Adam brought death. Christ brings life.

Adam brought death.  Christ brings life.

Last week we began a study in typology, the study of types and shadows.

We defined types and shadows as a concise way to say “types, shadows, patterns, symbols, figures, images, representations, correlations and any other word that communicates the essence of an Old Covenant person, place, or thing that pointed forward to a greater reality that would be found in the New Covenant.”

So types and shadows are OC people, places, & things that pointed forward to NC realities. 

Today, we are going to take an in depth look at Adam as a type of Christ.

Adam is a person we find in the OT who foreshadows Christ.  Adam is the type.  Christ is the antitype.  Adam is the shadow, Christ is the reality, the substance, the fulfillment.

Scripture explicitly calls Adam a type of Christ.

One of the things I shared with you last week is that not everything in the OT is necessarily a type.  I want us to be careful in calling things types that may not be, myself included.  When it comes to determining if something is a type, there are those that are 

• possible types
• probable types
• positive

Adam is positively identified as a type of Christ.  Adam is in the NT explicitly called a type of Christ.  So I have no problem calling Adam a type of Christ because Scripture does.  

 (ESV) Rom 5:12-14  12Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14Yet 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.  Adam was a type of the one who was to come.  The one to come was Jesus.  Scripture explicitly calls Adam a type of Christ.  Adam was a type of Christ.  Christ was the antitype, the substance, the fulfillment, the reality.

Let’s now explore the ways in which Adam is a type of Christ, how Adam foreshadows Christ.  As an overview:

• Scripture calls both Adam and Christ sons of God
• Both Adam and Christ are uniquely born
• Both Adam and Christ were given a bride by God
• Scripture calls Adam the first man/adam and Christ the last man/adam
• Both Adam and Christ are representatives of man, the federal head of a corporate body
• Both Adam and Christ follow a particular pattern.  The pattern is: 
• one man
• his one action
• the result of his action and
• its effects on humanity

BOTH ARE CALLED THE SON OF GOD  Luke 3:21-24 When all the people were being baptized, Jesus ws baptized too.  And as he was praying heaven was opened 22and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove.  And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” We see very clearly that Jesus is declared to be the Son of God.  23Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry.  He was the son, so it was thought of Joseph, the son of Heli, 24 the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melki, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph…and on down we read from this genealogy as Luke records Jesus’ lineage.  As you trace this genealogy back you can see that it records David in v31, Abraham, Isaac & Jacob in v34 and we can pick up in verse 38the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.  Adam is called the "son of God." 

Adam was a type of Christ.  Adam was the Son of God in the sense that God birthed him and fathered him in the garden.  Christ is the son of God in the sense that He is one with the Father and a part of the Godhead.  Although both Adam and Christ are called "sons of God" the sonship of Christ is far superior.  That is our first point: Both Adam and Christ are called “sons of God.”Our 2nd point is:  

BOTH WERE UNIQUELY BORN  Adam was uniquely born.  Most human beings are born through a birth canal and it’s really gross.  Adam was the first human being ever created, thus, no birth canal.  He was born in a unique way.  Gen 2:7 the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.  I don’t even know if he had a belly button.  Adam was formed out of the dust of the earth – that is a unique birth.  Christ also was uniquely born.  Jesus on the other hand was born of a virgin. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit.  Matthew 1:18-23 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.  Because Joseph he husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.  20But after he had considered this an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  21She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.  22All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” – which means, “God with us.”

Both Adam and Christ had a unique birth.  Adam was born of the dust of the earth, Christ was born of a virgin, conceived by the Holy Spirit.  Adam was a type of Christ.

BOTH WERE GIVEN A BRIDE BY GOD…  Adam was given a bride by God Gen 2:20b-24 But for Adam no suitable helper was found. ²¹ So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs  and closed up the place with flesh. ²² Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. ²³ The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman, ’ for she was taken out of man.” ²⁴ For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.  God presented Adam with a bride.

Jesus was also given a bride by God, the church.  Rev 19:7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.  Rev 21:2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.  God presented Christ, his son, with a bride, the church.

Both Adam and Christ were given a bride from God.  God presented Eve to Adam as a bride; God presented the church to Christ as a bride (cf. Eph 5 & John 10:25-29).  Adam was a type of Christ.

ADAM IS THE FIRST MAN/ADAM, CHRIST IS THE SECOND/LAST MAN/ADAM (NLT) 1Cor 15:45-49  The Scriptures tell us, “The first man, Adam, became a living person.” But the last Adam—that is, Christ—is a life-giving Spirit. 46 What comes first is the natural body, then the spiritual body comes later. 47 Adam, the first man, was made from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven. 48 Earthly people are like the earthly man, and heavenly people are like the heavenly man. 49 Just as we are now like the earthly man, we will someday be like the heavenly man.

Adam is a type of Christ.  Here, the Scripture tells us that Adam was the first man, Christ is the last man.  That doesn’t mean, obviously, that Christ was the last man ever.  We’re here today.  It implies that 

BOTH ADAM AND CHRIST ARE REPRESENTATIVES OF MAN.  Adam is the first representative.  Christ is the last representative.  Adam is the representative or head of all who belong to him, those who walk according to the flesh, the natural man.  Christ is the representative or head of all who belong to him, those who walk according to the spirit, the regenerate man.

Now, I’d like us to examine the pattern followed by both Adam and Christ.  Before we really dive into this, I’d like to read from the Genesis account of Adam, creation and the fall so that it’s fresh on our minds as we will be referring to it throughout our assessment of this pattern followed by Adam and Christ.

Let’s open our bibles to Genesis 2:4 (NASB)

⁴This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made earth and heaven.

 ⁵Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted,  for the LORD God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground.

 ⁶But a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground.

 ⁷Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

 ⁸The LORD God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed.

 ⁹Out of the ground the LORD God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

 ¹⁰Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four rivers.

 ¹¹The name of the first is Pishon; it flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.

 ¹²The gold of that land is good; the bdellium and the onyx stone are there.

 ¹³The name of the second river is Gihon; it flows around the whole land of Cush.

 ¹⁴The name of the third river is Tigris; it flows east of Assyria And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

 ¹⁵Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.

 ¹⁶The LORD God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely;

 ¹⁷but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die."

 ¹⁸Then the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him."

 ¹⁹Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name.

 ²⁰The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him.

 ²¹So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place.

 ²²The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.

 ²³The man said, "This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man."

 ²⁴For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.

 ²⁵And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

Gen 3

¹Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?"

 ²The woman said to the serpent, "From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;

 ³but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'"

 ⁴The serpent said to the woman, "You surely will not die!

 ⁵"For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

 ⁶When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

 ⁷Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

 ⁸They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

 ⁹Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?"

 ¹⁰He said, "I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself."

 ¹¹And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?"

 ¹²The man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate."

 ¹³Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" And the woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

 ¹⁴The LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go,  And dust you will eat All the days of your life ¹⁵And I will put enmity  Between you and the woman,  And between your seed and her seed;  He shall bruise you on the head,  And you shall bruise him on the heel."

 ¹⁶To the woman He said, "I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you."

 ¹⁷Then to Adam He said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it';   Cursed is the ground because of you;  In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life.  ¹⁸"Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you;  And you will eat the plants of the field;  ¹⁹By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken;  For you are dust,  And to dust you shall return."

 ²⁰Now the man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.

 ²¹The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.

 ²²Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever"--

 ²³therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken.

 ²⁴So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.

I want to call your attention to a few things:

• God made Adam outside the garden, then put him in the garden.
• God told Adam not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil
• God said in the day he ate of it he would surely die
• On the day he ate he didn’t die a physical death
• What the serpent said would happen did happen, his eyes where opened
• Either the serpent told the truth and God lied or God told the truth and the death God promised as the result of sin was spiritual death, judgment/condemnation and as a result, separation from him

Some people make a big deal about physical death and say that Adam was created immortal and would have lived forever if he hadn’t sinned.  I don’t know that I can agree with that.

• Note that also in order for Adam to live forever he had to eat from the tree of life.  If Adam needed to eat from the tree of life in order to live forever it doesn’t seem that he was already going to live forever, at least in a physical sense.  
• Nothing in the text indicates that Adam was designed to live in a physical body on earth forever and everything in the text seems to indicate that he was actually going to die a physical death at some point.
• You were taken from the ground
• To the ground you will return
• People say that this indicates that NOW man is going to die a physical death.  That to mention the fact that he was dust and to dust he would return was as arbitrary as saying “and your eyes are blue.”
• However, I don’t think it’s arbitrary as God just made man from the dust, mortal.
• Hey, mortal, whom I just made from the dust.  You’re dust and to dust you will return.  Now for you, mortal, dust, who I made, you will return to dust, but during your limited life in that physical body, work is going to be laborious and no longer pleasurable.  I am taking you, dust, from the garden, putting you back in the dust from whence you came, and you will work the ground there, where I will cause thorns and thistles to grow
• You will eat from the sweat of your brow till you die a physical death, which you were always going to experience because you weren’t created immortal, but mortal.  You didn’t eat from the tree of life, nor will you.  You ate from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat.  I presented before you life and death and you chose death.
• So again, many say that physical death is the result of sin, but I disagree because God said that the death Adam would die as a result of sin would be on the day he ate.  He lived physically for a total of 930 years.  Thus, I believe it is spiritual death, separation from God that is in view here.
• Physical death can’t separate an individual from God.  Fellowship with God is the goal.
• The death that plagues mankind is not physical death.  Paul seemed to long for physical death in phil 1.  The death that plagues mankind is spiritual death.
• The death that resulted from Adam’s sin, which is the focus of our discussion today, was spiritual death – separation from God.

Again, Adam is a type of Christ and Christ is the antitype.  In the Greek, it literally says Adam is a type.  We read that in Romans 5 earlier.  Let’s revisit that passage in Romans 5.  The verse we stopped in was verse 14, which said that Adam was a type of the one to come.  

NASB, ESV, & NKJV all translate the Greek word used in that verse, tupos as type.  That is a good and very literal translation.  

KJV translates it as figure: Adam is “the figure of him that was to come.”  

AMP translates typos as type and puts (prefigure) in parenthesis.  

The NLT says “Now Adam is a symbol, a representation of Christ, who was yet to come.”  

The NIV, says Adam “was a pattern of the one to come.”  

Type, figure, prefigure, symbol, representation, and pattern are all good translations of the word.  In light of the context and what follows, I think pattern is a good word picture.  As I said before, we certainly see a pattern.  

Let’s examine this pattern.  Notice as we read that the pattern is: one man, his one action, the results of the one action and its effects on humanity.

V14Adam was a pattern of the one to come…

Rom 5:15-19  15But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! 16Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man's sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. 17For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. 

18Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. 19For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

Adam was a pattern of the one to come.  The pattern we see is: one man, his one action, and the result of his action and its effects on humanity.

15But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, The one man here is Adam.  The one action here is the trespass.  You’ve all seen “no trespassing” signs.  Those signs mean it is unlawful for you to step across that line.  Trespass means to go beyond the boundary line.  God gave a boundary line.  He said, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; ¹⁷ but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for [on the day] you eat of it you will surely die." 

One man: Adam.

One action: trespass (eating the forbidden fruit)

The result of the one man’s action: the many died.  

Adam, as the ancestor of all humans, as a representative of mankind, trespassed; he overstepped the boundary line; he ate the forbidden fruit.  Because of this one trespass, Adam died a spiritual death.  On the day he ate, he was banished from the presence of God, alienated from God; he was exiled.  He was put out of the garden and was kept from entering back into the garden.

As a result, all of his ancestors are also born outside of the garden.  All are born dead.  All are born into a state of separation from God and need to be reconciled to him.  Because of the one man’s trespass many died.  Adam’s one action affected you and me.  Adam’s one action affected the entire human race.  Not only did Adam die, but all died.  Because of our connection with Adam, as his descendents, we were dead.  

Paul writes to the Ephesians 

Eph 2:1-5 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.  All of us also lived among them at one time gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts.  Like the rest we were by nature objects of wrath.  But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in transgressions.

People receiving and reading this letter weren’t dead physically.  They were dead spiritually.  They were sinners and thus under God’s wrath and condemnation, separated from him.  The death in view here is spiritual death.

SO again, our pattern: one man, his one action, the results and its effect on the human race.  One man-Adam, one action-eating forbidden fruit (trespass), result-all died.

We’re only halfway through the verse.  We saw the pattern of Adam.  Now for Christ.  3For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!  You can see the pattern set by the first Adam and how it is similar to that of the last Adam.  However, as in the case of all types, the antitype is surpassingly greater.  The one man-Jesus Christ, his action-saving grace, the result-the gift of eternal life.  Paul says, “How much more.”  The last Adam, his action and the results are far more glorious and admirable and worthy of praise than those of the first Adam.  Adam brought death.  Christ brings life.

Through Adam, death overflowed to many.  Through Christ, grace overflowed to many.

VERSE 16 Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man's sin: Paul is comparing and contrasting the first Adam and last Adam.  He is showing the similarities in their pattern, but all the while showing that the last Adam, Christ is far greater.  One man, one action, the repercussions.  He says again, I’ve already kind of said this, but let me reiterate.  In verse 16 he is comparing the results & the repercussions of the one man’s actions.  The judgment followed one ]sin and brought condemnation,

One man committed one sin which resulted in judgment and condemnation for himself and the rest of us.  but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. It only took one sin from one man to bring judgment and condemnation to many, but after many men committed many trespasses the one man Jesus Christ brings justification and the gift of eternal life.  The first man made a mess of things, but the last man made things right.  The first man ruined our relationship with God, but the last man reconciled us to God and restored us to a right relationship.

Simply put, 

Rom 6:23 the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord.  Adam brought death.  Christ brings life.

It only took one act of unrighteousness to bring condemnation to all, and then through Christ’s glorious act of righteousness, He brought justification to all.

VERSE 17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, We see the same pattern repeated again, but this time with the reign of death as the result.  One man-Adam, one trespass-ate the forbidden fruit, the repercussions-death reigned.  Man was separated from God and no matter how much man wanted to be reconciled to God he couldn’t.  God put a flashing sword and a cherubim to guard the garden.  Then even when God set apart a people for himself to dwell in their midst, a veil stood between God and man.  

Death reigned through Adam.  (1 John 5:12, John 5:24, Matt 8:21, Eph 2).  There are dead people everywhere.  They are dead because of the sin that came into the world by the one man Adam.  

Through one man and his one sin, death came into the world and reigned over all.  Adam brought death.

17For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. The pattern is resumed but far greater and vastly superior in Christ: one man, one action, the results and the effects on humanity.  One man-Christ, one action-death on the cross, the result-the abundant provision of grace, the gift of righteousness (HUGE) and reigning in life.  We, who receive God’s grace in Jesus receive the gift of righteousness and eternal life.  We have crossed over from death to life.  We are fully alive.  Death no longer reigns over us, but we reign in life through Jesus Christ.  Adam brought death.  Christ brings life.

VERSE 18 Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.   

We see the continuing pattern: one man, one action and the results of that action.  The result of Adam’s trespass was condemnation for all men, not just himself.  His sin brought condemnation for you and I.  His sin brought condemnation and thus spiritual death to you and me.  

The result of Jesus’ one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.  

Adam brought death.  Christ brings life.  

VERSE 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.  Again, Paul re-iterates Christ following the pattern of Adam, but in a contrasting way.  Adam disobeyed, making many sinners.  Christ obeyed, making many righteous.  What did Christ obey?  Everything.  He was without sin.  He obeyed the Law, both the letter of the Law and the spirit of the Law.  But that’s not what we’re talking about here.  We are contrasting one man, one act and the results of that one act.  What one act of obedience are we talking about here with Christ?  The disobedience of Adam is obviously the eating of the forbidden fruit in the garden, but what is Christ’s one act of obedience?  It was the very thing that sounded so far from appetizing; it was the one thing that he seemed to have dreaded, the thing that He prayed about in the garden of Gethsemane that God the Father might remove from before him, the thing that had Him sweating drops of blood, agonizing over.  Jesus, being in very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death- even death on a cross. (Php 2:6-8)  The one act of obedience was His death on the cross, the death He did not deserve.  He was forsaken by His Father. Death is deserved for sin.  The man who never sinned received the penalty for sin.  Through Adam’s disobedience, many were made sinners, but through the obedience of the 2nd Adam, the many will be made righteous.  Adam brought death.  Christ brings life.

IN CONCLUSION… Adam was a type of Christ.  Christ is the antitype, the fulfillment, the substance, the reality.  As with all types and shadows in the OT, their NT fulfillment is far greater, vastly superior more glorious and worthy of greater honor.  

Adam and his actions affect us.  Christ and his actions affect us.  The effects of Adam and his actions were devastating for the human race.  The consequences are universal.  However, the effects of Jesus Christ and His actions were magnificent and wonderful for the human race.  That which we lost in Adam, we have gained in Christ.  

We all belong to one of these two men.  We either belong to Adam or we belong to Christ.  We either find our identity in Adam or find our identity in Christ.  

All in Adam die.  All in Christ have life.  Adam brought death.  Christ brings life.

There is a life-giving connection between Jesus and those who belong to him, which is far greater than the death-producing union between Adam and those who belong to him.  

Adam brought death.  Christ brings life.