(12) Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned – (17) For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. (18) Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. (19) For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.

The great letter to the Romans was written by the apostle Paul. In our verses today a comparison is stated that by the offense of one (Adam) all are condemned, so by the righteousness of another (Christ) the faithful are justified and given eternal life. Paul is talking not just physical death but spiritual death in alienation from God. We are not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners in our union with Adam who was the represented head of the human race and the proof that Adam’s sin affected all the human race is that death is universal. When Adam sinned all his descendants sinned. In like manner all of Christ’s descendants, born again spiritually through faith are identified with Him and counted righteous – not because of their own deeds but because of Christ’s deed.

Imputation is one of the great theological words that describes coming from another. In theological terms it means to make a real grant of righteousness to another on the grounds of the mediation of Jesus Christ. Another act of imputation is that of Adam’s sin to his posterity – to ALL of us. In Adam’s sin we stand under God’s condemnation BUT it is also the reason Christ Jesus came. Condemnation and death come by the first Adam – faith, righteousness, justification and life come by the last Adam, Christ Jesus. Evil existed before Adam sinned; the serpent was in the Garden with a sinful act and a sinful attitude. So Adam’s sin was not original but has to do with the origin of sin in the human race. The principle of collective judgment is found throughout the Bible.

We are condemned through no fault of our own but we are justified through Christ Jesus through NO merit of our own. We are saved by virtue of what Christ has done. What Adam has done affects our present lot but not our eternal lot. What Jesus Christ has done affects our eternal life. All who are in Adam are condemned. All who are in Christ are justified. The remedy for spiritual death is eternal life in Christ. The remedy for physical death is the resurrection of the body. There is no remedy for eternal death.

Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? (17) If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. (18) Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise (19) For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness”, (20) and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” (21) Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours:(22) whether Paul or Apollo’s, or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come – all are yours. (23) And you are Christs’s and Christ’s is God’s.

The first letter to the Corinthians was written by the apostle Paul. Our verses today concern the temple of God in the faithful where God and the Spirit of God dwell within us. Anything profane in the believer, every separate church and the church collectively is a direct offense to God. False doctrine is therefore sacrilege. The temple of God is Holy and cannot be violated with impunity. In this sense everything consecrated to God is Holy, especially any place or person in which He dwells.

Paul warns that no man deceive himself and mistakenly substitute the wisdom of God for the worthlessness of human wisdom. Human knowledge is inadequate to save man. To glory in any person or thing is to trust him/her – to regard ourselves as blessed because of our relationship to them. Ministers are mere servants, nothing in themselves – they are not the ground of the believer’s confidence, especially in Corinth with their cult of personalities. There they aligned themselves with charismatic men; of Apollos, of Paul, of Cephas. The ministry belongs to the church and is designed for it’s edification – the church does not being to the ministry. The church is subject to and belongs only to Christ.

These verses are a strong warning against taking the church lightly and destroying it with the world’s wisdom and division. Paul continues the subject of spiritual rather than natural wisdom – if his readers insist on taking a natural view of their teachers (worldly wisdom) to form cults of followers they limit God’s blessings in themselves. All things belong to the Christians because the Christian belongs to Christ and all things are His. In Him the faithful possess all things, BUT it is only in Him that we do. You are the temple of God. Take care that you are not in any way defiled. You are set apart because God dwells in you by His Spirit. No unclean place can be the home of God.

However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. (7) But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, (8) which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (9) But as it is written “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” (10) But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

The first letter to the Corinthians was written by the apostle Paul. In our verses today the apostle is talking about the wisdom of God as opposed to the wisdom of this world. Paul thought of worldly wisdom as ostentatious display and manipulation – loved by those who love pomp, power and prestige. The “wise men” of his day/our day don’t have an understanding of the great principles of the word of God – about the NEED for divine redemption. Corinthians were inclined to dismiss Paul’s preaching as elementary but Paul is assuring them there is a wisdom of God, which is not wisdom of this age – nor of rulers of this age who are coming to nothing.

Paul is referencing divine illumination as an act of unveiling. God alone can put faith into our hearts. It is not sufficient just to preach the word of God; we are absolutely dependent on the illumination of the Spirit. Paul did not teach philosophy which cannot save men; not that which man derives from his reason which is the wisdom of this world. He teaches redemption. Paul writes of the contrast of the wisdom of this world and the wisdom of God; the contrast is not between rudimentary and higher doctrines of the gospel. There was no distinction between doctrine but modes of teaching.

c.s.lewis wrote “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world………I must take care on the one hand never to despise or be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other hand never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage.”

And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. (2) For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. (3) I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. (4) And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, (5) that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

The first letter to the Corinthians was written by the apostle Paul. Paul had recently come to Corinth from Athens where he had preached an eloquent sermon on Mars Hill with meager results. He then went to preach in Corinth where he put aside everything that was merely human, in absolute dependence on the Spirit. He preached God’s purpose and preached Jesus Christ crucified – a personal saving Christ and the stumbling block for both the Jews and the Gentiles. The central fact of his teaching was uncompromising and the subject matter was the real form of his teaching. The truth of the gospel comes from the Spirit and power of God so there was no glory of a human teacher. Paul was simply a witness.

The truth of the gospel is undiscoverable by the wisdom of men; the revealer is the Holy Spirit because only He knows the secret purposes of God. Paul taught Jesus Christ crucified; not as a teacher of a perfect man which is philosophy but as the Christ dying for our sins. Paul did not use words of man’s wisdom to entice nor his skill in persuasion but taught in demonstration of the power of the Spirit. The success of the gospel does not depend on skills of the preacher – it is not reason or argument but God’s method. Philosophy cannot save men.

c.s.Lewis on faith: “The real thing is the gift of the Holy Spirit which can’t usually be – perhaps not ever – experienced as a sensation or emotion. The sensations are merely the response of your nervous system. Don’t depend on them. Otherwise when they go and you are once more emotionally flat (as you certainly will be quite soon), you might think the real thing had gone too. But it won’t. It will be there when you can’t feel it. May even be most operative when you can feel it least.”