So Much for That Theory

I have just enough theology to make me dangerous. I’ve got a decent handle on a few things. The ‘wages of sin is death’. I got that. I’ve sinned, so I expect to die. James 1:15 tells us that sin, when fully grown results in death. I’ve got that too.

I always used to wonder though, what would happen if someone did manage to live a life without sin? I mean, Jesus did it and death had no hold over him. So what about you and me? I mean, if our parents found some way to keep us from lying and beating on our little brother, and if we took that purity and ran with it into adulthood, what then? Not that it’s possible in this sin infested world, but what if? Just for conversations sake.

I used to figure that if it were to happen, then death wouldn’t have any hold over us. Ok. So I was wrong. I know you’re never wrong about spiritual things, but I am. So back off okay? I don’t know how I missed it the other times I went through the Bible, but there is was, staring me down a couple of nights ago…

Romans 5:13-14 (New Living Translation)
13 Yes, people sinned even before the law was given. But it was not counted as sin because there was not yet any law to break. 14 Still, everyone died—from the time of Adam to the time of Moses—even those who did not disobey an explicit commandment of God, as Adam did. Now Adam is a symbol, a representation of Christ, who was yet to come.

There was a significant period of human history before God gave His law to His people. Adam and Eve sinned when they knowingly disobeyed God. However, not everyone had specific marching orders from their Creator. Since there was no law to break, their actions were not counted as sin. People died anyway, “even those who did not disobey an explicit commandment of God.”

It’s as if through Adam’s sin, death is a kind of parasite that entered the world through some freaky mystical portal. Once in this world, it infests every living thing from the moment of conception. Not even complete sinlessness can save us, even if it were attainable. I guess Jesus really is the only way out alive.

I guess I have known this on an intellectual level for some time, but it just hit me differently this week. Maybe by the time I turn 40 I’ll have this faith all hammered out.