Before we get into our first example of typology in the OT, I would suggest you look at our post: Typology, an introductory look at typology. As a refresher, a type in the OT is a picture or illustration of Christ. This is not an appearance or a prophecy. What we see are various OT people, places (Temple), or events that are illustrations reinforcing our understanding of Jesus.
The type is a shadow cast by the passage, which reinforces the truths we already know about Christ, not the meaning of the OT passages. Second, these silhouettes would not have been seen or understood before Christ’s advent. Third, the type, being a shadow, is always less than that which is being foreshadowed. Therefore, they will not teach us new truths but rather reinforce the truths taught explicitly in the NT. Finally, shadows are an incomplete image. We must not try to take them too far. There will be many parts of the type’s original account that do not bear on Jesus. Through contemplating the type in connection with NT teaching, we seek to come to a deeper understanding of Christ.
The first thing we need to do is to get a clear understanding of Adam. It is interesting that the word Adam— אָדָם ʾā·ḏām—is the first man’s name, the Hebrew word for man, and the generic term for people when a particular gender is not intended. We meet the person Adam in the very first chapter of the Bible (Gen 1:26-31). On the sixth day of creation after making all the land animals, God created Adam and Eve, though they are not mentioned by name until later. We are told in verse 26, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” The Hebrew word for man here is adam. Even though the term is singular in the next part of the verse, God says, “…let them have dominion…” (emphasis added). Verse 27 explicitly states He created them “male and female.” God gives man dominion over all the sea, air, and land animals. He also commands them to reproduce and fill the earth and subdue the earth. He gave man plants and fruits for food, as He has done for birds and land animals.
Chapter 2 of Genesis is the second account of creation, not an alternate account, but an account from a different view than the shorter account in the first chapter. It is much more detailed about the creation of man. Genesis 2:7 tells us God formed man from the ground and breathed life into his nostrils. God then made a special place on earth for man, a garden: Eden. Among the other vegetation planted in the garden were two special trees: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The man was placed in the garden to work it and keep it. The man is then commanded not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He may eat the rest of the plants.
God says, “it is not good for the man to be alone.” God then instructs the man to name all the animals (certainly this is a general statement, not that he named each and every type of animal at this time, such as naming every type of bear or mouse). In doing so, the man saw firsthand there wasn’t any creature that was fit as a companion for him. God then made a woman from the rib of the man. The man, who had just named all the animals, saw the woman and said she is “bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman because she was taken out of Man.” (Gen 2:23).
This account of creation ends with Gen 2:24-25, “24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.” The result is we have a statement of the future nature of the family and of the innocence of the first family.
The very first event mentioned after the creation week is the Fall, the loss of innocence. It does not seem to have been very long after the creation week, maybe a matter of days or less. The focus of this event is not on the man but on the woman and the serpent. After being enticed to eat the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, “…she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate” (Gen 3:6). Such a sad day for all of creation. Everything was moving to that last act of creation: the creation of man. God created them male and female, but Adam stands by allowing the serpent to twist God’s word and seduce Eve into eating the fruit. Some feel that Adam was not at the tree at the time of Eve’s Fall, but even if this is true, Adam took the fruit and ate it too.
The result of this Fall was their realization of their nakedness and then trying to hide from God. God then comes to them and curses them for this faithless act of disobedience. The serpent, the woman, and the man are all judged. In the curse of the man, he is sentenced in his area of work before the Fall. His work of the ground would now be hard and filled with obstacles. As part of the curse on both the man and his wife, they were sent out of the garden with angels set at the entrance to guard the way to the tree of life.
There are just a few more mentions of Adam in Genesis. Chapter 4 describes the man and his wife’s first offspring. The rest of chapter 4 is the account of Adam’s son Cain murdering his brother Able. The only new information given in the OT about Adam is in Gen 5:3-5. It should be noted that Adam had other sons and daughters other than Seth. Also, Adam was 130 when Seth was born after the murder of Able. Adam most likely had a number of sons and daughters who were over 100 years old and therefore many grandchildren and great-grandchildren by the time Seth was born.
Amazingly, this is the last we hear of Adam in the OT. In neither the New nor the Old Testament is Adam pointed to as an example of faith. The roll call of faith in Hebrews 11 passes Adam and starts with his son Able. We need to be careful of what we make out of silence, but it is interesting. This does not mean the NT is completely silent about Adam. Paul in his epistles has a great deal to teach us about Adam as a type of Christ. Paul even goes so far as to call Adam a type of Christ. “… of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come” (Rom 5:14).
Unfortunately, we will need to go over this discussion of Adam as a type rather quickly as delving into the theology in each of them would occupy more space than this post allows. We leave it to you to think and study the implications of each of these in more detail.
Take a moment to read Romans 5:12-21. We must always remember to keep our understanding in the context of all that is said on the subject. Taking verses out of context leads to misunderstandings and even heretical teaching. So be sure to look beyond just this passage for our understanding of salvation.
In this passage, Paul teaches us it was through one man—Adam—that sin came into the world. From sin came death. But through one man—Christ—many have received grace for many sins. Notice in verse 17 sin is universal, “death reigned,” i.e., all people die, yet grace and the free gift of righteousness are for those who receive it. Don’t confuse Romans 5:18-19 with universal salvation but that salvation is universally available.
So Adam and Christ are the same in that their one act affected the world, but the effect is vastly different, praise God! Through disobedience, Adam brought death and condemnation. Through obedience, Christ brought life and justification. Adam represents us all in sin. Christ represents us all in His sacrifice.
In 1 Cor 15:45-49, Paul lays out the contrast for us. Adam was a living being, but Christ was life-giving. The order is from the natural to the spiritual. Adam was of the Earth. Christ is of Heaven. We are of the dust like Adam, but in Christ, we are also of Heaven. We have a new spiritual life in Christ. As believers, we go from death brought through Adam to life bought in Christ. Adam, we remember, was made in the image of God. We were not born with the same pure image of God but a sin-marred image. In Christ, saved from our sin and justified in His death and resurrection, we now bear His image.
A couple of last points which are not plainly stated by Paul. Adam was to be fruitful and multiply (Gen 1:28). Christ was fruitful as He has given many the right to become children of God (John 1:12; 11:52; Rom 8:16-17; 1 Jn 3:1). The whole human race came from Adam, but the Kingdom of God is populated by the followers of Christ. Finally, Adam was given dominion of the earth (Gen 1:26), and Christ was given all authority (Mat 28:18; Eph 1:20). What Adam failed at in not taking control of the earth for the glory of God, Jesus is accomplishing through His Church and, at His return, will bring to complete fruition.
As I said earlier, there is a lot here. We have not had the time to go into great depth. It is up to each of us now to think on these things in order to see the deeper truths which can build our faith and appreciation for Christ.
Until the next time we see you here at CultivatingFaith.org, God Bless! #CultivatingFaithOrg
Photo by Etienne Girardet on Unsplash