In The Day You Eat You Shall Die
In Genesis, the book of beginnings, we learn the story of Adam, who as God's high priest labored in the temple-garden of Eden. His role to "tend and keep" the garden referred to his work as priest. G.K. Beale, The Temple and the Church's Mission, A Biblical Theology of the Dwelling Place of God, p. 67. (Gen. 2:15) These terms focus not on "gardening" but on tending the law of God as priest.
Adam's role was to maintain God's law in the garden and also expand it through multiplying and keeping danger (sin) out as he walked with God. He was placed under the law of sin and death which said, "Of every tree in the garden, you may freely eat, but of the tree which is in the midst of the garden you shall not eat of it, for in the day you eat you shall die." (Gen. 2:16)
Adam disobeyed God after Eve, his wife, being deceived and tempted chose to follow in her footsteps. Adam was under no obligation to eat even though Eve had done so. He could have exercised his will, but did not. As Job, a man also tempted by his wife to "curse God and die", he had the same choice. Job said his wife spoke foolishly. Adam could have likewise made a similar decision.
Adam Died That Day
However, having disobeyed, he died that day. They learned from the tempter that their "eyes would be opened and they would be as God knowing good and evil." After eating, the Bible says, their eyes were opened. It did not take one thousand years for the eyes of Adam and Eve to open as a consequence of their sin. They opened the same day, which God had defined as an "evening and a morning". That it was evening is probable because God came to them in the "cool of the day" to bring them to judgment.
Since the two had their "eyes opened that day" they also died that day. But, how did they die? It was not a biological death. They died being separated from God through the entry into the world of what the Bible calls "the Sin" and "the Death".
Therefore, just as through one man "the sin" entered the world, and "the death" through the sin, and thus "the death" spread to all men, because all sinned...Nevertheless the death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him was [about] to come. (Rom. 5:12-14).
It should be noted that "the Sin" and "the Death" enter the world upon Adam's sin. They are not equivalent to Adam's sin but represent corporate sin and death. Adam's individual sin is the cause of its entry. "The sin" and "the death" reigns from Adam to Moses. In other words, it is the over-riding issue that prevents man from enjoying the fellowship of God.
Jesus Christ Delivers Man From The Sin and The Death
Jesus died to put away the sin and the death, (Heb. 9:26). He did not die to make it "impossible for man to sin". If that were his mission he has miserably failed us. Rather, he died to annul or render "the Sin and the Death" powerless so that man is able to live acceptably before God even though he fails to live above personal sin.
In Romans Paul writes, "Just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; Bless is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin." (Rom. 6:6-8)
Sin Is Not Imputed To Believers In Christ
The word impute is from an accounting term. God freely grants the riches of his forgiveness without charge. Through forgiveness it is a cancelled debt, not that it had never been there, but in spite of its being there. The Bible does not teach that believers do not sin. Rather it teaches that God does not reckon or count their sin against them as long as they walk in faithful obedience.
There is no one who can claim they live "above" sin, but all can who believe can claim the efficacy of the power and blood of Christ to strike the debt from the record. If God cancels your debt you owe none. That is the power of forgiveness in Christ.
The Law Strengthen Sin
The law of Moses entered that "the Sin" might abound, but where "the Sin" abounded, "the Grace" did much more abound. This had the effect of causing some Christians to believe they could continue in the sin and its strength (the law) that grace might abound even more. (Rom. 6:1)
Paul said, God forbid. Those who died to "the Sin" can no longer live in it.They died to "the Sin" being buried with Christ in baptism. (Rom. 6:2-4) When one rises as a new creation in Christ, the process of transforming into their new Christ-like nature begins. However, it is wrought with failure. That is why God's accounting program is in effect. He does not impute or reckon sin to those who have died with Christ.
Adamic Death Is Annulled
Therefore, the Sin and the Death which entered the world upon Adam's disobedience has been annulled through the death, resurrection and the coming (parousia) of Christ, Heb. 9:26-29; 2 Tim. 1:10; 1 Cor. 15:26, 54-57. Discover more about how God can bless your life to walk free of the burden of guilt, shame and sin through a relationship with his Son Jesus Christ.