Many people today deny that Adam was a real historical
person. Others deny
the connection between the sin of Adam and the sinfulness of the
human race. The entire story of humanity can be summed up in terms of what has
happened because of Adam, and what has happened and will yet happen because of
Christ. The history of the human race, past, present and future, depends upon
our relationship to Adam and our relationship to Jesus Christ.
What exactly are the parallels
between Adam and Christ? And what is their significance? We must first answer
another question. What is the origin of sin? How does it affect us? What
problems does it cause?
The transgression committed by Adam and Eve was the
first sin. God made man in his own image. Man was created righteous and he
lived a life of obedience to God. He had
a personal relationship with Him. God made an agreement, a covenant, with Adam.
He told him what he must not do, and that disobedience would result in
punishment. That punishment would be
death and banishment from the Garden of Eden.
It would include physical death as well as spiritual death (separation
from God). So the punishment we receive as the result of sin can be thought of
in terms of something earned, wages received. “The wages of sin is death.”
(Romans 3:23)
Adam failed. When Adam sinned, we sinned. We sinned in
Adam’s sin because there is unity in the human race. Adam was our
representative. Because Adam sinned we
all suffer the consequences of sin, one of which is death. The action of one
affected all. The sin of one ruined many. What ruin! There was no hope for
humanity, except in this, that Adam was a symbol, type, and counterpart of a
second representative who would come in the future.
The comparison
between Adam and Christ
The Bible speaks of the first man as the first Adam and Christ as the
second Adam (1Cor
As we are all related by nature and
birth to Adam, so those who are Christians are related by grace and salvation
to Jesus. If we understand Adam, in a sense we will begin to
understand Christ and why he came.
What are then the
similarities and differences between Adam and Christ?
Both were appointed by God. Each was the head of a
race. Each was the head of a covenant. In these respects there are obvious
parallels between Adam and the Lord Jesus Christ. There are also important
differences. The most basic contrast is that our relationship to Adam is a
natural, physical one. He is the physical father of the human race. We were all
created like Adam physically. Our relationship to Jesus Christ, however, is not
physical, but spiritual. This is highlighted as we consider the different
characteristics of the Old and the New Testaments. In the first case everything
tends to be material. A man was considered blessed in the Old Testament
according to the number of oxen, sheep and camels he possessed. In the New
Testament the emphasis is on spiritual blessing. Similarly, people belonged to the nation of
In the passage shown above
(Rom
So we see the difference
between Adam and Christ. Through Adam came the trespass, the sin that breaks our
relationship with God. Through Christ we receive God’s great gift of salvation.
What Adam did was destructive; what Jesus does is redemptive. Death is
something we earn through our sin; but salvation is something we receive as a
gift. Christ’s power to save exceeds Adam’s power to ruin. We receive more
blessing in Jesus than we lost when Adam failed. This is what is meant in the
verse above where it states that the gift is greater than the trespass. Through
the one trespass of Adam, the sentence of condemnation was passed upon mankind.
But by the righteousness and obedience of Jesus Christ, many are made
righteous. He made us righteous, God is
satisfied and we are restored. The more we look at our sinful nature the more
we see how merciful Jesus Christ is.
Why
did Jesus come down to earth and suffer for us?
What would our destiny have
been without the righteousness and mercy of the second Adam? His love and mercy
are amazing! What did his love lead him to do? The apostle Paul tells us in one
verse (2 Corinthians 8:9 ): “For you know the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he
became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich”.
He owned everything, and it was through him that everything was made. He was Lord
of the universe, everything was under his hands. Yet, in spite of the fact that
He had all these riches-and more- He became poor. He left the throne to become
a servant. His ultimate experience of poverty was when He was made sin for us
on the cross. On the cross Jesus became the poorest of the poor.
Why did He do that? That we might become rich! Every
one is poor and totally bankrupt until he meets Jesus Christ. But if you trust
Jesus, you will share in all His riches! You will become children of God, “heirs
of God, and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ” (Romans