Jesus as the Second Adam

So you’ll remember (I hope) a couple weeks ago when I began this “Finding Jesus in the Old Testament” series, I said we’d be looking at three different things in the Old Testament, Prophecies about Jesus, Types of Jesus and Christophanies. We started by looking at the first prophecies found in Genesis 3:15 and Genesis 5. Today we will be looking at the first type of Jesus in the Old Testament and next week we’ll be looking at the first Christophany of Jesus.

As a reminder a type of Jesus is someone or something that in some way functions as a foreshadowing of Jesus before he came. Often the reason we classify something as a type is because an author in the New Testament has either called that person or thing a type or because they’ve made a significant comparison or contrast with Jesus and that person or thing. So a type is used as an image to teach us something about the nature of Jesus.

If we go by order as they appear in the Hebrew Scriptures (our Old Testament) than the first type of Jesus is found in the person of Adam, the very first man created in the garden of Eden. Adam is also privileged to be one of the few types of Jesus that is specifically called a type by a New Testament writer, Paul the apostle. Not just in one place but in two places, in Romans 5:12-21 and 1 Corinthians 15:20-26.

For our purposes this morning we will be mainly focusing on Romans 5:12-21. Which by the way according to R. Kent Hughes It is also commonly agreed that Romans 5:12–21 is among the most difficult passages in Romans, if not in the entire New Testament. So I have my work cut out for me this morning. Before we dive into this passage let me just remind you of what the Old Testament says about Adam. In the first three chapters of Genesis we have the creation of the world, and near the end of creation God created a man. We call him Adam, which is Hebrew for man. So his name is literally man. After this God creates Eve as a suitable companion and helper for Adam and the two are given a beautiful garden to live in and are told to rule over the rest of the earth as images of God.

Then things go wrong. The serpent tempts Eve and she eats the fruit of the one tree in the garden that God told them not to eat, and then she gives it to her husband Adam and he eats it as well. Thus Adam and Eve commit the first sin and receive the punishment that God told them they would receive, death. Here is what Romans has to say about Adam and what he teaches us about Jesus.

Romans 5:12–21 (ESV)

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

As an interesting aside you may have noticed that while Eve was actually the first one to eat the fruit and gave it to Adam, it is Adam primarily who holds the blame for original sin in the eyes of the Bible. This implies that Adam had some form of authority over Eve even before the fall and is a challenge for Bible believing egalitarians, but that’s a discussion for a different day.

The function of Adam as a type of Christ seems primarily to be one of contrast. Here Paul is contrasting the fall with the free gift of salvation in Jesus. Adam as a representative of mankind brought sin to all of mankind through one act of sin, and as a result we all suffered the penalty for his sin even though we didn't personally commit the same sin he committed. By contrast Jesus' death on the cross brought us all redemption through the act of one man who acted as a representative and so His one act of righteousness justifies all of us even though we didn't die for our own sins.

1. Adam’s sin brought condemnation, Jesus’ death brought justification

So then, in what ways is Jesus different from Adam, and what does that mean for us? Well the first way is that while Adam’s sin brought condemnation, Jesus’ death brought justification. Returning to our text we read in Romans 5:15-18

Romans 5:15–18 ESV

In the garden Adam as our representative was given only one commandment, not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Because he failed to keep this commandment he had to face the consequence of that sin. God had said that if he ate of the fruit than he would die. So when he ate the fruit he received a death sentence. Our passage says “the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation.”

Paul is using judicial language here so let’s picture this in a courtroom setting. Adam is brought into the court and charged with his crime. The judgment for his crime was that he was guilty, and he his sentence was death. In other words he was condemned to die. So if we trace his action to its consequence ultimately it was his sin that brought condemnation.

Not only for himself but for the rest of us as well. If we jump back we read in Ro 5:12

Romans 5:12 (ESV)

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

Meaning not that each individual happened to sin afterward, but that through Adam somehow we all sinned. This matters because if we disregard the idea of our culpability in Adam’s sin it opens us up to the idea that each person just happens to fail by coincidence and that it would be theoretically possible for a normal human being to sin. This doesn’t account for all of human history and experience. And Paul points out that between the command to Adam not to eat the apple and the law of moses people still died even though they technically hadn’t been given any laws to break. Ro 5:13-14

Romans 5:13–14 (ESV)

for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

There are two basic theories as to how this works. The first view is called “federal headship” and is the idea that Adam represented humanity as our father in the garden. This is the same idea as the federal government which is supposed to represent the people in the highest form of government. In this view because Adam was our representative in the garden we are all present in his act as his descendants and thus are condemned by his actions.

The second view is called natural headship and is the idea that because we are all physically descended from Adam than we were all in a way physically present in Adam when he sinned. In that way we were with him and culpible with him when he sinned.

I tend to lean on the side of federal headship but I think both have their merits and demerits. Perhaps they are both true at the same time. Regardless, God has considered us all guilty in a sense of Adam’s sin.

To quote Warren B. Weirsbe

Skeptics sometimes ask, “Was it fair for God to condemn the whole world just because of one man’s disobedience?” The answer, of course, is that it was not only fair; but it was also wise and gracious. To begin with, if God had tested each human being individually, the result would have been the same: disobedience. But even more important, by condemning the human race through one man (Adam), God was then able to save the human race through one Man (Jesus Christ)!

Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 528.

So Adam has by his failure doomed us all to a life of sin and a physical and spiritual death. By his one action as our representative we are now each of us born with a sin nature, though we in the end are judged on our own sins which are plenty.

Not so with Jesus. Through Jesus’ one act of righteousness he brings justification. What was this one act of righteousness that Paul is talking about? Jesus we know as the perfect man and God himself was righteous in everything that he did, but Paul is specifying one act in particular. That act is of course the crowning act of Jesus’ life: his death on the cross. Paul spells this out earlier in this same chapter, Romans 5:6-11

Romans 5:6–11 (ESV)

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

This happens just as God said it would. Predictions of the suffering servant who would take on the punishment for everyone else abound, including the prediction of the justification through Christ in Isaiah 53:11

Isaiah 53:11 (ESV)

Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

Dr. Roy Gustafson has a great illustration of justification. It seems that there was a man in England who put his Rolls-Royce on a boat and went across to the continent to go on a holiday. While he was driving around Europe, something happened to the motor of his car. He cabled the Rolls-Royce people back in England and asked, “I’m having trouble with my car; what do you suggest I do?” Well, the Rolls-Royce people flew a mechanic over! The mechanic repaired the car and flew back to England and left the man to continue his holiday.

As you can imagine, the fellow was wondering, “How much is this going to cost me?” So when he got back to England, he wrote the people a letter and asked how much he owed them. He received a letter from the office that read: “Dear Sir: There is no record anywhere in our files that anything ever went wrong with a Rolls-Royce.” That is justification!

W. Wiersbe, Key Words of the Christian Life, p. 16

In other words, by the actions of Jesus God looks at our records and there is no record of any sin, amen? Our slate is whiped clean. We stand before God washed of all the taint of evil that we were born in and that we accumulated through a life of wrongdoing and evil.

Yet God does not leave us there. It’s not enough to remove our past sins, because then we’d just keep on sinning. We’d just accrue new debt.

2. Adam’s sin spread to everyone, Jesus’ death brings righteousness

So when Adam sinned he brought both sin and death into the world. Death as the penalty for the crime for which we were all condemned in Adam, sin as a consequence of his now broken nature. That means that every child of Adam, which is everyone, now has an inborn predisposition to sin. Children do not need to be taught how to lie, steal and hit. Much the opposite.

This is a problem, because it means that now even if someone were to say pay the penalty for Adam’s sin and justify us, therefore saving us from sharing in his condemnation, we are so sinful in nature that it wouldn’t be very long before we sin ourselves and condemn ourselves. I mean, how many of us could go even one week without sinning? I’d wager it would be a challenge to go even one day.

So what are we poor lost hopeless sinners to do? That brings us to Ro 5:19

Romans 5:19 (ESV)

For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.

Adam’s transgression brought us condemnation, Jesus’ one act of righteousness brought us justification. Adam’s disobedience made us all sinners, Jesus’ obedience makes us all righteous. How does that work? Well it works because Jesus’ righteousness is counted as our righteousness. Just as God no longer holds us accountable for our sins because Jesus paid the penalty, God does hold us responsible for Jesus’ obedience. This is called imputed righteousness.

For more about this let’s turn to 1 Corinthians 1:30

1 Corinthians 1:30 (ESV)

And because of him [God] you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,

So because we are in Christ Jesus, when God sees us He sees Jesus.

1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching (Righteousness, Believers’)

If we look through a piece of red glass, everything is red. If we look through a piece of blue glass, everything is blue. If we look through a piece of yellow glass, everything is yellow, and so on.When we believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior, God looks at us through the Lord Jesus Christ. He sees us in all the white holiness of his Son. Our sins are imputed to the account of Christ and his righteousness to our account.

So Jesus puts us into a much better place than we were when we were born in Adam. We start out as condemned sinners and Jesus makes us into justified saints. The word saints by the way just means “holy ones” and was what Paul called Christians. So if you’re in Christ you’re a saint, you don’t need to perform three miracles and die and be canonized and all that.

3. Adam’s sin brought death, Jesus’ death brings life

So we are no longer condemned and we are now righteous, but we still have a problem. See when Adam’s sin brought death it brought it in two senses. He brought us physical and spiritual death. You’ll notice in the Genesis account that when Adam sins God kicks him out of the garden and says Ge 3:22

Genesis 3:22 (ESV)

Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—”

Which implies that even if Adam hadn’t sinned his physical body would die without intervention. It was the tree of life in the garden that would have kept Adam and Eve alive forever had they not sinned and remained in Eden. This means that physical death is a part of the design of the human body. So when we come to Christ our physical bodies are still subject to decay. You’ll notice that Christians still physically die. If they didn’t I imagine evangelism would be easier but I digress.

The other consequence of Adam’s sin was spiritual death. By spiritual death I don’t mean that your spirit ceases to exist after you die if you’re outside of Christ. This would contradict a number of Scriptures that talk about punishment for those who are outside of Christ after they die. No the spiritual death of Scripture is to be seperated from God. It’s a broken relationship between our spirit and God’s Spirit.

Jesus not only took away our condemnation and made us righteous on the cross, but by walking out of His tomb He became “the firstborn from the dead” (Col 1:18), or in other words His resurrection was the first of its kind to make the way for the rest of us to be ressurected with Him. So Jesus’ death and resurrection gives us pardon, righteousness and life. Rom 5:17-21

Romans 5:17–21 (ESV)

For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

1000 Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching (The Gift of Life)

While a patient at Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa, Philip Blaiberg told of the night when Christiaan Barnard, gowned and muzzled, walked into his sterile room carrying in his hand a plastic box. It contained his old heart. The eminent surgeon said: “Dr. Blaiberg, do you realize that you are the first man in the history of mankind to be able to sit as you are now, and look at his own, dead heart?”What a dramatic moment! What a miracle! Second unto it was when the courageous patient met for the first time the woman who had given him life, namely, permission for surgeons to remove the heart of her dead husband. Blaiberg asked, “What does one say in such circumstances? She had lost a life, I had gained one.”This is precisely the gift of the revolutionary Christ: “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).

So we through Jesus’ acts on our behalf “reign in life” and will have “eternal life” by the blood of Jesus.

Conclusion: Whose Kingdom do you want to be a part of?

The thing is though that while Jesus’ death and resurrection are sufficient to save everyone, not everyone is automatically saved. While it may seem on the surface of this short passage to imply something universal, it’s clear from the rest of the book of Romans and the fuller context of the New Testament that only those who respond to Jesus’ gospel receive those results of His righteous act on our behalf.

Romans 10:9 (ESV)

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

IF you confess with your mouth.

John 3:16 (ESV)

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Whoever believes in him should not perish

John 14:6 (ESV)

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

No one comes to the father except through me.

John 3:5 (ESV)

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

I think that’s probably enough Biblical evidence of what I’m saying right? Not everyone gets to reap the fruit of the labor of Christ. Yet everyone can. All it takes is confessing Jesus is Lord, believing in his resurrection and being baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Warren W. Wiersbe puts it this way:

You cannot help being “in Adam,” for this came by your first birth over which you had no control. But you can help staying “in Adam,” for you can experience a second birth—a new birth from above—that will put you “in Christ.” This is why Jesus said, “Ye must be born again” (John 3:7).

Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 530.

So ladies and gentleman we are presented with a choice. By default we are born as children of Adam. We are born condemned, sinful and spiritual dead. Yet we do not have to stay that way. We have received an offer of adoption, a father who wants to justify us, make us righteous and give us new life.

Even if you’re in this family it’s a choice every day if you want to go on living like a son or daughter of Adam or if you want to live like the firstborn son of the King. What does it look like to live as children of the king?

Galatians 5:22–23 (ESV)

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

The fruit, singular. In other words if you have the seed of the spirit planted in your heart, this is the fruit that grows. Jesus said in John 14:15

John 14:15 (ESV)

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

If we are living as children of God than we should be acting like children of God out of a sincere heart of thankfulness for the gift that God has given. Not because we believe we need to earn our salvation, because we couldn’t if we tried. Instead let us strive to be saintly because we are saints.

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