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I. THE ORIGIN AND DIFFUSION OF SIN.

1. As to the origin of sin. "By one man sin entered into the world."(1) Sin is "the transgression of the law, and the one man by whom it entered into the world was Adam. He was created after the image of the Almighty, and placed in Eden, where we behold a test of obedience, "the tree of knowledge of good and evil," with regard to which, "the Lord God commanded the man, saying...thou shalt not eat of it." Here, then, was the law, showing the right of God to command, the obligation of man to obey, and the responsibility and the final account which man must render to the Almighty for his conduct. Satan, animated by malignant hatred to God and holiness, became the tempter, that he might introduce sin. Our first parents yielded, an event which changed the path of nature, and whose mighty consequences will be felt throughout eternity.

(2) The transgression of our first parents was of vast and heinous amount. There are some who have been inclined to treat it with levity, and have sometimes inquired, "What mighty offence could there be in the eating of an apple?" In answer, note the sins connected with this transgression. There was —

(a) Unbelief, because they denied the right to command and the penalty that existed.

(b) Ambition, because they aspired to be as gods, distinguishing between good and evil.

(c) Sensuality, because they wished to gratify mere animal appetite.

(d) Ingratitude, because they turned against that God who had spread around them every enjoyment.

2. As to its diffusion, "all have sinned."(1) As it is impossible that an evil tree should bring forth good fruit, so it was impossible, when the nature of our first parent had become corrupted, that one of his descendants could enter into the world except as being a partaker of corruption also. Each, then, enters the world possessing what we term original sin.

(2) This important doctrine is indicated in Genesis 5:3, where Adam is said to have begotten a son "in his own likeness, after his own image," apparently in contrast to the fact that he was formed "after the likeness of God." The same doctrine is affirmed in the inquiries of Job and Bildad, "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one." "How can he be clean that is born of a woman?" There is the confession of David, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity." There is the statement of Christ, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh." There is the asseveration of the apostle, "The old man is corrupt, according to the deceitful lusts."(3) Now, that original sin always produces actual transgression. Hence it is that the children of the first man exemplify in themselves unbelief, ambition, sensuality, and ingratitude. Whatever modification may have been formed by education, example, or interest, this one fact remains, that man everywhere is a sinner. The charges of Scripture are without exception or limit: "All flesh has corrupted his way upon the earth." "There is none that doeth good, no not one." "The heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil."

II. THE ORIGIN AND DIFFUSION OF DEATH.

1. The origin of death "by sin." Man was formed with a susceptibility of being affected by the prospect of reward, and by the fear of punishment. Obedience was connected with the one, and disobedience with the other; and thus the most powerful of motives was put in action to aspire to good, and to avoid evil. Now, death was a penalty presented as the result of transgression (Genesis 2:16, 17; Genesis 3:17, 19). "The wages of sin is death." Corporeal death was included, but much more, viz., spiritual and eternal death; i.e., the debasement of human nature consequent upon its alienation from God, the withdrawment of the Divine friendship, the terrors of the conscience at the prospect beyond the grave, the consummation of all this by the entrance of the soul into a state of retribution forever.

2. The diffusion of death. "Death passed upon all men." In Adam all die; all men are sinners, and therefore against all men the penalty is still standing.

(1) Corporeal death is a penalty which is exacted from all the sons and daughters of Adam.

(2) The ages at which the allotment is suffered vary. There is the child at the mother's breast, the youth in the springtide of gaiety and buoyant spirits, the man in the maturity of wisdom and of power, the aged bending under the decrepitude of years.

(3) The method in which the allotment is suffered varies. The convulsions of nature; war; famine; accident; disease, slow and sudden. And yet, amid the variety of modes, seasons, the path is the same. All these things are but so many avenues leading down to the one narrow house, which has been appointed for all living.

3. Spiritual death constitutes the state of every man by nature. Every man in consequence of that state of spiritual death, is also in peril of proceeding to receive the recompense of it in the agonies of death eternal.

III. THOSE REFLECTIONS BY WHICH OUR VIEWS OF THE COMBINED ORIGIN AND THE DIFFUSION OF SIN AND DEATH MAY BE DULY SANCTIFIED.

1. It becomes us to perceive and to lament over the exceeding sinfulness of sin.

2. We are called upon also to admire the riches of that Divine mercy which has provided a remedy against an evil which is so dreadful.

(J. Parsons.)

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KJV: Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

WEB: Therefore, as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin; and so death passed to all men, because all sinned.