Many words have been inked about the Son of God becoming a human being in the Christmas story. However, I seldom read of one aspect of the story, one important reason that’s left unmentioned, of why Jesus had to be born a human male.
Yes, He came to die for our sins, be buried, and rise from the dead, saving us from the wrath to come and giving us hope. Yes, He came to fulfill prophecy. He came to set up His kingdom. To reveal what God is really like and be our example to follow. The break the power of sin and the devil. To offer salvation by grace through faith for all. All of these blessed reasons are true and not to be taken lightly.
One more reason should be firmly inserted among the familiar reasons we have just listed: He came to be the “last Adam” (1 Corinthians 15:45). He came to replace the curses that came with Adam with the blessings that come with Christ.
Let’s cover this in more detail. Without understanding this foundational truth from Romans 5, we may misunderstand the New Testament letters and misapply the do’s and don’ts written there.
Scripture states a very interesting, though obscure, principle that God leverages for all its worth to result in the fullest salvation imaginable that’s being offered to us in Christ.
In Romans 5:12-14, we learn that when Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden by taking the forbidden fruit, he passed on to all of us his sin and its consequence of death. So all of us die because we have all sinned (Romans 3:23, 6:23). But notice this fragment of a verse: “Adam, who was a type of Him who was to come” (5:14).
Who was he a type of, and how? We see that connection in 1 Corinthians 15:22, which teases it out for us: “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.” In some spiritual sense, we were “in Adam” when he sinned.
In Romans 5 we see what happened because we were in Adam. Adam sinned and died. We also sinned and die. Adam was found guilty and separated from God; we are no strangers to guilt and separation. Adam was unrighteous before God; we too are in this state before God. We receive these aspects of the curse at birth because we were in Adam when he sinned.
Romans 5:12-21 spells out the curse of the Fall that we bear because we were in Adam. They also sketch the outlines of the blessings we have because of “the one Man, Jesus Christ” (5:15). We have these blessings because we are in Christ.
The ”In Christ” term is found ten times in Romans and over a hundred times in various permutations in the New Testament. In that same listing of curses in Romans 5 above is the remedy in Christ that reverses them all.
Adam was the head of humanity, in a sense. Then when we believed Christ for salvation, we were placed in Christ, who was the head of a new humanity. Just as we received the curses from being in Adam, we received the spiritual blessings from being in Christ. Our lives are now derived from Christ. The old us before we confessed Christ, who we were in Adam, has passed away.
Being in Christ, as Paul writes about it, is a position where we receive the same standing as Christ does before God. He obeyed the commandment perfectly and stands before God as righteous. We hold the same position before God: as righteous as Christ is (2 Corinthians 5:21). This means we do not need to try harder to be righteous or good enough to God. Rather, we start from the position of already righteous, and labor out of gratitude and grace.
God does not condemn His Son whom He loves. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ (Romans 8:1). Any condemnation we feel comes from our own minds and from the accuser of the brethren (Satan), who tries to shame us and keep us estranged from God. We can, of course, feel remorse and guilt because of our wrongdoing, but it is not to be a prolonged affair. Confessing the sin brings about immediate forgiveness–this grace too comes from being in Christ (Ephesians 1:8, 1 John 1:9). We should act according to our position in Christ by faith, not by our feelings. Our feelings did not change by the crossover.
Pay attention to all the variations of “in Christ” when you read the New Testament, such as “in Christ Jesus” and “in Him” and “in whom.” Ephesians 1 covers several obvious cases of being “in Him.” Read and count how many you can find.
By coming in the form of a man, Christ’s birth set the stage to reverse the curses we received from Adam and have suffered throughout our lives. The New Testament repeatedly exposes the workings of the flesh, which comes from Adam, so that we can resist them and put on the new creation we are in Christ. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things are passed away [the curses we received from Adam], and behold, all things have become new [since we first trusted Christ]” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
All of the resources of being in Christ are accessed by faith, not by feelings. As we discover the blessings we already have in Christ by faith, we’ll wield the sword of the Spirit and shield of faith more knowingly, and they’ll successfully protect us from the lies of the enemy.
The problem of sin is a spiritual problem that requires a spiritual solution, which is resolved by Christ alone, and passed on to those who believe and walk by faith in this new reality daily.
The epistles expose how the flesh from Adam behaves so we can detect it in ourselves by the Spirit’s illumination. (The Spirit and the Word go together, not only our intellect and the Word.) Only Christ through the good news can save us (Romans 1:16-17).
The epistles reveal the many substitutions we’ve put in place of Christ. Instead of trusting in Christ, we trust in our wealth, mental and physical abilities and intuition, the government, our education, science and technology, physicians and psychology, military might, and so on. See Paul’s list in Philippians 3:1-9 of things he trusted in instead of Christ that he may be “found in Him” with the righteousness of Christ. When we are trusting in these things to resolve spiritual issues, we commit idolatry. We are not acting according to our new creation in Christ.
The historical and prophetic books of the Old Testament attest to how quickly fallen man turns to these things rather than trusting in God. “Everyone did what was right in their own eyes” (Judges 16:6). The Jews especially trusted in their law-keeping and traditions to count themselves good people. The epistles, especially Galatians, expose how we in the church do the same thing.
Trusting in Christ along with dying to the old ways of Adam is the sure way of deliverance from sin and temptation every time. When we trust Jesus instead of the coping mechanisms of the flesh, then the Spirit is in charge, and the flesh is overcome. Trusting in Christ is the spiritual resolution to a spiritual problem.
The fullness of the curse will be lifted when Christ raises us from the dead. This resurrection of our bodies is also a gift from being “in Him.” The first Adam brought sin and death to all. The last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45), Jesus, brings eternal life to all who place their trust in Him. Such magnificent results come because of an obscure principle found in the Old Testament of taking on the life aspects of our predecessor. Jesus is the last Adam. There will be no more “upgrades.” Jesus is God’s one remedy for all time.
It’s possible this aspect of Christ’s birth isn’t noted much because it needs much space to explain and make clear. I hope I’ve done a good job introducing you to it.
Will you continue to live the life you inherited from Adam, which was your default mode in life? Or will you put on the blessings from Christ, which you’ll enjoy as you believe Him for them moment by moment?
This article looks at the basics of this doctrine. Succeeding articles will help you see how to make it your own so you enjoy the abundant life Christ came to bring.
