This is part 3 of a series exploring how the Bible teaches that Jesus was greater than all who dissertation india came before him.  This series is not intended to be exhaustive.  The topic of Jesus as “greater than” or “better” than those who came before him is inexhaustible.  Libraries could and should be written on this subject.  But we have attempted in these pages to explore what such a rich subject would look like. (Each entry is excerpted from There Is No Greater Love)

Christ Greater than Adam (1 of 6)

So God created man in his image; in the image of God he created him (Gen 1:27).

God gave all mankind great dignity when He made us in His own image and likeness. Yet in spite of our uncommon spiritual dignity, He made us out of dust, the most common physical matter of all.

Adam bore the image of the earthly. His humble beginning establishes the trajectory of our salvation, for the last Adam bears the image of the heavenly (1 Cor 15:47). If we have partaken of the earthly elements in our first birth, in our second birth we partake of the heavenly! In Adam we know humility as well as glory. In Christ, the last Adam, we know glory through His humility.

The first Adam was made a living soul when God breathed upon him (Gen 2:7). The last Adam breathes upon us because He is himself a life-giving spirit (John 20:22). The glory of the first Adam in his creation was great. But the glory of the last Adam is greater! We who now bear the image of the first Adam will soon bear the image of the last Adam. Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, our image in the heavenly Christ is higher in status than our image in the earthly Adam. We who were subject to death in our first creation have been given eternal life in our second. To be made in Adam’s image is great. But to be made in the image of Jesus is far greater (Rom 8:29)!