Genesis 2:16-17 “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; (17) but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
When God created Adam and Eve their spirits came from Him and had His life in them. In other words their spirits were alive to God. In the above quoted passage of scripture we see that when God created them, that He gave them the commandment not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and so in effect Adam and Eve were created under law. When God gave them His commandment He warned them that if they transgressed His commandment that they would die. We all know the story of how Adam and Eve were tempted by the devil and as an act of their free wills rebelled against the commandment of God. That act of being disobedient to the commandment of God was when sin first entered the world. And so we see that on the day they sinned, their spirits died just as God said it would happen, and they were separated from the life of God. A spiritual truth is revealed to us in this account, which is that everyone born under law dies spiritually the moment they commit sin.
Galatians 4:4-5 “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, (5) to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”
Just as all men are born spiritually alive to God; it is also true that all men are born under law. In the above quoted passage of scripture the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul teaches us that particular truth. For in this passage the Holy Spirit teaches us that the reason the Lord Jesus was born under the law, was so that He could redeem all men who were under the law. Some have thought that this passage referred to the Jews who were born under the Law of Moses, however if you read the context of this passage you will see that Paul is writing to gentile believers when he tells us that we were under the law. So the question is asked, if not the Law of Moses, what law are the gentiles under. The answer to that question is the law of their conscience. God has given every man a conscience, and the conscience is given to them to know to choose good and reject evil. And so when men violate their conscience, they are transgressing the law of their conscience, and are thus sinning against God. As with Adam and Eve, the very first time men disobey their conscience and commit sin, their spirits die and they become separated from the life of God.
Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.”
It is only sin that can kill the spirit of man. This truth is revealed to us in the above quoted passage of scripture, for in this passage the apostle Paul teaches us that death enters through sin. In this same passage the apostle Paul goes on to teach us that the reason that death is able to spread to all men, is because all men commit sin. In other words spiritual death cannot be inherited; it can only come through sin that is committed by the individual. So what is the sin that all men commit which causes them to die spiritually? As we have already mentioned, it is the sin of transgressing the law of their conscience.
Michael E.B. Maher
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