6: Adam and Jesus – Discussion Starters

  1. Adam’s failure. Do you accept the fact that Adam sinned, and that his fall from grace led to the horrific state of the sinful world we live in today? In what way was Adam’s sin even more awful than Eve’s? Or was it? With such an accumulation of horrible, destructive sin laid on him, what should our attitude towards Adam be? Why? What is Christ’s role in relation to Adam? 
  2. Justified by faith. From your study of the first five verses of Romans 5, what do you think Paul’s primary message is to Christian believers? What are the steps Paul outlines from glory in tribulation to love poured out from God? (Romans 5:3-5.) Does patience come to the Christian without any trials? What about experience? What is the final, fulfilling reward the Christian obtains from trusting fully in Christ?
  3. While yet sinners. Is it difficult to believe that God loves sinners? How can that be? What was the first thing God did to repair the woeful gap between Adam and Eve’s sin and God’s perfection? How do we justify a loving God to be full of wrath toward sin? Even in a sinful world, what does God offer to us in the place of what we richly deserve? How does the perfect life of Jesus offer us salvation?
  4. Death through sin.  Was death part of God’s plan for His created works? Why do you think Romans 5:12 is so hard for students of the Bible to understand? Are we guilty before God because of our sins or is it Adam’s fault? Why does Paul say we need to believe that, yes, we are sinners and sin is nothing but bad? Are you comforted by the fact that Jesus holds the keys to death? How does the devil relate to this reality? How can we share with others our hope in eternal life by the grace of Jesus Christ?
  5. From Adam to Moses. What is Paul talking about when he states in Romans 5:13 that sin was in the world until the law, but that if there is no law there is no sin? What is his point? Were human beings free to sin at will before Sinai without the possibility of punishment? Why did God decide He needed to inscribe His law in stone and loudly proclaim its importance? Were the Israelites impacted by this proclamation of God’s law? How? Was this law, at least until the Israelites understood it better, legalistic? Explain your answer.
  6. Jesus the Second Adam.  Once you determine that Adam’s sin brought on the fall of man, how do you feel about Jesus being known as the “second Adam”? Do you think that Jesus, with His heavenly inheritance, had an easier assignment than Adam did to live a sin-free life? Why do you think that Paul insists on calling our salvation through justification a “gift”? Do you place a higher value on your salvation because it is offered as a gift than you would if you believed that salvation is a richly deserved payment for the work you do to earn it? 

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Source: Daily Sabbath School Lessons