“The first man Adam became a living soul. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.”
(1 Cor 15:45, ASV)
It is of extreme importance that Paul here speaks of Christ the Redeemer with a name that no one has used up to this point – Adam. Through this naming we find an imperative parallel indicated between the first fallen man and the one who was sent to conclude God’s original plan (which the first Adam did not succeed in doing). Adam is called a type of Christ (Rom 5:14). Paul calls Jesus the last Adam, not only a “living soul”, but also a “life-giving Spirit!” The first Adam managed to get back what the first Adam lost in paradise – The Ruach of God. But it is more than that – He ushers in a time where the Ruach of God will not only be within a person, rendering him spiritually alive, but as this Spirit is life-giving He will now be able to raise man up into a new dispensation with Christ. Rom 8:10-12 clearly states – “And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.” The life of Jesus must be made manifest in our mortal flesh (2 Cor 4:11).
How exactly does this transfusion take place, leaving behind the spiritual death and truly living within a changed realm?
1 Pet 1:23 makes this important statement – “having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever”. To become a child of God you must in fact be conceived of God. According to John 1:13, “you were produced not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but (born) of God”. We have thus become children of God through “incorruptible seed” which has been sown into our mortal bodies, the spiritual life germinating within us, which Adam had lost through his disobedience. But what exactly is this seed? Can it be linked to the seed which impregnated Maria, and which brought forth Christ? Or to the seed over which God prophesied shortly after the fall, in Gen 3:15 – “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed”? Or perhaps it is also linked to the promise God made to the father of our faith, Abram, in Gen 22:17 – “thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies”?
One thing is for certain – this life is not in the blood – flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God (1 Cor 15:50) – this life is in the light (John 1:14). The seed must thus be seed that generates light (=life). We are in search of the seed that will restore the glory that was lost.
- Sela: Pray and ask God about Rom 3:23 in your life.
- Read: 1 Chr 25; Jer 51; 2 Pet 1
- Memorise: 2 Pet 1:10
- For a deeper understanding: Listen to Tom Gouws’ teaching (available on cd) – The world according to God.
