The believers have also been transferred out of Adam into Christ (1 Cor. 15:22; Rom. 5:12, 17, 19). In the sight of God, there are only two men in the universe: Adam and Christ. All men are in one of these two persons; that is, all are either in Adam or in Christ. Everything depends on where we are. If we are in Adam, we are a part of Adam. If we are in Christ, we are a part of Christ. Before we were saved, we were in Adam. But in God’s salvation we have been transferred out of Adam into Christ.
Adam was the first man (1 Cor. 15:47). He was not only the first man but also the first Adam (1 Cor. 15:45a). Adam was created by God (Gen. 1:27), and he had nothing of the nature and life of God. He was merely God’s creation, a work of His hand.
Christ is the second Man (1 Cor. 15:47) and the last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45b). To say that Christ is the second Man and the last Adam means that Christ is the last man. After Him there is no third man, for the second is the last. This second Man was not created by God. He is a man mingled with God; He is God incarnated to be a man. Although the first man did not have the divine nature and the divine life, the second Man is the mingling of God with His creature and thus is full of the divine life and nature.
First Corinthians 15:22 says, “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive.” In Adam we were born in death and were born to die; we were dead in him (Eph. 2:1, 5). In Christ we have been reborn in life and resurrected to live; we have been enlivened, made alive, in Him (Eph. 2:5-6). Whereas the result of Adam’s transgression is death, the result of Christ’s obedience is life (Rom. 5:18).
In Adam there are three main things: sin, death, and being constituted sinners (Rom. 5:19). In Adam we inherited sin, we were under the reign of death (Rom. 5:12, 14), and we were constituted sinners. Of course, in Adam we were also under God’s condemnation.
We praise the Lord that we are no longer in Adam but in Christ. As a result of being in Christ, we have grace with righteousness (Rom. 5:17). In Adam we had sin; in Christ we have grace with righteousness. What we have is not righteousness alone or grace alone but grace with righteousness. Grace and righteousness work together because grace works through righteousness. Furthermore, in Christ we have eternal life instead of death. We can even reign in this eternal life (Rom. 5:17). Although death once reigned over us (Rom. 5:14), now we can reign in life. Moreover, in Christ we are not under God’s condemnation. Instead, we are under His justification. In Christ we have all been justified.
We were transferred out of Adam into Christ by believing into Christ (John 3:15) and by being baptized into Him (Rom. 6:3). When we believed in Christ, we actually believed ourselves into Him. Likewise, being baptized into water is a sign indicating that we have been baptized into Christ. God has put us into Christ (1 Cor. 1:30), and we must believe this fact. We should testify boldly that we have been transferred out of Adam into Christ. We are no longer in Adam—we are in Christ.
The believers in Christ have also been transferred from law to grace. In Romans 6:14 Paul says, “You are not under law but under grace.” Although the law continues to exist, we are not under it any longer. Once we were under law, but now we are under grace. This grace is nothing less than the Triune God processed through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension to be everything to us for our enjoyment.
John 1:17 says, “The law was given through Moses; grace and reality came through Jesus Christ.” The law makes demands upon man according to what God is, but grace supplies man with what God is to meet God’s demands. No one can partake of God through the law, but grace is the enjoyment of God for man. Actually, grace is what God is to us for our enjoyment. Grace is God in Christ dispensed into our being for our enjoyment in our experience. Grace is not mainly the work God does for us; grace is the Triune God dispensed into us and experienced by us as our enjoyment. In brief, the grace to which we have been transferred is the Triune God experienced and enjoyed by us.
John 1:17 tells us that grace came through Jesus Christ. This indicates that grace is somewhat like a person. Here grace is personified, and the personification of grace is God Himself. Paul realized this when he said, “Not I, but the grace of God with me” (1 Cor. 15:10). For Paul, grace was a living person, God Himself in Christ with all He is for the believers’ enjoyment. As believers in Christ, we have been transferred from law to such a marvelous grace.