Couple of interesting thoughts about our good buddy Adam, the every mans man, the guy we love and hate all at the same time. Paul makes a clear connection between Jesus’ resurrection state and that of Adam, the New Adam the perfect One Man. We have traditionally seen Jesus giving us a new humanity a more perfect one, one redeemed and Justified, free from sin and death in right relationship with God and rightly so. All this is good and can shed insight into salvation and have some proper applications for our lives today, but as I was studding this morning, its interesting that the Adam theology that Paul is working with in the 1st century has a narrowed view of Adam. The intertestimental Rabbis and writing always equated Adam with the eschatological hope of Israel, not a new humanity. They saw Israel as called to pick up where Adam dropped the ball, a getting it right after his foolish meltdown. And then when they speak of him there is a reference that Adams responsibilities and domain fall to Israel. This comes from the all the echoes of Adams commission in Gen found in the future cov Gen 1:28, 12:2, 17:2,6,8, 22:16, 26:3, 26:24, 28:3, 35:11, 47:27, 48:3, They would see the hope of Israel aligned with Adam in a kingly role, Israel having domain over the Gentiles as Adam did of the beasts, or Adam paralleled with Davidic kingship etc. And we can see as they would look in Isa and some of the other prophets they would easily come to the conclusion. As Israel is restored out of exile so she will become the new Adam, undoing what was done and taking up his rightful calling and dominion.
And so here is a couple of things to maybe tickle our minds, or put us to sleep. If Paul was speaking from this context of the day, his references to Adam especially in Romans begins to really makes sense with his greater push. God is fulfilling his covenant to Israel in that the restored Adam, Israel is actually fulfilled in Jesus. Where they couldn’t and wouldn’t be faithful He is (sinless). Jesus is the right and faithful representation of Israel and in Him we are justified, He is the New Adam. And all of the promises and commissions are found in Him. That’s why we see Paul plead with everyone, but especially his countrymen that to reject Jesus is to reject the very things they were destine for. A righteousness from God before God, a covenant faithfulness and the commission to be the light unto the world, to undo the sins of the past. (PS Im just following Paul's lead with the run-on sentences) It isn’t that they are rejecting the new, rather the fulfillment of the old. You can see why Paul then gets a touch cranky in Galatians saying to have “Jesus plus…” is to deny the gospel. Jesus then isn’t Lord, the faithfulness isn’t found in him, Torah isn’t fulfilled in Him. He is adamant that what is true of Him is true of them, but only if He is sole Lord. SO WHAT! Or SO WHAT? Or SO WHAT!?! What does it mean to be part of the New Adam, a new creation? Does it just mean we just get a fresh start with God? Or is He the true people of God and as we are found in Him so we become that, with all of its promises and responsibilities?
1 comment:
Make sure to check Romans 5:12-21 for more of Paul's thinking on the same subject. Notice how he backtracks mid thought, pointing out that yes, Jesus is the second Adam, but at the same time He is greater. What we gain in Jesus is greater than what was lost in Adam.
Jesus, in offering Himself, did for Israel and the world what Israel could not and would not do, not only by living in obedience, but also by offering Himself for the sake of the world. To hold to Torah is to hold to the good law that was given to make our sinfulness known, after we have found grace and forgiveness in Jesus. To insist that Gentiles hold to Torah and become Jewish is to refuse to sacrifice Israel for the sake of the world. Thus the preaching of Torah is not only legalism, but more significantly the denial of Jesus' work as Messiah and Son of God. This, obviously, upsets Paul.
Post a Comment