Is Christ the Last Adam- A Look at Genesis 1:26-28 By Stephen Fields
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Christ is the Last Adam
In this piece, we will consider the Bible’s explanation that Christ is the last Adam. In part two, we will consider the ethical implications of Christ as the last Adam for our daily lives.
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:26-28 ESV)
Crown
In Genesis 1:26-28. we’re told of the crown jewel of God’s creative genius being formed. Why is humanity the pinnacle of God’s creation? Genesis 1:26 tells us, “Let us make man [Adam] in Our image…” The Hebrew word, ‘Adam’ means mankind.
Adam names his wife Eve. The Hebrew meaning of ‘Eve’ is the mother of all living. Thus, by their very names, Adam and Eve, God was establishing them as the representatives of mankind.
At this point, all are encouraged to read Psalm 8. King David begins this royal Psalm, by praising God for creating mankind, (8:1 ESV): “O Lord, Our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.” He will echo and end this Psalm with the same praise for Yahweh in (8:9). King David goes on in Psalm 8:2-8 to give God’s divine commentary of Genesis 1:26-28.
Now, let’s take a brief look at the divinely inspired commentary in Psalm 8. In Psalm 8:5, the phrase, “... and You crown him with glory and honor,” is an allusion to Genesis 1:26-27. So, in Psalm 8:5, “crown him with glory and honor” is equivalent to Genesis 1:26-27, “Let us make man in Our image and cause him to rule over it”. See also Hebrews 1:3 where Christ is said to imminate the glory of God and be the exact “image” of Him. In Psalm 8:6-8, the Holy Spirit through David explains God’s eternal purpose in crowning mankind (Adam) with glory, “to rule over the works of His hands…” (Ps 8:6). This too, is an allusion to Genesis 1:28, where Adam was commanded to subdue and have dominion over God’s creation. Why does Psalm 8:5 use the word “crown”?
This language of the crown is royally descriptive. Adam bearing the image of God and wearing the “crown” demonstrates that God was making Adam to be the kingly representative of mankind and creation. As Adam would lead and rule, humanity and creation would follow. Subsequently, when Adam ate the forbidden fruit he failed God’s command to rule, subdue, and have dominion. This failure then brought consequences to all that was under Adam’s kingly rule.
Adam is the Kingly Representative of Man
The apostle Paul picks up this theme of Adam being the kingly representative of man and creation in Romans 5:12-19. Verse 12 tells us that Adam’s sin is in all humanity’s sin because he (Adam individually) represents us (Mankind collectively). “Therefore, just as through one man, sin entered into the world and death through sin, so death spread to all man because all sinned,” (Romans 5:12). Paul links the actions of Adam to subsequent generations. In our nature we are rebels against our creator, inheriting this trait of the first Adam.
Praise be to God for Romans 5:18, who for His own good pleasure has graciously sent the ‘son of man’, Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness led 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. (Romans 5:18-19 ESV) Where Adam failed, Christ did not fail. He was tempted in every way just like the first Adam (and us) yet without the sin.
Christ is the Second Adam
Christ is the second Adam, the greater Adam, the last Adam. As Adam represented mankind in the first creation, Christ has represented all who are born again in the new creation. God so loved His creation and the crown jewel of it being mankind (Adam)that He provided a perfect Adam, Jesus Christ to represent us before His throne. Christ is the perfect Adam for all:
Who are called to bear His image (Romans 8:28-30),
Who receive the new creation of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5),
Who repent of their sins (2 Peter 3:9),
Who God has declared righteous (Romans 5:18 with the righteousness of our new representative - Christ the last Adam),
Who are sanctified, (1 Corinthians 1:30),
Who will be glorified through the power of their resurrected last Adam representative (1 Corinthians 1:15).
Let me conclude by asking you my friends, have you heard God’s call like Samuel, and responded, “Here I am Lord”?
This is a part of a mini-series by guest writer Stephen Fields. To read part 2, click here.
Citation
1. “אָדָם n.m. man, mankind 1. a man (= Ger. Mensch) = human being; = any one; seld. man opp. woman. 2. coll. man, mankind; distinctly = men + women; given as name; but = warriors made in God’s image; as feeble, earthly, mortal; as sinful; of men in general, other men (opp. to particular ones); 3. n.pr.m. Adam, first man. 4. n.pr.loc. city in Jordan valley.”
Richard Whitaker et al., The Abridged Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew-English Lexicon of the Old Testament: From A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament by Francis Brown, S.R. Driver and Charles Briggs, Based on the Lexicon of Wilhelm Gesenius (Boston; New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1906).
2.“life-giver; Chavvah (or Eve), the first woman:—Eve.”
James Strong, A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament and The Hebrew Bible (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2009), 37.