The Second Adam,—The Life Giver.
By R. F. Cottrell
“For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” 1 Cor. xv, 21, 22. In this text the apostle speaks of a literal death and a literal resurrection of the dead. He speaks not of death temporal, death spiritual and death eternal—he speaks not of three deaths, but of one; and he speaks of one resurrection from that death, and not of three. That he makes no allusion to a spiritual death is evident from the fact, that he says, “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” If it is a spiritual death that all die in Adam, then it is declared that all will be made spiritually alive by Christ, and the doctrine of universal salvation is true. Hence all but Universalists must admit that the one death spoken of in the text, is that by which man turns again to the dust, out of which he was taken, and the resurrection of the text is that by which the literally dead are literally made alive. Speaking still further of this resurrection, he says: “It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy,* such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.” From this we learn that there is a natural body which is earthy, i. e., formed of the dust of the earth; and that there is, or is to be, at the resurrection, a spiritual body. Nothing is said of a spirit without a body which is incorruptible and immortal, and is so far from needing the body, that it is like a freed bird, let loose from the cage that confined it. Not a word about this; and a good reason for it; because it would spoil the apostle's argument, that the future, immortal life is derived from the second Adam, the life-giving spirit, and not from the first, who, though he was made a living soul, yet by sin forfeited that life which God had given him and brought death upon himself and all his race. The apostle speaks scripturally. He does not say that the first man had a living soul given to him, but that he “was made a living soul.” This corresponds with the record: “Man became a living soul.” Gen. ii, 7. As soon as God had given life to man, Adam himself was a living soul. We are living souls. We have received our life from our first parent. Now, if when the first man Adam was made a living soul, he was constituted an ever-living or immortal soul, then we receive immortality through him, and Paul's argument is defeated; for he gives to Christ, “the last Adam,” the honor of being a quickening or life-giving spirit. That the spiritual, the heavenly, the immortal, is not the first; but that the natural, the earthy, was first, and afterward that which is spiritual. That the saints must be changed from the image of the earthy to that of the Lord from heaven. That this which is mortal “must put on immortality.” To claim immortality then from the first Adam is to rob the second Adam of his prerogative as life-giver; for if man by nature has received and retains immortal life, then Christ as the second Adam cannot give to them eternal life. But this he has promised to do. “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish.” Jno. x, 28. It is very true, says an objector, that Christ cannot literally give eternal life to souls that are already immortal; hence the life that he gives is the spiritual life which they receive at conversion. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life,” &c. Jno. iii, 36. 1 Jno. v, 12. The words, “hath everlasting life,” may mean that the subject has it in prospect or by promise. The sense of the verb is not always decisive of the time in a promise or prophecy. Isaiah said of Christ, seven hundred years before his advent, “He hath borne our griefs,” &c. We will let the Scriptures decide whether this everlasting life, which Christ gives, is given at conversion. If it is, the converted man having received it will no longer hope for it. “Hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?” Paul was converted some thirty years before he wrote his letter to Titus; but in that letter he declares himself to be in hope of eternal life. “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.” Titus i, 2. God hath promised eternal life through Christ to them that believe; and he cannot lie; therefore, by anticipation of the fulfillment of the sure promise, it is said, He that believeth hath everlasting life. But this life is to be given when this mortal puts on immortality, namely, at the resurrection of the just. By nature we are all the children of the first Adam, and as children, heirs of whatever inheritance he has to give. In the beginning our family were in good circumstances. Our parents had life given them immediately from God, the only fountain of life, and were placed in possession of an inheritance so fair, that the Creator, when he beheld it, pronounced it very good. This inheritance comprised not only all the “real estate” or “landed property” in the world, but “all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, and the fish of the sea.” It is said, “Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands.” Ps. viii, Gen. i, 28. Had our family pursued a proper course, we should in due time have been confirmed in our inheritance—in our life and in our possession. But a sad reverse came. By the seductions of one who had already “seceded” from the government of heaven, our parents were induced to commit an act of rebellion, by which, not only the estate was lost but the very life of our father and of all his family was forfeited. “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin.” The possession was cursed on our account, and a life-lease, and that life poor, painful and brief, is all the title that we can show: “Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth unto thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” In short our family has lost all, and is reduced to poverty, wretchedness and death. But, thanks be to God! a plan of redemption has been devised. The Son of God came down to earth, and purchased our life at the expense of his own; and, at the same time, purchased the possession which was lost. The second Adam is richer and more honorable than the first; and he proposes to adopt us, beggars and culprits, into his family, and make us his children and heirs. What matchless condescension! And to those who accept the gracious offer, repent of their sins and thus mortify the deeds of the body, he gives the Spirit of adoption whereby they cry, Father, Father; while they are “waiting for the adoption” itself, to wit, the redemption of the body, at the resurrection of that part of the family which are dead. Rom. viii. This Spirit of adoption or Holy Spirit of promise is the “earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of his glory.” Eph. i, 11-14. Who would not wish to be adopted into such an illustrious family? Who would not exchange poverty for riches, shame for glory and death for life? Who would wish to insult our gracious Benefactor, the Prince of life, by the claim that our natural father had conferred on us either riches, or honor, or immortality! What poor slave of mortality would be so insane as to reject the gracious offer, on the ground that he is rich and increased in goods, and has need of nothing? The “everlasting Father” of all his redeemed children, offers us life and immortality. Shall we accept of life at his hand? He offers to give us, upon the day of the adoption, incorruptibility and immortality. What can those, who slight the gracious offer expect but that they shall “utterly perish in their own corruptions?” The adoption is soon to take place; and those only will be adopted, who have received the spirit of adoption. Soon the whole family of the second Adam will be gathered to celebrate the marriage supper of the Lamb. All the members of our ruined family who shall be present on that occasion, shall receive back the possession which was lost, redeemed from the curse beautified and adorned throughout, fully equal to the ancient homestead in Eden. And our glorious Father, the second Adam, the Lord from heaven, having given life from himself to all his children, and redeemed them from the power of death and the grave, will reign over all the redeemed earth. All will be his by right of redemption, and he shall reign from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth. And his children shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads, and there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun: for the Lord God giveth them light; and they shall reign forever and ever. “The Lord shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even forever. And thou Oh, Tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the FIRST DOMINION, the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.” “There we shall see his face,
And never, never sin;
There from the rivers of his grace
Drink endless pleasures in.” “Plunged in a gulf of deep despair
We wretched sinners lay;
Without one cheering beam of hope,
Or spark of glimmering day.” “With pitying eyes the Prince of grace,
Beheld our helpless grief;
He saw, and oh, amazing love!
He ran to our relief.” “Down from the shining realms above
With joyful haste he sped,
Entered the grave in mortal flesh
And dwelt among the dead.” “Oh, for this love, let rocks and hills
Their lasting silence break;
And all harmonious human tongues
Their Saviour's praises speak.”