In first Corinthians chapter 15, Paul ascribed to Jesus a very profound title. He called him, “the last Adam”. In this episode of Deep Biblical Truths we examine the meaning of this title.
And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. I Cor 15: 45 NKJ
To understand why Jesus is called the last Adam we have to go back to the record of the creation of the first Adam. We find that record in Genesis Chapter 2: verse 7.
Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
That was the first Adam. We want you to notice that our principal text, I Cor 15: 45, never said: “the second Adam”. Jesus is the last Adam. There will be no other because there is no need for any other. The Jews are still looking for the Messiah. But he has already come and will come again, this time to rule from the Earth from the New Jerusalem.
But there is something much deeper about the title Paul gave to Jesus. It has to do with why Paul called him “Adam” in the first place. What is the significance of that part of the title? Well logically, that title implies that Jesus is in some way like Adam. But in what way is Jesus like Adam? Let’s back track again to the first Adam. We pick up the story in Genesis chapter 1.
When God conceptualized Adam and Eve he associated with them THREE explicit mandates. These are found in Genesis chapter 1 verses 26 – 29:
- Be productive or fruitful.
- Reproduce and populate the earth.
- Rule over or have authority over the rest of creation.
When God had completed their creation by giving them bodies in Genesis chapter 2, he gave them a fourth mandate: not to eat fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden. Because that mandate is so important, we will examine it first.
First Mandate
The first mandate was really an obedience test. Adam and Eve failed God’s obedience test because they did not follow God’s instruction not to eat of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden. It matters not one iota what the fruit was! The point is that Adam and Eve failed this obedience test. But that failure degraded all the other mandates and created the rest of human history!
According to the dictionary, “degraded” can mean, “tainted”, “corrupted”, “damaged”, “ reduced”. Let’s see how this applied to the first Adam and his wife, Eve.
Second Mandate
The second mandate has to do with their being productive, that is, tending the garden and producing food. As a result of their disobedience, God degraded the whole production system:
To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. t will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. Genesis 3: 17 – 18
Third Mandate
With respect to the third mandate, God degraded the ability to reproduce:
“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Notice also that he downgraded status of the woman relative to the man was reduced.
Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
Before you get “tied up” as we say, take note that from this we can deduce that originally, God made man and woman equal in status from the point of view of authority. However, as part of the fall, God adjusted the status of the woman to be submissive to the man. This is consistent with what is written in New Testament by Paul the Apostle:
Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, His body, of which He is the Savior. Ephesians 5: 22 -23
Let it be clear that this does not mean that a woman is an inferior creation or should be ill-treated or abused. On the contrary, here is what Paul stated in that same passage:
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her: Ephesians 5:25
Think of God’s action as being just and fair as Paul explained to Timothy:
For Adam was formed first, and then Eve. And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman who was deceived and fell into transgression.
1 Timothy 2:13-14
Fourth Mandate
The other degradation which the first Adam encountered because of his disobedience, was loss of dominion over the creation to the Devil. This is not apparent in the Genesis account so we must shift over to Luke Chapter 4 and the temptations of Jesus to see this. In the second temptation the Devil makes a surprising statement:
Then the devil led Him up to a high place and showed Him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. “I will give You authority over all these kingdoms and all their glory,” he said. “For it has been relinquished to me, and I can give it to anyone I wish. So, if You worship me, it will all be Yours.” Luke 4: 5 – 7
Did you notice that? Satan said that authority over the kingdoms of the earth had been relinquished or abandoned to him! Was he telling the truth? How can we tell?
First, Jesus never challenged Lucifer’s statement. All throughout his ministry Jesus stated that Satan was a liar but here he does not indicate that Satan was lying. The obvious reason is that the devil was not lying! he speaks the truth when it suits his purposes which is to “kill, steal and destroy”.
But why should Adam’s act of disobedience cost him his dominion? The answer is in a principle which was enunciated by Paul and which principle would also provide the mechanism of salvation.
Do you not know that when you offer yourselves as obedient slaves, you are slaves to the one you obey, whether you are slaves to sin leading to death, or to obedience leading to righteousness? Romans 6:16
We are now in a position to understand why Jesus is called the “last Adam”. In fact, we now understand that Jesus was God’s fool proof backup plan. He was going to make another Adam, the last Adam. An Adam who would not fail; an Adam who would do everything the first Adam did not; an Adam who, by his obedience, would redeem the first Adam and his descendants!
So Jesus earned the title “Last Adam” because he did everything that Adam should have done. God even announced that plan to the very creature who caused Adam and Eve to sin.
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” Genesis 3:15 NIV
The New Living Translation puts it this way:
And I will cause 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 NLT.
It is that plan that is being referenced when Jesus is descried as a “lamb slain before the foundation of the world” Rev 13: 8
Let us examine more deeply how Jesus fulfils the role of Adam
The First Parallel
The first way in which Jesus is like the ORIGINAL Adam is that he had to prove his obedience. Unlike the first Adam, Jesus obeyed God completely, even to the point of death!
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! Philippians 2:8.
When we believe and accept Jesus we are believing in his obedience because all of us, through Adam, have disobeyed God and are all regarded as unrighteous by God, irrespective of how morally good we may think ourselves to be.
Second Parallel
The second way in which Jesus symbolizes, parallels or substitutes for the first Adam is by obeying the command to increase and multiply. Jesus is doing so by producing a generation of spiritual descendants with eternal life!
This is what Scripture says in John 1:12
But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. John 1:12.
The word translated as “right’ there in John 1:12 is the Greek word “exousia” which means “authority”. In other words, you do not have the right or the authority to say you are a child of God if you have not accepted Christ as Saviour!
There are those who believe that we are all children of God. We are all God’s children in the sense that we are his creation but God makes it clear that only those who accept Jesus are his children because as Jesus explained to Nicodemus in John Chapter 3, this spiritual reproduction and not a physical birth.
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. John 3:3
Poor Nicodemus was so steeped in physical things that Jesus had to explain further:
“Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. John 3:5-6
Third Parallel
God has given to Jesus all the power and authority on the earth that was originally given to the first Adam but stolen by Lucifer!
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Matt 28:18 NIV
Consequently, Jesus will rule over God’s creation on the earth forever as was intended for the first Adam!
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from that time and forevermore. Isaiah 9: 6-7
Application
Now let’s see what this all means.
Every human must now pass the NEW AND IMPROVED OBEDIENCE TEST! And what is that test? Quite simply that test is to obey the Gospel of Christ! Here is how the Scripture puts it:
Although God overlooked the ignorance of earlier times, He now commands all people everywhere to repent. For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead”. Acts 17:30
As we said before, when we believe and accept Jesus we are believing in his obedience because all of us, through Adam, have disobeyed God and are all regarded as unrighteous by God, irrespective of how morally good we may think ourselves to be.
That is a hard one for some to swallow because human pride being what is, we all want to believe that we are not so bad after all. God’s solution is to treat everyone as a sinner so he can provide one solution for all. This is definitely one of those cases where one size fits all!
Because of this inherent obstacle of pride, the Apostle Paul was moved to say in I Corinthians chapter 1
Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. I Corinthians 1: 22- 25
Here is how the NLT puts it, starting from verse 21 this time:
Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe. It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense.
But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength. I Corinthians 1: 21- 25 NLT
Here is how Paul sums what might appear to be a complicated matter.
For just as through the disobedience of the one man, (the first Adam), the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man, (the last Adam), the many will be made righteous. Romans 5:19.
The implication then is clear: obeying the gospel of Christ is the only way to become a child of God; there is no other way!
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me”. John 14:6
Conclusion
Dear reader we hope you have come to the place where you understand a little about yourself as God sees you and more importantly, about why you must come to Jesus. If you have, just repeat this prayer meaningfully and you will become a true son or daughter of God and a citizen of the Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven:
Dear God today I now understand why you have treated us all as sinners no matter how morally good we might see ourselves. I acknowledge that I am a sinner. But I now realize your son Jesus obeyed and died in my place so I may be forgiven and become a new spiritual creation. Even though I do not quite understand how it all works, I accept him as my Saviour and Lord.
From here on help me to understand what your kingdom is all about so I can be a good kingdom citizen and help others to come to the new birth. Thank you for accepting me, in Jesus’ name. Amen
Comments, Questions?
