Jesus as the Last Adam is one of the most powerful truths in Scripture, as Christ came to save us from the consequences of Adam's sin in the Garden of Eden. Unpack Jesus as the Last Adam from 1 Corinthians 15:45, Romans 5:12-20, and Luke 22:42–43, learning how the obedience of Christ brought redemption where the first Adam brought sin and death.
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Table of contentsJesus Is the Last AdamThe Last Adam Had to Resist the DevilGod’s Wrath Builds Up Against UsThe Last Adam’s Agony in the Garden of GethsemaneThe Last Adam Had to Consume God’s WrathThe Last Adam Wanted Us to Know There’s No Other Way for Man to Be SavedJesus Drinks the Cup of God's Wrath for Us or We Drink It
We forget things, so it’s good to be reminded. That’s why, throughout the New Testament, we are reminded of spiritual truths. Here are two examples of many I could give you:
1 Corinthians 15:1 I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand.
Paul wanted to remind us of the gospel, which I don’t think we could be reminded of too many times.
2 Peter 1:12 I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have.
Peter’s referring to the qualities he mentioned earlier: virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. Then he says:
2 Peter 1:13 I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder.
As long as Peter’s alive, he’s going to keep reminding believers. So, when I preach, I like reminding people of truths that they’ve heard many times before. It is a joy for me to be reminded of truths in my studying, and then it is a joy for me to remind people of these truths when I preach. But I also hope I can help people see new things that they haven’t seen before. This is one of my other joys when studying.
Helping people see new things in the Gospels can be difficult because they are the most familiar area of Scripture. And beyond that, Jesus praying in the garden of Gethsemane is one of the most familiar accounts in the Gospels. But there is something deep and powerful in this account that I hope prevents people from reading this account the same. It requires looking past Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane to the first Adam in the garden of Eden. That’s where this account truly begins.
Jesus Is the Last Adam
Jesus has over 200 names in Scripture. We know Him as the Son of God, Son of Man, Lamb of God, and Prince of Peace. But a lesser-known title is the Last Adam:
1 Corinthians 15:45 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam (referring to Jesus) became a life-giving spirit…47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man (referring to Jesus) is from heaven.
The clearest passage contrasting Jesus and Adam is in Romans 5:
Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
Adam is a type of Jesus. For something to serve as a type of Christ, it must look like Christ. You might be quick to say, “Then how could Adam serve as a type of Christ because Adam looks like the opposite of Christ?” But there are many ways Adam serves as a dramatic type of Christ:
Adam and Jesus were the only two people in all of human history created without a sinful nature; they are the only ones to enter the world sinlessly.
Adam is the head of all humanity, and Jesus, as the head of the church, is the head of all redeemed humanity.
They both affected humanity more than everyone else – past, present,