IN ADAM, OR IN CHRIST?
“As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive”, 1 Cor 15: 22. Every one stands in relation either to Adam or Christ, and everything for us depends upon which of these two heads we stand in relation to. There is no other standing, we must range under one or other of these two heads. As the head of a race, Adam was a figure of Him that was to come, that is, Christ.
In Romans 5: 12-21 the apostle draws the contrast between the two men, the one man, Adam, brought in sin and death, and involved all his race in sin and condemnation. The second Man, Christ, brought in righteousness and life, and all His race participate in righteousness and life in Him. He is our righteousness and life. It is important to see that we were all ruined in Adam when he fell. We were all born in a state of sin, and subject to death and condemnation. “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned”. We cannot lay all the blame on Adam, for we have all done what Adam did, “all have sinned”. Our sinning proves that we are of the same stock, we shall not be proud of our genealogy if we trace it to its source. The effect of Adam’s sin is entailed upon all his race. “By the offence of one [Adam] the many [all his race] have died”. “By the offence of the one, death reigned by the one”. “It was by one offence [Adam’s act of disobedience] towards all men to condemnation”. “For as indeed by the disobedience of the one man, the many [all his race] have been constituted sinners”. We were sinners by nature, as born of Adam. Our sinning was the evidence of this sinful nature, as the fruit of a tree bears witness to the nature of the tree.
God’s way of meeting this state of universal ruin was not to revive or improve the Adam race, but to bring in a new order of manhood in a new Head, in the Person of Christ, the second Man, and last Adam. In Him God has begun anew. In the cross of Christ He has condemned sin in the flesh, so that grace might come in for the deliverance of men from the state of sin and ruin which came in by the first Adam, and that He might establish a new state of righteousness and life for men in Christ. Thus the grace of God and the free gift of righteousness has abounded to the many. It is for all men who will receive it through the Lord Jesus Christ. Such will reign in life by the one Jesus Christ. Death no longer reigns universally. Believers are delivered from the consequences of Adam’s sin, so that they will reign in life by Jesus Christ. Again, it is “by one righteousness towards all men for justification of life”. That is the bearing of Christ’s one righteousness, namely, His obedience unto death. The bearing of it is as universal as that of Adam’s sin. Justification of life is available for all men in Him. This is more than justification from sins, it is a positive state of righteousness, in the life of the righteous One, a life to which sin never did or could attach. Christ having borne the judgment attaching to us in our sinful state, has in resurrection become the source of life to us; as the last Adam, the life-giving Spirit, He quickens us in His own life. Thus we are constituted righteous. This is more than being reckoned righteous according to Romans 4: 3. As we were constituted sinners by inheriting the sinful life of Adam, so we are constituted righteous by partaking of the life of the righteous Man, Jesus Christ, we have righteousness and life in Him. “By the obedience of the one the many [all who stand in relation to Him] will be constituted righteous”. Otherwise we could not use the language of Romans 8: 33, 34. “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?” The man to whom the charge could be laid has been removed in the death of Christ, and in Christ the believer is a new man.
Where sin abounded, grace has overabounded, has brought in a better condition of life than that from which Adam fell. “Even as sin has reigned in the power of death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life”.
If everything depends upon my relationship to Christ, the new Head, the question arises, How can I be delivered from my relationship with Adam, and the status I inherited from him and come to be in relationship to Christ so as to derive righteousness and life from Him? The question is answered in Romans 6 and 8. Nothing but death could terminate my relationship with Adam, and the state of sin and condemnation which I inherited from him. “He that has died is justified from sin”. If I have died I am no longer alive in the state in which I died. Death is never ceasing to exist, but the termination of a previous state of existence. Luke 16: 19-31 illustrates this statement, the man exists after death, but not in the condition in which he existed before he died. The wicked dead will exist after death, see Rev 20. Therefore, I will repeat, death is the termination of a previous state of existence, in order that we may live in a new condition. If my reader will pay attention to this it will be a great help in considering the way in which death is spoken of in scripture.
Our deliverance is not by our own death, but by the death of Christ. ‘“Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with him”. This is what was effected for us when Christ died. In baptism we were committed to the death of Christ. “As many as have been baptised unto Christ Jesus, have been baptised unto his death”. In baptism we were identified with Him in the likeness of His death. Now we have to obey the doctrine that is in our minds, and in our practice we must be in accord with it. “Reckon yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus”. In so doing, in mind we die, as having part in Christ’s death. Thus we intelligently pass out of our connection with Adam, our history as children of Adam is terminated by death, so that we are free to enter upon a new history in connection with the One who has been raised from the dead. We have the title to account ourselves alive to God in Christ Jesus. All this would be impossible apart from the teaching and power of the Spirit. But the apostle is writing to those who had received the Spirit.
Then the second question is, How do we come to be in Christ to participate in the righteousness and life which God has established for us in Him? On believing the gospel of our salvation, the testimony to a risen and glorified Christ, the believer receives the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is the link with Christ, He is the Spirit of Christ. So that the believer is in Christ, and Christ is in Him. As the last Adam He quickens souls in His own life, as when He breathed into the disciples after His resurrection, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit”. Every true believer is quickened by the inbreathing of Christ. Representing what is normal in a Christian, the apostle could say, “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and of death”. Our realisation of what is normal depends upon the measure in which we give place to the Spirit, that means that the flesh is judged and disallowed. Doubtless there are many believers who do not realise this liberty in the Spirit, because though having received the Spirit, they are not walking in the Spirit. If the Spirit is un-hindered He would engage our hearts with Christ and the love of God, and thus fill us with all joy and peace in believing, thus we should enjoy what is really life in relation to God, and we should be delivered from the law of sin and death.
No doubt there must be soul history preceding this. Bondage must be known before liberty will be appreciated. The law of sin must be felt before liberty from it is known. This is the experience of a soul recorded in the latter part of Romans 7. This soul history is necessary, and no one can escape it. These things may be easily stated in words, but the realisation of them involves very real soul history under the hand of God. But nothing less is God’s desire for us, therefore we may be encouraged to seek it.
In writing to the saints at Rome the apostle could say, “Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you”. The flesh is what characterised us as born of Adam, we are no longer in that state, but in spirit, a new state, formed. We have not only a new position before God in Christ, but the Spirit forms in us a state suited to the position. “If any one has not the Spirit of Christ he is not of him: but if Christ be in you”, &c. Being in Christ involves a new position, and a new state; we are in Christ, and Christ is in us.
If Christ is in us, the fruit of this should be seen in our exhibiting the grace of Christ in our manners and ways.
We are recovered and blessed in Christ, and all this for the pleasure and glory of God. It is all the display of His love and wisdom, and to His praise and glory. It is the will of God that every believer should enjoy this liberty which has been secured for him by the death of Christ; that is, liberty from the law of sin, and liberty of soul with God. “Ye have not received a spirit of bondage again for fear; but ye have received a spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father”. “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit”, Gal 5: 25.
From Goodly Words vol 3 (1925)