Living out the law by dying to the law

Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress. Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, "You shall not covet." But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. - Romans 7:1‭-‬12 ESV

Rev. Charles Han

The topic in our passage is the law or commandments of God. What is our relationship with God's law? We need to die to it in order to live it

Dead under the law

The law of God cannot save us. The Jews loved the commandments given through Moses. It was their life. The commandments of God are holy and just. If a man is sent to man to life in prison, is the law wrong? No, it is the man's sin, his breaking of the law that is the problem

The law exposes our sinfulness. Paul brings up the tenth commandment. Why? Because it is a sin that everyone commits. It shows how sinful we all are. Everyone covets. The law exposes us for who we are.

The law doesn't just reveal sin. It provokes us to sin more. When we are told not to do something, we are incited to do it. If we are told to do something, we wish to rebel even more. We find pleasure in the illicit, the illegal. It is our very nature to be defiant.

The law condemns our sin. It does not bring life to us but rather sentences us to death. The law gives nothing to the sinner but death.

Dead to the law, married to Christ

Those who are believers have died to the law. They have died through the body of Christ. How? We are in union to Christ. We find life and salvation through our union with Jesus. So we are free from self-reliant law-keeping. This is futile. Change is not true, not lasting. This change will be outward conformity. Trying to change based on our own willpower is unsustainable and insufficient.

It is only through reliance on Jesus that we can truly change. Change from the inside out. Not behavioral modification, but true lasting change.

Married to Christ, obeying the law

Our union with Christ is like marriage. But what kind of husband is he? We can figure this out by contrasting Jesus with the law.

We were married to Mr. Law.  He was a good man, in his way, but he did not understand our weakness.  He came home every evening and asked, “So, how was your day?  Did you do what I told you to?  Did you make the kids behave?  Did you waste any time?  Did you complete everything I put on your To Do list?”  So many demands and expectations.  And hard as we tried, we couldn’t be perfect.  We could never satisfy him.  We forgot things that were important to him.  We let the children misbehave.  We failed in other ways.  It was a miserable marriage, because Mr. Law always pointed out our failings.  And the worst of it was, he was always right!  But his remedy was always the same: Do better tomorrow.  We didn’t, because we couldn’t.

Then Mr. Law died.  And we remarried, this time to Mr. Grace.  Our new husband, Jesus, comes home every evening and the house is a mess, the children are being naughty, dinner is burning on the stove, and we have even had other men in the house during the day.  Still, he sweeps us into his arms and says, “I love you, I chose you, I died for you, I will never leave you nor forsake you.”  And our hearts melt.  We don’t understand such love.  We expect him to despise us and reject us and humiliate us, but he treats us so well.  We are so glad to belong to him now and forever, and we long to be “fully pleasing to him”!

Being married to Mr. Law never changed us.  But being married to Mr. Grace is changing us deep within, and it shows.

Being married to the law is difficult and feels like condemnation. Being married to Jesus is encouraging, merciful, loving, and forgiving. What is the dominant voice in our life? Is it Jesus or the law? We listen not to tablets of stone from ages part, but the Holy Spirit speaks to us through our new hearts of flesh.

You grow in obedience to God's law not by impersonally following a list of rules but by intimately following a Person (Jesus), not by law keeping but by Christ loving. Sanctification happens not by the law, but by marriage, by grace.

Application

When we read Ephesians 4:32 and we see the command to be kind and forgiving, how do we approach it? Do we push ourselves harder? Do we ignore it? No, we look at what Christ has done. We soak in the forgiveness of God that we have through Christ. We are humbled and our hearts are softened towards our enemies and those around us. As we read though the Bible, make sure we focus on the indicative that powers the imperatives. What we have though Christ indirectly powers our internal change so that we can obey the commands. Never can we obey the law of God to such an extent so that we will be acceptable before God...

Slaves of Righteousness

What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.- Romans 6:15‭-‬23 ESV

Rev. Dan Whang

True spiritual freedom is found in slavery to Christ.

The inevitability of slavery

Paul comes at sin from another angle. Should grace be the cause of giving into sin? The answer is the same, not at all! The argument here is that there is no neutral ground. We will either serve Jesus or sin, but not both. We cannot choose to have no master. We can be enslaved by money, pleasure, or other sinful desires. Or we can submit to Jesus and God. For those who have been set free, they can choose. But for those who have not been set free, they are still under the dominion of sin. They have no choice to submit to God.

The impact of slavery

Lawlessness leads to more lawlessness. Righteousness leads to sanctification. Sinful behavior will only lead to a greater degree and severity of sinful behavior. It always gets worse.
It hurts the people around us. It will damage the testimony of the church. It hurts our integrity. We say one thing and do another. If we continue to dabble in sin, it leads to tastes of death. Bitterness, disappointment, brokenness of life..

But what if we submit to ourselves to God? It gets better and better! We will be progressively better and better in both character and will. We become more and more like Jesus over time. It ends in eternal life. As we continue down this path, we will instead receive tastes of life. Joy in service, love for others, rejoicing in salvation.

The intentionality of slavery

We need to live as those who are free. Daily surrender to God. It covers things big and small. Suppose we have two job offers. One is comfortable, well-paying, but makes it harder to serve at church and surrounds you with ungodly behavior. The other doesn't pay as well. It is in tough area, but gives you time to serve the church and use your spiritual gifts. The choice is yours.

True understanding of the gospel will lead to a change in heart. We will want to please God with all our heart. The ten commandments were given, but Israel became more sinful rather than more like God in character. We submit to God because of what he has done, not because we just seek to obey.

So the sin is brought to Jesus rather than trying to make it up to God somehow. We lay it down at his feet daily. That is how we submit to Jesus. We are gripped by Jesus... and it drives us to kill sin and to pursue God rather than selfish desire & gain.

Dead to sin, Alive to God

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.- Romans 6:1‭-‬14 ESV

Rev. Charles Han

Why believers in Christ must change

People were questioning how grace works. If grace covers all of our sin, then what incentive does one have to change? Can we not just keep living as normal without changing? Paul says no, it cannot be. Not only can believers change, but they must change.

Believers are united with Christ. The term Christian only comes up three times in the Bible. Paul's favorite way of referring to believers is those who are "in Christ". The union of marriage points to our intimate union with Christ. So when we get married, we join a new family. We share burdens and joy. It is not longer me, but now us.

So for the believer, we go with Christ through Easter. We are dead in sin. We are raised to life. And we are joined to the heavenly family of God. Jesus is the head and we are the body. Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. There is nothing a body can do without a head. There is nothing branches can do without a vine. So, this is how Christ works with those who are joined to Christ. A grafted branch cannot help but grow! Those who keep embracing sin likely are NOT joined to Christ.

Believers are dead to sin. We were dead in sin, but now we are dead to sin. This is in the past tense. What can this mean? We constantly feel the pull of temptation & the struggle to fight sin. Paul is speaking of the power of sin. We are no longer under the authority of sin. We are no longer in the death grip of sin. Jesus has died to sin, He is no longer subject to sin. Sin has been decapitated, but it is still struggling and fighting you. The body of sin at work in us still attacks us, but the head of sin is no more. The proof of salvation is the struggle for righteousness. To fight against sin in our lives at all is proof that sins authority is not over us. To be mournful over sin is what people alive in Christ do. Repentance is the proof that Christ is in us. If you are engaged in a holy struggle to give glory to God and are burdened by sin, then you are in Union with Christ.

How people change

Consider yourself dead to sin. That is how we change. When we sin, we are forgetting our true identity. We are already in Christ, so present ourselves to God as instruments for righteousness. We have already crossed from death to life, we do not need to go back to the vast chasm. We are legally no longer slaves to sin, but we still feel experincially the oppression of sin. We live under grace, not sin.

You feel your addictions own you. But is that true? No. If someone discovered you in your secret sin, you would stop. That is the fear of man. But believers have an even greater power at work, we have the Holy Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead. The victor if the way is sure, so let us battle in the light of our position.

Encounters with Jesus: Mary and the Gardener

Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned and said to him in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, "Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"  Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"—and that he had said these things to her. - John 20:1‭-‬18 ESV

Rev. Dwight Yoo

It's reliability (the resurrection)

All credible historians agree that a man Jesus lived and was crucified. But this is where the disagreement begins. Many believe that Jesus was dead and buried and that was it.

The Greeks believed in a resurrection of the spirit. The spirit left the body and that was it. There was no bodily resurrection.

Mary thought that the body was stolen. Grave robbery was commonplace. The disciples were confused about what happened. Until they met the resurrected Christ...

Women were the first to see the resurrected Christ. Consider this, women's testimony was inadmissible in court. No one would try to make up a credible story using women's testimony. How about grave robbers? Then what about the body wraps? They were left behind and not only that, but some was nearly wrapped. What robber leaves things neatly behind them?? It doesn't happen. The Jewish and Roman authorities wanted to put down this "cult" of Jesus followers. They would have left no stone unturned in trying to get the body. They would have paid good money for someone to produce the body. And nothing, no body.

It's result (the resurrection)

Mary was freed from demons by Jesus. She is so distraught that she does not recognize the angels or Jesus. She thinks this man is a gardener. So Jesus asks, "why are you crying"? What is the meaning of this? It is a gentle rebuke. Jesus has won.

Death had been defeated. Not only physical death, but spiritual death was defeated. Jesus has won for us the breaking of the spiritual death that is separation from God. He is victorious over hell. Mary was weeping as one without hope. But for those in Christ, there is hope, even in death. We weep at the separation, but we know this is temporary. We will meet again.

The disciples were hopeless. They had just watched Jesus die upon the cross. It all appeared meaningless. But there is a God and there was a reason for this pain. The suffering is not without meaning. In heaven, we will find more fulfillment and satisfaction in Jesus. The suffering and loss will make heaven the more sweeter. The suffering in this life will add to your joy rather than subtracting.

The right response

Jesus asks who Mary is looking for. She was looking for a kind caring teacher. Jesus is God. He is not simply a good moral teacher. He wants us to give Him control over our lives. He deserves to be Lord over our lives. But he is trustworthy and He did it first. He submitted to God, even to the cross, for us, his enemies. We can submit without concern. He had led by example.

So what is the right response? Jesus calls Mary to share with the rest of the disciples. So it is with us, we are called to proclaim. Tell others that Jesus has risen. Mary thought Jesus was the gardener and in a way she was right. Jesus is the cosmic gardener. He is clearing the thorns and thistles. He is planting seeds that will sprout and bring forth vibrant life and beauty. The entire world is His garden and it will be restored to it's former glory.

Encounters with Jesus: The Sought-out Seeker

He entered Jericho and was passing through. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today."  So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled, "He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner." And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold." And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham.  For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."- 19:1‭-‬10 ESV

The search

Zacchaeus was a short man. He wanted to see this Jesus. Rich, powerful men of this time wore long robes. They did not run, it was deemed undignified. But Zacchaeus did not only that, he climbed a tree. This is an utterly ridiculous scene. This tax collector was utterly despised by the people. Climbing a tree would have been like painting a target on his back. He must've been driven by something strong to endure that embarrassment and ridicule.

We don't know what drove him to go to such lengths. But we can speculate that perhaps he was lonely, felt the emptiness of riches, and heard about this man who befriended sinners. A man who had a former tax collector in his inner circle, a disciple.

Jesus was passing through Jericho. But he did not meet this tax collector by chance. He walked up to that tree and called this man by name. No introductions needed. Jesus knew this man and he knew why he was there. We may see that this tax collector was seeking Jesus. But Jesus was seeking him. Jesus seeks the lost.

The lostness is not being clueless. It doesn't mean that sinners are clueless. It means that they are without a home. They do not have a heavenly home. They are without a restored relationship with their heavenly father. That is what it means that people are lost.

The invitation

Zacchaeus does not invite Jesus. Jesus invites himself over. This is simply not done. What does this mean? To go over to someone's house and eat with them means that you accept them and commit yourself to deep relationship with them.

Why is this important? Zacchaeus was living a despicable life. He was a thief and not even considered human by society. Jesus invites himself into his life before anything has happened before any life change has occurred. We don't need to come to Jesus after we clean up our lives.    This is the gospel.

What does this mean to us? It is understanding who Jesus is and accepting Him joyfully. He is Lord. When we receive Him, we give him the master key to our lives. He now can command us in every area of our lives. We need bring nothing to this.

The church are those who are saved. So if Jesus is about seeking the lost, can we not seek them as well? Alternatively, are we like the crowd? Do we grumble and obstruct those seeking to get a glimpse of Jesus? Church, are we making it hard to see Jesus? Do we force people to climb trees to get a glimpse of Jesus?

How do we make things hard? Here's some possibilities... Do we hide our sin and our weaknesses? How does it affect those who seek Jesus? Two ways, they can feel that they must clean up their lives to meet Jesus. They have to be holy to find God. Or they can see through the act, the hypocrisy, and be repulsed. They want nothing to do with the hypocrites.

The declaration

Zacchaeus was extorting the people. Justice, in that day, would call for restitution of 120%. But he goes above and beyond, he would give back 400%. Why? This man chased riches. So what happened? The explosive effect of new affections... Jesus became his new affection. He found deep satisfaction in Jesus rather than earthly riches. He no longer needed earthly wealth in light of his riches through Jesus.

Encounters with Jesus: the religious reborn

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him." Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."  Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."  Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" Jesus answered him, "Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?  Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony.  If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?  No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,  that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.  "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.  And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.  For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.  But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God."John 3:1‭-‬21 ESV

Necessity of new birth

Pharisees were seen as not just spiritual men. They were seen as the pillars of society. Nicodemus came to investigate Jesus. There was many miracles and life changing sermons. He and other teachers came to find out the truth of this man, Jesus. Was he a cult leader? Was a prophet of God? They came to get to the bottom of this affair, but Jesus flips this agenda on its head. Jesus digs to the heart of Nicodemus. Jesus tells Nicodemus that he does not belong to the kingdom of God. This is utterly shocking. The Jews assumed that the kingdom was theirs by right of their birth. Nicodemus was a leader among the religious leaders. He knew the scriptures and taught others how to follow them. Jesus told this man that he had no share in the kingdom of God. Regardless of his knowledge of the law of God, his racial background, and his personal obedience of God's law as he understood them... It did not give him any standing before God. He needed to be born again. To Nicodemus, it was completely inconceivable that he was not in the kingdom of God. So here is the take away, are we in Nicodemus' shoes? Are we naively assuming that we are in the kingdom? This idea if being born again is not new. It was an idea written in the scriptures before Jesus was born.

"I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules." - Ezekiel 36:25‭-‬27 ESV

How does this happen

It happens by the work of the Holy Spirit. Birth is not chosen by the baby. They don't pick their birthdays. Additionally, we are spiritually dead. They cannot bring themselves to life. So God brings us back to life. So how then are we reborn? The Holy Spirit brings our dead hearts to life to see our need for Jesus.

How does it work?

People coming to faith is a mystery. Back in those times, there wasn't a weather man giving meteorological forecasts. They have no idea when and how the winds will blow. So it is how this works in salvation, we cannot force this to happen in our timeline and with our own power. We cannot see the wind, but we can see it's effects.

Those who are born again have two big changes. Self-exposure & desires.

They speak of their own sins the most. They will speak of their own sins rather than the sins of others. They walk into the light and expose their sins, so they can walk rightly before God.

They change not only their actions, but their desires are changed. They are active in serving because they want to please God. The reborn love worship because it shows how they treasure Jesus. They don't love it because it makes them look good, or they can play music, or they like the music... That is the desire of those who are not born again. We see this in Nicodemus after Jesus' death. He demanded the body of Jesus. He wrapped it himself rather than allowing women to do it, as the norm. He did this because Jesus was no longer just some awesome rabbi, He was Nicodemus' treasure.

The first and the last Adam

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— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.- Romans 5:12‭-‬21 ESV

Rev. Dwight Yoo

Our solidarity with Adam

Adam is a real historical person. He is not a metaphorical concept. He was created by God, not evolved. Why a historical Adam? First, all human beings descended from him. This means that all humans are equal; we all are family. There is no racial superiority. It also points to why we need to be saved in the first place. There is this ripple effect. From the sin of one man, there is the spread of death throughout creation. Adam is the representative head of mankind. How does this work? David fights Goliath and defeats him. But Israel won. When Trump and Kim Jong-Un, they meet not as just interesting personalities, but as the leaders of two nations who are armed to the teeth.

Consider the children of infamous people. Larry Nassar has kids. They bear the consequences of his actions. They may not have done anything wong, but they are his children. Osama bin laden has kids. Consider the way people will treat them because of their father's actions.

Not only that, but we are not innocent. We inherit the twisted nature of our fathers. So it is with Adam. His sin comes down into his descendants. It is in our genes.

But there is another representative head. Jesus also plays the same role for all of humanity. There are only two who have a headship role for all of humanity. At the final judgement, we will be represented by Jesus or by Adam.

The Superiority of the last Adam

Even though they played the same role, Jesus is much, much greater. There work of Jesus is much greater than the work of Adam. The saving work of Jesus is not tit for tat. Jesus doesn't just cover Adam's sin. It covers not just the trespass of Adam and all the sins of the saints, day after day, hour after hour, minute after minute. It takes us from enemies of God to being princess and princes of God's kingdom.

The Super Abounding grace of God

Jesus' obedience covers the sins of many and justifies the sinner as well. But what about the law? The Jews held the law to high regard. Paul says that the law came to increase sin. The law came so that we could see our sins more clearly. The law of God shows the beauty of God. But this same law shows us how ugly our hearts are. If we judge ourselves by "being a good person", we feel like we are good. But loving our neighbor as ourselves? That's goodness. Then we realize that we are not good. Our hearts are wicked.

But not only that. The law of God incites us to rebel. We push back against authority, not God in particular, but that is our nature. That is our sin nature. But God is not like that. Even though our constant offense and pushing away of God, He desires to pull us close. He is our Father and He wants us to come home. Parents want their black sheep to come home. So it is with God, even more so than any earthly parent.