve ate first, though she was unknowingly deceived. Adam tried to allow Eve to be the scapegoat for his treacherous endeavor, though he understood God’s command and still willfully consumed the fruit. Adam knew he was responsible for what he had done.
We always need to remember that in the middle of the word sin is the letter “I.” We stand front and center in our sins. We must take responsibility for our transgressions.
We cannot justify what we have done by saying it was only a little white lie. Somehow sexual transgressions always seem to be at the top of the hierarchy of sin, and we ignore how devastating it is to be critical of others. Consumed by the evening news we conclude that we are not murders and that we have not engaged in financial shenanigans, so, we deceive ourselves into thinking that we are ok. But, let’s take sin off the television screen for a moment and bring it down into the pew where we sit. How many people have we murdered with our gossip? How many people have we bankrupt with our nick picking? Now, sin has become a bit more realistic and we can no longer blame Eve.
Paul in his writings offers several lists of sins. Jesus discussed the nature of sin. And they all point to the same thing – self-righteousness. It is the thinking that I can do no wrong. With false humility we say to others I am a sinner; yet, we have difficulty articulating a sin. Then, yes then, we go on to judge and condemn anyone whose actions we don’t approve of, whose lifestyle we deplore, or whose philosophy we don’t agree with. The pervasiveness of sin is found in: Our Conceit. Our stubbornness. Our criticisms. Our judgments. Our isms – sexism, racism, ageism, elitism.
We do stand on the stage alone with Adam. Eve is not to be seen. Everyone in the theater is watching us.
The intermission is over and we have returned to our seats. We do not like this life of sin, so we wonder if the next act in the drama of life has an answer for us. The houselights have been dimmed, synonymous with the shadow of sin that envelops us.
It is now Act Two. Once again we have been invited to come onto the stage. The prop behind us is a rolled away stone. We listen intently to the message of redemption.
If we have journeyed successfully through this play, we are able to believe this – that the tomb is indeed empty. We know that our sins are forgiven and we have eternal life. We know that we no longer live under condemnation, but we now live by grace. We know this because, by faith, we have elected to discard the foolishness of the first act, accepting a life that resides in the second act.
Though, there is a requirement that is printed in our playbill. It is called obedience. It means that we no longer look down, but that we look up. It means that we are no longer self-centered but others centered.
If we are to be obedient then we must practice spiritual disciplines that will enforce that obedience. This morning we have already accomplished the most basic, and that is engaging in our daily meditation. We should enhance this experience by being involved in the church’s Sunday school program, participating in a weekly Bible study group, and being a member of the Christian community.
And we must always ask ourselves is my behavior one of disobedience or obedience.
This is Paul’s understanding that though we have sinned through the first Adam; we are saved through the last Adam.