The Second Adam
(Our December series on OT pointers to Christ)
Scripture Reading: Romans 5:14
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.
In theology, a type is a foreshadowing of a person or event that will happen in the future. They are not the same thing as an illustration. An illustration is simply taking one thing and using it to help understand something else. Illustrations are purely incidental and accidental and depend on the insight of the one using them. Types are preplanned. God Himself orchestrated things to make something or someone a prophetic picture of a person or event that would come later in history.
Since Jesus is the central person of Scripture, it is easy to understand that a majority of Old Testament types point to Him and His work as our Redeemer. Like literal shadows, types are never a perfect representation, but they give us glimpses and help us understand the shape of Christ and His work.
One could ask why we need to give them any thought since Christ has come. Why look at a shadow when we can see the substance? Why consider a prophecy when we have the fulfillment of that prophecy?
One reason is because these help confirm that Jesus is the Messiah that God promised from the beginning. It shows us that Jesus and His work was not something that just occurred incidentally in human history, but that it was planned by God from eternity past. These types also help us to understand the reality better. They, in their own way, serve as lessons about who Jesus was and what He came to do.
One of those types was Adam. Paul expounds on that in Romans 5 and also in 1 Corinthians 15. But Adam is a type by way of contrast. Jesus is the second Adam because he reverses the effects of Adam’s failure, bringing redemption, restoration, and new life to humanity. Where Adam failed to fulfill God’s purpose, Jesus succeeded, establishing a new covenant and a pathway to eternal life.
· Adam was disobedient. Jesus was obedient, even to the point of death on the cross.
· Adam’s sin brought death to all. Jesus' death and resurrection bring life eternal to all who believe in Him.
· Condemnation came through Adam. Grace, forgiveness, and justification come through Jesus Christ.
In short, the first Adam was the source of death, and Jesus, the Second Adam is the source of life to all who believe in Him.
