1 Corinthians 15:21 Commentary and Bible Study

Then the theological explanation is given. He says ‘shall all be made alive’ – given resurrection bodies – but it clearly means all believers, not literally all, because it goes on to say, ‘but every man in his own order, Christ, the firstfruits afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.’ Death came by man, our first parent, Adam, the representative man. He fell through sin, and death came in as the result. The second great representative man, the last Adam, the second man, is Christ. He is the second significant man, the second representative man. ‘By man came also the resurrection of the dead.’ Paul sets it out so simply. He does not call Christ, the second Adam, because that would be a very unsatisfactory term. In no sense was Christ a second Adam. That would imply that he was similar to Adam, but Adam was fallen, Adam sinned. Christ did not resemble him in any respect like that. He was sinless; he was God as well of man, so he cannot be called a second Adam, for Adam was only human; he was weak, he was fallible. Paul and the Scripture variously call Christ, the second man, yes; the second representative man; it calls him the last Adam, but very carefully not the second Adam, which would carry implications. He shares with Adam the fact that they are both representative heads of covenants, but Christ is nothing like Adam, the man.‘For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.’ The remedy must be delivered in the same nature as that through which death came in the first place. Human nature itself must be redeemed from death, otherwise God’s purpose in ever creating man will have been thwarted. Adam was made a living being. He had animal life in his body and it was impregnated with a soul, but Christ is altogether superior. He was not merely a living being; he was a life-giving being. He was the Son of God, as well as man and he possessed the power of life. ‘For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.’ All die in Adam, all, all his posterity. Every man and every woman inherit his sinful nature and they too commit sin and will therefore die. But in Christ all live. This second ‘all’ is not the same as the ‘all’ who died in Adam. All who are in Adam die, but all who are in Christ are made alive. In Adam are all who have ever been born, bar one – Jesus Christ. He was made in the likeness of sinful flesh, but he did not possess a sin nature. He had a mortal body, a body that was subject to sickness, tiredness, hunger and thirst, and death, but he did not inherit Adam’s fallen nature. ‘Even so in Christ shall all be made alive’ – but not everyone is in Christ. In Christ are all those who are given to him by the Father, who are all who are united to him by faith. We have to come to him, and believe in him, and believe what he has done in making an atonement for sinners; we rely on him, and cry out to him for life and salvation, and yield our lives to him. But only then will we be in Christ, ‘even so in Christ shall all be made alive’ – all who are in Christ.