2 Adams – 1 Corinthians 15:45-49

Devotional Thoughts on 1 Corinthians 15

Week 10
 
2 Adams – 1 Corinthians 15:45-49

This passage is the conclusion of the argument we saw in the last blog.  One of the reasons for looking at it separately is the discussion of the two Adams.  Paul mentioned this is passing in verse 22, but it will be helpful for us to revisit this thought.  In his book of Romans (chapter 5, verses 14 and 15) Paul described the relationship of the two Adams, and the distinct difference between them.

“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.  But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.”

Notice that Adam is referred to as a “type” of Him (the second Adam) who was to come. Jesus was the antitype.  To understand this, it is helpful to think of a mold into which wax or clay was pressed, or the pressing of a ring into wax to make a seal.  The one takes on the shape of the other.  This word is usually used to describe something which in the future (the antitype) will be like something [or someone] in the past (the type).  The relationship is that of being the fountainhead, or the source, of people who were to come.  We who came from Adam have been subject to death because of his sin, or transgression (violation) of the law of God.  Jesus was born as a Man, but was born without sin, and because of the grace, the unmerited favor, of God, He was able to be the gracious giver to many of freedom from the transgression of the first Adam.

We are Adam physically.  Adam was not an ape-like brute.  He was created with intelligence and the ability to make choices.  Unlike Eve, who was tricked, he willfully chose to disobey God, and because of this, in Adam everyone is subject to both physical and spiritual death.

The first Adam was made from the earth, but the second Adam, Christ Jesus, came from heaven.  So Jesus had a human body, capable of dying, but He was alive in His spirit from the moment of His conception.  He was “heavenly” from eternity past, where we have known only “earthiness” from our birth.

But the incredible truth Paul is explaining here is that though we have had the image – form, shape - of the one who was born from the earth, like snapshots of Adam, we now bear the image of the second Adam, who was heavenly.  Our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20), and even though our daily walk before the Lord is not perfect, He sees us in His Son, so we bear His righteousness.  We are, in the mind and plan of God, already seated in heaven:  “and (God) raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6).  To be perfectly sanctified and glorified, we must be changed to be fully heavenly.