Jesus is referred to as the 2nd or last Adam.
1 Corinthians 15:45, which states, "So it is written: 'The first man Adam became a living being'; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit".
So you have one who represents the physical man who past down sin to all and one God/man who offered spiritual life by the washing away of man's sin by His blood sacrifice. Only God can take away the sins of the world. Jesus did that! A mere man could not do that - nor an angel? One would have to be omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent to do that.
Well, the scripture is spot on and there's more. However, I would not attach the concept of a not-supported god-man to this scripture and who forgives sin or who is a mere man at this stage though. It would cloud the topic very quickly.
Here's a quick primer on the subject of the second man/last Adam. It does though strongly suggest that Yeshua had to be created by the Father via his own word/Spirit, even if this is said within the words of scripture already.
----------------------------------
“And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.”
(1 Corinthians 15:45)
The word First means:
preceding or ahead of any others in order; or occurring before any others in a series
The word Second means:
coming after the first in a series; or additional to, repeating, or following one that came before or was previously mentioned
The Timeline Determining When:
The expression “this day” narrows the “Christ” (the anointed) being begotten (born/made) to a fixed point in time after the creation:
(Psalm 2:7) – I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son;
this day have I begotten thee. At his baptism/anointing.
(Hebrews 1:5) – For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?
(Genesis 1:5) – And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
Before Genesis 1:5 (the first day), there was no such thing as a day!
Christ was begotten of a woman (Mary) at a fixed point in time and that point in time was after the first day, the day of his conception was when he was “
made of a woman”?
Some try to argue Adam was made and Christ was begotten, as though one should cancel out the other, but they don’t.
Both are correct: Yeshua, God’s only Son was birthed/begotten (made of a woman – Galatians 4:4) and was made like any human in every way (in all things -Hebrews 2:17) and being such we are his brethren.
(Galatians 4:4) – But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman,
made under the law,
(Hebrews 2:17) – Wherefore in all things it behoved him
to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
Furthermore, Christ had to have come after Adam. The Bible makes this very clear:
(1 Corinthians 15:45-47) – And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. 46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. 47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
For Yeshua to be both “the last Adam” and the “second man” he cannot have existed before Adam without making nonsense out of this scripture.
The idea that human beings are pre-existent spirits imprisoned in bodies is called Gnostic.
The rule of scripture for human beings sets forth the following order:
(1 Corinthians 15:46) – Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. 47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. 48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. 49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
Just as Yeshua first bore the image of the earthly (a natural human body) and then at his resurrection was given a spiritual body (a glorified human body that is incorruptible) –
so shall we!
To reverse the effects of what Adam had done, Yeshua was made the equivalent of Adam before Adam sinned (Romans 5:12-19; 1 Corinthians 15:21,22; 1 Timothy 2:5,6). In doing this, Yeshua, by his obedience became sinless, never once falling short of the glory of his God, and by his overcoming all temptation to sin, thereby condemned sin, and through this means his God and Father could be found just, and yet at the same time the justifier of the sinner. (Romans 3:23, 26; Romans 8:3, 32, 33; John 16:33; Hebrews 2:9; Hebrews 4:15; Revelation 3:21)
But we have exalted Yeshua (a man) to the glory that belongs solely to the Most High (God), which in effect meant that for Adam (a man) to have obeyed the Most High (God), Adam would have needed to have been the Most High. [For if Jesus was God, then it was God who was sinless not man]
Yeshua pre-existed (
as did you and I) only in the plan of God, in his counsel and foreknowledge (Romans 8:29, 30) because:
(Acts 15:18) – Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.
------------
This provides me some understanding of the 'last Adam' per scripture.
There will be no other human beings made or created by the Father for our salvation, it is all done, the last Adam has already come.
