Adam and Christ

“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” (1 Corinthians 15:22)

Some may wonder how God in His Word would even mention the names of Adam and Christ in the same sentence by way of comparison. And yet, in Romans 5:15, the Spirit inspired Word declares Adam to be THE FIGURE (type) of Him that was to come. How so?

1.) By way of representation: Adam was created as the representative head of all his descendants. The Scriptures declare that by his one disobedience sin, death and condemnation were imputed, once for all, to all his race, Romans 5:12. The imputation of Adam’s sin to his entire race is reflective of God’s just judgment on his entire race. It is a very real imputation with real consequences. It is the reason that we ALL are born into this world sinners and therefore do sin. The Good News, however, is that even as Adam is the representative of his race, so the LORD Jesus Christ is the Appointed Representative of His race (that people that God the Father gave Him from eternity, and for whom the LORD Jesus came and paid their entire debt). Just as Adam’s disobedience had real effects as a result of God imputing it in legal justice, so Christ’s obedience unto death has real consequences for His race-a legal justice that was imputed to each one, once for all upon completion of His death at the cross, 2 Corinthians 5:21.