FEB 21

Romans 5:12
Memorise Galatians 2:16
“…for by the works of the law shall no flesh be saved”

The first covenant that God made with man is the Covenant of Works. In simple terms, the Covenant of Works functions in this manner: man shall continue to live and be blessed provided he obeys the commandments God has given him. There was only one commandment given to Adam in Genesis 2:16-17 in which God forbade Adam to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Of course, we know that Adam failed to keep his end of the covenant and sinned by eating the forbidden fruit against God’s command. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was placed in the Garden of Eden for the purpose of testing Adam as the representative head of all of mankind. Thus this was the first covenant that God made with man, and the first test was one of obedience to God’s Word.

Tragically, Adam failed this test and sinned, and in so doing, he also plunged the entire human race into sin and caused God to curse the earth because of his sin. Note here that Adam was in a most blessed situation where he had everything he needed. He did not have to do anything to improve his situation and had no reason to eat the forbidden fruit, for there were so many other fruits in the garden that he could have eaten. However, he succumbed to the temptation of pride and vanity when Satan enticed him to doubt God’s Word in favour of becoming “like God”.

Dear Teen, it is easy to put the blame on Adam and hold him responsible for the sinful nature which we all inherited because of what he did. However, Adam was the representative of the entire human race. When he sinned, so did we in him (Romans 5:12).This is known as the Representative Principle. Furthermore, the Bible says that no one can make any excuses for his own sins (Romans 1:20). When we do wrong, we are culpable for the transgressions we commit. It is our weakness that caused us to give in to the temptation and break God’s law. Therefore, we all individually need to repent and believe in Jesus, our second Adam, in order to have our sins forgiven. Do not blame Adam when you sin!

Thought: We can condemn the Jews and Romans for crucifying Jesus, but we are just as guilty on account of our own sins.
Prayer: Thank You, Lord, for working all things out for our good. Even the death of our Saviour resulted in everlasting life for us sinners.