IN ADAM

I) BEING TAKEN OUT OF BEING IN ADAM AND PLACED INTO CHRIST IS REQUIRED IN ORDER FOR AN INDIVIDUAL TO BE RECONCILED TO GOD

A) ALL MEN EXCEPT OUR LORD ARE BORN IN ADAM

[J. Dwight Pentecost comments on the doctrine of imputation as taught in Romans chapter 5, ("Things Which Become SOUND DOCTRINE", Revell, Westwood, N.J., 1965), p. 41-42]:

"When God views us in our position in Adam, God sees us as spiritually dead. We were born spiritually dead because the parents who begat us physically were themselves spiritually dead and could pass to us only that which they had. The Apostle Paul emphasizes, then, that death entered the world because sin had entered the world, and that men die because Adam's sin is set down to each man's account on the debit side of the ledger. In order to make this very clear, the Apostle shows us that men do not die because they are sinners, but, rather, they sin because they are sinners. He shows us in verse 13, 'for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. [v. 14] Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the One to come. [Christ]' Then, in the following verses, the Apostle shows that it was not the law that made men sinners; it was not breaking a law that made men sinners, because men were sinners, and men died before the law was ever given. Both physical death and personal sins had their root and origin in the sin of Adam. Because we were in Adam when Adam sinned......"

Just as Levi paid tithes to Melchizedek through Abraham generations before Levi was even born so all of humanity is responsible for the transgression of Adam before birth. For just as Levi was in the body of his ancestor Abraham before Levi was born, so humanity was in the body of Adam before the birth of one single baby"

1) [Compare Heb 7:9-10 amplified]:

(v. 9) "A person might even say that through Abraham, Levi himself, who received tithes, [who was not even born yet] paid tithes through Abraham.

(v. 10) For he was still in the loins of his forefather [Abraham] when Melchizedek met him [Abraham]."

So as Levi was in the loins of Abraham when Abraham met the High Priest Melchizedek and paid tithes to Him, so all of humanity was in the loins of Adam when he walked in the garden and when he ate of the forbidden fruit and thereby Adam and all of humanity received the altered and horrible condition of a sin nature and death and condemnation from God. The genetic structure of humanity which was contained in the loins of Adam was horribly altered at the moment that Adam sinned so that all of humanity that is born of a human father receives a sin nature and is born spiritually dead - completely separated from God. All of humanity is also hopelessly lost and under the insurmountable guilt of what it did in the garden while in the loins of Adam.

[J. Dwight Pentecost, cont.]

"...Adam's sin was set down to our account and we stand as guilty before God as though it had been our hand instead of Adam's that reached out to pluck the forbidden fruit from the forbidden tree in response to the enticements of Satan. We stand, therefore, before God, charged with Adam's sin. This is the act of imputation in which God sets down on the debit side of the ledger our indebtedness."

II) IN ADAM ALL DIE BUT BY FAITH IN CHRISTAN INDIVIDUAL IS PLACED INTO CHRIST AND WILL BE MADE ALIVE

A) [1 Cor 15:22]:

"For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive."

So until one trusts alone in Christ alone, one is in Adam and under God's condemnation. Then upon trusting alone in Christ alone one becomes in Christ and saved and sealed unto the day of one's redemption:

B) [Eph 1:13-14]:

(v. 13) "And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,

(v. 14) Who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession - to the praise of His glory."

C) [Compare Ro 5:17-19]:

(v. 17) "For if, by the trespass of the one man, [Adam], death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

(v. 18) Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.

(v. 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 all be made righteous."