The question unanswered by Adamic extinctionists is: Where are people if they are no longer in Adam?"

If they say everyone is now in Christ then they advocate universalism.
If they say there is some state out of Christ yet not in Adam, they have no scriptural support for some third state of man. They make everyone pre-Adam. They destroy the entire biblical concept of the fleshly being made spiritual. There would be no need for people to be "born again" or be made "spiritual" since in the Adamic extinction view no one is fleshly. They remove the lineage & somehow have the state of "human" distinct from being in Adam. They basically have offspring without a sire.

But now let's bring MORE scripture to this issue.

Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. -- Romans 5:14

Here we see "death reigning", not Adam -- but rather death reigned over Adam. Death was his master. And death reigned even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam. But let's expand the context of this verse:

Romans 5:12-14
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned-- for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.

Some people claim that, "see, sin is not imputed where there is no law" and they will continue, "since the Law has been done away with, sin is no longer imputed to men".

The problem comes in with the first word of verse 14 -- NEVERTHELESS -- meaning: evenso, and yet, still -- that is, just because people were not completely aware of how they sinned, therefore not imputed, nevertheless death reigned. Why? How can there be death if there is no sin? So, the point isn't that there WASN'T sin, it was just not fully recognized as such.

Enter - The Law...

Verse 14 continues, "...death reigned from Adam until Moses". Are we to conclude that death stopped reigning at Moses? Nay, but that sin actually became magnified under the Law, thus Law to man is considered a "curse" because it accused the Jews/Israelite like a giant mirror, reflecting back their (all humanity's) true nature.

Let us add this verse to make the point:

"for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no violation." -- Romans 4:15

From these kinds of verses, people conclude that the Law was bad, it was the Law that was the problem they think. Once the Law is removed everything would be peachy again. But what does the Bible say?

Romans 7:7-11
What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, "YOU SHALL NOT COVET." But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead. I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me."

Here we see Paul reasserting what was already said in Romans 5, that death reigns even apart from the Law, even while a person thinks they are without sin. But once the Law came, the sin became obvious & resulted in death, or rather knowing they were dead. So, the concept that there are neutral moral agents outside of Adam, is a wrong concept. And just in case someone still thinks The Law is the culprit, let us read verses 12-13:


So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.

Again, The Law was like a giant magnifier of the sin already within. The Law, the good, didn't become a cause of death, rather it was sin in order that it might be shown to be sin effecting death through that which is good.

Adam is dead, Christ is alive

The key to all this is Christ. Where being in Adam (with or without the Law) leads to death, being in Christ is life.

1 Cor 15:47-49
The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.

Are Christians still earthly? Are they still only of the first man? Do we now also bear the image of the heavenly?

Romans 8:9-10
However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.

The question remains to the Adamic extinctionists, how does the Spirit of God dwell in people? Does it dwell in everyone?

Indeed, for Christians, Adam is dead & Christ is alive, for we were born in Adam, fleshly, but have been reborn in Christ, heavenly!

Praise & glory to the Father!
Roderick

For more detailed discussion on this topic, read the article that started it:
Born in Adam, Reborn in Christ