What does it mean that Jesus is the second Adam / last Adam?

Well, now, in keeping precisely with that are the words prophetically applied to Him in Hebrews 2. The Spirit of God says, "Both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one" — how? There is one company before God; if you like to express it in that way, there is one lump, as it were, before God. How? that is the point. By Christ coming down and taking part with us in the old order of existence? Never! That would be to degrade Christ. And that is exactly what that doctrine, union in incarnation does; it degrades Christ, because it associates Christ with sinful men, it associates Christ, in all His perfections, with men in all their sins and wickedness, and distance from God. No; Christ by His precious death ends for ever, judicially before God, the history of that man that Moses in the school-house could not subjugate, the man that the law could not curb, for that restriction only brought him out into open light in all his lawlessness; the cross ends judicially that history for ever before God. I care not what men may say to the contrary, for faith the cross for ever has ended judicially before God the history of the first man. The Lord Jesus Christ was the second Man and the last Adam, and there are deep and blessed truths connected with both these expressions, for they do not express the same thing, they are part of the glories of that blessed One. He was the second Man, because He displaces for ever the first man; and He was the last Adam because there never will be another order of man after Himself. He is the second Man because He displaces for ever the history of the first, and He is the last Adam because, in that new, risen order of being, He is the only order of man before God; there is now but one order of man before God, and that is the last Adam; He is both the second Man and He is the last Adam.

Scripture is more exact in its use of language than most suppose. It would, for example, be a great mistake to conclude that the two terms in this passage "the last Adam," and the "second Man" - are employed interchangeably as meaning one and the same thing. There is indeed a most significant difference. The "last Adam," as applied to our blessed Lord, points Him out as the Head of a new, the new race, in contrast with the first Adam as the head of the sinful race of men. This is developed in connection with the truth of the resurrection, and the condition of the resurrection body, and for this reason: It was not until after Adam had fallen that he became the head of a race of mortal men; and it was not until after His resurrection, although He was in His incarnation the Man of God's counsels, that our Lord became the Head of the new race. Therein too lies the significance of the contrast in verse 45, "The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam a quickening Spirit." But this leads on to the difference shown in verse 47 between the first man and the second Man. The term "second Man" relates to the condition into which the new race will be ultimately brought; whereas, as we have seen, the last Adam has to do with headship. We say, "The condition into which the new race will be ultimately brought"; but this requires further explanation. The last Adam, although He ever quickened as the Son of God in all ages, is a quickening Spirit, and hence quickens after His own order, or according to His new condition, as the Second Man. The consequence is, that the life believers possess now is heavenly in its character; and it ensures, or rather the Lord Himself ensures, for those on whom He bestows life, the resurrection of the body after the pattern of His own glorified body. (See John 6:40.) "As is the heavenly" - as Christ is as the heavenly Man - "such are they also that are heavenly," those who are of His race and order; and hence the apostle proceeds, "As we have borne the image of the earthy" - of the first man, who is of the earth, earthy - "we shall also," in resurrection, "bear the image of the heavenly," of Christ in His glorified body. (See Philippians 3:20-21.) It is a great thing for the soul to apprehend what is involved in these terms, both as to Christ Himself and as to those that are His. It is only thus that we can learn how completely we are dissevered from the first man, his condition and his home, and how that, as to the present character of our true life, as to our hopes and our future condition, we are a heavenly people. To understand what Christ is as the last Adam and the second Man is to understand what Christianity is, and what Christians are, and will be, according to God's eternal counsels.

Adam is presented to us in Scripture as the original progenitor of the human race. He came fresh from God's hand as recorded in Genesis 2:7, as to his body formed out of the dust, but receiving the spiritual part of his constitution by God's in-breathing, and in this way becoming a living soul. This tripartite nature of man is clearly stated in 1 Thessalonians 5:23. What characterized Adam's position in creation was, however, that he was a living soul — a living soul, we may say, possessing spirit as well as body. The last Adam, who is none other than our Lord Jesus Christ, bears an infinitely higher character. He is "spirit" rather than "soul"; and not merely "living " but "quickening" or "life-giving."

Here there breaks out upon us the true Divine glory of the Lord Jesus. He is a Spirit — so is God. He is life-giving because the Life-Giver. "Am I God to kill, and to make alive?" asked the distracted King of Israel (see 2 Kings 5:7). No; he was not; but Jesus was and is. But then He who is the life-giving Spirit is the last Adam, i.e. really and truly Man; the Head and Source of a new race of mankind, having stamped upon it the character of spiritual as definitely as the character natural is stamped upon the first Adam and his race.

Notice, too, that He is "the last Adam." The contrast here is between the first and the last, not the first and the second. Why last? Evidently because that word excludes the idea that any third or subsequent race can ever be needed, or enter upon the scene. "He takes away the first that He may establish the second," is what Hebrews 10:9 says. He never takes away the second in favour of a third! The second is established. The last Adam abides without rival or successor, for perfection — Divine perfection and not merely human — is reached in Him.

The first Adam received life, and was a dependent man; the last Adam is the source of life and the communicator of it. The first Adam sinned, and dragged down his posterity after him in ruin and shame. The last Adam is Divine as well as Human, never to be superseded, for there is, and can be, no breakdown with Him. The first Adam was the Head of a fallen race; the last Adam is the Head of a new creation.

Certainly. He stands in contrast to the first Adam in that verse; not merely in being "spirit," in contrast with "soul," but in that He is not merely "living," but the Life-giver. Verse 36 of this chapter reminds us that quickening only applies to that which is dead. Now we were dead spiritually, and quickening of a spiritual sort has already reached us from the last Adam. As the Head of a new race, He has already imparted life — His own life — to us who are of His race.

Let it be emphasized in our minds that He is not only "last Adam," but also "the second Man." This latter expression shows that between Adam and Christ no man is counted. Cain was not the second man. He was only Adam reproduced in the first generation. So were all men — only Adam reproduced in their various generations. But when Christ was born, He was not Adam reproduced. By the "virgin birth," under the action of the Holy Ghost, the entail was broken, a new and original Man appeared worthy of being called "the second Man." He, in His turn becoming the Head of a new race, He stands forth as "the last Adam."

Now we all started as children of the earthy Adam, bearing his image. Brought to Christ, we have become subjects of the Divine workmanship and find ourselves transferred from the earthy to the heavenly. That transference however has not so far touched our bodies, for we still bear the image of the earthy, and consequently our bodies decay and are subject to death and the grave. In resurrection we are to bear "the image of the heavenly." We are to be conformed to the image of God's Son, not only as to our characters, but as to our very bodies. Most glorious fact! How are the dead raised up? In a condition of perfection and glory such as that!

Now the apostle comes to the decisive proof of scripture, and the personal test of Christ. "So also it is written, The first man Adam became a living soul; the last Adam a quickening Spirit: yet not first [is] the spiritual, but the natural, afterward the spiritual; the first man out of earth made of dust, the second man* out of heaven: such as he made of dust, such also those made of dust; and such as the heavenly [one], such also the heavenly [ones]; and even as we bore the image of the [one] made of dust, we shall bear also the image of the heavenly [ones]." (Vers. 45-49.) It is the way of the apostle, and indeed of the inspired in general, to trace up all to the sources; and so it is here at the end, as at the earlier part, of this discussion. Adam and Christ are before us, the first man Adam made only a living soul, the last Adam a life-giving spirit. Thus, as usual, first is seen man failing in his responsibility; then the obedient, suffering, victorious Man.

In contrast to the first man, Adam, who was made a living soul, the last Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, was a life-giving Spirit: the first was natural; the second spiritual: the first man was of the earth, earthy; the second Man was out of heaven. 1 Cor. 15:45-47. Everything committed to man having failed in Adam, Christ as last Adam becomes the head of a new and redeemed race. He is the last Adam because there will be no other: every man must come under one of these two headships: the first Adam, man; or the last Adam, Christ: cf. 1 Cor. 15:22; Ps. 8:3-9; Heb. 2:6-9.

If careful attention be given to the words of the apostle, a marked distinction will be perceived between the terms "the last Adam" and "the second Man," although both are applied to our blessed Lord. The first of these - used in contrast with "the first man Adam" - refers to headship - the headship of a race. After Adam fell in the garden of Eden, he became the head of a fallen race (see Romans 5:12 - 14); and Christ in like manner, after His death and resurrection, became the Head of a new race; and hence it is said, As in Adam all die - all who stand in connection with him as their head - even so in Christ shall all - all who are of His race - be made alive; for the last Adam "became" a quickening Spirit. He is called the last Adam to teach us that there is, and will be, no other head. In Him, and His race, God's eternal counsels of grace will be for ever accomplished. But the terms "the first man" and "the second Man," as may be seen from the language employed, denote the order or character - in both cases derived from their heads - of the respective races. Thus "the first man is of the earth, earthy: the second Man is [the Lord] from [out of] heaven." (v. 47.) The origin of Adam was the earth, and that of Christ was heaven; and this determined the order, Adam being the earthy, and Christ the heavenly Man. Then we are told that "as is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy"; that as all of Adam's race, still under him as head, partake of his own order, as he was "earthy," so are all of his race earthy. On the other hand, "as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly"; that is, all who are under the headship of Christ partake of His order, and are therefore heavenly. And so completely are the two races identified with the order or character of their heads that the apostle, speaking of those who belong to Christ, can add, "As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." In this he refers to the resurrection, when the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and when those who are living will be changed, when the bodies of humiliation - the "earthy" bodies of the saints - will be fashioned like unto the glorified body of our blessed Lord. Let it then never be forgotten that all belong to the first or the last Adam; and in view of the solemn and far-reaching consequences as to each race, the question may be well put to everyone who reads these lines, Do you belong to Adam or to Christ?

But Scripture does not leave us to such a conclusion. It joins together two titles that are His as man, and as a unique man, in such a way as to assure us of our gain in this very uniqueness;—of our manhood being by divine grace raised to a new plane in Him, so as to make Him in a peculiar sense “Firstborn among many brethren”(Rom. 8:29). These two titles are “the Second Man,” and the “Last Adam,”—the antitypical parallel, (and so necessarily contrast) with the “first man Adam” (1 Cor. 15:45, 47). As the first man was head of a race, and not to remain alone, but to be in fact a “First-born among many brethren,” so is it also with the “Second Man.” He is to be such, Head of a race, a race of men, but a new race; and it is said as to Him “the Last Adam,” because there is no other Adam to succeed Him, as with the first man. In Him God’s thought as to man is completely fulfilled, and His heart completely satisfied.