"Therefore just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned." (Romans 5:12).
I've always taught that there is no "sin" gene in humanity that is somehow genetically passed down from one generation to another. The corruption of humanity and its result, death, came by another means, a legal one that God instituted. A real historical person, Adam, was the God created and appointed representative of the entire human race. That is what the scriptures clearly teach in Romans 5:12ff, I Corinthians 15:21ff, and the story of his fall into sin recorded in Genesis 3. When Adam sinned God imputed or credited that sin to the rest of us who biologically descended from him. Adam acted as a "public" person and not just as in individual. He acted for us. The result was dreadful. .
All of this is basic to the Christian worldview. God created all things and he alone set the rules for life. This is what evolutionary theory, whether secular or theistic, undermines. If one can get rid of a historic Adam and therefore his role as our representative, then we can get rid of sin and make death just a part of life. We are just individuals acting on our own... and dying on our own.
It is from this kind of individualistic thinking or, as Van Til would say autonomous thinking, that many modern notions spring. These notions have affected Christians who unwittingly adapt individualism to their theology. An example is the popular evangelistic question of, "Do you want to have a personal relationship with God?"
It is sometimes put this way, "
Having a personal relationship with God begins the moment we realize our
need for Him, admit we are sinners, and in faith receive Jesus Christ
as Savior. God, our heavenly Father, has always desired to be close to
us, to have a relationship with us." http://www.gotquestions.org/personal-relationship-with-God.html#ixzz2s0x91yOW
Romans 5:12ff and Genesis 3 teach us is that every human being has a personal relationship with God. The real question is, "What kind of a relationship? " You see, God created Adam and created a relationship with him and his wife, Eve. God had to define the terms of this relationship because well, God is God and he so much more vast in every way than his creatures. Think about it. God, in all his perfect and infinite glory, power, love, truth, and being wanted to establish a relationship with his creatures. Wow!
But you know how that story ended right? Adam and Eve bought into the lie that Satan, the deceiver, sold them and they decided to be like God themselves by defining for themselves right and wrong, good and evil. From that moment on the relationship between God and humanity was broken. Now I don't mean broken as in non-existent. I mean broken as no longer functioning as intended. Adam and humanity are now under the curse of God, liable to judgment and death. Where death is sin is. This relationship became a bad one. Its like when you have had a bad argument with your wife or your children. She is still your wife and they are still your children but the relationship is strained or bad. There are harsh words. There is judgment and anger.
The point of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that Jesus came to be the new or second Adam. Jesus came to be a better representative and to do all that God required. By faith in Jesus Christ our bad relationship with God is restored and made new. A closer, friendlier, and loving relationship with God is made in place of the broken, separated, and angry relationship with God that we are born with because of Adam's sin. The issue is do you want to keep the relationship with God that you have through Adam or, do you want a new and better relationship with God through Jesus Christ?
All of us are in a relationship with God. We cannot escape that fact. God made us. We are "in" Adam. He is our first representative. Is Jesus your second and better representative?
---See the Westminster Confession of Faith, chapters 6&7 for further reading.
