The Last Adam in the Bible

The Last Adam in the Bible

By Royce G. Gruenler

In I Cor. 15:45 Paul refers to Jesus Christ as "the last Adam" (ho eschatos Adam) in contrast to "the first man Adam" (ho protos anthropos Adam). In this antithetic parallelism there is a continuity of humanity, but the second person who represents the new humanity so far excels the first that he is described as the one who became an active "life-giving spirit" (pneuma zoopoioun), where the original Adam (Gen. 2:7) became only "a natural living being" (psychen zosan). The contrast is heightened by Paul's pointed antithetic style, setting Adam as over against Christ in I Cor. 15:46-49:

First Adam 46: "natural" (psychikon) 47: "the first man" (ho protos anthropos) "from the earth, of dust" (ek ges, choikos) 48: "as was the man of dust, so are those who are of dust" (hoios ho choikos, toioutoi kai hoi choikoi) 49: "as we have borne the image of the man of dust" (kathos ephoresamen ten eikona tou choikou)

Second Adam 46: "spiritual" (pneumatikon) 47: "the second man" (ho deuteros anthropos) "from heaven" (ex ouranou) 48: "as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven" (hoios ho epouranios, toioutoi kai hoi epouranioi) 49: "we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven" (phoresomen kai ten eikona tou epouraniou)

The same contrast was also made earlier in I Cor. 15:21-22 and linked with death and resurrection:

First Adam 21: "since by a man came death" (epeide gar di' antropou thanatos) 22: "For as in Adam all die" (hosper gar en to Adam pantes apothneskousin)

Second Adam 21: "so also by a man has come the resurrection of the dead" (kai di' anthropou anastasis nekron) 22: "so also in Christ shall all be made alive" (houtos kai en to Christo pantes zoopoiethesontai)

The contrast is expressed again in Rom. 5:14-19, where Paul describes the first Adam as follows: disobedience, trespass, judgement, condemnation, death, many = all. But Jesus Christ as the second Adam is described in the following antithetic terms: obedience, grace, free gift, justification, acquittal, righteousness, life, many/all. The powerful effect of Christ as the second Adam is summed up in one of Paul's favorite expressions, "how much more" (pollo mallon, 5:15, 17, and 8, 10), which makes explicit the Christological implications of the "how much more" in Jesus' own proclamation (Matt. 6:30; 7:11). These ideas may also be found in John 5:21-29; Rom. 1:3-5; 6:5-11; II Cor. 5:1-4, 17; Phil. 2:5-11.

Bibliography. 

C. K. Barrett, From Adam to Last; O. Cullmann, The Christology of the NT; R. Scroggs, The Last Adam; W. D. Davis, Paul and Rabbinic Judaism.

Source: Elwell, Evangelical Dictionary of Theology.