One Man’s Obedience and One Man’s Disobedience(2)

Disobedience of Adam

The Bible gives a concrete example of how enormous impact one man's obedience and disobedience may have on mankind.

Ro 5:19 『For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.』

Romans chapter 5 contrasts the disobedience of Adam and the obedience of Jesus Christ: The former caused sin and death to enter the world, and the latter caused all men to live forever. As the result of the one man's disobedience to God's word, "Do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil," every human being faces a tragic consequence, death.

Ge 2:16-17 『And the LORD God commanded the man, " but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."』
Ge 3:1-6 『 He said to the woman, "Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'" "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."』

The same thing may happen to us unless we always keep in mind the words that God has given us. The devil tempts people to eat the fruit God has forbidden them to eat, making the forbidden fruit seem even more desirable. He whispers to them: "Once you eat the fruit, you will be wise like God, full of knowledge. Why don't you eat it right now?" From this came the first sin of mankind. Adam and Eve were one flesh―Eve was a part of Adam. So the Bible describes their offense as the ‘sin of the one man, Adam.' Why did God mention Adam's sin in the first book of the Bible then? To show us what? We need to understand what a tremendous effect the disobedience of one person might have on human beings. Here is another case showing the effect of one man's sin. When Joshua and his army conquered the city of Jericho and entered the land of Canaan, the sin of one man named Achan caused a whole nation to be punished; Israel was defeated in the battle of Ai and the way to conquer the land of Canaan was temporarily blocked. By one man's sin the way the whole country should go was blocked, and by one man's disobedience death passed upon all men. Such history is a counterevidence showing how important one man's obedience is.