In Romans 5:12-21 we have two men, two acts, and two results. This passage is difficult to remember because everything in it transcends our understanding. By nature, we do not have the concept that is revealed in this passage of Scripture. If we did, we would easily be impressed with Paul’s thought. Have you ever thought that in the whole universe there are only two men? Nevertheless, in the eyes of God there are just two men—Adam and Christ. We ourselves are nobodies. We are all included in either the first man or the second. Everything depends on where you are. If you are in Adam, you are a part of Adam. If you are in Christ, you are a part of Christ. Fifty years ago I was in Adam, but today and forever I am in Christ.
Adam was the first man (1 Cor. 15:47). He was not only the first man, but also the first Adam (1 Cor. 15:45). Adam was created by God (Gen. 1:27), and had nothing of the divine 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. 15:45). What does it mean to say that Christ is the second man and the last Adam? It means that Christ is the last man. After Him, there is no third man, for the second man is the last. This excludes the possibility of a third man. Do not consider yourself as the third. Christ is the second man and the last Adam. Following Him, there is no third Adam.
This second man was not created by God. He is a man mingled with God. He is God incarnated to be a man (John 1:14). The first man had nothing of the divine nature and life of God, for he was merely God’s creation. The second man is the mingling of God with His creature, full of the divine nature and life of God. He is a man mingled with God, a God-man. The fullness of the Godhead is embodied in Him (Col. 2:9; John 1:16).
Romans 5:14 mentions Adam’s transgression, referring to Adam’s transgression of eating the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden. After God created Adam, He placed him in front of the tree of life, indicating that Adam should partake of this tree. This would have enabled him to receive God’s life and to live with God. Adam failed. He forsook the tree of life that denoted God as life and turned to the tree of knowledge that signified Satan as the source of death. Thus, Adam’s transgression consisted in leaving the tree of life and pursuing the tree of knowledge (Gen. 2:8-9, 17; 3:1-7). The issue of the tree of life is life, but the issue of the tree of knowledge is death. This means that Adam gave up life and chose death.
The second act was Christ’s obedience on the cross (Phil. 2:8). This act of obedience, a righteous act performed by Christ, terminated the man of knowledge (6:6). Adam brought man to knowledge, making him a man of knowledge. Christ, by His obedience on the cross, terminated the man of knowledge and brought man back to life. First Peter 2:24 tells us that Christ’s death restored man to life, and John 3:14-15 says that Christ was lifted up on the cross in order to bring man back to life eternal. Therefore, the obedience of Christ on the cross terminated the fallen man of knowledge, the man of death, and recovered man back to life, making him a man of life.