Knowing God - 1 Corinthians 15:45

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"The first man, Adam, became a living being";

the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

1 Corinthians 15:45

 

Do you know what Paul is talking about here?

 

The first Adam is Adam from Genesis-3-eating-the-apple-with-his-wife-eve fame. The first Adam is the first man. Therefore, the first Adam was the first sinner. And, as Paul says in Romans 5:18, "[this] one man's trespass led to condemnation for all" of the rest of us.

 

Ouch! 

 

Or in other words, you are condemned!

 

Except wait ... the proper way to say that is, you were condemned until the second Adam, the new Adam, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, created a new pattern and a new order. And "[this] one man's act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all" (Rom 5:18 again).

 

Martin Luther put it this way, we are "Simul justus et peccator."

 

That's Latin for, "we are simultaneously, saint and sinner."

 

Christians are simultaneous children of the first Adam (sinful humans) and redeemed childen of the final Adam (saints in the name of Jesus Christ).

 

Eugene Peterson in his Message-paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 15, renders Paul's thoughts like this: "45 The First Adam received life, the Last Adam is a life-giving Spirit. 46 Physical life comes first, then spiritual - 47 a firm base shaped from the earth [with] a final completion coming out of heaven. 48 The First Man was made out of earth, and people since then are earthy; the Second Man was made out of heaven, and people now can be heavenly. 49 In the same way that we've worked from our earthy origins, let's embrace our heavenly ends."

 

In Christ's Love,

a guy who's a saint!!!

 

(oh, yeah ... and a sinner)