Adam – The First Man and the Pattern of Him Who Was to Come
Before Abraham, before Noah, before any patriarch or prophet, there was Adam—the first man, formed from the dust of the earth, animated by the breath of God, placed in paradise to tend the garden and name the animals. His name means “man” or “humanity,” for in him the entire human race was represented. His choices became our inheritance; his fall became our plight. Yet Scripture presents Adam not merely as humanity’s progenitor but as “the figure of him that was to come” (Romans 5:14)—a type pointing forward to Christ, the last Adam.
The Common Reading
The account of Adam’s creation and fall occupies the opening chapters of Genesis and shapes all subsequent Scripture. God formed Adam from the ground (adamah in Hebrew), breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and placed him in the Garden of Eden. Adam was given dominion over all creation: “Have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth” (Genesis 1:28).
Everything God created was “very good.” Adam enjoyed unhindered fellowship with his Creator, walking with God in the cool of the day. He was given one prohibition: “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:17). A single command tested his obedience and trust.
God declared it not good for man to be alone and created Eve from Adam’s side as his companion and helper. Together they were naked and unashamed, innocent and whole. But the serpent entered the garden with his subtle question: “Hath God said?” Eve was deceived, Adam willfully disobeyed, and paradise was lost. Shame, blame, and curse followed. Death entered the world, and Adam’s descendants have borne its weight ever since.
Traditional interpretation emphasizes Adam as the origin of human sin and its consequences. “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). Adam’s failure explains humanity’s universal condition—our bent toward sin, our alienation from God, our mortality. We inherit not just his nature but his guilt, standing in solidarity with our fallen father.
The Limitation of This Reading
While the traditional reading correctly identifies Adam’s significance for understanding human sinfulness, it does not exhaust his importance. Paul’s statement that Adam was “the figure of him that was to come” indicates that Adam’s role was not merely to originate human history but to anticipate its culmination. Adam was a pattern—but a pattern of what? Of whom?
The first Adam failed in paradise, surrounded by abundance, facing a single prohibition. Why would God create such a figure? If Adam was merely the starting point of human history, why does Paul labor so extensively in Romans 5 and 1 Corinthians 15 to compare and contrast him with Christ? The comparison suggests Adam was designed from the beginning to point beyond himself to Another.
Christ-Centered Unveiling
Paul explicitly identifies Christ as “the last Adam” (1 Corinthians 15:45). This title is not incidental but essential to understanding Christ’s work. Where the first Adam failed, the last Adam succeeded. Where the first Adam brought death, the last Adam brought life. The two Adams stand as federal heads of two humanities: Adam represents all who are in him by natural birth; Christ represents all who are in Him by spiritual rebirth.
Consider the parallels and contrasts: Adam was formed from the dust of the ground; Christ, though eternally divine, took on human flesh and was “made of a woman, made under the law” (Galatians 4:4). Adam was tested in a garden of abundance; Christ was tested in a wilderness of deprivation, hungry after forty days of fasting. Adam faced one prohibition and failed; Christ faced every temptation “yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).
Adam’s sin occurred in a garden—Eden. Christ’s agony also occurred in a garden—Gethsemane. In Eden, Adam said, “My will, not Yours.” In Gethsemane, Christ said, “Not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42). Adam reached for the forbidden fruit to become like God; Christ, “being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of nothing” (Philippians 2:6-7). Adam grasped; Christ released.
Adam’s disobedience brought a curse upon humanity. Christ bore that curse on the cross: “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree” (Galatians 3:13). The tree of death in Eden finds its answer in the tree of life at Calvary.
The Fulfillment in Christ
Romans 5 develops the Adam-Christ parallel in detail: “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous” (Romans 5:19). Adam’s one act of disobedience imputed sin to all his descendants; Christ’s one act of obedience—His sacrificial death—imputes righteousness to all who believe. “For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:17).
The first Adam was given dominion over creation but lost it through sin. The last Adam will restore that dominion: “For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death” (1 Corinthians 15:25-26). What Adam forfeited, Christ reclaims. The creation that groans under the curse will one day be liberated into “the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21).
Eve was formed from Adam’s side while he slept. The church, Christ’s bride, was formed from His wounded side while He slept the sleep of death on the cross. “One of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water” (John 19:34). Blood for redemption, water for cleansing—the elements that constitute the church. Adam said of Eve, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.” Paul quotes this passage and adds: “This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church” (Ephesians 5:32).
Adam named his wife Eve, meaning “life” or “living,” because she would be “the mother of all living” (Genesis 3:20). Christ gives His bride a new name and new life: “Behold, I make all things new” (Revelation 21:5). Through Eve came natural life that ends in death; through Christ comes spiritual life that never ends.
The Gospel Mystery Revealed
The contrast between the two Adams reveals the heart of the gospel. “The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly” (1 Corinthians 15:47-48). Every human being is born in Adam, bearing his image, sharing his condemnation. But every believer is reborn in Christ, bearing His image, sharing His righteousness.
Here is the transfer that saves: We were in Adam—guilty, condemned, dying. By faith we are now in Christ—forgiven, justified, alive. “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22). The history of humanity is the tale of two Adams: one who plunged us into ruin, one who lifts us to glory.
Adam was driven from paradise, barred from the tree of life by the cherubim’s flaming sword. But the last Adam reopens paradise: “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God” (Revelation 2:7). What the first Adam lost, the last Adam restores—and more. Paradise regained exceeds paradise lost; the final state surpasses the original.
In which Adam do you stand? By natural birth, you are in Adam—there is no escape from this solidarity. But by supernatural birth, you can be transferred into Christ. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). The first Adam’s legacy is death; the last Adam offers life. Choose life.