In this session several comparisons are made: The Tree of the Knowledge of Evil and the Tree of Life; self-righteousness and Christ’s righteousness; First Adam of the old creation and Last Adam (Jesus) of the New Creation. When we split the Adams, the power of the Gospel will be released in our lives! (see transcript of this teaching below)
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Transcript of Session 3: “The Two Adams”:
Introduction
Welcome to the 3rd Session of Let’s Keep the Amazing in Grace. This session is entitled, “The Two Adams.” If you didn’t hear the last message, please go back and listen. It is foundational! We talked about how God is not counting your sins against you. He’s not angry with you. There’s nothing you could ever do that He hasn’t already forgiven. Why? Because all of your sins were taken away in “God’s Great Demonstration of Love” which is the cross of Jesus Christ.
In this message I’m going to go back to the beginning and talk about the two trees in the garden, how we got to be where we are, and then I’ll split the two Adams, and we’ll see how what we believe has everything to do with how the power of the Gospel is released in our lives.
Crowned with glory and honor
David wrote of God’s original intent for mankind:
Psalm 8:3-6, NASB – When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; 4 What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him? 5 Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty! [crown doesn’t mean “tiara.” It’s the Hebrew word “atar”; it means an all encompassing covering – with glory and “hadar” which means majesty, honor, and splendor ] 6 You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet.
God covered man with His “glory” the Hebrew word is “kabowd” (kä·vōde), and it refers to the manifestation of the goodness of God in the widest sense. In that glory was the heavy weight of God’s authority. And He covered Adam with that authority, and whatever Adam said, it carried weight.
Genesis 1:26-28 – Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; [who is the plural “our”? The three Persons of the Godhead: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit] let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it…”
But what happened to the glory and majesty that God covered mankind with?Tragically, man forfeited his authority to the outlaw spirit called satan.
Romans 3:23 – All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. [“fall short” – “hystereō” – it literally means forfeited – like forfeiting a game; to be left behind in the race; to fall short of the goal – the goal of the glory of God]
The Two Trees
So how did man forfeit the glory of God? Let’s go back to the beginning to see.
Genesis 2:7-9 – And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. 8 The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. 9 And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
God put the Tree of Life in the midst of the Garden. That word “midst” is the Hebrew word “tavek,” and it means middle or center. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is also mentioned, but without reference to its position. The Tree of Life was in the center of the world. The Tree of Life is a picture of Jesus, the giver of life, and everything in this universe is still peripheral to Him.
Genesis 2:15-17 – Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. [Eden means “pleasure” – God put man in the garden of pleasure to tend and keep it.] 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Have you ever thought, “Why? Why did God put that tree there? Why did He allow the serpent in the garden? Why? Is all seems so unfair!” I have asked those same questions. If you haven’t, thank God – and, as Jude 22 says,
Jude 22 – Be merciful to those who doubt. [It’s ok to have questions – and it is the Spirit of God who guides us into all truth and will answer those questions.]
I don’t have all the answers yet. But I do have much more that I could say and have said in other teachings about the two trees in the garden, the devil, and how this all came to be, but I boil it all down to this important truth: It is in this choice that God gave Adam that we see the amazing love of God. He did not create robots. Love is a choice, and God risked that man would make the wrong choice by creating us after His own kind. God chose to love us and to pour out His grace on us, and we choose to receive that love and grace.
The Great Deception
We often think of the Tree of Life as good, and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil as bad, but the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was not bad because everything that God created was good, (Genesis 1:31) but this tree just wasn’t good for man.
What is the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? Is it an apple? No. Apples grow from apple trees. The fruit of this tree is “knowledge of good and evil.” Does God not want us to know good and evil? Sure He does – now. And since the fall of Adam in the garden, God gave every person a conscience which bears witness to what is good and what is evil – as Romans 2:15 says – our thoughts sometimes accuse us, and at other times defend us.
Romans 2:15, NIV – They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.
But what was His original intent? He never wanted us to know evil, experience evil, or to experience shame and condemnation, or to get sick, or to die.
His desire was for man to believe Him, to trust Him, receive His love, and to eat from the Tree of Life, whose fruit is life, and life more abundantly! eternal life!
Now I am going to use some analogies to paint a very broad brush here as we continue with the account of the first man and woman:
- The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil/ religion/ the law which says you are what you do/ self-righteousness, meaning your righteousness depends on you
- The Tree of Life/ the Gospel/ grace which says you are as Jesus is/ Jesus’ righteousness which is given to us as a free gift
Genesis 3:1-5 – Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” [the devil twisted what God had said and portrayed Him as stingy. God had said “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, except the one tree that will harm you”] 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’” [midst -“tavek” again! Eve mis-quoted God! The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil wasn’t “tavek” – the center of the world. The Tree of Life was, but she was focused on the one she was forbidden to eat from.] 4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” [It was at that point that Adam and Eve bought into the lie that they had to DO something to BE something that they already were – they were already made in the image and likeness of God. The greatest deception in the history of humanity was that man could be like God independent of God, and that was the fall of man in the garden.] 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband [where was he?] with her, and he ate. [Evil triumphs when good men do nothing] 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; [When God created them, in Genesis 2:25, it says they were naked and unashamed. They were clothed in His glory – and when you are clothed in God’s glory, you have no shame. But now their eyes were opened – not to being more like God as satan had told them – but to their shame and nakedness.] and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. [This is the first mention of fig leaves in the Bible! We’ll see what it means in a minute.] 8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 So he [Adam] said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” [Notice that God came looking for them. God never turned His back on them!] 11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? [“Who lied to you and told you that something was wrong with you? Why did you believe that lie? What I created cannot be improved upon!”] Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”
Consciousness of sin produced condemnation which produced the first act of self-righteousness in the human race – fig leaves! self-righteousness is one of the two basic results of eating from the wrong tree. We’ll talk about the other one in a minute.
Self-righteousness involves masks, hidden sin, pushing perception instead of reality. It leads to ill-fitting burdens, burnout, striving, hypocrisy, pretending to be something you aren’t – all a result of trying to be righteous independent of God’s grace offered through Jesus. Today we can still “put on fig leaves” by attempting to cover our shame and sin and failures. We strive to achieve a perception that looks good on the outside.
Self-righteousness also leads us to attempt to be “right with God” so we can “enter His presence.” We go through the steps of confession and repentance and asking for forgiveness so that we will be righteous enough to approach God’s throne of grace. Yet this is an oxymoron! How can you make yourself deserving of God’s grace? You can’t earn grace. Grace is only for the undeserving!
Confession, repentance, forgiveness
What about confession, repentance, and asking for forgiveness? Aren’t we supposed to do those things? Yes, but maybe not the way we have thought!
So let’s look at those 3 words before we return back to Genesis 3.
- confessions is the Greek word “homologia,” and it means, “to say the same thing with.” As believers we are told in the scriptures to –
Hebrews 10:23 – Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
What is the confession of our hope? Our confession is not that we are dirty, rotten sinner, but that we are righteous in Jesus and eternally alive. And we have the hope of heaven! We want to “say the same thing” as God is saying!
- Repentance is the Greek word “metanoia.” It means a change of one’s mind. To repent doesn’t mean to change your behavior or to be sorry and apologetic. It doesn’t even mean to change your direction although that might be the result of repentance. “meta” means change, “noia” means mind.
When Jesus began His earthly ministry, He explained exactly the change of mind that the people needed:
Mark 1:14-15 – Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, [the Good news!] 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, [kairos!] and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, [change your mind from the old way of religion] and believe [pisteuō – put your full hope, trust and confidence in] in the gospel.” [John 1:16 – which is the power of God for your soteria – salvation, peace, well-being, deliverance, provision]
- Forgiveness is the Greek word “aphesis,’ and it means “Letting go of our sins as if they had never been committed.” God let go of the debt of our sins. When a debt is forgiven, that means it’s paid!
Ephesians 1:7 – In Him [Jesus] we have redemption [we have it, we’re not trying to get it!] through His blood, [the payment of the debt] the forgiveness of sins, [according to the confession of every sin? NO!] according to the riches of His grace. [The day you can measure the riches of His grace is the day when you’ll know how much you’ve been forgiven.]
We have been forgiven. Past tense. We are not forgiven as we go. We aren’t working towards being forgiven. We’re not forgiven some time in the future. All of our sins – past, present, and future – were paid for at the cross. And our forgiveness was free to us, but it was purchased at a great cost: the redemption through Jesus’s blood.
Romans 6:23 – For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1 John 1:9
I want to briefly mention one other point on this topic of forgiveness of sins and confession – 1 JOHN 1:9. I’m not going to go into great detail on this topic here, but please go to Unveiling Jesus, Chapter 5 for more explanation.
So briefly, this is a verse that alot of people have taken out of context and used to support the idea that believers need to confess each and every sin in order to be forgiven – on a daily or even hourly basis. Let’s look at 1 John 1:9.
1 John 1:9 – If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. [How much? ALL unrighteousness]
1 John 1:9 is the only verse in all of the epistles that mentions the confession of sins to God. And in the context you can see that it was written to the unbeliever whom John is inviting to come to Jesus and confess that he is a sinner in need of God’s grace.
And Paul, who wrote 2/3 of the New Testament, never mentioned confession of sins one time! If it’s so important, why didn’t Paul even mention it!
While it may be a good intention to remove a perceived barrier with God by constantly asking for forgiveness, it will frustrate the grace of God in your life because you are trying to do something that has already been done. The barrier was already removed through the cross of Jesus Christ. Asking Jesus to forgive you again and again and again is like asking Him to go to the cross again. Jesus is not going back to the cross for you. Once was enough. How about this: next time we fail, let’s see Jesus on the cross for us bearing our sin and shame, and thank Him for already forgiving us and paying the debt for us. Turn your eyes upon Jesus!
The Devil Made Me Do It
Back to Genesis 3 and the other result of eating from the wrong tree:
Genesis 3:12-13 – [After God said, “Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”] Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” 13 And the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” [the devil made me do it!]
So the man blamed the woman, and then the man blamed God for giving him the woman. Then the woman blamed the devil! Here we see the other result of eating the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil: victimization. With victimization you can’t take responsibly, it’s always someone else’s fault. And because of that, you’re always seeing limits – limited resources, scarcity, glass ceilings, glass half empty, grass is always greener, if someone takes a piece of the pie, there is less for you. So there is always envy, jealousy, unforgiveness, and anger. There is nothing more debilitating than victimization. But Grace says the pie is limitless! Jesus came to bring abundant life! You can receive immeasurably more than all you can ask or imagine! And plenty to go around! With 12 basketfuls left over!
Victimization and self-righteousness are close cousins – both are rooted in pride. Both point to man. Victimization is pointing the finger at someone else. Self-righteousness is pointing the finger at yourself. Neither is pointing to Jesus.
One more verse in Genesis 3 that does point to Jesus:
Genesis 3:21 – Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them. [This is the first mention of the shedding of blood in the Bible – pointing to Jesus who would one day be the Lamb of God who wouldn’t just cover our sin, but take it away! And He clothes us in the Robe of His Righteousness!]
Federal Headship
Now, I want to go back to Adam and talk about the word “nature” and a theological term called “federal headship.” The Bible speaks of two Adams: One is the first human. The other is Jesus, who is referred to as the “Last Adam.” The first Adam is from the old creation. The Last Adam is the firstborn of the new creation who are partakers of the divine nature of God.
1 Corinthians 15:45-48 – And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam [speaking of Jesus] became a life-giving spirit. 46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; [that’s ALL of us – we were all born in a body of flesh] and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. [those who are born of God]
When I was born the first time, I received the biological nature of my parents – their physical DNA in a body of flesh. But I also received the spiritual nature of First Adam:
Romans 5:12 – …through one man [Adam] sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men…[Did you know that you weren’t a sinner because you sinned? You were a sinner because you were born in Adam’s sin. But don’t worry that this is unfair. I promise, you got the long end of the stick.]
When we were born again, we received the nature of our Heavenly Father – His spiritual DNA in our spirit that was made alive by His Spirit, the Spirit of His Son.
John 3:3-6 – Jesus answered and said to him [Nicodemus], “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water [natural birth] and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
Flesh begets flesh, Spirit begets spirit. Like produces like. This has been the law of natures since the beginning.
2 Corinthians 5:16-17- Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. [Including ourselves] Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. [Jesus came in the flesh AS US to BECOME our sin at the cross. But we don’t regard Him in the flesh anymore. He was raised from the dead, glorified, and seated at the right hand of God. And as He is SO ARE WE in this world.] 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. [“new” – kainos – fresh, unused, unworn, of a new kind, unprecedented, novel, uncommon, unheard of]
The new creation is unstained with the guilt of anything and has no history of sin or future of sin. The new creation isn’t new until it is old. It is forever new. The new birth is not a modification of the old man through a change in behavior. The new birth is a new creation of a whole new man. The old man with his sin nature went into the grave, and the new man with a whole new nature was born again when Christ rose from the dead.
Titus 3:4-7, NLT – When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, 5 he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. 6 He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. 7 Because of his grace he made us right in his sight and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.
Back to first Adam and Last Adam –
Romans 5:18-19 – Therefore, as through one man’s offense [Adam eating from the TKGE] judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act [Jesus bearing our sin on the cross] the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. 19 For as by one man’s disobedience [Adam] many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience [this is not speaking of your obedience! It’s speaking if Jesus! Because of HIS obedience] many will be made righteous.]
“Last Adam,” Jesus Christ, came to forever remove the sin of first Adam and bring about a restoration and redemption that is far greater than what was lost in First Adam’s sin. Today we can receive unfailing, eternal righteousness through Jesus – His righteousness that we can never lose because it doesn’t depend on us!
John 1:12-13 – But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
That means, spiritually speaking, we are partakers of the divine nature of God. (2 Peter 1:4) We are His children. We are His own. We no longer have the spiritual nature of first Adam, so we are no longer sinners by nature.
We are no longer “sons of disobedience” in Adam – in his disobedience. We are “sons of obedience” in Christ – in HIS obedience. No one is in no-man’s-land. We’re either dead in sin or alive in Christ. And if we don’t split the Adams in our belief system, we will believe we have two natures always battling within – the devil with his pitchfork on one shoulder and God on the other – and in the mongrel religion, the power of the Gospel will not be released in our lives. Two heads makes a freak. Adam is not our head. Sin no longer has dominion over us – either to define us or to control us. We are now in Jesus Christ who is our Head. We are citizens of His heavenly kingdom.
Ephesians 2:4-10 – But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, [All of those verbs: made us alive, saved us, made us to sit – are aorist Greek verb tense – one time action never to be repeated. And why did He save us and raise us up to heaven? So – ] 7 that in the ages to come [literally – from that moment on – ] He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, [NLT – masterpiece] created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. [“prepared beforehand” is the Greek word, proetoimazō. It means to measure in advance – like a master tailor would measure a garment]
That word “Workmanship/ masterpiece” is the Greek word “poiēma” – It is the masterpiece created by the master craftsman. It’s like the perfectly crafted and fitted garment of a master tailor. God, knowing what He wanted to do with you and through you, measured you in advance. Knowing the garment He wanted to clothe you with, He created you in such a way that you would have a certain personality and certain gifts and abilities, so that you would be perfectly suited for the good works He planned for you to do. This garment is the only garment that fits you. No other garment will fit. This mantle and calling is tailor-made. Any other identity will be uncomfortable and miserable. But this garment – the one that is God’s expression of the new creation that you are – will fit like a glove and bring you such joy! There are no limits to what God can do in and through you when you walk in who He has created you to be! When we know who we are in Jesus, the power of the Gospel will be released in our lives! All we have to do is be ourselves, and we will be overflowing with fruitfulness and effectiveness and fulfillment.
Copyright info: All scriptures in the New King James Version unless otherwise noted.
- (NKJV) New King James Version. Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
- (NLT) Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
- (NASB) Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)