A New Human Race

INTRODUCTION:

The birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem marks the Advent (arrival), not only of the long promised Messiah, but also the advent of a new humanity, established in the last Adam, the one St. Paul calls the man from heaven. We sometimes emphasize that Immanuel means “God with us,” and it does. But let us never forget that it also means “God with us,” and He is with us forever and ever.

THE TEXT:

“And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption” (1 Cor. 15:45-50).

OVERVIEW:

Now this chapter of Corinthians is noted as a great defense of the doctrine of the resurrection, and so it certainly would be a fitting text for a sermon at Easter. But it is also important to note at Christmas. When He sent His Son, God knew from the beginning what the whole point was—as we celebrate this pattern year after year, we are learning to think God’s thoughts after Him. We are learning from Him what His intent has been all along. There are two Adams in this text, which means we are talking about two humanities (v. 45). The first Adam was characterized by his soul; the last Adam by His spirit. God established the soul first, and after this He established the spiritual (v. 46). Our bodies are sown as a soul-body, but are raised as a spirit-body (v. 44). The first Adam and all his descendants have earthy characteristics. The second man is from heaven (v. 47). Those who are earthy are showing their father; those who are heavenly show theirs (v. 48). All the members of the new humanity were recruited from the ranks of the old humanity (v. 49), but it is necessary to be transformed. One who is at home in the old corruption cannot inherit the kingdom of God (v. 50).

A PERMANENT INCARNATION:

Jesus Christ became a human being, but He did not do this as temporary exercise. He was not “slumming” for thirty-three years, only to return afterwards to His old pre-incarnate state. He became a man in order to be our high priest—so that there would be a man praying for us at the right hand of the Father—and He continues to occupy this office, and will occupy it forever. “It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us” (Rom. 8:34b). Christ is our high priest continually (Heb. 7:3). This means that the second person of the triune God became a man forever. God is clearly up to something that goes far beyond anything we might be able to imagine. But among other things, this means that if God has invested Himself in this way in the future of the human race, it follows that the future of the human race must be stupefyingly glorious.

PUT OFF THE OLD MAN:

We unfortunately tend to view this whole issue in static categories—the bad man versus the good man. But it is striking that the Scriptures frequently speak of it in terms of the old man and the new man. This terminology is not just referring to the chronologies of our personal testimonies—e.g. “I used to be that way before I came to know Jesus.” This is involved, obviously, but we are also talking about the way the human race used to be. The sin of worldliness is not just wrong . . . it is decrepit. The carnal way of relating to others is not just sinful, but also senile. Put off the old man, the Bible says. This is not just a passing reference. We see it in multiple places (Rom. 6:6; Eph. 4:22; Col. 3:9). Put off the old template of Adam. In Jesus, the last Adam, we have a new template for being human now.

LIPSTICK ON A CORPSE:

When we are unconverted, our sins are certainly problematic, but they are not the basic problem. The basic problem is what we are, not what we do. Attempts to make the Christian faith nothing more than a system for personal moral improvement are doomed to failure. It is like putting lipstick on a corpse. The invitation given in the gospel is the invitation to believe what is declared—God has created a new humanity, and you are summoned to become part of it. But never make the mistake of thinking that this new humanity is the old humanity touched up a bit. What God has begun here in the midst of human history is radical, and we have not even begun to get a glimpse of how everything is in the process of being transformed.

But even if we cannot see the total picture, we can nevertheless experience a taste of it in our own lives. Not a new leaf, but a new life. Not a resolution, but resurrection. Not becoming a wowser, but being forgiven. Not putting on a show, but putting on Jesus.

BACK TO BETHLEHEM:

This is a gospel announcement that God has made, from heaven, unilaterally. Unto you a Son is given. The gift of this new humanity is not one that the old humanity gets to ratify or not, according to its principles and desires. If it were, we would never ratify it.

God did not seek the old humanity’s permission before He determined to annihilate that way of being a human in the cross of Jesus. Mary was told that her heart would be pierced through because this was God’s purpose and plan from the beginning.  The shadow of the cross fell upon the manger. But there was a shadow at all because of the light that was coming from the empty tomb beyond them both.

As an infant, the Lord Jesus presented a challenge to Herod, who operated in full accordance with the ways of the old humanity—force, blood, coercion, violence, envy, and all the rest of it. We celebrate Christmas as the time when God successfully established a beachhead for the new humanity. Since that time, His Spirit has been steadily working in the world.

So the old humanity was crucified in Jesus, and buried in the ground. And when Jesus came out of the ground—just as the first Adam had, all around Him was a garden, as with the first Adam. But because of our previous captivity in sin and death, it was a garden of dead people, a cemetery. And Jesus established there, in that acre of death, the everlasting life of resurrection. The old humanity was and is a vast host of bleached bones. Jesus was born into the midst of that host, and after His death and resurrection, life began to radiate out from Him in every direction, and it will never stop.