So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. (1 Corinthians 15:45)

The name “Adam” represents not only the first individual created by God, but also the entire human race. In the Hebrew OT, the underlying word, transliterated as the name, can also be rendered “man.” Adam was the first man, as our passage today concurs. Theologians speak of him being the federal head, in that he represents the entire human race.

The NT clearly connects Jesus with Adam. In his letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul wrote:

Just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned … Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. (Rom 5:12, 14)

Adam pre-figured Christ. Like a shadow, the first man gave a broad outline of what Christ was all about, even though many thousands of years before. Similar to how a photograph shows what a person looks like, so Adam gave a sense of what Christ would be like, ahead of Christ’s actual coming.

The apostle points out that the human race was defined by sin from the time of Adam until the giving of the Law of Moses. And of course, the Law dominated since then until the time of Christ. So Paul went on to write:

If by the transgression of the one [Adam], death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. (Rom 5:17).

In our verse today, we see that Jesus is like Adam in His headship role. But more to the point, Christ was like Adam seminally. That is, Adam is the seminal beginning of the human race, and all humanity descended from him physically. Christ is the spiritual beginning of the new humanity. Physically we were “in” Adam, but we who are believers are now “in” Christ, and we now inherit not guilt or sin, but the “abundance of grace and … the gift of righteousness.” Christ is the “last” Adam. There are only two humans who have had such a pivotal role in setting the course of human history. We find it supremely appropriate to divide history based on the birth of the last Adam, B.C. and A.D!

Lord, when You gave me new life by Your grace, my personal history became divided into two sections: before Christ and now in Christ. Praise God.