1 Corinthians 15:4-5
“So it is written, The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, then the spiritual.”
I heard a podcast this week where John Stonestreet, the president of the Colson Center, made the comparison of the first Adam to Jesus, the second, or last Adam. It was absolutely fascinating to me to hear the contrasts. So today, the day before Easter- Resurrection Sunday, I am going to take a break from 1 Timothy and expand on this topic. Some of these I got from the podcast, and some I got from The Christian Truth Center website and their page on the first Adam vs. the second Adam. I used some of their verses, but I looked many up on my own.
The first Adam was created of the earth while the second Adam (Jesus) came from heaven. “Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7). “The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven” (1 Corinthians 15:47).
There is so much symbolism in the Garden itself. The first Adam yielded to temptation in a garden. The Last Adam beat temptation in a garden. “The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it” (Genesis 3:6). “After leaving them, he went away again and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more. Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? See, the time is near. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners” (Matthew 26:44-45). The ground was to bring thorns and thistles for first Adam; see the thorns and thistles on the head of the second Adam (Jesus) on the cross. “It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field” (Genesis 3:18). “They twisted together a crown of thorns, put it on his head, and placed a staff in his right hand. And they knelt down before him and mocked him: ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’” (Matthew 27:29). The first Adam was to toil, sweat and eat from the ground for all his life; second Adam (Jesus) became manna and bread of life for the first Adam. “And he said to the man, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘Do not eat from it’: The ground is cursed because of you. You will eat from it by means of painful labor all the days of your life” (Genesis 3:17) “’I am the bread of life,’ Jesus told them. ‘No one who comes to me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty again’” (John 6:35).
Next, let’s look at sin. The first Adam sinned; second Adam (Jesus) committed no sin. “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12). “He did not commit sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth;when he was insulted, he did not insult in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten but entrusted himself to the one who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:22-23). Through first Adam, sin entered the world; through Jesus (second Adam) righteousness entered the world. “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12). “He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). First Adam’s sin separated us from God; Second Adam’s (Jesus’) righteousness brought us back to God. “Then Moses said to Aaron, ‘Approach the altar and sacrifice your sin offering and your burnt offering; make atonement for yourself and the people. Sacrifice the people’s offering and make atonement for them, as the Lord commanded’” (Leviticus 9:7). “The righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe, since there is no distinction” (Romans 3:22). I chose this verse in Leviticus to show that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross satisfied the atoning sacrifices that were required in the Old Testament.
Death came through the first Adam; the second Adam has become the life giver, life, and resurrection. “The Lord God said, ‘Since the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, he must not reach out, take from the tree of life, eat, and live forever’” (Genesis 3:22). “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live’” (John 11:25). The first Adam tasted death from a tree. The Last Adam tasted death on a tree. “You will eat bread by the sweat of your brow until you return to the ground, since you were taken from it. For you are dust, and you will return to dust” (Genesis 3: 19). “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree; so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24). The first Adam brought a curse. The Last Adam became a curse. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, because it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree” (Galatians 3:13).
The last thing I want to address is the symbolism of the bride. The Bible begins and ends with a wedding. It begins with God creating Eve to complete Adam and it ends with the marriage feast of the Lamb in Revelation. It is the wedding feast of Jesus and His bride, the Church. So what are the comparisons here? The first Adam gained a wife when God opened man’s side, but the Last Adam gained a wife when man opened God’s side. “So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to come over the man, and he slept. God took one of his ribs and closed the flesh at that place. Then the Lord God made the rib he had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man. And the man said: This one, at last, is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh; this one will be called “woman,” for she was taken from man” (Genesis 2:21-23). “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood” (Acts 20:28). The first Adam blamed his bride, while the Last Adam took the blame for His bride. “The man replied, “The woman you gave to be with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate” (Genesis 3:12) “He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
In Romans 5, Paul writes, “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned” (v. 12). He goes on to explain that Adam is a type of the Coming One. He goes on. “But the gift is not like the trespass. For if by the one man’s trespass the many died, how much more have the grace of God and the gift which comes through the grace of the one man Jesus Christ overflowed to the many” (v.15). Just as sin entered the world through the first Adam, salvation is available to all who ask through the second Adam, Jesus. “So then, as through one trespass there is condemnation for everyone, so also through one righteous act there is justification leading to life for everyone.” (v.17).
God has always had a plan for our redemption. He knew that Adam would sin, and He already had a plan in place. I am amazed by this. He told the serpent in the garden, “I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring.
He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel” (Genesis 3:15). So while Satan thought he had defeated Jesus on the cross, Jesus crushed death by rising from the dead three days later. When the women came to care for Jesus’ body at the tomb, this is what the angels told them. “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?” asked the men. “He is not here, but he has risen! Remember how he spoke to you when he was still in Galilee, saying, ‘It is necessary that the Son of Man be betrayed into the hands of sinful men, be crucified, and rise on the third day’?” (Luke 24:5-6). He has conquered death! We can say with Paul, “When this corruptible body is clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body is clothed with immortality, then the saying that is written will take place: Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, death, is your victory? Where, death, is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:54-55).
Happy Resurrection Day, my friends! He is risen!
Abundant Joy 