"And upon His head were many crowns." (Rev. 19:12.)

CHAPTER VII. The Last Adam.

(Continued from page 194.)

As "Last Adam," the Lord is revealed as in connection with that "new creation" which God is perfecting for Himself out of the ruins of the old. Such a thought as this is not unrepresented in nature. The present world is thus built up out of the ruins of a previous one, which in all features of highest worth it surpasses ; according to that law of progress which we have seen written on its grades of life-development, and to which its life-history also, on the whole, conforms. But the new creation connected with the Last Adam arises out of a deeper collapse than any that preceded it,-thank God, to assume now a permanence which shall suffer no collapse again. With the first Adam, its head, the old creation fell. With the last Adam, the new creation abides in indefectible blessing.

While the title of "last Adam" is found only in the passage we have been considering, the epistle to the Romans (5:14) fully declares Him to be the Antitype of the first. His relation to the new creation is what Adam's was to the old. The results are in contrastive parallel:"as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive" (i Cor. 15:22). But here, because the new creation is brought out of the old, it is not enough to say, "shall live," but "shall be made alive."* *That the apostle is here speaking only of those " in Christ," and not, as generally believed, of all mankind, will be evident on due consideration. For the resurrection of the wicked is not an effect of Christ's redemption, but a "resurrection of judgment" simply (John 5:29); and throughout the chapter it is only of the resurrection of the saints-of those of whom Christ is first-fruits (ver. 20)-that he is speaking. The "all" on both sides (whether "in Adam," primarily, or "in Christ," eventually), are only the redeemed. It is from error as to this that some forms of restorationism have originated.* He who is to be the new Adam of a new creation brought out of the old must for this accomplish redemption

Thus it is as risen from the dead that the Lord breathes upon His disciples, and the antithesis to " in Adam" is "in Christ;" this being the official title with which His priestly sacrificial work connects itself. Eternal life for us is "in Christ:" that is, in the Last Adam, with His sacrificial work accomplished, and gone up as our Representative Head to God.

The first man was also in a very real way the representative of his race ; not, however, by any formal covenant for his posterity, of which Scripture has no trace; but by his being the divinely constituted head of it. His representative-character was grounded in what men call "natural law," and which is nothing but divine law. This is asserted in the plainest possible way in Scripture. "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean ? " expresses the law. "What is man that he should be clean ? or he that is born of a woman that he should be righteous?" "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." And the Lord affirms the principle in the most emphatic way :"That which is born of the flesh is flesh." What men now call the principle of "heredity" is thus affirmed by Him, and it is the whole scriptural account of the matter.

Sin came in through Adam. The nature of man was corrupted; by the disobedience of one the many were made sinners; and death introducing to judgment was the stamp of God upon the fallen condition. So, as the apostle says, "in Adam all die." "In Adam" thus speaks of representation, as the apostle argues as to Levi and Abraham (Heb. 7:9, 10):"And, as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, paid tithes in Abraham; for he was yet in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him." Similarly we were in the loins of Adam when he fell and sentence of death was passed upon him. Thank God, we have heard the voice of Another,- Head and Representative too of His race, which says,'' Because I live, ye shall live also " (John 14:19).

The last Adam is the head of a new race. And so, "if any man be in Christ"-set over against "in Adam " in the verse already looked at-"he is a new creature " (or "it is new creation" 2 Cor. 5:17). To be " in Christ " is to belong to the new creation and the new Head. The last Adam becomes Head of the race after His work of obedience is accomplished ; and that wondrous " obedience unto death " becomes the heritage of the new race. The connection of the Head and race is necessarily by life and nature. A corrupt nature was transmitted from the fallen head. A divine life and nature, free from and incapable of taint, is ours in the new Head, Christ Jesus. Death and judgment lay hold upon the fallen creature :righteousness belongs to the possessor of eternal life.

The life and the place go together, and are never disjoined. "He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life; and he that believeth not on the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him" (John 3:36). Eternal life or the wrath of God :these are the alternatives. Solemn and wonderful alternatives they are ! F. W. G.

( To be continued.)