THE LAST ADAM
4-11-2019
4-11-2019
One
of the most powerful but often overlooked verse in the New Testament is 1
Corinthians 15:45.
1 Corinthians 15:45
NET (45) So also it is written, "The first man,
Adam, became a living person"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
1 Corinthians 15:47
NET (47) The first man is from the earth, made of dust;
the second man is from heaven.
From
the Word Study Dictionary
The Hebrew word for Adam in Genesis
'âdâm
aw-dawm'
ruddy, that is, a human being (an individual or the species, mankind, etc.): A masculine noun meaning a male, any human
being, or generically the human race. The word is used to signify a man, as
opposed to a woman
The Greek word for Adam in the New Testament
’Αδάμ Adám; masc. proper noun
transliterated from the Hebrew
In
the book of Genesis (and within the Old Testament in general) the Hebrew word
for the first man is 'âdâm (aw-dawm') which is
defined as “ruddy” and means “mankind in general” or a specific man. In the New Testament Greek the word “Adam” is
used as a proper name and is transliterated from the Hebrew. It is a personal choice whether to believe
there was an original “first man and first woman” although Jesus, Paul, and all
New Testament writers appear to believe it and identify Adam as the first
created person or man.
Regardless of one’s opinion, the first man
is known as in the New Testament as Adam.
The first woman known as Eve was created by God from the body of the
man. The KJV and other versions
translate “of his side” such as a rib but the literal translation is “from his
side”. The first man was created by God
from the dust (or dirt) of the ground.
Thus Paul states that the woman came from the man and that the woman was
created for the sake of the man. Not the
other way around. Try to explain that to
a liberal feminist.
1
Corinthians 11:8-9 NET (8) For man did not come from woman, but woman
from man. (9) Neither was man created for the sake of woman, but woman for man.
Both
Adam and Eve were created with glorified bodies identical to the body of the
resurrected Christ and all those who will be part of the first
resurrection. Both knew they were not to
eat of the tree “of the knowledge of good and evil”. However, Eve was apparently deceived by the
Serpent/Snake/Nachash/Satan/whatever to eat the fruit/apple/whatever of the
metaphoric tree. Then enters Adam and
discerning what Eve has done decides to follow in her path regardless of the
outcome.
Why?
The puzzling factor or question is, WHY? God purposely placed the (perhaps metaphoric)
tree in the center of the Garden of Eden knowing full well (the omniscience of
God) that an unlawful act (a sin of disobedience) would be committed by Adam
and Eve. Thus the complete 6000 years of
current human history with the wars, murders, rapes, lies, thefts, etc. was
generated by the creator God.
Since a type of trap was set for Adam, God
apparently considered it necessary to reverse the curse of mortality and
sin. This is covered in the law
concerning a pit and an ox. God dug the
pit; Adam fell in the pit; God repaid the loss.
Exodus
21:33-34 NET "If a man opens a pit or if a man digs a pit and
does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, (34) the owner of the
pit must repay the loss. He must give money to its owner, and the dead animal
will become his.
This He did personally by entering the world in
the person of Jesus Christ as the last Adam.
Unlike the first Adam, the last Adam did not commit any sin or act of
lawlessness. He died as did all previous
Adams, but in this case He (Jesus, the last Adam) was resurrected to life
nullifying the curse placed upon the first Adam. This gave all Adams (and Eves), past,
present, and future, the gift of resurrection and eternal life in a glorified
body which brings everything full circle back to the creation of Adam before
sin entered the world.
This occasionally boggles my mind although a
proper explanation will be available at some point in the future.
Mortality
The outcome of their sin, however, is that both
relinquished their once glorified bodies and suddenly discover they are naked
which triggers them to cover their nakedness with some type of leaves. Both of them are now mortal with mortal
thoughts including shame, embarrassment, and guilt (among others).
Their
mortality brought weakness to all of us, having lost the glory of God, we all
sinned as well. Paul says literally that death spread
to all men by which all sinned. In other words, we sin because we are mortal; we
did not become mortal when we sinned. No
one has been born immortal, and it is possible for even the most innocent unborn
baby to die before he has sinned.
Almost
everyone, who is allowed to be born, will die (with the possible exception of
the elect overcomers at the return of Christ).
Because everyone is mortal, they will sin. The sin attributed to Adam made him mortal
and all of his offspring are mortal as well.
JUST
A THOUGHT: It could be said that since
Eve was created from the flesh of Adam, they were one (common) flesh. When Eve sinned if may be said that Adam
sinned in principle as well.
The Final or Last
Paul
states that Jesus is the LAST Adam (i.e. human being) with the Greek word ἔσχατος eschatos es'-khat-os meaning FINAL.
Jesus was/is the FINAL ADAM.
Strongs
Dictionary
ἔσχατος eschatos es'-khat-os
A superlative probably from G2192
(in the sense of contiguity); farthest, final (of place or time): - ends
of, last, latter end, lowest, uttermost.
Does
the preceding paragraph mean that Jesus is the last or final human being, or
the final person to die? No. It means that Jesus was the final person to
die and remain dead because He was resurrected to a glorified body like the
body that Adam had before sin entered the picture and made him mortal. We are mortal and we will die but due to the
sacrifice of the last Adam we will not remain dead forever.
Unlike
the first Adam whose sin caused mortality, Jesus lived an earthly human life
without sin of any kind. Like all
so-called “Adams” before Him Jesus also received a sentence of death, although
it was a horrendous death. However,
unlike all previous “Adams” Jesus did not remain dead but was resurrected to a
glorified body. Because of the
resurrection of Jesus who was/is the final Adam, all human beings ever born on the
face of the earth will be resurrected and will eventually receive a glorified
body identical to that of the resurrected Christ.
1 Corinthians
15:20-23 NET
(20) But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who
have fallen asleep. (21) For since death came through a man, the resurrection
of the dead also came through a man. (22) For just as in Adam all die, so also
in Christ all will be made alive. (23) But each in his own order: Christ, the
firstfruits; then when Christ comes, those who belong to him.
Jesus’
resurrection is established as the first fruits of those who have died or
fallen asleep as Paul states it. Through
the sin of the first Adam death came to all people.
Having established the doctrine of resurrection in
general, Paul then shows what Jesus actually accomplished in His resurrection. That is, “in Christ all
will be made alive”.
Adam
brought death; Christ brought life. More specifically, Adam’s sin brought
mortality to all; Christ’s righteousness brought immortality to all. Adam’s sin was imputed to all men, because all
men and, indeed, all of creation, was under Adam’s authority. By the law of headship, those under Adam’s
authority were affected by his sin. By the same law, those under Christ’s
authority were affected by His righteous act.
As
Paul states it in Romans 5:12:
Romans
5:12 NET So then, just as sin entered the world through one
man and death through sin, and so death spread to all people because [eph ho, “on
which, by which”] all sinned --
Thus
we became mortal, not because we sinned, but because Adam sinned. Because we
are mortal we sin. We don’t become
mortal when we sin. We were born mortal
due to the sin of Adam. Thus we are
saved from eternal death, not because we were righteous, but because Christ was
righteous. In both cases, the acts of the authoritative head were fully imputed
to those under their authority.
Paul
says that it all started when “one man”, the first Adam, sinned. When Adam sinned, the penalty for sin entered
into the world and that penalty was death. This did not mean that Adam or Eve
immediately dropped dead. It meant that both were no longer immortal. In other
words, both of them received mortality—the assurance that they would grow old
and die.
Further,
this mortal condition was not restricted to Adam, but upon all of his
descendants, as well as influencing the entire earth or estate which had been
entrusted to him when God said in Genesis 1:26, “let
them rule.”
Take note that it was not Adam’s sin that spread to all men, but rather Adam’s
death, or mortality. Paul says that “death spread to all
men.” To
put it in legal terms, Adam’s sin was imputed to all, and so all had to pay the
penalty for Adam’s sin. Hence, all became mortal and because all are mortal all
sin.
In
more common language, Paul says that we were all blamed for Adam’s sin, and so
we all have had to pay the same penalty—death.
The Second Death
The
second death only appears in the Revelation.
But what is it? To those
believing in a hell-fire eternal punishment it is the final sentencing or command
to (pardon the expression) go to hell.
I
am personally an avid and devout believer of the doctrine of universal
reconciliation. Most others have
different beliefs. All knees will bow
and not by force, but from the sincerity of belief. It may take an age but it will happen. God is all powerful not impotent. Universal reconciliation has been written
about and discussed in several past articles and will not be examined at this
time.
God
is “fire”, but not ordinary fire. He is
a spirit and His fire is a spiritual fire.
Deuteronomy
4:24 NET For the LORD your God is a consuming fire; he is a
jealous God.
The streams of fire flowing from the throne of God as
seen by Daniel and the Lake of Fire as witnessed by John are (again) not the ordinary
combustion of various types of matter but a spiritual fire i.e. the fire of
God, a consuming fire.
According
to an internet website, the current population of the earth is around 7.7
billion. The total number of people who
were ever born on the planet is estimated to be approximately 106.5
billion. To be fair, this number was
apparently estimated with a starting point of 50,000 BC which sounds
ridiculously evolutionary. However for purposes
of discussion let’s just say there have been around 100 billion people born
since the creation of Adam and Eve.
Total number of people who were ever born
106,456,367,669
Current population 7,700,000,000
With
that said, lets estimate how many people from the beginning would be
resurrected and sentenced to hell if the second death and the Lake of Fire is
eternal torment in a fiery hell. How
about 95 to 98 billion or more? The
first resurrection will most likely not be a large crowd.
In
Revelation 20:13 John assures us the second resurrection is universal and
includes even those who had been lost at sea. No one is to be forgotten or left
in perpetual death. All will be raised for judgment, and all will be restored.
Revelation
20:13 NET The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and Death
and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each one was judged according
to his/her deeds.
Earlier
in chapter 20 John tells us to endeavor for the first resurrection because the
overcomer/elect or the “one who conquers
will in no way be harmed by the second death”.
In fact, they will “be priests
of God and of Christ”, i.e. administrators of the Kingdom for a thousand
years.
Revelation
20:6 NET
Blessed and holy is the one who takes part in the first resurrection. The
second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of
Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.
This
conqueror principle is also stated by Jesus in Revelation 2:11.
Revelation
2:11 NET
The one who has an ear had better hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
The one who conquers will in no way be harmed by the second death.'
Later,
in 20:14 John tells us that Death (Sheol in Hebrew) and Hades (the abode of the
dead in Greek) will be thrown into the lake of fire (the spirit of God). The lake of fire is then defined as the
second death (i.e. death is put to death).
Revelation
20:14 NET
Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second
death -- the lake of fire.
1
Corinthians 15:26 NET (26) The last enemy to be eliminated is death.
Will
everyone involved in the second resurrection be thrown into the lake of
fire? Although it is rarely recognized
as such, Jesus told a parable concerning the second resurrection which can be
found in Luke 12:47-48.
Those
who knew the will of God and His laws but did not heed them “will receive a severe beating”. Those who were unaware of the will of God and
His laws did were unlawful “will receive
a light beating”.
Luke
12:47-48 NET That servant who knew his master's will but did not
get ready or do what his master asked will receive a severe beating. (48) But
the one who did not know his master's will and did things worthy of punishment
will receive a light beating. From everyone who has been given much, much will
be required, and from the one who has been entrusted with much, even more will
be asked.
Who
then will be placed in the lake of fire?
Cowards, unbelievers, detestable persons, murderers, the sexually
immoral, practitioners of magic spells, idol worshipers, and liars.
Revelation
21:8 NET
But to the cowards, unbelievers, detestable persons, murderers, the sexually
immoral, and those who practice magic spells, idol worshipers, and all those
who lie, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire (the cleansing
spirit of God) and sulfur (a healing element). That is the second death."
The
New Testament actually speaks of two distinct types of death. The first is the
kind of death that is the result of the mortality that came through Adam’s sin.
The second is the death of “the flesh,” which Paul experienced when he said in 1 Corinthians 15:31, “I die daily.”
1
Corinthians 15:31 ALT (31) [I affirm] by my boasting [or, pride] in you which I have in Christ Jesus our
Lord, I die daily [or, every day I am in danger of
death].
Paul
often speaks of putting the flesh to death, or crucifying the “old man.” This
type of death results in renewed life, not in actual death. It is primarily
accomplished by putting down the will of the flesh in order to follow the will
of the Spirit. But denying the flesh (or the will of the old man) must be done
moment by moment, because it does not fully die until mortality claims its
prey. For this reason, the second death is a way of life, not the condition of
a corpse.
Paul
tells us further in Romans 6:6-7 (The Emphatic Diaglott):
6 Knowing
this, that our old man was crucified with Him, so that the body of sin may be
rendered powerless; that we may no longer be enslaved to sin; 7 for he
who died has been justified from sin.
Justification
can only be accomplished through death of the “old self”. Thus, all who are justified have died the
second death even before they have literally died as a result of being mortal.
The second death, then, is the ultimate corrective to the first. Either we die (to the flesh) while we yet live
in this mortal body, or flesh of the old self must die after the resurrection. Regardless,
all will die the second death, because all will be justified at some point in
history. So Paul says in Romans 5:18:
Romans
5:18 NET Consequently, just as condemnation for all people
came through one transgression, so too through the one righteous act came
righteousness leading to life (or
justification of life in other versions) for all people.
