Federal Headship and Imputation of Sin
RO54-02

The Integrity of God

If you getting tired of hearing that, you're not nearly as tired as you will be, because we're going to hammer that home until even Christians begin to catch onto the fact that nobody kids God. And you and I aren't kidding God. And He is dealing with us on the basis of His integrity. And when we do not function on the basis of His plan, and the Word of God, and the doctrines of the Word of God, then we are out of compatibility with Him, and there is no possibility for prosperity or for blessing.

Absolute Righteousness

However, failure to recognize this principle of blessing and prosperity on the basis of divine integrity has eternal consequences. If you don't understand that, you have eternal consequences to pay. Many go to the lake of fire for all eternity because they're trying to earn salvation with the evil of their human good. They do not understand that God, in His integrity, cannot accept the evil of their human good. Human good is an evil thing. It comes from the old sin nature. Many trust in religious rituals, which can only portray a spiritual fact but cannot convey one. Many trust in their baptism; their church membership; their accepting of the Lord's Supper; their absolution from their priests; or, their commendation from their church – that they have salvation dispensed to them by a church authority. All of that is going to cause them to miss the real thing, and to spend eternity in the lake of fire, because none of that will meet the integrity of God.

Divine justice has been fully satisfied by God Himself through Jesus Christ on the cross. So, the integrity of God is secure. He has preserved it. But there is no other way upon which He can act now, and continue to preserve that integrity, except by a grace gift of salvation on the basis of the provision of Christ on the cross.

Bible Doctrine

I really have to laugh at these people who constantly are absenting themselves from church services. They are in there, and they're out; and, they're in, and their out. Once in a while they come and they get a big inspiration, or they have some troubles, and they show up for church. They're going exactly no place. Now, you're just as smart as I am – well, just about. Therefore, you can look around you. You can see these people who are spasmodic in church attendance. Well, you know something about them. You can just know for sure that they are about going no place in their spiritual lives. And you can just about be sure that they're the poor folk – the really poor folk of heaven. There's going to be nothing for them, practically, in the way of divine rewards at the Judgment Seat of Christ, because they can't even get started to get themselves compatible with the integrity of God such that they could function on divine good production. I'll guarantee you that if you do not know the Word of God, and if it is not pouring into your mentality on a day-by-day basis in one way or another, and certainly on a weekly gathering-of-the-saints basis, you cannot begin to adjust your life to God's integrity. You cannot begin to do it.

You forget this business of buying yourselves a bunch of nice religious books that can teach you about the Bible. You're going to be practically nowhere doing that. The only order that God has is for the teaching authority of a pastor-teacher who understands his job of exegesis, and explains the Word of God to the people of God. And under that condition, you will prosper and go forward, because only that condition enables you to be compatible with the integrity of God.

So, you just go ahead with all your cute little problems that you have in life, and all the difficulties why you can't be here, and why you're always out of pocket on Sunday mornings and Sunday nights so that you can't make it. Just plan someday to pay the fiddler for all of your dancing, because eventually you will pay. It has eternal consequences to unbelievers and to believers alike.

However, it has, unfortunately, temporal consequences as well when we are not compatible with the integrity of God. A nation will prosper and survive as per its compatibility with divine integrity. Nations rejecting God's authority and revelation are destined to violate divine integrity, and thus they are nations which are destined to suffer. Americans today are observing a national pathological compulsion to come into conflict with divine integrity.

We indeed live in a post-Christian era in this country. But I mean we have now come to where we are way post-Christian era. Now even people who are only so-so Christians are becoming appalled and startled at the absolute pathological determination of this nation and its leadership to violate the integrity of God, and to bring this nation where God must bear wrath upon it. I could spend the rest of this message and the day quoting and quoting and quoting what is going on in this nation that all adds up to one thing – destroying the basis of integrity, so that there is no possibility that the direction of this nation can be anything but to destruction.

However, during the last election, I had the feeling that someplace along the line, an administration has to come to Washington which will be so absolutely controlled by human viewpoint that everything it will do will rapidly serve to the destruction of the United States, so that it is off the scene of human history in preparation for the tribulation period when the center of power shifts to Western Europe. And perhaps it is happening before our very eyes.

In the passage that we have begun, Romans 5:12 through the end of the chapter, the apostle Paul is trying to explain how the lack of the kind of integrity that we see nationally and that we see in individuals among us is the kind that God cannot tolerate. God has to deal with sin on the basis that preserves His integrity while saving the sinner. This passage of Scripture, therefore, Romans 5:12-21, is probably the high point of the book of Romans, and perhaps the most strategic portion of the Word of God anywhere. It is this passage of Scripture that explains the whole problem of human sin, and how God can only act with integrity. And apart from His acting, there is no hope for any of us. Paul is giving the divine viewpoint explanation as to why all of mankind is under the terrible wrath of God.

One of the things he's made clear is that, for God to solve the problem, he had the bypass man in the matter of securing salvation. So, we found that there are two representative men in all of God's dealing. On the one side, God began with Adam. On the other side, we have Jesus Christ. Adam took an action, and from that action streamed a series of events which has affected all of us. What Adam did, he did in our behalf. Jesus Christ took a series of actions, and has created a stream of consequences which have affected all of us, again, who have believed. Therefore, God's viewpoint deals with the question of whether one is in Adam or whether one is in Christ. You are all born in Adam, and therefore you have certain consequences because of what Adam did in the Garden of Eden. If you are a believer and you are in Christ, you had these consequences reversed, and a whole new series of situations is set up.

This is an absolutely basic concept. If you don't understand that, you will not understand much of Scripture anywhere. Paul is giving the divine explanation of why all of mankind is under the wrath of God, because all of mankind is in Adam, and in Adam, he bears the consequences of his sin, and bears the results of an evil nature. All are born in Adam, and so are lost. Some are born again in Jesus Christ, and so are saved. Human merit and effort are therefore excluded from the provision for salvation, and divine integrity is provided. The point is that anybody who is in the position here of "in Adam" can do nothing to be saved. You must be in Christ to be saved, but there is no way that you can go from "in Adam" to "in Christ" on your own. It has to be an act of God Himself, and that's what Paul is explaining to us here. As all became morally guilty by the sin of Adam, so believers become absolute righteousness by the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ. The certainty of our salvation depends ultimately upon our being "in Christ."

That's what Paul is trying to emphasize again. When he strips us down to two men, remember that this comes through. I hope you haven't missed this. Since it's only two men that are at issue here, the rest of us are out of the picture. We're out of it. That's what Paul is trying to get across: what you do; what you think; what you say; etc. – that has nothing to do with your being saved. Only one thing has to do with your being saved: accepting the justification provided by Jesus Christ in His payment for your sins upon the cross. That's what makes the difference.

So, once that has been done (all by God), it's a sure thing. It's salvation in perpetuity. You can never lose it. And that's what Paul is striving to show here. Because none of us are involved in our salvation, once we receive it, there's nothing we can do to lose it. We didn't do anything to provide it, and we can do nothing to destroy it.

So, Paul introduces the comparison between Adam and Christ because it is very hard for human reason to believe the principle of imputation. We're going to get into this doctrine a little more because that's at the heart of this passage – the imputation of the absolute righteousness of Jesus Christ to the believing sinner. That is so hard to believe. Everything within you rises up and says, "No, it can't be that God just credits to my account." And that's what imputation means. Who's going to the bank and crediting money to your account? If somebody said, "Well, don't worry, you're a little short this week. Somebody will come and credit what you need to your account." Look at you. People are smiling at me all over the place. Who is going to do that for you? Nobody.

The same thing comes in here in spiritual things. It's so hard to believe that God would come and credit us with absolute righteousness without our having paid him for; without our having earned it; and, without our having deserved it.

So, Paul says, "I have to make this clear to you because that's the case." So, he shakes it all down: Adam; and, Jesus Christ. We're going to talk about only two men. He calls one "the first Adam;" and, the other one "the last Adam." And don't call him the second Adam, because the second suggestion there might be a third and a fourth. It's just the first Adam and the last Adam. There are no more. It is very important that the Bible says, "the last Adam." The certainty of salvation is ensured by the fact that there is the last Adam. There is no more after Him.

The history of the human race, consequently, is a total disaster because of our relationship to Adam and the imputation of his sin to us all. On the one hand, we had all of Adam's guilt imputed to us. On the other hand, we have all of Christ's righteousness imputed to us. Each is credited to our account, and that's the problem that we face. The whole future history of the human race is tied up to humanity's relationship to Jesus Christ, and to the power of Bible doctrine.

Why is it that such things are taking place in our country as were reflected in an article this morning? Why is it that men in positions of decision-making and of authority in our government are the kind that we have just read about? It's because men are operating in Adam? It is because this is the only kind of people they can be. And until men who are in Christ, and who are also versed in doctrine, are in positions of authority, you will never change it. The whole future history of the human race is tied to humanity's relationship to Jesus Christ, and the power of Bible doctrine.

Well, I'm here to tell you that people are not going to get elected to public office who are steeped in divine viewpoint, and who know how to function at governmental levels on divine viewpoint. They are not going to get elected to public office. Therefore, the future is going to get worse and worse and worse. Every effort will be a fouled-up attempt to straighten out with human viewpoint what could easily be resolved in divine viewpoint. And I mean everything.

I have to laugh at this, talk about a huge energy crisis that we can't solve, and that we can't come up with any solutions for. The only reason we can't come up with a solution for it is because the old Adam nature is operating on human viewpoint principles instead of saying, "What does the Word of God say as to the role of government (in the divine institution of government)? Let's let the government do that." And the result would be that this energy crisis would be solved very, very quickly and efficiently. That's what's going to happen in the millennium... Every problem in the millennium is going to be so easily solved because anybody who doesn't operate on divine viewpoint principles is going to be called in. He's going to be ruled with a rod of iron, and it's going to be a fantastic world functioning on divine principles. It could happen today. We just can't get divine viewpoint oriented people in office.

One reason you don't get divine viewpoint oriented people in office is because, basically, divine viewpoint people don't want to run for office. The people who would make your best political leaders are the people who don't want to be political leaders. The people who don't want to be political leaders, but who have divine viewpoint orientation – those are the people that you can trust. Those are the people that would function. But the person who's making a career – he's calculating; and, he's analyzing. He's the one you cannot trust. The whole future history of humanity is tied to humanity's relationship to Jesus Christ. Since humanity is not functioning in Christ, the future is bleak. The relationship of mankind to Adam is the picture of its relationship to Jesus Christ. As one time we were related to Adam, so now we are related to Christ. And the two are put one against another.

Well, we found that physical and spiritual death in the human race is the product of sin. Since sin is universal through Adam, so is death universal. God has exercised the demands of divine justice against the sins of the world. So, death will be forever removed in time. Christ has removed that problem. We read, therefore, in verse 12, "Wherefore, as by one man (the man Adam) sin entered into the world (not into the universe – it was already there through Satan, but into the human stream), and death (spiritual and physical) as the result of sin. So, death passed through (permeated) all humanity, for all have sinned."

We stopped and looked and said, "What does 'all have sinned' mean?" How can it be said that because Adam sinned, all have sinned? Well, we said that it does not mean that simply that we sin just like Adam sinned, and so we die. That's true. We do have personal sins, but that's not why we die. It isn't that we have a sin nature. That's not enough. It is true that we have a sin nature, but that's not the reason entirely that we die. And we have seen that saying that it actually suggests that we actually sinned with Adam is not precisely the case. We weren't actually there to sin. We are bearing the consequences of someone else who sinned as our representative. To that extent it is true that we sinned with him. But even that's not enough.

Federal Headship

Sin

Now all are guilty in God's eyes, therefore, because of what Adam did. And the only way we could have sinned in Adam is by imputation; that is, that God credits to us what Adam did because he represented us. The Bible says that: "In Adam, all died." This cannot mean that we actually personally died because that was not the case. It means that Adam incurred the sentence of death for him, and he incurred the sentence of death for us. In Adam, we all died. That meant that he brought upon us the sentence of death, so that when we were born, our destiny was death.

This is the same as: "That in Christ, we believers died; we believers were buried; and, we believers have risen again." The Bible says, co-death, co-burial, and co-resurrection. We share that with Christ? How? Because we are in Christ. Did we actually die? No. Were we buried? No, we weren't there. But to our account was credited what Jesus Christ did, because he was acting as our representative. He was our federal head. When we believe Him, we reject Adam as our federal head, and we trust in Christ – we accept Him as our representative. Consequently, Christ acts for us as our representative.

The Bible uses this word for sin ("hamartano") to mean that one is regarded and treated as a sinner on account of another's act. We have this in Genesis 44:32 in the Greek version of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, and in 1 Kings 1:21. We won't bother to look those up right now, but we do have this word "sin" being used in terms of the fact that one is regarded as being treated as a sinner on account of what someone else actually did.

So, we did not all actually and literally die in Christ, nor did we so sin actually in Adam. But the death of Christ was legally and effectively ours, just like the sin of Adam was legally and effectively ours. So, Paul's meaning in verse 12 is clarified a little later on by verses 18-19, which complete the comparison. We pointed out that there is a set of parenthesis here that follows after verse 12, but verses 18-19 complete what he says in verse 12, and thus clarify exactly what he means: "Therefore, as by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men (the condemnation), even so, by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification. For as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous."

Imputation

One example of this idea of imputation from Scripture that I think will perhaps pin it down for us is in book of Philemon, where the apostle Paul is writing to Philemon, sending back the slave Onesimus whom he has met. Onesimus has now become a Christian, and Paul, in Philemon 17-18, says, "If you count me therefore a partner, receive him (this returned slave, Onesimus) as myself. And if he has wronged you, or owes you anything, put that on my own account. I Paul have written it with my own hand. I will repay it."

So, here's a biblical example of this idea of crediting someone else's account so that another is responsible for what is credited to that account. On the one hand, we had Adam's guilt credited to our account because he acted for us. On the other hand, we have the blessings of eternal life and rewards in heaven credited to our account because Jesus Christ acted in our behalf. That's the idea of federal headship.

The Garden of Eden is True

Genesis 3

There you have a clear indication of where the Mormon concept of deified humanity comes from. Every Mormon looks to the point where he becomes a god. Is it any wonder that a few years ago, back in the 1960s (1965 or so), there were a million or a million-and-a-half Mormons, and now there are over four million. That's heady stuff to be told that someday you'll become a god. And the woman believed it.

"And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took it the fruit thereof and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sowed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons.

"And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

"And the Lord God called unto Adam and said, 'Where are you?' And he said, 'I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself.' He said, 'Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree whereof I commanded you that you should not eat?' And the man said, 'The woman who you gave to be with me – she gave me of the tree and I did eat.'

"And the Lord God said unto the woman, 'What is this that you have done?' And the woman said, 'The serpent beguiled me and I did eat.' And the Lord God said unto the serpent, 'Because you have done this, you are cursed above all cattle and above every beast of the field. Upon your belly you shall go, and thus you shall eat all the days of your life. And I'll put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed, and He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel." This is the promise of the Savior Jesus Christ.

"Unto the woman, he said, 'I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception. In sorrow you shall bring forth children, and your desire shall be to your husband. (Close your ears, feminists.) "And he shall rule over you.

"And unto Adam, He said, 'Because you have hearkened unto the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you saying, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground for your sake. In sorrow, you shall eat of it all the days of your life." Why this terrible consequence? "Because you listened to your wife, Adam:

"'Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to you, and you shall eat the herb of the field, and by the sweat of your faced you shall eat bread till you return unto the ground, for out of it you were taken: for you are dust, and unto dust to dust you shall return.'"

Sin

What is Sin?

What does the World Say Sin is?

What does the Bible Say Sin is?

The full analysis of what took place in Adam, and why we have all these consequences in Adam, and why there is no escape from this, and the responsibility upon mankind to come into conformity with the integrity of God, we will conclude today by turning to 1 Timothy 2, please. In 1 Timothy 2:9-15, the apostle Paul is again going to refer to this problem of being in Adam, and why it is such a terrible position to be in, and why the consequences are so great.

I should preface this by telling you that this is one of the Bible passages which President Carter, on one occasion, assured the feminist movement that he did not agree on the expressions of the apostle Paul. He said, "I do not agree with some of the things the apostle Paul has taught about women," and this is one of the passages he was referring to. So, I want to assure you that if you don't like it, ladies, well the president doesn't either. Don't feel ill at ease about it. I mean what does the apostle Paul know? He's just listening to the Holy Spirit.

1 Timothy 2:9: "In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel with godly fear and sobriety – not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly array." Here's the description of a godly woman. This is the normal condition before Paul refers to the abnormal woman in Eden. This is feminine beauty, and he's not belittling it. Don't make that mistake. He's commending it. He's not suggesting that women should not adorn themselves; that they should not braid their hair; that they should not make their hair look nice; or, that they should not wear jewelry, any more than he's suggesting that they shouldn't wear clothes. He's just saying that this, however, will not make you beautiful. If a woman has an ugly soul controlled by human viewpoint, it will produce a shallow, jaded look, no matter how she adorns herself externally. All you have to do is look at the women who are satiated with human viewpoint, and no matter how sophisticated they may seek to make themselves appear, they come through with just one signal: shallow and jaded, and they're not kidding anybody.

Paul is saying that women should dress with taste and with self-respect, not playing the fool to some unknown fashion designer. They should have a sense of modesty, so as not to act shamefully. It is amazing how women who have good judgment and everything else will make fools of themselves by subjecting themselves to some unknown fashion designer. At least, if their husbands designed their clothes, they might say, "Well, I have to wear this stuff." But here's some effeminate kook someplace across the ocean that's designing clothes that says that you have as little as possible on so that you can show how immodest you are. And all the women say, "Oh, that's wonderful. That's what I'll wear then." And they don't even have the brains to say, "Who's this guy? I don't even know who this guy is who designed these clothes, such that I should subject myself to that immodesty."

Godly fear originally made Eve a beautiful woman. Sobriety here means sound judgment. Sobriety (sound judgment) comes to the woman who's willing to be told. It comes from the application of Bible doctrine principles. The control of the emotions is what retains a woman's sense of self-respect; her sense of shame; and, her submission to authority.

Verse 10: "But which become women professing godliness with good works." This is the contrast to verse 9: "Don't try to be a beauty by external means. Be a beauty by internal means." That's the only way you can be a beautiful woman. Divine good works from a Holy Spirit-filled soul is the key to feminine beauty, because that kind of a woman is compatible with the integrity of God. She's positive to the Bible doctrine principles of womanhood.

The Subjection of Women

Paul is trying to show us how we progressed to the problem we have today, and it started right up here with a woman who said, "I don't like this. I don't like this arrangement." Eve switched from interrogatory sentences to declarative sentences. Adam perhaps should have caught that. He should have caught the fact that this gal was no longer asking questions. She was making statements. And she was often making statements without really having too much information. That's a clue to today's woman. If you hear a woman that's always making declarative statements, you'd better be suspicious of her. Mental reservations toward the husband's authority will lead the woman to take over on her own. Eve came to the point where she had reservations about Adam's authority, and reservations about Adam's judgment, so she took over. The rejection of subjection by a woman leads her to think that she's being denied justice. And that is, of course, the feminist movement: "We're being denied justice." That's their theme. Why are they saying that? Because they have rejected the principle of subjection.

Now, love will not restrain a woman who lacks positive addition to subjection. You can take many, many books that will list for you, in order, the steps to a happy marriage. I saw an article in one of these women's magazines recently that said, "Ten steps to a happy marriage." Guess what they left out? The one step that really makes a happy marriage: subjection, or submission. There was not a whisper of it. Right away, as I ran down the list, I said, "This guy is shot-through with human viewpoint, and it's not worth the paper it's printed on. Christian education people are wonderful about this usually. They list these things: "This will give you a happy marriage." But if they had submission and subjection, they wouldn't have needed the other ten. They would have fallen in place. That's what they don't understand. And human viewpoint tries to patch up everything else, instead of saying, "OK, God, how did you set this up?"

The woman who lacks subjection is going to proclaim confidently that she's not loved, because love is not going to affect her. The woman lacking subjection to the man always comes under the authority of Satan too. Don't forget that. When she will not be subject to her man, she will be subject to Satan.

Verse 12: "But I do not permit a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence." This means no women preachers in the local church. The pastor-teacher is an authority because he is the teacher. Eve usurped authority in Eden because she taught Adam. The result is known to the whole world. Exercising authority over men will ruin a woman. She is unable to be in subjection, so she is unable to be feminine, and she has no charm. Whenever she has authority over men, that destroys a woman. So, any time you meet a woman who's a head of a nation, you know that she has been destroyed as a woman. You know that she has no femininity. You know that she has no relationship to the integrity of God.

The word "in silence" here means silence in the soul as well as in the mouth – not having the mouth silent, but with a mind full of mental reservations toward your husband and his decisions.

The reaction, I think, is interesting. Periodically, I'm called upon to perform wedding ceremonies. And usually what I try to do is spell out, in about seven points on each side (to the man, and to the woman) the core features which God lays upon each. And I've found that it's good to read the Scripture. So, I always do. And I come to this one about a woman being in subjection, and a woman being silent, and I read the Scripture. Every time that I have a wedding, somebody comes up and says, "That lady sitting next to me said, 'Oh boy, I don't agree with that guy – not at all." And there's grousing. The fact is that I've started to enjoy weddings a lot more because I always wait, because every time (I haven't missed one yet), somebody comes up and gives me the report.

A lady wrote me this after a wedding I just performed this week. It says, "While some heard your part in the wedding and were disagreeing, those who know God's principle, were silently saying "Amen." And a couple of gals came up and mentioned something to me. And they try to be cute, you know, like they really aren't mad about it. But I know how mad they are about it. I just smile in my dumb, stupid way, and say, "Well, that's why I like to read the Scripture, because I don't want people blaming me. I don't agree with that either. But I didn't write the book. I just have to read it. And I'm on your side." And I just leave it there. I mean, Carter can do it, so why can't I do it? I mean, this is so ludicrous. But I tell you, every time I know somebody is going to come up and make a crack to me about reading these Scriptures, and about the role of the wife. One should at least have the good taste not to mention it at a wedding.

Well, a non-submissive woman is always over her head in life, and she pays dearly for it, both now and in eternity.

Well, let's tie it up with verse 13: "And Adam was first formed, then Eve. Here's the reason for the authority of the man over the woman. Eve was made from Adam. A child does not have authority over the parent he comes from. The parent has authority of the child he has produced. All human relationships to man are in order of leadership. Obviously Adam was formed first. Therefore, he's the senior member.

"And Adam was not deceived, but the woman, being deceived, was in the transgression." Adam sinned deliberately. This explains the failure of our representative – not Eve. Eve was not in the failure. Adam was in the failure. Eve was flattered. She believed that she could become God. She caught that Mormon gobbledygook stuff, and she didn't find herself fulfilled, she thought, in her role of subjection, but she would if she were a god. Eve was the first one who proposed the basic philosophy of the feminist movement as it exists today – equality, which means lowering yourself to the standard of men.

Well, the woman who is negative to the subjection to her husband is impressed with the views of others, and is willing to reject what her husband says. And that's what Eve did. She was negative. She was not a subjective woman. That shows that she was more impressed with what some kook was writing. She was getting these magazines in the Garden of Eden. They were publishing all this: "How to have a happy marriage." She was always interested in what somebody else had to say, besides what her husband had to say, because he was not completely subject to him.

Adam was positive to God's arrangement of authority and Ruth, but he chose to follow Eve's leadership. He permitted Eve to become a woman preacher. Instead of telling her to get down off her soapbox right away, he listened to her, and he said, "Teach me. Tell me. Oh, I see. That's it." And he took her instruction and acted on it. So, Eve swayed at Adam to sin. And that's Paul's point here. The consequences to the race are evident.

These are the same things that he's talking about in Romans 5. Here he's spelling it out in a little more historical detail. Verse 15 says, "Notwithstanding, she shall be saved in child-bearing if they continue in faith and love and holiness with sobriety." The woman in time was to bear the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and thus provide the means of salvation for all. The virgin birth prevented the original sin and the sin nature from being transferred to Jesus Christ. Adam, as the male, was responsible for bringing sin into the human race, and the consequences. Therefore, this sin nature is transferred through the male in sexual relations, and therefore, the child, born without a human father in the case of the Lord Jesus Christ, was free of the old sin nature.

This verse says that persisting in Bible doctrine and the filling of the Holy Spirit (which is what is meant by "love") will straighten out the sin problem. It is the opposite of needling your husband with human viewpoint values and actions.

Well, that's how it all happened. This whole passage in 1 Timothy is trying to give another perspective of how this problem of our being "in Adam" came about with all the disastrous consequences. It all happened because people, to begin with, decided that God didn't know what He was talking about, and didn't like God's arrangement.

The same things apply to women today, and the same things apply to men today as far as their areas of responsibility. And if you don't like that arrangement today, you will suffer the same kind of consequences in your life that Adam and Eve did in theirs. Until you straighten it out, and thus come into conformity with the integrity of God, there can never be blessing or prosperity in your life. And don't blame somebody else for your negative attitude.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1977

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