Why Should We Think About Adam?

Have you ever checked to see how often Adam is mentioned in the Bible? I was surprised to discover that in the ESV his name appears only twice in the Old Testament after Genesis 5; once in a genealogy in 1 Chronicles and once in the Book of Hosea. He is described but not mentioned by name in some passages such as Psalm 8. In the New Testament, Paul mentions Adam’s name twice in Romans 5, 1 Corinthians 15 and 1 Timothy 2. He is mentioned in a genealogy in Luke and in a genealogical reference in Jude. Jesus does not mention him by name although he does refer to what was said about Adam and Eve concerning marriage. Yet the fewness of the references does not indicate that he is unimportant.

No doubt there are several reasons for thinking about Adam. Perhaps if we were to conduct a survey of our thoughts about him, we might be surprised at the opinions expressed. Some would be curious about whether he became a true believer after his fall. How did he respond to the divine announcement of a coming Deliverer? After all, he is not mentioned in the list of heroes of faith in Hebrews 11 – that list starts with Abel, the son of Adam. We may be familiar with the description of the book of life in one of Bunyan’s illustrations in which he says that Abel is the first legible name that Christian could see, but he was not sure if any names were recorded above it. 

 

Some might want to blame him for falling to temptation, but does the Bible say that he alone is to blame for sin in our world? Others may wonder why he is not mentioned in any references to incidents recorded about the early history of the post-fall world. One response to all such suggestions is that we are meant to focus on what we have been told about him.

 

Adam, the first man

We are told in Genesis 1 that Adam was made in the image of God. That must mean that he was like God. In what ways was that the case? Several clues are given in Genesis 1 and 2. One is that he was clever, able to think about matters. We can see that was the case from the way he was able to assess the animals when he gave a name to each kind. Another feature was that he was creative when he composed a song or poem to celebrate the arrival of Eve after God had brought her to him. His rationality was not like that of a computer merely churning out facts. He had emotions as well as a mind. He could love as well as describe. He could communicate his knowledge appropriately. In other words, he was equipped to be a prophet, the first of an intended race of prophets (all mankind) who could speak about God and his ways.

 

Moreover, Adam could plan and work out what he should do. He could imitate God in this way. Genesis 1 tells us that God had a plan for how he would create the world and what he would do on each day. God could have made everything at the same time, of course; Adam was not able to fulfil a plan in that way. But God, as it were, modelled for Adam how to follow a plan. 

 

God’s plan for Adam included him looking after the garden in Eden, indeed guarding it from unwelcome intruders. The garden was a worship area, a holy place, where God and Adam would meet; the garden was the first temple. It is not possible for us to know what would have happened if Adam had not fallen, but it was obvious that worship was a crucial feature of Adam’s life. He would be a priest, the first of a race of priests (all mankind), involved in the worship of God.

 

God also had a plan for Adam outside the garden. The land had to be cultivated and populated. Adam had to subdue the earth, bring it under his control, develop all the potential that God had placed there. Part of Adam’s role was to have dominion, to be the ruler of all, to be the king, to be the first of a race of kings (all mankind).

 

As we read on in the Bible, we discover that there is a connection between image and sonship. Adam himself would produce a son in his image. That son was Seth, and so it has continued. Adam, when he was made in the image of God, was like God, and so a son of God. The earth was God’s gift to his son Adam and his fellow-heirs, his descendants.

 

So, that was Adam, made in the image of God, able to function as a prophet, priest, and king, given the status of a son of God with the role of sharing the inheritance with the One who gave it to him, God. If we had been there when all this happened, we would assume that a wonderful future lay ahead.

 

Adam, the fallen man

It is extraordinary that Adam, the first man, became Adam, the fallen man. How did that happen? To put it simply, he disobeyed God. The story is tragic because his fall changed everything about him, his descendants, and his inheritance. He was put out of the garden, the place of worship; he now lived with the absence of God, unless he repented of his sin, which he would need to show by offering sacrifices to God outside the garden; he moved from the location of life to the location where death spoils everything; he discovered that the world given to him to enjoy would now fight against him. What had brought this about?

 

I suppose we could say that Adam, with Eve, failed to be a prophet, a priest, and a king. He failed to assess a creature he probably had not seen before. As a prophet he should have listened to what God had clearly said, not what the serpent had suggested God was hiding from them. He should have stepped in and said to his wife Eve that they should not listen to an alternative narrative. As king, he should have been loyal to his commission to govern on God’s behalf and not obey the serpent who was indicating a different set of rules. As priest, he should have had his heart focussed on God and worshipped him according to his instructions (one of them was, don’t eat of one of the trees in the worship area). As a son of God, he rebelled against him and marred the inheritance.

 

This action of Adam is called original sin because it was the first sin. The effect of this sin was to make Adam a sinner. His original sin meant that every subsequent action would be sinful. He lost the state of blessing connected to his original righteousness. From now on, his thoughts, words and deeds would be affected by sin. He would have new thoughts, new words to share, new actions to do, but they would all be tarnished by sin. For the remainder of his long life on earth, his existence would be a catalogue of sins and their effects. All his actual sins would flow from the polluting influence of original sin.

 

More can be said about the fall of Adam. He was created to be a representative person of all other humans. God entered into a covenant with him which basically said that if Adam did what God required, then not only was he safe but so would be his descendants as a race. Adam was given a great responsibility, but he could fulfil it. There was nothing unfair in the arrangement. He had information, he had wisdom, he had promises, all from God. He had warnings as well, warnings that told him that any departure from the ways of God would have disastrous effects on the race of which he was the head. Nevertheless, his failure meant that he not only failed as an individual, he also failed as our representative, and we now are regarded as guilty of disobeying God when Adam did and of inheriting the effects of his original sin.

 

The last Adam

In the garden, where sin entered the human race, God announced that a Deliverer would yet come. He would be a man, the seed of the woman. Although he would achieve his purpose of defeating the devil, he would be bruised in the process. In the New Testament, we are told how that victory and the accompanying bruising occurred at the cross as Jesus made an open show of the powers of darkness while suffering during the conflict. The deliverance that Jesus provided is explained in different ways and one of those ways is to compare him with Adam. Paul describes Jesus as the last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45), and he also says that the first Adam was a type of Christ (Rom. 5:14). 

 

In Romans 5, Paul contrasts Jesus and Adam over the effects that each of them has on those that they represent. As we have seen already, the effect of Adam was to bring condemnation and death. Paul says that the effect of Jesus’ life was to bring justification and the benefits of divine grace that follow on from it, including eternal life. Adam, we might say, took us down to the bottom. Jesus took us up very high, to acceptance in God’s sight.

 

Paul expands on those contrasts in 1 Corinthians 15. There he repeats that Adam brought us into a state of physical death. He also says that Jesus will bring those he represents into a state of physical life. That state of physical life will be unlosable because his people will have a glorified body like unto his own. So we can say that if we have Jesus as our representative, we will be justified for ever and glorified for ever. Adam brought disaster and shame; Jesus brings deliverance and eternal dignity.

 

We observed earlier that Adam failed to be a suitable prophet, a suitable priest, and a suitable king. Jesus, in contrast, is a perfect prophet, a perfect priest, and a perfect king. Each of those roles contain a great deal. When he was here on earth, Jesus taught his people, he prayed for his people, and he paid the penalty for sin. We can think of those roles in how they affect us now. Jesus teaches us from heaven as a prophet, he obtains blessings for us as a priest in heaven, and he governs and protects us as a king from heaven. In the world to come, he will continue as the teacher of his people, the worship leader of his people, and the ruler of his people.  

 

The final contrast between Adam and Jesus is that Jesus ensures that his people shall have the promised inheritance. Adam, instead of protecting the inheritance for his co-heirs, removed from them the possibility of them receiving it through him. In contrast to that failure, Jesus did everything that was needed for his co-heirs to receive his inheritance. Jesus cannot lose his inheritance, which means that his people cannot lose it either. This is why the biblical writers have such confidence about the future inheritance of the new heavens and new earth, the place where righteousness will dwell, where the sons of God will live in the place where the glory of God is revealed. 

 

In Adam or in Christ

The Bible’s teaching on Adam is a reminder that it is not wise or safe to be in Adam, to be linked to him. To be there is to be linked to one who rebelled against God, who was given a great start but who squandered all his privileges, not just for himself but for every person. Adam himself is dead, the consequence of his own actions. He is unable to help any of his descendants. In contrast, it is wise and safe to be in Christ, to be linked to Jesus. He has undone what Adam did and has provided the only way of recovery for mankind. 

 

The way to become in Christ is by repenting of our sins and trusting in Jesus. Repentance is the appropriate response to the effects of Adam in our lives. Because he was our representative at the beginning, his failure has resulted in us having the whole of life affected by sin. In his mercy, God offers us pardon and cleansing because Jesus paid the penalty for the sins of all who will trust in him. This offer is made to us in the gospel, and we should respond to it by committing ourselves into the hands of Jesus, thankful that we can do so, and gladly but humbly accepting the divine method of spiritual recovery. 

 

The fact is, we are either in Adam or in Christ. The good news is that we can move from being in Adam to being in Christ, and once that move is made, it cannot be reversed.