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~eWATCHTOWER

was to the condemnation of how many! The authoritative answer from his Word is: "Therefore,
indeed, as through one offence, sentence came on all
men to condemnation; so also, through one righteous
act [by Jesus], sentence came on all men to justification of life." (Rom. 5: 16-18, The Emphatic Diaglott) There we have the inspired comment on the
judgment that was rendered in Eden against the
sinner Adam: the effect of it was to bring condemnation npon "all men" descended from Adam, no
matter which of the branches and families of the
human race they are of, Japhetic, Hamitic, Semitic,
Jew or Gentile.
10 If Adam had stayed obedient and faithful to
God as universal Sovereign, the divine judgment
would have been one justifying him to eternal life
on earth, and he would have started off his family
in the way of life and without any inherited condemnation. It is worth noticing here that judgment
does not necessarily mean condemnation. In Adam's
case the judgment might have been to his eternal
justification for obedience, but actually the judgment that God rendered was to condemnation for his
false step of disobedience. So all his offspring were
children of a condemned sinner and were born
sinners and under condemnation. Judgment day in
Eden followed quickly upon Adam and Eve's sinning
against the one great Lawgiver and Judge, who is
able to save and to destroy. It came right after they
had sinned and in the "cool of the day", which was
doubtless in the fresher eventide. It was therefore
at the beginning of a new day, because back there
the 24-hour day began at even; as it is written: "And
the evening and the morning were the first day," and
so, too, with the other days of creation. At that
"cool of the day" or at the evening that opened up
the new day the great Judge Jehovah came and thus
the judgment day in Eden came. Sentence was pronounced at that time, but the full execution of the
sentence upon Adam did not come until nearly a
thousand years later, when Adam was 930 years old.
He died then and returned to the ground from which
he had been taken when created.-Gen. 3: S; 1: 5;
5: 5.
11 All men descending from the sinners in Eden
were caught in the condemnation that God there
expressed as Judge. For Adam's offspring it could
have tu"rned out to be an unchangeable sentence to
destruction, had it not been for Jehovah's covenant
in Eden regarding the Seed of his "woman". That is
to say, in the light of what we now know, the condemnation upon all of Adam's descendants would
have been to our everlasting destruction had it not
been for Christ Jesus' sacrificial death as a man and
10. When was judgment pronounced and tully executed upon Adam?
11. Why did condemnation not turn out to be eternal destruction?

BROOKLYN,

N. Y.

his presenting the value of his perfect sacrifice to
God in heaven in order to ransom all those who
believe in him and obey him. Concerning the Seed of
God's woman the Scripture says: "Though he were
a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which
he suffered [as a result of the Serpent] ; and being
made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; called of God an
high priest after the order of Melchisedec."-Heb.
5: 8-10.
U Our only escape from
the condemnation or
adverse jndgment is by getting in union with Christ
Jesus, the Seed who suffered the heel wound. Such
union is gained by believing in him as the promised
Seed and by accepting his perfect sacrifice and
devoting ourselves completely to Jehovah God in
full consecration. The Bible expresses it just that
way, saying: "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus; for the
spirit's law-life in Christ Jesus-has set me free
from the law of sin and death. For what was impossible to the Law-thwarted as it was by human
frailty-God effected. Sending his own Son in the
form of sinful humanity to deal with sin, God pronounced sentence upon sin in human nature; in
order that in our case the requirements of the Law
might be fully met." (Rom. 8: 1-4, Weymouth) The
law that the Scripture here speaks of is the law that
Jehovah God gave to the nation of Israel through
the prophet Moses. The fundamentals of this law
were summed up in the Ten Commandments.
13 God's law was given through Moses at Mount
Sinai in Arabia in 1513 B.C., but it did not remedy
matters for any of the human race. That is, it did not
lift the nation of Israel out from under the condemnation inherited from Adam, because, if it had
done so, it would not have been needful for the
Israelites to have even Moses' brother Aaron and
his sons serve as a priesthood for the nation. The
law, being from God, was all right, perfect in itself,
righteous, holy. But the human flesh upon which the
law was made binding was what caused the difficulty.
The flesh prevent~d the Israelites from measuring
up to the standard of human perfection and so proving worthy of the right to life, free from condemnation. (Rom. 7: 15) Even after they were given the
law, the sin and imperfection and adverse judgment
of God remained upon the Israelites the same as
upon the rest of mankind, except that nov, being
favored with such a set of God-given laws, the Israelites came under a special accountability to the great
Lawgiver and Judge, Jehovah. By being breakers of
this law of their national covenant with God the
Israelites came under the divine curse. Jesus
Christ's death on the tree alone could rescue them
12. How Is escape trom this condemnation gained by U3?
13. Why did the Mosaic law not remedy matters for tbe Israelites?

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