"You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free"

As In Adam All Die...

 

"To affirm that those in Christ who die, do so under the law of the spirit of life in him, is equivalent to saying that Jesus Christ is, to his faithful disciples, a death-giver as well as a life-giver. This is an extraordinary conclusion to be arrived at by those who profess to understand the meaning of the statement that 'By man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.'—(1 Cor. 15:21.) It arises from a misconception as to the position occupied by those in Christ. When a man is immersed, it is quite true that he is transferred out of Adam into Christ; but in what sense? Certainly not in a physical sense; for the still possesses the earthy body derived from the first Adam. Hence the change can only be a mutual one. The difference between believers and unbelievers is just this: the latter are both constitutionally and physically in Adam; whereas the former, though physically in Adam, are mentally in Christ. The head of the one body is now immortal, but the other members are still either gone to corruption or corruptible. When they are made like unto their Head, then, and not before, will they be introduced into the last Adam in a physical sense, and so become, as a matter of fact, free from the law of sin and death. Dr. Thomas, in writing about this event, says that it 'occurs 'in the resurrection,' an aion period in which the sons of God obtain their new nature or materiality. Mentally, that is as to mind, disposition, and character, or as we say, spiritually and constitutionally, they are sons of God; but as to the flesh, they are, on this side the resurrection, still the children of Adam. They are flesh and blood, but they do not walk after or according to its impulses; living a life of self-denial, being led by the Spirit, in being led by the truth understood, believed and affectionately obeyed, as it is written, 'As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.' But to be sons of God, in the full import of the title, they must put off the Old Adam in respect to body, as well as to conduct and intelligence. They must become sons of God bodily as well as spiritually. They are waiting for this, namely, 'for the adoption, the redemption of their body.'”—(Eureka, vol. I. p. 30.)" (J. J. Andrew, The Christadelphian, 1874, p. 305)

"'As in Adam all die even so in Christ shall all be made alive.'We admit it is taking a liberty with this text to paraphrase the last part of it into the statement 'all in Christ shall be made alive' though the paraphrase itself is strictly correct. The real solution of the passage is to be found in the consideration of who the 'all' refers to. Who is Paul speaking about? Exclusively of the righteous. This is evident from the chapter as a whole, but more particularly from the statement in verse 50, 'We shall all be changed . . for this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.' This cannot refer to the unrighteous, of whom he says, 'they shall reap corruption.'(Gal. 6:8.) If then, Paul is talking of the saints only, the passage loses all the significance claimed for it by the Universalist, since it simply amounts to a statement of the fact that though the saints die because of their physical relation to Adam, they shall rise again to incorruption on account of their spiritual connection with him who is the resurrection and the life. (Robert Roberts, 1865, The Christadelphian, p. 218)

"The apostle then brings to light two sentences, which are coextensive, but not co-etaneous in their bearing upon mankind. The one is the sentence of condemnation, which consigns 'the many', both believing Jews and Gentiles, to the dust of the ground; the other is a sentence which affects the same 'many', and brings them out of the ground again to return thither no more. Hence, of the saints it is said, 'The body is dead because of sin; but the spirit (gives) life because of righteousness'; for 'since by man came death, by a man also came a resurrection of dead persons (νάστασις νεχρων). For as in Adam they all die, so also in Christ shall they all be made alive. But every one in his own order: Christ the first fruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming'. It is obvious that the apostle is not writing of all the individuals of the human race; but only of that portion of them that become the subject of 'a justification of life', διχαίωσις ζωης. It is true, that all men do die; but it is not true that they are all the subjects of justification. Those who are justified are 'the many', ο πολλοί, who are sentenced to live for ever. Of the rest we shall speak hereafter." (Elpis Israel, 1849, p. 132)

"Men while living are corruptible, mortal, and weak, and men when dead, are no longer in any of these stages but are corruption itself. Corruption cannot inherit incorruption. It must surely be apparent that before the corruptible can put on incorruption it, must be in existence. And the dead saints at present, are not in the state called corruptible but in that called corruption. The present state of corruption of the dead saints as well as of all in Adam, is the result of physical relationship to him. It is the changing of this image of the earthy into the image of the heavenly which is proposed on the part of the Deity, and this change is the result of a giving an account which determines that the conditions of the promise of the change have been attended to. No instance exists, so far as I know, of the Deity exalting by anticipation as the result of his foreknowledge. Certainly he has exalted by promise, and many unskilful in the word, confound the promise given and confirmed, and therefore spoken of as a thing done, with the reality, showing clearly that they understand neither. Our relationship to the Christ is moral not physical; the promise given is that it will be physical. If you contend, or “J. R.” contend, that any will emerge from the grave physically like what the Christ now is, you must hold that men are judged in the grave and give an account of themselves when in the state of corruption, or you must hold that the giving account is a mere dumb show which has already been anticipated or that there will be no giving of an account at all, which apparently is the favourite doctrine. And if there be no giving account at all, but that men are raised to incorruptibility without it, it must be upon some principle of which the scriptures are silent, and one to which we do not require to give any heed." (W. Ellis, The Christadelphian, 1865, p. 253)

"Adam was condemned, and we have the testimony of the Spirit that his condemnation hath passed upon all men. Now what is that condemnation? Is it a condemnation against the nature or against the life in the nature? Which? It cannot be a condemnation against the life in the nature: that is what immortal-soulism says; and, in this respect, the new theory makes an advance towards immortal-soulism. The abstract life in all nature is the same. Men and animals have all one breath. With God is the fountain of life. God is the life of all; and He giveth unto all life, and breath, and all things; and when death happens, the dust returns unto the dust, and the spirit or the life returns to God who gave it. It is not the life that is condemned, for it is not the life that is the sinner. It is the person, the individual, the nature that is condemned, because it was the person, Adam, that was the sinner. Condemnation in Adam means, therefore, that we are mortal in Adam: mortal in the physical constitution—the organisation." (Robert Roberts, The Christadelphian, The Slain Lamb, 1873, p. 440-441).

Question: "What are the grounds for believing that the term “in” implies physical relationship in the phrase, 'For as in Adam all die?'—(1 Cor. 15:22.)" Answer: "The statement in question is affirmed of the saints. It is the same “all” that is spoken of in verse 51 of the same chapter: “We shall all be changed.” The saints shall all be changed. In Adam they all die: in Christ they will all be quickened into life eternal. The relationship expressed by the term “in” is ultimately physical in both cases, that is, it concerns nature. Surely the “grounds” of this belief are sufficiently evident. What is our relation to Adam if it be not physical? We are descended from him; we have not been initiated into him by any ceremony or artificial arrangement. We know nothing of him except as our first ancestor, from whom we derived our being, and surely our being is “physical.” We are not invited to connect ourselves with him. We are born connected by reason of physical descent. What is our ultimate intended relation to Christ but physical also, but on a different principle. Our physical connection with Adam is the result of blind organic law; our physical connection with Christ will be the result of voluntary, intelligent faith and obedience. If we are accepted of him, “He shall change our vile bodies, and fashion them like to his.”—(Phil. 3:21.) We shall experience the redemption of our body (Rom. 8:23); we shall bear the image of the heavenly as we have borne the image of the earthy (1 Cor. 15:49); we shall be like him (1 Jno. 3:2); we shall be married to him (Rev. 19:4); our mortality will be swallowed up of his life.—(2 Cor. 5:2.)" (Robert Roberts, The Christadelphian, 1874, p. 481)

Question: "8. Does the apostle teach in 1 Cor. 15:22, that all who die in Adam die to rise no more, as taught concerning some in Isa. 43:17?" Answer.—Paul’s words are, “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive,” a consideration of which will show that the “all” is the same in both cases. The “all” to be made alive are those described in verse 51 as “we all,” that is, accepted believers; they will all be changed, or made alive, at the advent of Christ. Consequently the “all” that die in, by, or through Adam are this same class, who, when the change comes, ask, “Oh death, where is thy victory?” showing that death once had the victory over them, even now, while as yet they are physically in Adam. At that time, death is “swallowed up in victory,” showing that death prevails with them until the change arrives. So far then from the dying in Adam meaning no resurrection, the contexts show that every one of the “all” referred to will rise again; that is, the saints. (Robert Roberts, The Christadelphian, 1874, p. 527)

"...nothing is impossible with the Great Blasphemer of the Deity of the heaven! He decreed that the woman Mary was of clean and holy flesh; and therefore the thing born of her was 'a thing' — spotless flesh untainted of Adam's sin, though in him all sinned, which an unsophisticated mind would suppose included all liable to death; Eli, Mary, her mother, and Jesus all died, and must necessarily have been included federally in Adam." (John Thomas, Eureka, volume 3, p. 256, 1869)

“Is it possible to be of Adamic nature and not to be under Adamic condemnation? Or is the Adamic nature under condemnation wherever found?”—(M.L.S.)
"Answer.—It depends upon the meaning intended by 'Adamic.' If it means the nature hereditarily derived from Adam, the answer is clear: 'That which is born of (Adamic) flesh is (Adamic) flesh,' and since Adamic flesh is characterised by the quality of death physically implanted (2 Cor. 1:9; Rom. 7:24; 2 Cor. 5:2–4: Rom. 5:12) it follows that it is in this sense; 'under condemnation wherever found,' which harmonises with universal experience. Adamic nature in the sense of a nature like that produced in Eden could be produced again. God who made an uncondemned Adamic nature from the ground could make another Adam in the same way, and we should then have Adamic nature not under condemnation. But such a case is not before your mind. You are thinking of Christ. He was not made of the ground, but 'made of a (condemned) woman,' and being born of her, was what she was, on the principle defended above and illustrated in other Scriptures.—(Job 14:4; Ps. 51:5.) If Renunciationist contention were right, Christ ought to have been made straight from the ground as Adam was." (Robert Roberts, The Christadelphian, 1875, p. 88)

"Do we pass out of Adam at baptism?" Answer by brother Walker: "'Out of Adam' is not a scriptural phrase; though 'in Adam' is. And the scriptural phrase 'in Adam' is used in 1 Cor. 15:22 to cover those 'that are Christ’s at his coming.' Christ himself in the days of his flesh, being the son of Adam, was 'in Adam,' and of course as much so after baptism as before. It is unadvisable, therefore, to speak of passing 'out of Adam' into Christ. The fact is that we are still painfully 'in Adam' after being baptised into Christ. One might as well talk about passing out of human nature, out of flesh and blood into Christ, as to talk of passing 'out of Adam.' This is indeed what is really involved in the phrase; but the time of that happy transition is the resurrection and not baptism. We are well aware that the phrase has been used in times past without obscuring the truth. That there is a change of federal relationship in baptism is a glorious truth; and the phrase 'out of Adam' has been used to express this change of relationship by baptism into Christ. But it is none the less objectionable: and when, as in current controversy, it is used to create artificial and unscriptural distinctions, it is time to discard it and hold to the 'form of sound words' which the scriptures exhibit. 'In Adam' is a great circle embracing all mankind. 'In Christ' is a small circle inscribed in the greater. But the power of Christ over 'all flesh,' 'all nations' is not limited, and a man who will not hear nor heed his 'Come unto me,' is not therefore out of the reach of his arm, if he see fit to raise him from the dead to give an account of his refusal." (C. C. Walker, The Christadelphian, 1900, p. 285).

 

Last Update: February 2, 2007