Prayer
Lord of Light and Truth, I thank you for speaking to us, for breaking the silence of heaven with the voice of your word. You have not left us to wander in the shadows, but have given us light through the lamp of scripture and the presence of your Spirit.
Please write your truth deeply upon our hearts, subdue our stubborn will, and shape us into the likeness of your Son. Let Christ be seen in us, as we are formed by grace, upheld by your mercy, and made ready for glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Reading
Genesis 2:18-20.
“Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” 19. Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him.
Meditation
In Romans 5:14 we read a very interesting statement. The Apostle, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, says that Adam was a “type of the one who was to come.” You might have heard that term: “type”, or “typology.” Preachers and theologians use it often enough. But here it is in the actual words of scripture, but what does it mean? What does it mean to say that Adam was a type of Christ?
In basic terms and language, it simply means that Adam was a pattern of the one who was to come. If you’ve ever done a sewing project with instructions laid out before you on the paper, you’ve seen a pattern of the thing that’s coming. If you’ve ever assembled a piece of furniture, and you look at the paper for your instructions, it gives you an indication of what the furniture is going to look like. Adam was the pattern, the blueprint, if you like, of what Christ would be in full. He was a kind of foreshadow of Christ.
Now Adam, as we know, was created in the image of God. Because of his disobedience, however, that image was corrupted. Somebody spilled coffee (or something worse…) on the blueprint. As the Apostle Paul says in Romans 5:18: “one trespass led to condemnation for all men.” Christ was the Second Adam, but in spite of the broken pattern, he still fulfilled the original design – and restores the broken images that he saves. His one act of righteousness leads to life for all men. In other words, because of Adam’s sin, all died. But for those who believe in Christ, they will live.
We could think of it this way: Adam was the head of the human race. When the Prime Minister of Australia negotiates with other national leaders, he represents us as Australians (insert your own head of state in the example if you’re not an Aussie!). Our Prime Minister is the head of the nation. If the Prime Minister makes a bad decision, or a good one, the nation suffers or prospers accordingly. His actions have consequences for the nation. When Adam sinned, he represented all mankind – that’s what Romans 5 teaches us. Tragically, his sin brought corruption to us all. Christ, however, is the federal head of a new humanity (which is why scripture says he is the head of the church). In this again we see that the fact that man was created first symbolically points to the fact that Christ is to be first in the humanity. Adam was a type or pattern of Christ.
Be doers of the word….
How is this relevant for us? I’m going to let you in on a little secret. You are a type of Christ. That’s your calling. Adam was the original pattern, Christ was the real thing, and we – as images – are being reconstructed into another pattern of the real thing. Typology is not just a biblical concept, it’s a pastoral one. You are called to be an imprint of Christ. It’s true of men and women together, we are called to conform to his perfections. But our sex also gives us some unique additional features. Male headship symbolically points to Christ’s headship. Men are called to embody that headship, Women are called to respond to that embodiment, and themselves imprint an image of the church’s response to Christ. It is your life’s mission to conform to the image of Christ. What action are you taking to pursue that mission? Consider that for yourself, and we’ll explore some more answers to that question in the course of the next few studies. SDG.
Prayer of Confession & Consecration
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