The Man God Made, and the Day He Fell
The Bible's story of man begins in a garden. The LORD God formed Adam from the dust of the ground and breathed into him the breath of life (Genesis 2:7). He made him in His own image and gave him dominion over the earth (Genesis 1:26–28). He planted Eden, put the man there to dress it and to keep it (Genesis 2:15), and gave him every tree for food but one (Genesis 2:16–17).
It was not good for the man to be alone. So God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, took one of his ribs, made a woman, and brought her to him. Adam's first recorded words are a song of joy: This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh (Genesis 2:21–23). The chapter closes on a scene of perfect innocence: they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed (Genesis 2:25).
Then the serpent spoke. Yea, hath God said (Genesis 3:1)? Eve was deceived. Adam was standing with her, and he was not deceived (1 Timothy 2:14); he took the fruit from her hand and ate with his eyes open (Genesis 3:6). At once they knew they were naked. They sewed fig leaves into aprons and hid among the trees. When God called, Where art thou?, Adam answered with the first confession of shame in history: I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself (Genesis 3:8–10).
God pronounced judgment, and in the same breath He promised a Seed of the woman who would crush the serpent's head (Genesis 3:15). Then, before He sent them out of the garden, He did something tender.
“Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.”GENESIS 3:21 · KJV
Paul calls Adam the figure of him that was to come (Romans 5:14), and he gives Jesus two names: the last Adam and the second man (1 Corinthians 15:45–47). The first part of this study, Adam: The Figure of Him That Was to Come, traces the headship of the two Adams in Romans 5: through one man came death, and through the other comes life. This part walks back through Genesis 1 to 3 and sets four scenes beside the life of Jesus: the covering of shame, the image and dominion, the first marriage, and the temptation.
Adam himself is a type the New Testament names: the figure of him that was to come (Romans 5:14). Of the four scenes, it draws two lines itself: the dominion, in Hebrews 2, and the first marriage, in Ephesians 5. We state those plainly. It does not name the other two, the coats of skins and the temptation in the wilderness, though Luke places the temptation right after calling Adam the son of God. We present those as pictures that point to Christ, and we build no doctrine on them.
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For Deeper Study
- Typology: Understanding the Bible's Promise-Shaped PatternsAmazon James M. Hamilton Jr.The definition of typology this series follows comes from this book (Zondervan Academic, 2022). Academic in places, but careful with the text and full of help on how the patterns build across Scripture.
- The Genesis RecordAmazon Henry M. MorrisA creation scientist's commentary on the whole of Genesis (1976) that reads Adam, Eden, and the fall as real history.
- Searching for Adam: Genesis & the Truth About Man's OriginAmazon Terry Mortenson, editorSixteen essays (2016) making the biblical and scientific case for a historical Adam and a historical fall.
- The Words and Works of Jesus ChristAmazon J. Dwight PentecostA full study of the life of Christ (1981) by a longtime Dallas Seminary professor, including the temptation in the wilderness.
- Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.
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Adam: The Figure of Him That Was to Come
Scripture calls Adam a figure of Christ: one man's disobedience brought sin and death on the whole human race, and one Man's obedience brings righteousness and life to all who believe.
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