Today’s post in our series on Beholding Christ is focusing on Christ as the Second/Last Adam.

Adam

God created Adam in His image and gave him dominion over all creation commissioning him to subdue the earth as well as to be fruitful and multiply with his wife, Eve (Gen. 1:26-28). Adam has a kingly status as God’s vice-regent. Therefore, Adam is to steward God’s creation well and through the fruit of his marriage with Eve they will multiply, expanding God’s glory throughout the Earth. This is brought into sharper focus in Genesis chapter two when we are told that God placed Adam in the Garden to work it and keep it (Gen. 2:8, 15).  The word work can be translated, cultivate and the word keep can be translated protect. Therefore, Adam is to cultivate the Garden expanding it outward and is to protect it from harmful influence. G.K. Beale makes the argument that often when these two words, work and keep, are used in the Old Testament they are in reference to the activity of the priests (pg. 67, The Temple and the Church’s Mission). This means that Adam is a type of priest-king. (Later, in redemptive history the roles of prophet, priest and king would be developed into distinct offices with little or no crossover, until One would come who could perfectly fulfill all three.)

However, Adam failed at his task. He allowed the deceitful serpent to enter the Garden and influence him and Eve. He rebelled against God’s benevolent rule and sought to be his own god (Gen. 3:5). He is exiled from the Garden, from God’s presence, and under the curse of death (Gen. 3:23-24).

Now, we are going to skip some ground here, ok, a lot of ground. Israel is a type of corporate-Adam, as Beale states it, and they too fail and are exiled out of the promise land. When we come to the end of the Old Testament we realize we need something more. Yet, we are not left without hope. The Old Testament is full of promises and it is to the fulfiller of those promises we now turn.

The Last Adam

In 1 Corinthians 15:45 the Apostle Paul refers to Jesus as the last Adam and his argument in Romans 5:12-21 is built on the same premise. One of the promises of the Old Testament mentioned above was that another priest-king would come (Zech. 6:13). At the beginning of His ministry Christ would announce the Kingdom of God was at hand (Mark 1:15). He too would be confronted by the serpent (Rev. 12:9), yet He would be victorious over him (Matt. 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, 21-28, 32-34; 3:27). Jesus is the Redeemer King who is subduing the Earth and all that has gone awry as a result of Adam’s sinful rebellion (Mark 4:35-41, 5:21-43). Jesus is also the priest who will make final sufficient sacrifice, through his death on the cross, and cleanse all who come to Him in repentance and faith (Heb. 10:1-4, 12-14 Mark 1:15, 40-45).

The resurrection of Christ is the beginning of death’s curse undone and of the new creation (Col. 1:18; 2 Cor. 5:17), and points us toward His return when the full fruit of His work will be realized (Rev. 21-22). The result of Christ’s work won’t merely be a return to Eden, it will be better than Eden. The church, of which Christ is the head, has been commissioned to be His witness to the end of the Earth (Col. 1:18; 2 Cor. 5:18-20; Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 1:8). Also, in the Great Commission, when Jesus says “all authority has been given to me,” this is a clear reference to Him regaining the authority that Adam had lost. In the local context, the Church is expressed in individual congregations (churches, little c) which are outposts of Christ’s Kingdom.  Christ will now expand His Kingdom and fill the earth with the Glory of God, image bearers remade in the image of the Second Adam, through the Gospel proclamation of His Church.

O loving wisdom of our God!
When all was sin and shame,
A second Adam to the fight
And to the rescue came. –John Newman

Adam’s likeness, Lord, efface,
Stamp Thine image in its place:
Second Adam from above,
Reinstate us in Thy love. –Charles Wesley

Written by Matt Baker