Part III
PART III
OF THE IMPUTATION OF ADAM'S FIRST
SIN TO HIS POSTERITY
ROMANS 5:19
For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
YE have heard of the making of the original contract betwixt God and man, the covenant of works; as also of the breaking of it by our father Adam. This text shews our concern in the breach of that covenant; and it is necessary we be sensible of it, that we be not eternally ruined thereby, but, being convinced of that debt lying on our head, may flee to and make use of the great Surety for removing it from us.
In this chapter, ver. 14, the apostle shews Adam to have been a figure or type of Christ; and from ver. 12, and downwards, he institutes a comparison betwixt these two, the common heads and representatives of mankind, though Christ's representation is not so extensive as Adam's; but each of them represented his seed; Adam his natural seed, and Christ all his spiritual elect seed. Adam by his disobedience broke the first covenant; Christ by his obedience to the death fulfilled the second covenant. The disobedience of the one brings condemnation and death on those that are his; the obedience of the other brings justification and life to all that are his. The reason of both is given in the text; namely, that by the one all his are made sinners, and sinners are justly condemned and die; by the other all his are made righteous, and the righteous must, according to the covenant, be justified and live.
So the text is a comparison made betwixt the effect of Adam's disobedience, and the effect of Christ's obedience. The clauses are quite contrary the one to the other, as light and darkness; and so are the effects redounding from them to those who are respectively affected by them. The former makes men sinners, the latter makes men righteous. It is the former that concerns our present purpose; "By one man's disobedience many were made sinners." Where consider,
1. The malignant cause to which all evil among men is owing; "one man's disobedience." This is the impure fountain of all, the original of all evils. Here two things must he cleared, (1.) Who that one man was. Who but Adam, the first man; him the apostle had expressly named, ver. 14, as the great transgressor, the head of the rebellion,
the fountain of sin, opposed to Christ Jesus as the fountain of righteousness; and unto him our text in the Greek expressly points, which saith not simply, διʼ ἑνὸ; ἀνθρωπου, By one man, &c., but διὰ της παρακοῆς του ἑνος ἀνθρώπου, by that one man's disobedience, that man Adam whom he had mentioned before. (2.) What that disobedience was. No question but Adam was guilty of many acts of disobedience through the whole course of his life after his fall; but the text speaks of this disobedience emphatically, and as such by way of eminency, that disobedience, plainly referring to the first sin of Adam, that was the sin which first broke into the world, and opened the sluice to death, ver. 12; the transgression of Adam, ἡ παραβάσις Αδὰμ, ver. 14; that offence or fall, ver. 15. So then this disobedience is Adam's breaking of the covenant of works, by his eating of the forbidden fruit. The transgression of Adam was his transgressing of the covenant, which set him the bounds he was to keep within, on pain of death, Rom. 5:14, compared with Hosea 6:7. He set off in a course of covenant obedience running for the prize; but he stumbled and fell in breaking the covenant. Though he was a son by creation, he was God's hired servant by covenant; but by disobedience to his master he broke the covenant.
2. The answerable effect; "Many were made sinners." The poisonous fountain being opened, the waters kill wherever they come. Here also two things are to be cleared. (2.) Who these many are. Even the all mentioned ver. 12. All Adam's natural seed comprehended with him in the first covenant, as the many made righteous are all Christ's spiritual seed comprehended with him in the second covenant, but the apostle uses the term many here, though all are meant, not only because all are many, but because one man, viz., the man Christ, is excepted; so, in strict propriety of speech, Adam's disobedience did not touch all men simply, but many, there being one man excepted; and also because the scope of the apostle here is to shew that many shall be made righteous by the obedience of one; to prove which, proceeding on that principle. That the deed of one may be imputed to many, he instanceth in Adam's disobedience, who being one man, yet his deed was imputed to many; and he being a type or figure of
Christ in that respect, it plainly follows, that as by his disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of Christ shall many be made righteous. (2.) How by Adam's disobedience they were made sinners. There are but three ways how by the sin of another we may be made sinners. [1.] By adopting it through consent and approbation; so Ahab was the murderer of Naboth, though not he, but the magistrates of Jezreel did the deed, 1 Kings 21:19. But this is not the way we are made sinners by Adam's disobedience; for infants, and many in the world who never heard of Adam or his sin, and therefore are incapable of adopting it at that rate, are yet made sinners by it. Or, [2.] By imitation, as Pelagians would have it. So indeed one may be made a sinner by imitating sinners. But this cannot be it neither in this case; (1.) Because infants who are not capable of imitation, are involved here as well as others, Rom. 5:14, where death is said to "reign over those who had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression." So also are Pagans included here, who know nothing of the copy that Adam cast us. (2.) Because we are made sinners by Adam's disobedience, as we are made righteous by Christ's obedience. But it is not by imitation, but by imputation of Christ's obedience we are made righteous; therefore it cannot be that we are made sinners by imitation of Adam's sin. (3.) All men of all ages, sexes, conditions, &c., are made sinners. But it is incredible, that, if imitation were the way, there should never have been so much as one mere man to refuse to imitate the ruining example. Therefore, (3.) It necessarily follows that we are thereby made sinners by imputation; even as we are made righteous by Christ's obedience, the same being reckoned our obedience, though not done by us in our own persons. We are not only made liable to punishment by this disobedience, but we are made sinners by it. Not only is the guilt ours, but the fault is ours; we not only die in Adam, 1 Cor. 15:22, but we sinned in him as our federal head, Rom. 5:12; we broke the covenant in him; that breach in law-reckoning is ours, and is reckoned ours because it is ours by virtue of our being one with him, in his loins, as our natural and federal head.
The text affords the following doctrine, plainly founded upon it.
Adam's Sin in Breaking the Covenant of Works, is the Sin of his Posterity
DOCTRINE. Adam's breaking of the covenant of works, by his eating of the forbidden fruit, is our sin, our breaking of it, as well as his.
For the illustration of this doctrine, I shall,
I. Consider the extent of this sin which is ours.
II. Shew how Adam's sin of breaking the covenant of works is our sin, our breaking it.
III. Evince the truth of the doctrine, and prove the imputation of Adam's first sin, the sin of breaking the covenant of works, by eating the forbidden fruit, to his posterity.
IV. Shew the ground and reason why this first sin is ours.
V. Lastly, Improve the subject.
Of the Extent of the first Sin, which is ours
I. I shall consider the extent of this sin which is ours. There is a twofold breaking of the covenant of works.
1. There is a private and personal breaking of it by such persons as are still under it. And thus it is to this day broken every day; John 7:19, "Did not Moses give you the law," said Christ to the Jews, "and yet none of you keepeth the law?" Let none imagine that the covenant of works being broken by Adam, was laid by as an useless thing, which men were no more concerned in. It is true, it is no more useful now as a way to salvation and happiness; but that is not from itself, but from man's weakness, whose weak head, heart, and legs, cannot serve him to walk in so high a way to heaven, from which he fell down headlong before in Adam, and received such a bruise as made him quite incapable for it after. But the covenant itself stands
firm still in all the parts of it. The promise of it still stands to perfect obedience, which now takes in suffering as well as doing; as appears from what passed between our Lord and a certain lawyer, Luke 10:27, 28. The lawyer had put the question to him, "Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Our Lord answered, "What is written in the law? how readest thou?" The lawyer having replied, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbour as thyself;" our Lord thereupon said, "Thou has answered right; this do, and thou shalt live." So that if any could answer the demands of this covenant, he should have the promised life. The threatening of it stands firm as mountains of brass, that without satisfying it by one's self or surety, none shall escape; for "without shedding of blood there is no remission," Heb. 9:22; and "God will by no means clear the guilty," Exod. 34:7. The commands of the covenant are in as full vigour as ever; for the breaking of a law can never take away the binding force and authority of it; so that it demands perfect obedience of all that are under it, with as much authority still as ever it did of Adam, Rom 3:19; For "what things soever the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law." And all men continue under it till they be ingrafted into Christ, be dead to it, and married to Christ, Rom. 6:14. Wherefore all ye Christless sinners are under it, and are breaking it every day, in every thought, word, and action of yours; and so the curse of it is raining down upon you incessantly; Gal. 3:10, "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." John 3:36, "He that believeth not—the wrath of God abideth on him."
Some of you stand off from the sacrament of the Lord's supper, and from personal covenanting with God in embracing the covenant of grace, and think ye do wisely to hold your necks out of the yoke of a covenant with God. But, poor soul, thou art hard and fast under covenant to God, the covenant of works, by which thou art bound to perfect obedience, under the pain of God's curse; and every sin of thine is covenant-breaking with God, laying thee under the curse of the covenant. So all this wisdom of yours amounts to a holding fast of
the covenant of death, and refusing a covenant of life. But this breaking of the covenant of works, by violating the commands of it now, is not what we aim at.
2. There was a public breaking of it by Adam, the father of all mankind, standing as the representative of his posterity. This breach was made in paradise, where Adam broke the covenant by eating the forbidden fruit. And even this is our sin, and breaking of the covenant; viz. the first breaking of it is ours, and brings us under guilt.
The extent of this breach of the covenant may be considered two ways; in reference to the persons to whom the guilt of it reaches, whose sin it becomes; and in reference to the sin itself.
1st, The extent of this sin may be considered in reference to the persons to whom the guilt of it reaches, whose sin it becomes. And thus we say,
(1.) It extended not to the man Christ. Adam's breaking of the covenant was not his: he sinned not in Adam, as the rest of mankind did. Though he was born of a woman, he was born sinless; hence the angel said unto the virgin Mary, "That holy thing which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God," Luke 1:35. And Heb. 7:26, he is said to be "holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners." He came "to destroy the works of the devil," 1 John 3:8, and "to take away sin," John 1:29, which he could not have been fit for if he himself had been one of the sinful multitude. If he had needed a sacrifice for himself, he could not have been an atoning sacrifice for us.
He was indeed a son of Adam, as appears from his genealogy brought up to Adam, Luke 3. And it was necessary he should be so, that he might be our near kinsman, to redeem us; that man's sins might be expiated by man's sufferings, and so justice might be satisfied of the same nature that sinned. But Adam was not the man Christ's federal
head, nor was he comprehended with him in the covenant of works; forasmuch as he did not come of Adam in virtue of the blessing of fruitfulness given to the man and woman before the fall, but was the seed of the woman only, born by virtue of a spiritual promise made after the breach of the covenant of works. So the breach of that covenant could not be imputed to him, or counted his, by virtue of his relation to Adam.
Nay, he is another public person, as the first Adam was; the federal head in the second covenant, erected to repair the ruins made by the breach of the first; and so he is called the Second Adam, and is represented as the antitype to the first Adam, Rom. 5:14, unto whom the first Adam, having mismanaged his own headship, did as a private person commit himself for salvation, being in a mystical union by faith joined to Jesus Christ, as the quickening Head in the second covenant. But,
(2.) It extended to all mankind besides Christ, without exception of any one from the first son and daughter of Adam, to the last child that shall be born into the world, 1 Cor. 15:22, "In Adam all die." It is the common portion of all the children of our father's family, from the oldest to the youngest; the common inheritance of the whole tribe of Adam, from the least to the greatest. The man a hundred years old may say, It is my sin; and the child at its first moving in the womb may say, It is mine. The guilt of it is removed indeed from believers upon their union with Christ; but once it lay upon them to condemnation also, as it still lies on all unregenerate persons, Rom. 5:18, "By the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation." The saints in heaven are singing glory to him who washed them from it in his own blood, and the damned in hell are lying, and will lie for ever under the weight of it.
2dly,The extent of this sin may be considered in reference to the sin itself. There is something in this sin peculiar to Adam's person, in so far as though the whole mass of mankind was concerned in it, yet there was this difference betwixt Adam and his posterity, that he was
the representative, they were the party represented; he sinned this sin in his own person, they only in him; and consequently he ruined not himself only, but all the world by it; they ruined themselves only by it. Wherefore, setting aside what was in this sin peculiar to Adam, as the head of the covenant; otherwise,
This sin of breaking the covenant of works is our sin in the whole compass and extent of it. We must look back to the state of innocence, and behold the human nature adorned with the glorious image of God in our father Adam, and us in his loins, taken into covenant with God, a covenant of life upon condition of perfect obedience, which we in him were able to give, and fenced with a threatening of death, which we were not liable to before we sinned. And we must consider, with sorrow of heart, how we broke that covenant in Adam; and, with bitter repentance, shame, and selfloathing, lament over the eating of that forbidden fruit, and all the ingredients of it, our horrid unbelief, pride, ambition, presumption, and bold curiosity, our monstrous ingratitude, &c. The fearful aggravations of it must accent our lamentation, that it was in the state of righteousness of our nature the fact was committed, how small and sorry an object was the covenant broken for, a thing though small yet sacred, the place where, the time when, and the direful effects and consequents of it on ourselves. And we must apply to the Head of the second covenant for our reparation, pardon, and reconciliation with God.
Vain men who have never been deeply convinced of sin by the working of the Spirit on their hearts, but measure their religion more by their corrupt reason than God's word, will be apt to look on these things as idle tales, and to say in their hearts, Would to God we may mourn for our own sins, the sins that we ourselves have been guilty of. Alas, sirs, that sin, with all the ingredients and aggravations of it, as is said, is as really your own sin, as the lies ye have made with your own tongue, the profane oaths ye have sworn, &c., Rom. 5:12, 19, "By one man's sin, death entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." "By one man's
disobedience many were made sinners." And if it be not forgiven you, through the atoning blood of Christ, it will sink you into hell; and we know no sins that are forgiven, but they are repented of expressly, if known, and virtually if unknown. We find David mourning over it, Psalm 51:5, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." And so ought all of us to mourn over it every day of our life, and have recourse to the blood of Jesus for pardon of it. And I shall shew,
How Adam's sin, in breaking the Covenant of Works, is the sin of his Posterity
II. How Adam's sin of breaking the covenant of works is our sin, our breaking it.
1. It is really ours in itself. It is not ours in its effects only, as a father's sin in riotously spending his estate, reaches his whole family, reducing them to poverty and want. Though the effects of that riotous spending, the poverty, misery, and want, be theirs; yet the riotous spending is the father's only. But so is it not in this case. It is true, the effects of it, the sinful and penal evils following this sin, are ours; we see them, we feel them, and the most stupid groan under them; but the sin itself is ours too. And,
(1.) The guilt of it is ours, Rom. 5:18, "By the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation;" that is, the guilt of sin, whereby the soul is bound over to God's wrath, by virtue of the sanction of the law. Thus that word is used frequently in the scripture, as appears from John 3:18, "He that believeth not, is condemned already." Rom. 8:1, "There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus;" though it is often mistaken for what we call damnation, by which is understood the full execution of the law's sentence after death. So the guilt of the eating of the forbidden fruit lies on all men naturally as their guilt; though but one man's mouth tasted it, the guilt of the crime seizes all men. Every man is bound
over to God's wrath for it, till the Lord Jesus, by an application of his blood to the soul, loose the cords of death.
(2.) The fault of it is ours, Rom. 5:1, "All have sinned," namely, in Adam. The fault lies in its contrariety to the holy commandment; this made it a faulty deed, a criminal action, a sin against God; and as such it is ours. We in Adam transgressed the law, broke through the hedge, and so broke the covenant. If the fault were not ours, a holy God would never punish us for it: but certain it is, that he does punish the children of Adam for it, Rom. 5:14, "Death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression." It is true indeed, God may punish one that is not really faulty, for the fault of another, if he do voluntarily substitute himself in the room of the faulty, having a full power so to dispose of himself; and that was the case of Christ the Mediator; but that cannot be pretended to be our case with respect to Adam's sin.
(3.) The stain and blot of it is ours. The whole nature of man was tainted with it, vitiated, and blackened, and, through defilement and loathsomeness thereby, rendered incapable of, and quite unfit for, communion with God, Gen. 3:24. This sin defiled the whole mass of man's nature, from our father Adam going through all his posterity, like leaven through the whole lump, 1 Cor. 15:22, "In Adam all die;" their souls die spiritually; his whole race, by this sin, became as dead carcases.
Thus Adam's sin, in itself, is really ours.
2. It is ours in law-reckoning; God imputes it to us, charges it upon us all once, in our natural state; though whenever a soul believes in Christ, it is disimputed to that soul, Rom. 8:1, "There is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus." But, by a sentence passed in the court of heaven, all mankind are decerned sinners, transgressors of the law, guilty of the first sin, and therefore liable to death, the penalty of the covenant, Rom. 5:12, 19, "All have sinned.—
By one man's disobedience many were made sinners." And for as much as the judgment of God is according to truth, the matter must stand in itself, as it is found in that law-reckoning; that is to say, because we are really sinners in Adam, therefore we are reckoned in law to be so. So that the imputation of Adam's sin to us, necessarily presupposes its being really ours.
Proof of the Imputation of Adam's First Sin to his Posterity
III. I shall evince the truth of the doctrine, and prove the imputation of Adam's first sin, the sin of breaking the covenant of works, by eating the forbidden fruit, to his posterity."
1. The scripture plainly teacheth, that all sinned in Adam, and were made sinners by his first sin, which was the breaking of the covenant of works, by eating the fruit of the forbidden tree, Rom. 5:12, 19, both forecited. Where it is to be remarked, (1.) That the apostle speaks of the first sin in both texts; for as in the 19th verse, he calls it "that disobedience;" so in ver. 12, the or that sin, by way of eminency, as vers. 14, 15, in opposition to that obedience, by way of eminency, ver. 19, whereas, speaking of sin in general, ver. 13, he calls it simply sin. Besides, he speaks of that sin, by which death entered into the world; as by one man that sin entered into the world, and by that sin death; but it is evident, that it was by the first sin that death entered into the world; therefore all sinned in Adam in breaking the covenant of works. This also is clear from the scope of this chapter, which is to account for the justification of sinners by the obedience of Christ, which the apostle does by shewing that Christ died in our room and stead, vers. 7–11, and he sums up the whole matter in this conclusion; ver. 12, "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;" and this conclusion he afterwards enlarges upon. The words, it is plain, must have something understood, to make up the sense; and I conceive it is this; "Wherefore it is even as by one man that sin entered into the world," &c. i. e. The matter of the justification of a sinner before God lies even as the condemnation
and death of sinners by that sin of one man, &c. (2.) That the apostle determines all men to have sinned that sin. For that, or in whom (as Mark 2:5) all have sinned. But that this is the sense, however, the words be rendered, appears, if it is considered, [1.] That death entered into the world by that sin, and so passed on all men; but, according to the apostle, it could not pass on all men for that sin, but for that all were the sinners; for where death comes, sin must needs be before; by the rule of justice no man can die for a sin he is not guilty of. [2.] If all sinned, infants sinned too; but infants are not capable of having sinned otherwise than in Adam. The apostle teaches very plainly, that infants are comprehended in these all, and that they sinned, ver. 14, "that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression," which clearly bears them to have sinned another way. (3.) By that sin we were constituted or made sinners, ver. 19, not by consent and approbation, nor by imitation, but by imputation, as was argued before; and consequently, since the judgment of God is according to truth, we sinned that sin.
2. All are under the guilt of that sin in Adam, till it be removed in justification by faith in Jesus Christ; they are, by virtue of that sin, bound over to death, and the eternal wrath of God. This the scripture teaches evidently, 1 Cor. 15:22, "In Adam all die." But how can they die in him, if they did not sin in him? Rom. 5:12, "By one man—death passed upon all." Sin then behoved in the first place by him to pass on all; ver. 15, "Through the offence of one many be dead." That offence therefore behoved to be their offence, ver. 18, "By the offence of one, it was (viz. the offence) upon all men unto condemnation," i. e. the guilt of eternal wrath; but how could they be condemned by a holy and just God for an offence that was not their offence, it being undeniable that they did not substitute themselves, nor were they substituted by another, in the room of the offender? When the apostle tells us, that "there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus," Rom. 8:1, does he not plainly teach us, (1.) That all who are not in Christ, are under condemnation, whoever they be, whether guilty of actual sin in their own persons or not, as infants and idiots? (2.) That even such as are now in Christ,
were under condemnation, all along while they were not in him? Let men take a view of our guilty state in Adam, that wrath which by nature we stand adjudged to, Eph. 2:3, which the scripture plainly teaches; and then consider the holy, just nature of God; they shall be obliged to own that we sinned in Adam, and that his sin is ours as well as his, and that that wrath on that account is just. But corrupt unsubdued nature firstframes to itself a notion of God's justice, according to its own principles, and then rejects this imputation as inconsistent therewith, and then puts a sense on clear scripture texts agreeable to its preconceived notions.
3. The universal depravation and corruption of human nature is a glaring evidence of this. Man is now despoiled of his primitive glory and integrity, the image of God, the rectitude of his nature, with which he was created; and instead of it his whole nature is corrupted, there is in it a bent and propensity to evil. His mind is darkened, his will perverse, his affections altogether disorderly. He is born in this case, corruption is woven into his nature from the time he has a being in the womb; Job 14:4, "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one." John 3:6, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh." Gen. 6:5, "Every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart is only evil continually." Psalm 51:5, "Behold I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." There is a necessity of regeneration, without a man be born again he is ruined for ever, John 3:3. He is naturally dead in sin, he must be raised from death, he is so marred that he must be new made, created to good works, else he will lie for ever void of spiritual life, utterly unable to do anything but sin, Eph. 2:5, 10. Such a nature and such a frame of soul is a sin, a fountain of sin. But without question it is a misery too, and the greatest of miseries human nature is capable of, as setting men at the greatest distance from God the chief good. Therefore it must be concluded to be a punishment of sin too, and of some sin previous to it, which can be none else but Adam's first sin. And that sin must be our sin, the sin of all mankind, since it is punished at this fearful rate in us and all mankind. It is not possible to account for the justice of this dispensation otherwise. It was inconsistent with the nature of
God to have created man in this case; yet thus we are from the time we have a being as men. Is this from the Creator otherwise than as a punishment of sin? Must it not be from ourselves, (Hos. 13:9, "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself,") as the authors of our misery, by sinning against God, namely, sinning this sin, for no other can have place here? The law of natural generation without this will not salve the matter; for so justice would have required either the stopping of generation, or else that even corrupt Adam should not have generated corrupt children. It is within the compass of omnipotency though not the compass of created power, to bring a clean thing out of an unclean, as was done in the case of the man Christ; otherwise the greatest misery and punishment which might have been averted, is inflicted upon mankind without any fault of theirs; which is more than absurd.
4. Though men venture to deny sin in infants, who are without question incapable of actual sinning in their own persons, Rom. 5:14, and 9:11, yet it is undeniable they are liable to misery, pains, sickness, and die as well as those who are grown person. The groans and tears of parents over the cradles, the moans and distress of poor harmless babes, the graves of the smallest size in the churchyard, are demonstrations of these. Yea, look to the old world, swept away with the flood, and there you will see the infants drowned with the sinners a hundred years old. Look to the overthrow of Sodom, and you will see them burnt in the fire from heaven with the lustful parents that begot them. Look to Jerusalem when it was destroyed, and there you will see them pining to death by famine, with the aged sinners. Then look up to heaven, and behold a holy, just God, who sent these plagues, and consider if it be consistent with his holy nature to treat innocent senseless persons at that rate. And after all look into your Bible, and you will see how God is justified in all these. There you will see the threatening of death annexed to the sin of breaking the covenant of works, Gen. 3:17, and seeing it executed upon them, ye must needs conclude they are guilty. There you find "death passes on all, for that all have sinned;" Rom. 5:12, "reigns over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression," ver. 14, and
thence you must conclude them sinners. There it appears, that "the wages of sin is death," Rom. 6:23; they receive the wages, they must have then wrought the work of sin; not in their own persons surely, for they were not capable; therefore they sinned in Adam. As for the corruption of their nature, it justifies this procedure indeed; but yet the propagation of it to them is owing to this first sin; and the dispensation of God in that matter must be justified, by their guilt of that sin.
5. Lastly, The comparison stated in scripture, betwixt Christ and Adam, plainly evinceth this. The apostle, Rom. 5:14, tells us that Adam was a type or figure of Christ; and 1 Cor. 15:45, he calls the one the "first Adam," the other the "last Adam." Whence it appears, that as Christ was the federal head in the covenant of grace; so Adam was the federal head in the covenant of works. Whence we may gather,
(1.) That as Christ, in his obedience and death, stood not as a private person, but what he did and suffered, he did and suffered as a public person, to be imputed to all his spiritual seed; 2 Cor. 5:21, "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;" so Adam sinning, and breaking the covenant of works, did what he did not as a private man, whose guilt remains with himself, but as a public person, whose deed was to be imputed to all his posterity, or natural seed; Rom. 5:18, "By the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation."
(2.) That since Adam was eventually a head of destruction and ruin to all his seed, and Christ a head of reparation and salvation to all that were his seed of the shipwrecked multitude; 1 Cor. 15:22, "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive;" then as God laid on Christ the iniquities of all that are his, making them to meet on him, Isa. 53:6, so Adam's sin was from him diffused, and came upon all that were his, Rom 5:12; for the one was to repair those whom the other had destroyed; to pay their debts which they had been involved in by the other.
(3.) As believers obeyed and satisfied in Christ their head in the second covenant, so all men sinned in Adam their head in the first covenant. The former is the doctrine of the scripture. "The righteousness of the law was fulfilled in them," Rom. 8:4. They were "crucified with him," Gal. 2:20; which further appears, in that they were "raised up, and set in heaven in him," Eph. 2:6. Hence the latter is established; we broke the law in Adam, and sinned against God in him.
(4.) Lastly, As we are made righteous by the obedience of Christ; so we are made sinners by the disobedience of Adam. So says the text. But we are made righteous by the obedience of Christ imputed to us, therefore we are made sinners through the disobedience of Adam imputed to us. Christ's righteousness is really ours, not in its effects only, but in itself, being that very righteousness on which, we are acquitted and justified. So Adam's sin is really ours, not in its effects, only, but in itself, being that upon which we are all by nature condemned persons, Rom. 5:18. As soon as we have a spiritual being in Christ, and are united to him by his Spirit and by faith, so soon is Christ's righteousness ours; and as soon as we have a natural being as children of Adam, Adam's sin is ours.
So much for the proof of this doctrine, That Adam's first sin, the sin of breaking the covenant of works, by eating the forbidden fruit, is our sin, our breaking of it, or is imputed to his posterity.
The Ground and Reason of the Imputation of Adam's first sin to his Posterity
IV. I shall show the ground and reason why Adam's first sin, or breaking of the covenant of works, is our sin, our breaking of it. This is the foundation of the imputation of that sin to us, and lies in these two things jointly.
1. He was our natural or seminal head, the natural root of all mankind, Acts 17:26. God set up the human nature in him pure and
undefiled, blessed him with fruitfulness, Gen. 1:28, and from him all mankind derive their pedigree. So that as Levi, being in the loins of Abraham, when Melchisedek met him, paid tithes in Abraham, Heb. 7:9, 10, so we, being in the loins of Adam, when the tempter met him, sinned and broke the covenant in him. But,
2. Which is the main thing, He was our federal head in the covenant of works, our representative in that bargain. There was a proper covenant betwixt God and Adam; and in it Adam was not considered as a private person, but stood as the head of all mankind in it, acting for himself and for his posterity whom he represented; even as the second Adam in the covenant of grace. And thus his sin was ours. Even as Abraham, having the covenant made with him, was the federal as well as natural head of Levi, being the covenant-head of the Jewish nation; and therefore Levi in his loins is reckoned to have paid tithes to Melchisedek.
The sum of the matter lies here; all mankind being originally one in Adam, were made legally one in him and with him, by the covenant of works entered into with Adam, as the head of all mankind, constituted by God himself, the infinitely wise and absolute Lord of all the creatures. By the bond of the covenant superadded to the natural tie betwixt him and us, we were made one with him, to all the purposes of the covenant. And being thus one with him, his sin in breaking of the covenant was ours as well as his. The being of this covenant I have already proved, and have also accounted for the equity and justice of this dispensation.
The Doctrine of the Imputation of Adam's First Sin to his Posterity applied
USE I. This truth serves to discover, and set before our eyes,
1. The malignant nature of sin. It is an infectious vapour, a plague, a pest to mankind, of a killing nature, wherever it comes. One sinner of mankind infected the whole race; one morsel of that leaven leavened
the whole nature of man. It is the spiritual pestilence in the world, that makes more spiritual havoc than fire and sword; an emblem of which God is giving this day in France by a bodily pestilence, with which also he is threatening these nations. It is Solomon's observation, "That one sinner destroyeth much good," Eccl. 9:18. This is emphatically represented to us in the case of Adam, and often in the case of many particular sinners among us, whose sphere of activity is more narrow; but O what destruction do they make within their bounds! this malignity of it appears,
(1.) In its spreading from the sinner to all that are concerned in him, destroying and breaking down like a flood where it comes. The peace and purity of the whole world was marred by Adam's sin; and the peace and purity of lesser societies are still marred with the sins of others, Heb. 12:15. The apostle exhorts Christians to "look diligently, lest any root of bitterness springing up, trouble them, and thereby many be defiled." How many such roots of bitterness are sprung up in our land, wherewith the peace and purity of church and state are both marred together at this day. How many such have sprung up and are still springing up among us, whose pangs of lust mar the quiet of families, leave a blot on them, make the congregation a reproach, and to stink in the nostrils of the sober part of their neighbours.
(2.) In that when the sinner is dead and gone, his sin lives and works after him. It is long since Adam died, but still his sin is working. Jeroboam sinned so in his life, as that he opened such a sluice as ran for several generations after he was silent in the grave. And thus do the sins of many still live and destroy much good after they are gone. And therefore, besides the particular judgment at death, there is a general judgment at the end of the world, where people must answer for the mischief done by the current of their sin in the world after they were gone out of it.
2. The awful and tremendous holy sovereignty of God, whose judgments are always just, but often unsearchable. When one
considers how God made the angels independent upon one another as to standing and falling, but comprehended the whole race of mankind under one federal head; whom also, in the depth of his sovereign wisdom he permitted to fall, when he could have held him up; so as all mankind are ruined in him; must we not cry out, "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out," Rom. 11:33. The dispensation was just, he can do us no wrong; it was becoming the divine perfections, and designed for holy ends in the depth of wisdom. But in the meantime, there is need of a holy, humble spirit to adore the sovereignty of it.
3. The impossibility of our obtaining salvation by the way of this covenant. What hopes can we have of living by doing, when it has misgiven in our head already, when we were fitted for working at another rate than we can pretend to be now? We have already broken that covenant, fallen under the penalty of it, the which we must needs discharge before we can have access to begin again on new ground, to look for life by keeping it better. And who of us is able to discharge that debt to the justice of God? "Therefore by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight," Rom. 3:20.
4. The glory of the contrivance of the second covenant by the everblessed Trinity, and of the performance of it by the second Adam in our nature. Look here and behold the necessity of it for our salvation; what could they have done for themselves, who had ruined themselves, and were brought into the world in a state of condemnation? There was a necessity of the obedience and death of Christ in that case; Luke 24:26, "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things?" Behold the suitableness of it; man was ruined by Adam's breaking the first covenant, and the remedy is provided by Christ's keeping the second covenant. Behold the perfection of it. It takes away not only this sin, but all other sins too. How strong is the grace of Christ, that is able to stop the torrent of Adam's sin, increased with innumerable personal sins running with it in one channel? Rom. 5:16.
5. Lastly, A notable confirmation of believers' faith as to the imputation of Christ's righteousness and death unto them, upon their embracing the covenant of grace. Is Adam's sin ours by virtue of our union with him as the federal head in the covenant of works? Surely Christ's righteousness, obedience, and death, are no less ours in virtue of our union with Christ, the federal head in the second covenant. That God who imputes the one to all mankind for condemnation, will much more impute the other to believers for justification.
USE II. This doctrine serves to stir up to several duties. And,
1. Be convinced of this sin as your sin. Take it home to yourselves among the rest of the pieces of guilt, chargeable upon you before the Lord. God charges it on all mankind as their sin; all men therefore ought to charge it on themselves, since he is the Amen, faithful and true Witness, and cannot charge any with guilt falsely or by mistake. It is hard to convince men of this; but when the Spirit of the Lord comes to carry the work of conviction through, he will fasten this conviction on the conscience among others; and how can one sue for the pardon of that sin which he will not admit the conviction of?
2. Confess and mourn over this sin before the Lord. Be humbled under the sense of it, and anxiously inquire how ye may be saved from it, and the wrath and curse of God due to you for it. Consider seriously how this debt is on your head by nature, how you are transgressors from the womb, breakers of covenant with God, fallen under the penalty of the covenant of works, by your not fulfilling the condition of it, but transgressing the covenant. Live no more unconcerned about it, but sist your guilty consciences in this point particularly before the Lord; and let that fear and sorrow work in your souls on this head, that ought to be in the case of sins committed by you in your own persons. I shall enforce this with some motives.
MOTIVE 1. Consider that it is really your sin, by which, you have offended God, broken his covenant, and made yourselves liable to eternal wrath. And shall it not lie heavy on your spirits, that you have thus sinned? Rom. 5:19. If it be really your sin, your debt ye are involved in by the mismanagement of your first father; can it be safe to be unconcerned about it, while a holy just God is the party ye have to do with?
MOT. 2. It is the fountain of all the sins and miseries that ever have been found with you. Ye are guilty before God of sins of heart, lip and life: these must sometime be a terror to the soul. But whence did all this flow, but from your corrupt nature, averse to all good, and prone to all evil? And whence had you that nature, but from the guilt of this sin lying on you? Ye have been plunged in a gulf of miseries; even from the womb to this day, the clouds have been returning after the rain. Trace them to the spring-head, and you will find they all issue from this sin. And what sin can ye truly mourn over to purpose, if ye do not mourn over the fountain of all? What calls more loudly for repenting and mourning than this leading sin?
MOT. 3. While the guilt of this sin lies upon you ye lose all your labour in striving to get the guilt of other sins removed, or to get your lives reformed. That is but to shut the door while the grand thief is in the house; to labour to dry up the streams, while ye are at no pains to get the poisonous fountain stopt; the which is labour in vain. And it is the overlooking of this that is the cause of the apostacy of many who sometimes have made such a fair appearance; and is also the cause of the prevalence of a legal disposition that is so much at this day among professors.
MOT. 4. Lastly, If ye get not the pardon of it, it will ruin you for ever, Rom. 5:18. Hereby ye are condemned; and a pardon only can reverse the sentence. Ye must then sue out the pardon of it; and if you come to God on that errand, be sure your souls will be humbled and broken within you for it.
And if ye would have your hearts duly affected with this sin, (1.) Labour to lay aside your carnal reasonings, and believe God's word as the word of truth and righteousness, which fixes this guilt on all mankind, and particularly on you. These reasonings in this matter are dangerous, and can tend to nothing but hardening the heart, and casting dishonour on God. (2.) How ye naturally trace the steps of Adam in his breaking of the covenant, so bearing fallen Adam's image most lively, as I showed elsewhere. The consideration of this may serve to prove the fact upon us, while we do so readily fall into the same way again, as far as we have occasion. (3.) Consider the righteousness of Christ, which is to be the same way imputed to all believers, and shall be imputed to you on your believing. There is a gift of righteousness to be imputed, as well as that debt of sin is charged upon you.
Lastly, Let this stir you up to quit your hold of the first Adam and his covenant, and flee for life and salvation to the second Adam in the second covenant, uniting with him by faith. The offer of the gospel is made to you: the Lord has made a grant of his son as a quickening head to poor sinners. Believe it, embrace the offer, accept heaven's gift; otherwise ye will be ruined, not only by the breach of the first covenant, but by despising of the second.
If ye be of those to whom that iniquity is forgiven, ye will highly prize the second Adam; for "unto them that believe he is precious," 1 Pet. 2:7. Ye will be holy and tender in your walk, the power of sin being broken where the guilt is removed, Rom. 8:1. Ye will be dead to the law, and denied to your own righteousness, making Christ's fulfilling of the covenant your only plea for life and salvation, Matth. 5:3, Phil. 3:3.
Thus far of the breach of the covenant of works, and the extent of it.