Intro:

• General...

  Hello there, and welcome to another study in our current series of 'biblebase broken bread' Bible studies... brought to a computer or mobile phone near to you, week by week, with me Ron Bailey from Biblebase.com and Mike Coles from NewLifeRadio.co.uk

  ...Where, if you have missed any of these studies you can visit Mike's website and find a section called "Previous Broadcasts and New Life Radio Audio Library". Look for my name, Ron Bailey, the section ‘CG - The Better Covenant- a study guide’

  This is study 38 of our current series based on the book 'The Better Covenant' and I have called the series "The Better Covenant - revisited". We are using the book as a baseline and adding other related insights as they come to mind.

  You can find these studies in all kinds of places;

  1. Biblebase Podcasts,

  2. at Biblebase.com,

  3. in our Facebook group - FoBB,

  4. and especially at newliferadio.co.uk with Mike Coles...

  5. if you would like more details and notes, you will find my broadcast notes for the study I am recording right now... at biblebase.com

     ...And if you have just joined us, may I suggest that you go back to Study 37 as we are in the midst of a theme within a theme. And, hopefully, this will be much easier to understand if you have heard “Study 37 - as in Adam...”

Intro - The Better Covenant - revisited. Study 38 - “There is no hope”

• A single, watershed verse... under the microscope

  a water-shed is a dividing line, this verse is an amazing revelation. It is the only authentic explanation to our world, its beauty and its terror, its order and its choas. It tells us where we are and how we got here.

  • Rom 5:12

    • Romans 5:12–13 NKJV

      ¶ Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— (Romans 5:12 NKJV)

      because of this, even as through one man the sin did enter into the world, and through the sin the death; and thus to all men the death did pass through, for that all did sin; (Romans 5:12 YNG - Youngs Literal Translation)

      Various Translations of this verse:

• Corporate Entities

  • Bank Accounts - Illustrations

    • Joint and Several Liability

      • - husband is liable for his wife’s debts

      • - wife is liable for her husband’s debts

      • your house is at risk!

      • in the eyes of the law they have become ‘one flesh’ one person

      • the husband and wife have become a single ‘corporate entity’

      • The Beadle, Mr Bumble - Oliver Twist; Charles Dickens

        ‘It was all Mrs Bumble. She would do it,’ urged Mr Bumble; first looking round to ascertain that his partner had left the room.

        ’That is no excuse,’ replied Mr Brownlow. ‘You were present on the occasion of the destruction of these trinkets, and indeed all the more guilty of the two, in the eyes of the law; for the law supposes that your wife acts under your direction.’

        ‘If the law supposes that,’ said Mr Bumble, squeezing his hat emphatically in both hands, ‘the law is - an ass, an idiot. If that's the eye of the law, the law is a bachelor; and the worst I wish the law is that is, that his eye may be opened by experience - by experience

    • Business Partnership

      another kind of joint and several liability

      • your house is at risk!

      • in the eyes of the law you have become ‘one flesh’ one person

      • both individuals have become a single ‘corporate entity’

• Levi was in Abraham

  And indeed those who are of the sons of Levi, who receive the priesthood, have a commandment to receive tithes from the people according to the law, that is, from their brethren, though they have come from the loins of Abraham; but he whose genealogy is not derived from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. Now beyond all contradiction the lesser is blessed by the better. Here mortal men receive tithes, but there he receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives.Even Levi, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, so to speak,for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him. (Hebrews 7:5–10 NKJV)

Adam... and Eve

• Adam... and Eve

  • Genesis 2:15–17 ASV

    And Jehovah God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And Jehovah God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (Genesis 2:15–17 ASV)

  • Genesis 2:23–24 ASV

    And the man said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. (Genesis 2:23–24 ASV)

    This is a revelation. These are the words of Adam. At this moment in the world’s history Adam was innocent and his clear spirit was open to divine revelation.

    • Then all Israel came together to David at Hebron, saying, “Indeed we are your bone and your flesh. (1Chronicles 11:1 NKJV)

      “Please speak in the hearing of all the men of Shechem: ‘Which is better for you, that all seventy of the sons of Jerubbaal reign over you, or that one reign over you?’ Remember that I am your own flesh and bone.” (Judges 9:2 NKJV)

      Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and spoke, saying, “Indeed we are your bone and your flesh. (2Samuel 5:1 NKJV)

      You are my brethren, you are my bone and my flesh. Why then are you the last to bring back the king?’And say to Amasa, “Are you not my bone and my flesh? God do so to me, and more also, if you are not commander of the army before me continually in place of Joab.’ ” (2Samuel 19:12–13 NKJV)

      Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.” (Luke 24:39 NKJV)

      For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. (Ephesians 5:30 NKJV)

  ...and here’s another revelation...

  • 1Corinthians 11:7–9 NKJV

    For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. For man is not from woman, but woman from man. Nor was man created for the woman, but woman for the man. (1Corinthians 11:7–9 NKJV)

    I shared on the topic ‘why a man ought not to cover his head’ some years ago at a morning mens’ meeting in Canada. I’ll see if I can trace a copy.

The Source and the Spread

through one man,

• One way traffic

  Eve’s transgression did not change Adam, but Adam’s sin DID change Eve... and it changed you, and it changed me.

  Adam was not ‘of’ Eve, but Eve was ‘of’ Adam.

• Adam where art thou?

  ¶ And Jehovah God called unto the man, and said unto him, Where art thou? (Genesis 3:9 ASV)

  • Genesis 3:17–19 ASV

    And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in toil shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. (Genesis 3:17–19 ASV)

    Eve is NOT cursed, and Adam is NOT cursed... ...only the ground is cursed for thy sake.

    Adam was an individual, but he was also the Federal Head of our race. His personal sin would could be forgiven, but in his capacity of the Federal Head our race his action was irreversible and its consequences are incalculable.

    Adam’s sin as the Federal Head of our race opened the door to SIN, not as an item on his personal account as a sinner, but as a Ruling Power. We will need to distinguish between ‘sin’ as an event and ‘SIN’ as a Ruling Power.

    The Bible truth of Justification by faith provides a remedy for ‘sin’ as an event or ‘sins’ as a collection of ‘sins’ but we need more, much more...

    we need something that will deal with the Ruling Power that entered our race through Adam.

  because of this, even as through one man the sin did enter into the world, and through the sin the death; and thus to all men the death did pass through, for that all did sin; (Romans 5:12 YNG)

  through one man,

  not downwards through the generations, (in my view IMV) but the entire race was infected through one man and one point of time.

  through one man sin entered the world

  ...and death through sin

  • The NET Bible

    15 tn The translation of the phrase ἐφ̓ ᾧ (eph hō) has been heavily debated. For a discussion of all the possibilities, see C. E. B. Cranfield, “On Some of the Problems in the Interpretation of Romans 5.12,” SJT 22 (1969): 324-41. Only a few of the major options can be mentioned here: (1) the phrase can be taken as a relative clause in which the pronoun refers to Adam, “death spread to all people in whom [Adam] all sinned.” (2) The phrase can be taken with consecutive (resultative) force, meaning “death spread to all people with the result that all sinned.” (3) Others take the phrase as causal in force: “death spread to all people because all sinned.”

  • Here’s a trace on the route

    through one man sin entered

    and death entered through sin

    and thus - thus G3779 οὕτως, οὕτω houtōs, houtō

    οὕτως, before a consonant οὕτω, Adv. of οὗτος, as Lat. sic  of hic, in this way or manner, so, thus: —properly, οὕτως is antec. to ὡς, as Lat. sic  to ut, Hom., etc.; οὕτω δὴ ἔσται so it shall be, ratifying what goes before, Od., etc.:—in Prose οὕτως alone in answers, even so, just so, Xen.

  • Some ‘bible’ algebra?

    RB. this is not an event separate from ‘death entering through sin’. It is not ‘subsequence’, ie the next step → but it is consequence ie the result of the previous action =

  The entrance of sin and death into the world

  Vine: the world

  B. Noun.kosmos (κόσμος, 2889), “a harmonious arrangement or order,” then, “adornment, decoration,” came to denote “the world, or the universe, as that which is divinely arranged.” The meaning “adorning” is found in 1 Pet. 3:3. Elsewhere it signifies “the world.” Cf. kosmios, decent, modest, 1 Tim. 2:9; 3:2. See WORLD.

  Vine: entered

  8. eiserchomai (εἰσέρχομαι, 1525), lit., “to go in” (eis, “in,” erchomai, “to go”), “to enter,” is once rendered “arose,” metaphorically, with reference to a reasoning among the disciples which of them should be the greatest, Luke 9:46. See COME, ENTER, GO.

  Liddell & Scott: entered

  εἰσ-έρχομαι, f. -ελεύσομαι: aor. 2 -ήλῠθον, -ῆλθον: but Att. fut. is supplied by εἴσειμι, and impf. by εἰσῄειν: Dep.:—to go in or into, enter, c. acc., Il., etc.; in Prose, εἰς. εἰς. . , Xen., etc.; εἰς. εἰς τὰς σπονδάς to come into the treaty, Thuc.; εἰς. εἰς τοὺς ἐφήβους to enter the Ephebi, Xen.: of money, to come in, Id.

  II. of the Chorus or of actors, to come upon the stage, to enter, Plat., Xen.:—to enter the lists, Soph.

  “sin made an entrance”

  Liddell & Scott: spread, passed through to all men

  death spread

  δι-έρχομαι, f. διελεύσομαι (but δίειμι is Att. f., and διῄειν impf.), aor. 2 διῆλθον: Dep.:—to go through, pass through, absol. or c. gen., Il., Soph.:—c. acc., also, Il., Thuc., etc.

  This condition is incurable

  • Jeremiah

    • ¶ The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven upon the tablet of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars; (Jeremiah 17:1 ASV)

      ¶ The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt: who can know it?I, Jehovah, search the mind, I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings. (Jeremiah 17:9–10 ASV)

      Crooked [is] the heart above all things, And it [is] incurable — who doth know it? I Jehovah do search the heart, try the reins, Even to give to each according to his way, According to the fruit of his doings. (Jeremiah 17:9–10 YNG)

      The human mind is more deceitful than anything else. It is incurably bad (19). Who can understand it? I, the LORD, probe into people’s minds. I examine people’s hearts. I deal with each person according to how he has behaved. I give them what they deserve based on what they have done. (Jeremiah 17:9–10 NET)

      NET: 19 tn Or “incurably deceitful”; Heb “It is incurable.” For the word “deceitful” compare the usage of the verb in Gen 27:36 and a related noun in 2 Kgs 10:19. For the adjective “incurable” compare the usage in Jer 15:18. It is most commonly used with reference to wounds or of pain. In Jer 17:16 it is used metaphorically for a “woeful day” (i.e., day of irreparable devastation).19 sn The background for this verse is Deut 29:18-19 (29:17-18 HT) and Deut 30:17.

    As a fountain wells up with water, So she wells up with her wickedness. Violence and plundering are heard in her. Before Me continually are grief and wounds. (Jeremiah 6:7 NKJV)

  • Isaiah

    But the wicked are like the troubled sea, When it cannot rest, Whose waters cast up mire and dirt. “There is no peace,” Says my God, “for the wicked.” (Isaiah 57:20–21 NKJV)

    If this is the final diagnosis what hope is their for those who are ‘in Adam’?

  There was a time when God took away his hand and sin was unbridled. It cried ‘crucify him’. There is an alien spirit ‘in Adam’ and its presence can easily be detected...

  The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy... (John 10:10 NKJV)

  There is no hope ‘in Adam’. God will have to start again with a ‘new man’...