• In Adam All Die – How did God create man? For the answer to that question we must turn to Gen 1:26, which is one of the most astounding verses in the entire Bible: “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…”. It staggers our puny imaginations to think that man – the apex of God’s creation – was fashioned in the very image and likeness of the eternal, Triune God. Beyond the marvel of God’s creative ability to take a lump of clay and form a living human being is the even greater wonder that God would design a creature who would be privileged to enjoy the highest blessing imaginable – that of knowing God intimately, fellowshipping with Him, and serving Him perfectly. God tells us in Gen 1:31 that Man was created “good”, “And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good …”. Since man was created in the image of God, he is responsible for his sin and is accountable to God. Thus, man’s sin resulted in spiritual death immediately, and ultimately in eternal death, or Hell – the second death (Rev 2:11; 20:6). Because of the original sin of Adam and Eve, not only was all mankind cursed with this “second death” they also lost the fellowship with God. Sin also caused man to lose his divine nature – so that all of our first parents’ progeny, the whole human race, are born spiritually dead and continue in that state unless God intervenes in their lives to give them new–birth – eternal life. Eph 2:2 reveals that all who are unsaved are under the spiritual domination of Satan, who is called “the prince of the power of the air”.

Gen 1:26–27 “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”

Eph 2:2–3 “Wherein in time past ye [believers] walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience 3Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.”

• In Christ shall All be Made Alive – This fact is emphasized by 1 Cor 15:22 “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive”. The first “all” refers to all mankind, and the second “all” comprises all of God’s elect – “they that are Christ’s” (1 Cor 15:23). Jesus often called Himself the “Son of Man” because as the “Last Adam” (or the “Second Man”) He represented the human beings He came to save and endured the equivalent of eternal damnation for them in the Atonement at the Cross, as we read in 1 Cor 15:45–47. The divine nature we lost in First Adam, we again inherit from the Second Adam – Christ,  in Salvation. He is the only one who has ever perfectly possessed both a divine nature as fully God and a perfect human nature as fully man. The Scriptures advise us in Col 2:9, “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily”. Once someone has become saved, he has God’s promise of eternal life, which can never be taken away. 2 Pet 1:3 clarifies that everything we need spiritually – characterized by “life” and “godliness” – is given by God and is found in “all things”. So, what are “all things”? They refer to the Bible itself. God has enabled us through new–birth to escape the corruption that is in the world, and be fruitful. Christians are not immune to the temptations; but, because they have regenerated souls, there is an innate battle between their redeemed souls and their unsaved bodies. 2 Pet 1:3–4 assures the true believer of the necessity to rely upon God’s Word entirely. Increasingly, the child of God realizes his utter dependency on God’s strength and grace as Php 4:13 proclaims, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me”.

1 Cor 15:45 “And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. 46Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. 47The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man [Christ] is the Lord from heaven.”

Eph 2:4–6 “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved😉 6And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:”

2 Pet 1:3–4 “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 4Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

• If any Man be in Christ, he is a New Creature – 2 Cor 5:17 declares, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new”. Only God can give a person new–birth – eternal life. God must draw the elect to Himself and grant them repentance, spiritual understanding, faith to trust Him, and a capacity to love and obey Him. Only God can create a new eternal soul, or “heart”, and make a “new creature” of a person, as we read in Eze 36:26–27. God is teaching that regardless of a person’s ethnic, cultural, or religious background he becomes a “new man” when Christ saves him and makes “peace” between God and that person and establishes a new relationship between that individual and God, where previously hatred or enmity existed: “when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son” (Rom 5:10) . We also learn from Eph 4:24 that the “new man” is “created in righteousness and true holiness”, in the likeness of God Himself. Col 3:9–10 reiterates that indeed, the child of God has been clothed with the very righteousness and holiness of Christ Himself:  “… seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him”. Thus the “new man” can only be referring to a person’s soul, which is where salvation initially takes place. This is an astounding concept that mortal, sinful, depraved man could become as holy and pure as His Creator; and yet God has instituted this requirement in order for man to inhabit Heaven. Now we are new creature created in Christ’s righteousness, renewed by indwelling Holy Spirit, so that we do not serve sin. This is all possible only “by the faith of the Son of God, who loved us, and gave himself for me” (Gal 2:20).

Eze 36:26–27 “A new heart also will I [God] give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.”

Eph 4:22–24 “That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”

Rom 6:4, 6 “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 6Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.”

Gal 2:20 “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

Col 3:1–4 “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.”

• If Christ be in You, the Body is Dead because of Sin – The apostle Paul, under divine inspiration, reveals in Rom 7:25 the Scriptural assessment that a child of God must constantly keep in mind, “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin”. This internal dualism is the true Christian’s greatest spiritual struggle, bar none, as Rom 7:24 pinpoints, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”. This is a good way to “examine” ourselves as to whether we are saved or not. If our sin does not grieve our hearts, it may be evidence that we are not truly saved. Because a believer must live in an unsaved body, he is engaged in a constant internal struggle between his sinful flesh and his new, resurrected soul. The deliverance that Paul refers to is found in the words of 2 Cor 5:1–4, which expresses the believer’s yearning to be redeemed and forever clothed with his glorified spiritual body. Gal 5:16 instructs us “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh”

Rom 7:22–24 “For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”

1 Cor 9:27 “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”

Rom 8:1–2, 6–10 “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 6For to be carnally minded [unsaved] is death; but to be spiritually minded [saved] is life and peace. 7Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. 8So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. 9But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. 10And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.”

Gal 5:16–18, 24–25 “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh [our bodies]. 17For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. 18But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law… 24And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. 25If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”

Col 3:5–9 “Mortify [put to death] therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: 8But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. 9Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;”

2 Tim 2:21–22 “If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work. 22Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.