The Second Adam

The Second Adam

In recent times, people have written eloquently about the fact that Jesus’ flesh was like Adam’s flesh before the fall. This question does not have much significance for indifferent people, but it is a matter of life or death for those who profess godly fear.

Heb. 2:14. “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil . . . .”

Why did Jesus share in flesh and blood? So that He through death might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.

We can ask, Did the devil have power over Adam before the fall? Was Adam acquainted with death before the fall? Jesus had to be made like His brethren in all things, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest. Heb. 2:17.

If He had been made like Adam before the fall, then it would have been written there, “like His brother,” since there was only one Adam. Yet it is written “like His brethren.”

He released those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. That is the reason He came in the flesh. Was Adam enslaved by the fear of death before the fall?

He has now reconciled you in the body of His flesh through death. Col. 1:22. Can any kind of reconciliation take place in a flesh that is already reconciled? Or can death take place in Adam before the fall when death did not yet exist?

“Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances . . . .” Eph. 2:15. Notice that it says, “In His flesh.” If Adam indeed had the law of commandments contained in ordinances before the fall, could they have been abolished in his flesh? Was Adam told before the fall, “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you”? Ex. 20:12. Or was he told, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s”? Verse 17.

“When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law . . . .” Gal. 4:4. So, before the fall, was Adam under the law? Could a redemption take place in his flesh for those who were under the law?

Jesus opened a new and living way through the veil, that is, His flesh. Christ’s flesh was a veil, which had to be torn in order to make room for the new and living way.

Is it difficult to understand this? Yes, it is extremely difficult for all flesh to comprehend Christ manifest in the flesh. Actually, it is not extremely difficult; it is quite simply impossible. This is why the Scriptures also say, “Great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit.” 1 Tim. 3:16 [Emphasis added].

God manifested in the flesh is a mystery that is only revealed to those who are godly. Yet Adam manifested in the flesh is no mystery at all. We have seen and heard more than enough of him. His understanding of God manifested in the flesh is utterly worthless.

A large and essential section of the Bible is hidden from teachers who preach that Christ’s flesh was like Adam’s flesh before the fall. Their own flesh blinds their eyes. If they were a little more godly, they would understand the mystery and rejoice over it.

“For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” People try to interpret these Scriptures by the will of man, but what is spoken and written by the Holy Spirit can only be understood and expressed in and by that same Spirit.