A Summary of Human History: In Adam, In Christ
Human history began with the first Adam (“man”). As the federal head of the human race, he was the responsible party in man’s relationship with God. God deals with every person in Adam, as He dealt with the first man himself.
The one, true God revealed in the Bible is a covenant-making God. He has established a covenant with humanity, telling man how his Creator will deal with him. When God made promises to Adam, they were inside the framework of God’s covenant. In other words, God bound Himself to act in a certain way toward man. This would encourage man to see that God was true (Rom 3:4), and He would deal with man in the way of truth (Jn 14:6).
God’s promise to Adam was that if he defied God’s Word of truth, meaning the rules of their right relationship, Adam would surely die. The rest of that story (Gen 1–3) is history, and nothing has changed with natural man (those in Adam). Every person conceived, since the fall of Adam, has been positioned where death reigns (Rom 5:14, 17, 21). As the apostle Paul wrote, “In Adam, all die (1 Cor 15:22a).”
First comes the death of the soul; and then comes the death of the body. When Adam was cast out of Eden, he was spiritually dead in trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1). He and his offspring were now children of wrath because that is how God deals with sin and sinners (Eph 2:3) The wrath of God is just, and it is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men (Rom 1:18).
Man is enslaved to sin. Sin reigns in his moral body. Further, man’s nature is sin, so that every inclination of his heart is only evil all the time (Gen 6:5). Man loves serving sin; regardless of the knowledge that the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23).
The plight of all people is total depravity, which includes sin. Total depravity also includes man’s unwillingness to change his preferred ways of sin. It also includes his natural inability to convert to the ways of the Spirit of God, so as to be saved from death — body and soul.
God is immutable, which means He does not change. The curse of Adam is the consequence of God’s unchanging covenant regarding man. God kept His Word and maintains His covenant to this very hour. In the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God (Acts 2:23), He has eternally decreed that not all people will suffer the righteous condemnation of eternal punishment in the fiery hell created for Satan and His demons (Mt 25:41, 46; Jude 7; Rev 20:14–15).
God’s eternal purpose was not constrained to the earthy, first man. Adam’s failure in the flesh and in the soul would not be the end of everyone’s story. History was forever complemented by the advent of the second Adam, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who took on flesh (Jn 1:14). Being like us, yet without sin (Adam’s or His own), Christ is the federal head of a new nation of people transferred from Adam’s headship (Rom 5:12–21; Col 1:13).
This people of God’s own possession were predestined to salvation from before creation (Eph 1:4–5; 1 Pet 2:9). God planned to transfer them, in time, from the domain of darkness (reign of sin and Satan). They would be re-positioned in Christ, and they would be saved in His life (Rom 5:10; 8:1; 1 Cor 1:30; Col 1:13). Whereas Adam failed his people, Christ successfully reconciled those whom the Father gave to Him (Jn 6:37; 17:2, 6, 24; 2 Cor 5:18–20). In Christ, all His chosen, redeemed ones shall live (1 Cor 15:22b).
The history of the world is the story of two men. In one, sin reigns unto death. In the second, grace reigns unto life. It is impossible for flesh and blood to inherit the kingdom of heaven because of sin. Therefore, it is wise to put no confidence in the flesh (Rom 12:3; Phil 3:3). He that is spiritual, however, has received the Spirit of Christ because he belongs to Him (Jn 14:17; Rom 8:9, 11; 1 Cor 3:23).
When Christ sends His Spirit, as a gift of God’s grace (Acts 2:38; 10:45), the recipient becomes a born again possessor of faith (Rom 5:5; Phil 1:29). He now lives a life of faith in the Son of God (Gal 2:20), who lives in him by the Spirit. As a slave of Christ (Eph 6:6), the converted sinner has a blessed assurance of being adopted into the family of God, as an heir of God (Rom 8:17). This new man has an inheritance reserved for him in heaven (1 Pet 1:4). He has the pledge of his eternal salvation living in his heart (2 Cor 5:5). All promises of God and all the blessings of the covenant of grace are “Yes!” and “Amen!” in Christ Jesus (2 Cor 1:20).
The story of Adam (man) and the story of Christ (God-man) is the story of history. It touches everyone because all find their story related to these two men. You are either in Adam or in Christ (Rom 5:12–21; 1 Cor 15:22), and the rest of the story is told on the pages of Holy Writ. The wise person will search the Scriptures to learn of his salvation; while the fool will fulfill his place in history, albeit, ignorant of his eternal home.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
May 23, 2022
