-15 Min Read
Introduction
Paul says in his letter to the Romans that “Adam… is a type of Him who was to come” (Rom. 5:14), the “Him” referring to Christ. The word in Greek is τύπος (typos) and it is translated throughout the New Testament as “type, imprint, pattern, model, example.” In this word, we have a method of interpretation, Typology. Typology can be understood as looking for patterns throughout the canon of Scripture that find their ultimate fulfillment in Christ, as revealed in the New Testament [1]. It is also the predominant hermeneutic the New Testament authors used.
We use the typological method of interpretation when we observe scriptures’ repeating patterns, characters, and events. Asking of these patterns, “How does this point to Christ or is fulfilled in Christ?” Like a typewriter, it imprints the image onto the paper when used, so it is with God’s story. His Beloved Son is the main point of the story. So, why would God not ‘type‘ Christ onto the pages as much as He could? With this in mind, how can we see Christ as the new and greater Adam?
“Prophet, Priest,
and King”
One of the first things we must examine is Adam’s role as the first Prophet, Priest, and King. A prophet was marked as someone who directly communicated with God. This was certainly true of Adam. Adam functioned as a prophet by speaking God’s words and relaying God’s law (Gen. 2:16-17) to his helpmate Eve, for the law came before Eve was made (Gen. 2:21-25). Eve recited a close rendering of the law to the serpent, which she received from her head, Adam, and said that it was indeed given to them both by God (Gen. 3:2-3).
We presume that Adam is the one who instructed his sons, Cain and Abel, in offering sacrifices to God. However, the Scriptures are clear that both Abel and Cain operated as prophets like their father Adam by speaking directly with God (Gen. 3:6-7, Matt. 23:34-35, Luke 11:49-51). But we can deduce that Adam imprinted the meaning of atonement onto his sons. God covered Adam and Eve with animal skins as a picture of atonement (Gen. 3:21) and now likewise Cain and Abel would need atonement for their sins.
Adam also functioned as a priest, but not in the primary way we imagine. Although making sacrifices for sins is predominantly what we think a priest does, it is not all they do. Priests can be recognized as those who lead others in worship. Adam was the first human worshipper. He would lead his wife in worshipping YAHWEH and would worship Him by observing the Sabbath rest (Gen. 2:2-3). We also see Adam’s priestly role expressed in his looking after the garden (Gen. 2:15). Another aspect for us to appreciate in Adam’s role as a type of priest is his dietary restrictions;
And Yahweh God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may surely eat; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat from it; for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”
– Genesis 2:16-17 (LSB)
We read in Leviticus chapter 22 of the dietary restrictions of the priests. The priest could not eat of “an animal which dies or is torn by beasts” (Lev. 22:8). They had to be good stewards of the “holy offerings“. They could not let their offspring eat the offering, lest they “be cut off” from God (Lev. 22:3-6), and “if a priest’s daughter becomes a widow or divorced, and has no seed, and returns to her father’s house as in her youth, she [can eat the holy offering], but no stranger shall eat of it” (Lev. 22:13). Also if someone “unintentionally,” eats the holy offering then they “shall add to it a fifth of it and shall give the holy gift to the priest” (Lev. 22:14). Just as dietary restrictions marked the Priests, so it did with Adam.
It is easy to see Adam’s role as a king in the language used by Moses in the book of Genesis. God “took [Adam] and set him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it” (Gen. 2:15). Adam was given authority over the garden in Eden. He was to maintain the garden by protecting it and ruling over it. This would be the same authority that Adam was given over the world. We see God bring every animal He creates before Adam “to see what he would call it; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name” (Gen. 2:19). Of course God recognizes Adam’s authority over the earth because it was God who gave it to him:
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, so that they will have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that creeps on the earth.”
– Genesis 1:26-28 (LSB)
It is clear that Adam functioned as a type of prophet, priest, and king in the garden. Adam failed in all three of these roles. As the prophet, he had the very words of God and could speak with God. Instead, he let the serpent come and speak lies. As the priest, he was to lead all of creation in God-centered worship. Instead, he and Eve were led by the serpent in self-centered worship. As the king, he was to protect his kingdom, but instead, he opened up his gates to the enemy.
In Christ, we see the ultimate prophet, priest, and king, and that in Him we see a greater Adam. Questions and answers 27-29 in The Baptist Catechism specifically address how Christ fulfills the role of Prophet, Priest, and King.
Q. 27: How doth Christ execute the office of a prophet?
A. Christ executeth the office of a prophet in revealing to us, by his Word and Spirit, the will of God for our salvation. (John 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:10-12; John 15:15; 20:31)Q. 28: How doth Christ execute the office of a priest?
A. Christ executeth the office of a priest in His once offering up of Himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice, and reconcile us to God, and in making continual intercession for us. (Heb. 9:14,28; Heb. 2:17; Heb. 7:24-25)Q. 29: How doth Christ execute the office of a king?
The Baptist Catechism, Q: 27-29
A. Christ executeth the office of a king, in subduing us to Himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all His and our enemies. (Acts 15:14-16; Isa. 33:22; Isa. 32:1-2; 1 Cor. 15:25; Ps. 110)
“Covenantal Head”
It is clear from Scripture that Adam was a ‘public’ figure, representing all of the human race. This is because God always deals with His creatures through covenant. The framers of The Second London Baptist Confession (1689) expressed the necessity of covenant because of the “distance” between God and man.
The distance between God and the creature is so great, that although reasonable creatures do owe obedience to Him as their creator, yet they could never have attained the reward of life but by some voluntary condescension on God’s part, which He hath been pleased to express by way of covenant. (Luke 17:10; Job 35:7–8)
– 2LCF: Chapter VII, Paragraph 1
This was true of Adam. Adam could continue in a covenant relationship with God under certain terms. God “commanded” Adam to “eat of any tree of the garden” and live (Gen. 2:16), but then warned that if he ate from “the tree of knowledge of good and evil” he would “surely die” (Gen. 2:17). Theologians have many names for this covenant that God made with Adam. Some refer to this as “The Covenant of Life,” or “The Covenant of Creation,” while others appreciate the classical term, “The Covenant of Works.” Scripture teaches that Adam was certainly under these terms and Hosea even says that Adam was in a covenant with God;
“But like Adam they have trespassed against the covenant;
– Hosea 6:7 (LSB)
There they have dealt treacherously against Me.”
It becomes even clearer from Paul’s letters to the Romans and the Corinthians. In both, Adam is referred to as the parallel to the Lord Jesus as a Covenantal Head of all kinds of people. Paul proves his point by making a lesser-to-greater argument; “for if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many” (Rom. 5:15). Again, we see this same thing in 1st Corinthians; “For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:21-22).
Just as Adam represented us at the tree in the garden of Eden, so Christ represents us on Calvary’s cross. One is negative to our account and one is positive. Adam plunged us into sin and death, while Christ plunged us into righteousness and life. This happens because Christ fulfilled the Covenant of Works which Adam could not. By Christ’s active obedience to the Law we are redeemed (Matt. 5:17-19);
But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, 5 so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
– Galatians 4:4-5 (LSB)
God the Son took on flesh to come and be the true and better Adam to fulfill the Covenant of Works. And who greater to be a mediator between man and God, than the Lord Jesus? By fulfilling the Covenant of Works and the Law (Old Covenant), Christ may institute a new and better covenant, which He does (Jer. 31:31-34; Luke 22:20; 1 Cor. 11:25; 2 Cor. 3:6; Heb. 8:13, 9:15, 12:24), for “Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant” (Heb. 7:22).
God establishes covenants through public figures like Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David. Adam was the first federal figure and he federally represented all of the human race. For Christ to redeem all men, (types of men/Gentiles), He would need to come and fulfill the Covenant of Works, He would need to come and be the better Adam. He would have to undo what Adam did. Christ does all that Adam couldn’t do and restores all Adam forfeited.
“Headcrusher”
Adam was given terms of a covenant and he broke those terms by partaking of the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and it is by this that all of humanity was cast into sin. Just as there was a sinful act Adam was to avoid, so there was a righteous act Adam was to perform. Adam was supposed to kill the serpent in the garden. As the one whom God had established as King over Creation, it was Adam’s duty to maintain peace in all the land and “subdue” all for God.
Adam had been given dominion over all creatures and had been commissioned to protect the garden and his wife. Part of exercising that right of authority would have been seen in crushing the serpent’s head. As soon as Adam heard the serpent speak lies to his wife Eve (Gen. 3:4) he should have put the animal to death. Adam was to secure order in the Garden, not allow chaos. Instead, Adam traded his authority to Satan for a piece of fruit.
Because God’s order was undone and the covenant was now broken, God was to bring curses upon all of Creation. The first to receive a curse was the serpent.
And Yahweh God said to the serpent,
– Genesis 3:14-15 (LSB)
“Because you have done this,
Cursed are you more than any of the cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you will go,
And dust you will eat
All the days of your life;
15 And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel.”
This is what theologians call the “protoevangelium,” (the first gospel). Here in the Proto-Evangelium God announces to the serpent of a coming seed of the woman that would “bruise [him] on the head.” This seed of the woman and the serpent, along with all of his evil offspring, will be at war from here on. Where Adam had a disguised encounter with Satan, Jesus would face an all-out assault from Satan, his horde of demons, and all of Satan’s children (Matt. 4:1-11; Mark 5:1-20; John 8:44).
The coming Savior must fulfill all that Adam could not, including resisting temptation from Satan. This is why Matthew records that after Jesus’ baptism and anointing of the Spirit, Jesus “then was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” (Matt. 4:1). This was to fulfill all righteous (Matt. 3:15). Though yes, Jesus can and does “sympathize with our weaknesses,” because He was “tempted in all things like we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15), He can especially sympathize with Adam; for Jesus was in the same state of innocence as Adam.
But it would be a greater task. The Son of God comes to crush the serpent’s head, though now the serpent of the garden has become a Great Red Dragon of the world (Rev. 12). Christ is so much better than Adam, for Adam was called to maintain the covenant while Christ is commissioned to fulfill it, reverse the curse, and restore all peace between God and man. Christ is also up against a greater and more grown enemy than Adam. Greater is the work the Son of Man accomplished than the work the first man was given. Jesus came to “cast out the ruler of this world” (John 12:31).
What is all the more beautiful is that the Son of God does not rely on His divinity to fulfill the prophecy spoken in the Proto-Evangelium (Phil. 2:5-8). Instead, Christ does all of this as a human; we may add, “A type of married human.” This is why Paul tells the Romans that “the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” (Rom. 6:20) because Paul knows the imagery well.
Our God gives the best gifts (Matt. 7:11; Luke 11:11-13, 12:32), and one of the gifts He has ordained to give us as the Bride of His Beloved Son, is the gift of crushing the serpent’s head with our Bridegroom. Poetically, we with Christ through union with Him, His blood, and our testimony, will join in the crushing of Satan’s head. This is how it was to be in the garden, husband and wife, defender and help-mate.
And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying,
– Revelation 12:9-11 (LSB)
“Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. 11 And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their witness, and they did not love their life even to death.
Jesus, unlike Adam, is the true ‘Headcrusher‘! Christ has chosen to overthrow the Devil by sacrifice. He has ordained it to be through Christ’s blood that Satan is defeated. The rendezvous between the Devil and man would be at a tree again, but this time the Greater Adam would be there. This time the federal man would not fail but would remain obedient, even obedient to death on a cross (Phil. 2:8). The nails that hung our Savior to the tree might as well have been the nails to Satan’s coffin.
Conclusion
We are thankful to God for sending us a greater representative, one who can never fail us. Adam being a type of Christ is something that we are to understand, for it helps us appreciate the way of salvation. The Son of God was not just any man but was a type of man; a man that resembled Adam. He was born under the law (Gal. 4:4) and yet in a state of holiness, like Adam. It is a glorious thing to see our perfect Savior lay down His life for His bride, unlike the first Adam. Praise be to the Father for sending us the Son, the Greater Adam.
Creation gazed upon His face
The ageless One in time’s embrace
Unveiled the Father’s plan
Of reconciling God and man
A second Adam walked the earth
Whose blameless life would break the curse
Whose death would set us free
To live with Him eternally
Hallelujah!
Let all creation stand and sing
Hallelujah!
Fill the earth with songs of worship
Tell the wonders of creation’s King
Works Cited
[1] James M. Hamilton Jr., Typology: Understanding The Bible’s Promise-Shaped Patterns, How Old Testament Expectations Are Fulfilled in Christ, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2022), 24