“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men. . . . For if through the offence of one many be dead. . . . For the judgment was by one. . . . For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one. . . . By the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation. . . . By one man’s disobedience many were made sinners. . . . Sin hath reigned unto death” (Rom. 5).
The “one” man in these verses is Adam. He, as the head of the human race, took that race into that condition of manhood under the power and reign of the principle of “sin.” Sin is a principle of rule that attached to fallen man. Man is identified with it as “the body of sin” (Rom. 6:66Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. (Romans 6:6)). “I am carnal, sold under sin” (Rom. 7:1414For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. (Romans 7:14)). “But I see another law in my members . . . the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Rom. 7:23-2423But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (Romans 7:23‑24)). Sin here is the principle that produces the “fruit” of “sins.” “Sin,” the principle, is condemned (can never be forgiven), but “sins” may be forgiven.
The answer to this condition of sin is not forgiveness; it is death—that is, the condemnation of “sin in the flesh,” not its forgiveness. “God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh” (Rom. 8:33For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: (Romans 8:3)). “Sinful flesh” is what man is, as long as the first man Adam is his source of life.
We need a new “head,” and, praise God, we find Him in Christ Jesus our Lord. “The last Adam was made a quickening spirit” (1 Cor. 15). Thus, we—mankind—are either “in Christ Jesus” or “in the flesh.” Righteousness and life are the portion of those who are “in Christ Jesus,” while sin, death and condemnation are the portion of those described as being “in the flesh” (Rom. 8:99But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. (Romans 8:9)). “Sin,” “sin in the flesh” and “sinful flesh” are not forgiven; they are condemned.
H. Smith