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The Two Adams: Contrasted

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Sin is the legacy that our first parents have left the human race. Thomas Boston says: “God made Adam captain of the ship, in which were all our goods, and he ran us on to the rocks and made shipwreck of us.” Romans 5 reminds us that there are two great representative heads—the first and last Adam. We can gather what we lost in the first, by pondering the following contrasts:

In Adam In Christ
Sin (Rom. v. 12) … … Righteousness (II. Cor. v. 21).
Death (Rom. v. 17) … … Life (I. John v. 11).
Banishment (Eph. ii. 13) … Nearness (Eph. ii. 13).
Condemnation (Rom. v. 18) … Justification (Rom. v. 1).
Curse (Gal. iii. 10) … … Blessing (Eph. i. 3).
Judgment (John iii. 36) … Deliverance (II. Cor. i. 10).
Shame (Ezekiel xvi. 5) … Glory (John xvii. 24).
Poverty (Isaiah lv. 1) … Riches (II. Cor. viii. 9).
Sickness (Isaiah i. 5, 6) … Health (Psalm xxiii. 3).
Defeat (II. Tim. ii. 26) … Victory (I. John v. 4).
Sorrow (Gen. iii. 17) … … Joy (Rom. v. 11).
Weakness (Rom. v. 6) … Power (Phil. iv. 13).
Enmity (Rom. viii. 7) … Oneness (Gal. iii. 28).
Bondage (Heb. ii. 15) … Liberty (Gal. v. 1).

 

The above may be illustrated by taking two books and a card—one book representing Adam, and the other representing Christ. Put the card in the book Adam, and then put it in the book Christ.

“Scripture bears witness, with the vast experience of mankind, to the depravity of men, and to their distortion universally (1 Kings 8:46; Psalm 51:5; 143:2; Jeremiah 17:9; Matthew 7:11; Romans 3:19, 20; Ephesians 2:1-3).” The Chinese moralists teach that “man is born good.” Yet an ancient Chinese proverb speaks of “two good men-one dead, the other unborn;” which is another way of saying, “there are none good.”

The Fall was the key that unlocked the flood-gates of evil, and allowed the waters of iniquity to cut us off from God; the fall was the fatal touch that imparted to our nature the disease of sin; the fall was the hand that dropped into our cup the poison of iniquity; the fall was the robber that robbed us of the blessings of Paradise; the fall was the rust that corrupted the nature of man; the fall was the blight that marred God’s fair creation; and the fall was the depositor of all the germs of evil in our nature. Watson says, “Let us lay to heart original sin, and be deeply humbled by it. It cleaves to us as a disease, it is an active principle in us, stirring us up to evil. Some think, as long as they are civil, they are well enough; ay, but the nature is poisoned. A river may have fair streams, but vermin in the bottom.”

This has been adapted from the commentaries of F.E. Marsh, coming soon to the Blue Letter Bible. If you would like to help pray or contribute to this portion of the ministry, please contact us here.

Comments

  2. Thank you for your website. I am new to this site and it amazes me how God can speak to us and our even in this electronic day and age.
    I am taking a “Beth Moore-James Mercy Triumphs” and I wanted to learn more.
    To me it is amazing that even people today refer things to ships and other things that we mere humans can understand. Thank you and God bless this site.

  3. We are filled with folly if we can for a moment think that this generation is any less corrupt than the first Adam. All of mankind is bent on sin, tolerated and even seemingly acceptable through pitiful self deceptions.

    Christ not only frees us from the sin but also from the mental and emotional bondage that comes with it. Jesus enables us to live with ourselves in an understanding, non-condemning way (Jeremiah 17:9, Romans 3:23, 1 John 1:9, 2 Corinthians 7:10, Colossians 3:2, John 8:35, Romans 14:22-23.)

    He came to build up a holy habitation of peace and reconciliation in our hearts for all eternity. Now that’s freedom! All we have to do is trust what His Word says, no more excuses with the self condemnation, just ‘go and sin no more.’ (John 8:11, John 3:17, John 8:35)

  4. Romans 6:18 Being then made free from sin you became the servants of righteousness

    Romans 6:20 For when you were the servants of sin you were free from righteousness

    Romans 6:22 But now being made free from sin and become servants to GOD ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life

  5. Despite the fact that Scripture clearly identifies Adam, not Eve, as the one through whom sin and death was brought into the creation, ‘Christendom’ has been crippled by ‘man’-made false doctrines wherein Eve is guilty, not only of having been deceived and first to act upon the enticement of the ‘serpent’, but guilty also of having corrupted Adam and ‘causing’ him to fall/sin.

    Despite the fact that Scripture also clearly states that ‘Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law’, ‘men’ have fabricated another blasphemous false doctrine, teaching that ‘women’ remain under a curse, implying Christ’s redemption falls short, and that ‘marriage’ constitutes a curse on the woman.

    If we examine the account of man’s fall in Genesis, not only do we see that it was Eve, not Adam, whom YHWH named as the one who had become satan’s enemy but that it was through the woman, not the man, that the Seed would come to deliver mankind and crush the ‘serpent’s’ head. Yet ‘men’ have completely reversed Eve’s/woman’s place in YHWH’s plan and reclassified her as ‘cursed’.

    We must ask the question why YHWH acknowledged enmity between the woman and the serpent and between the ‘Seed of the woman’ and the seed of the serpent, but makes no such identification of an enmity between the man and the serpent or the ‘seed of man’ and the seed of the serpent. We have been taught that it was YHWH Who initiated the enmity between the woman and the serpent, but this cannot be so, or it would mean YHWH left the man in a state of ‘kinship’ with the woman’s enemy.

    We see in the Genesis account that it was Eve, not YHWH, who initiated the enmity between herself and the serpent, by her repentance; her admission to her sin of heeding the serpent’s lies and believing and acting on them against what YHWH had commanded. We see YHWH reinforcing that enmity between the woman and the serpent with His own enmity, indicating His stand with the woman against the serpent because the woman aligned herself with YHWH against the serpent.

    Adam does not repent but instead blames the woman and ultimately YHWH for his fall and completely shield’s the serpent as a party involved the conspiracy. So, in fact, Adam had retained a ‘friendship’ with the serpent, whereas Eve made herself the serpent’s enemy by truthfully testifying of his involvement in the crime.

    Therfore, Eve was restored to YHWH, whereas Adam remained in his sin, choosing to retain his kinship with the serpent. Furthermore, we see that it is the man alone who is banished from Eden, whereas YHWH warns the woman that though she may be (teshuqa=turning) inclined to follow her husband, in his present state of sin, he would make life miserable for her and her children and would dominate and oppress her.

    This domination and oppression is the kind of treatment one receives at the hand of an enemy, not a mate. Ergo YHWH’s ordinance of marriage, “Therefore shall a MAN leave ‘father’ and mother and cleave to his WIFE.”, rather than the woman leaving father and mother to cleave to her husband. And yet, we see how man has perverted this order as well and woman is not only separated from her family, but is esteemed part of the man’s property, even in ‘Christendom’, although more covertly than in other cultures (e.g. taking on the man’s surname).

    In ‘Christendom’, men point to the fact that Christ was born a Manchild, not a womanchild, to justify man’s predominance and even superiority, in ‘Christian service’ as well as in the family, whereas, according to Genesis, it is the ‘man’ who needs to be saved through the ‘Seed of the ‘woman’. If it had been ‘woman’ who had refused to repent, it would be through the ‘Seed of the man’ that her salvation would be accomplished, and that ‘Seed’ would necessarily have had to have come into the world as a ‘womanchild’ to save ‘womankind’.

    Scripture attests that ‘sin came into the world through the ‘man’, and that it is through the ‘man’ that sin and its effects has come upon all, including ‘women’, because ‘women’ are born through men. Ergo, we could conclude that if ‘women’ could be born without the involvement of ‘men’, that the sin of man would be by-passed. We see evidence of this in the conception of Jesus Christ, Who was born sinless, through the ‘woman’, having by-passed ‘man’s’ sin by eliminating ‘man’s’ involvement in His condeption.

    All history, from the moment Eve followed Adam out of Eden, (her real sin, since she repent and was foriven of the other), is rife with the evidence of not only the enmity between the woman and the serpent, but of man’s collusion, wittingly or otherwise, with the woman’s enemy. And so it had to be since the serpent could have done little or nothing against his enemy, the woman, without the cooperation of the man.

    The damage that has been done to the plan of YHWH for His creation by these false teachings which have divided men from women and tainted the image we have of ourselves and each other, is inestimable. Everything, from woman’s role in service to YHWH to man’s relation to man, has been poisoned by the serpent through the man, even to the extent that some men teach that Eve had sex with a fallen angel and thus conceived Cain!

    The wars and atrocities have been brought into the world by satan through manind, not through womankind. It is men, not women, who have handled and perverted the written Scriptures and spawned several false doctrines which have accommodated satan’s enmity and violence, not only against womankind, but against us all.

    Unless ‘Christianity’ wakes from this satanic deception, the body of Christ on earth will remain as crippled and ineffective and false as it has been, with a mere remnant through whom our King is able to get His work done, as it has always been since the fall of man. It’s time ‘Christians’ REPENT, just as Christ calls us to in the Revelation 2: and 3:, or we shall see satan fulfill his lusts for violence and bloodshed on the earth, precisely as Christ has WARNED us in the prophecy.

    • I don’t really agree with you on this point: “‘Christendom’ has been crippled by ‘man’-made false doctrines wherein Eve is guilty, not only of having been deceived and first to act upon the enticement of the ‘serpent’, but guilty also of having corrupted Adam and ‘causing’ him to fall/sin.” because scripture clearly states that Adam was standing right there with Eve when the serpent talked to her, and Adam, who was the one with whom God gave the directions about the fruit, said nothing to stop Eve, did nothing to protect her. I didn’t get to read your whole comment, because I am on my way to work now, but I just wanted to say that I have never been taught that Eve was the cause of Adam falling into sin. I have come to think on my own that they both were at fault and both fell short of the glory of God, and therefore that is why we need the blood of Christ to cleanse us.
      Take care, good day,
      Debi

    • Wow. So what I get from reading your thread is a hate for men. Please correct me i I’m wrong.

    • You said
      “Furthermore, we see that it is the man alone who is banished from Eden, whereas YHWH warns the woman that though she may be (teshuqa=turning) inclined to follow her husband, in his present state of sin, he would make life miserable for her and her children and would dominate and oppress her.”

      This is not biblical. The scriptures clearly tells us that both the man and the woman had to be atoned for.

      Genesis 3:21 (NASB)
      21 The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.

      The garden was perfect in Gods sight. That which is not perfect could not remain in the presence of the Lord. Therefore both Adam and his wife were dismissed from the presence of the Lord. They were both changed from perfection to imperfection. Thats why they both had to be covered, atoned for with the skin of an animal whose blood was shed on their behalf. So Eve was kicked out of the garden for her part as well.

    • Genesis 3:17 (NASB)
      17 Then 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.

    • Linda, the bottom line is that both man and woman are in need of redemption. They are both in need of the “new birth”.FZ

  7. Priceless site! I love BLB. Sorry to see foolish bickering here by comment posters, though. I guess it’s inevitable. Carnal scribes and pharisees are always wrestling with scripture instead of wrestling with God! Wounded people need a close healing walk with Jesus: not another fistfight with their fellows.

    • There is nothing wrong with healthy debate. As long as the debaters are respecting one another. The site moderators will delete whatever is deemed to be out of line I’m sure.

    • It’s so important for us as brothers and sisters in Christ to sharpen one another’s understanding – in love. Well done, Debi & Tim!

  8. 1 Corinthians 15:33 Be not deceived evil communications corrupt good manners

    1 Corinthians 15:34 Awake to righteousness and sin not for some have not the knowledge of GOD I speak this to your shame

    1 Corinthians 15:45 And so it is written the first man Adam was made a living soul the last ADAM was made a quickening spirit

    Psalm Quicken me according to thy loving kindness so shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth

    119:107 I am made low by all things LORD quicken thou me by thy word

    Hebrews 5:13 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the of righteousness for he is a babe

    Loving the LORD

  9. I love this website. It’s very helpful. Anyone can grow through the Word of God from this website. A lot of biblical information can found here.
    May God bless you.

  10. Praise the Lord that he loved us before we knew him and continues to love us the same, no more no less now that we know him. His great and matchless love.

  11. HI TIM,

    I DON’T THINK THE COMMENTS IS IMPLYING A HATE FOR MAN, HOWEVER GOD’S COVENANT WAS WITH MAN NOT THE WOMAN. THIS WHY NOTHING HAPPENED WHEN EVE SINNED. BUT ADAM LOVED EVE SOOO MUCH, HE DIDN’T WANT TO LIVE WITHOUT BEING CONNECTED TO HER, BODY, SOUL, AND SPIRIT, THEREFORE HE DIED WITH HER SPIRITUALLY, HERE WE HAVE THE FIRST SUICIDE, “HE ATE WITH HIS EYES OPENED.” MEANING IN FULL UNDERSTANDING OF HIS ACTION, HE WAS NOT DECEIVED,BUT EVE WAS. TO SUM THIS UP ADAM HAD MORE LOVE FOR EVE THAN FOR HIS CREATOR, HE DIDN’T WANT TO LIVE WITHOUT HER, BUT HE WAS WILLING TO LIVE WITHOUT GOD. LOVE, YOU BROTHER.

  12. Some interesting points. I wonder if the list of items on the ‘In Christ’ side needs some qualification. ‘Riches, Health, Victory, Joy …’. As followers of our Lord Jesus we also experience times of poverty (Luke 6:20), times of poor health (2 Timothy 4:20), times of sorrow (Rom 12:15, John 11:35), times of trouble (2 Cor 1:4) and persecution (2 Tim 3:12, Romans 8:35). He was a Man of Sorrows (Isa 53:3)and I love him for that.

  13. Good Morning. It is Wednesday, February 29.
    I just came “back” to read the posts from yesterday.
    You know, we are so blessed to have this website where we can chat back and forth, question each other, make some points (good or bad, right or wrong). We can put on our thinking caps and think about God together! We are really fortunate to be able to do this, you know: to think about your faith; to talk to each other from our desks around the world.

    Anyway, there’s this book called, “The Silence of Adam”. by Dr. Larry Crabb. It is for men, but I am reading it. I think it’s a good one.

    Off to work, have a good day!
    Debi

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