Christ as the Second Adam
Where the first man fell, a new Man stands — obedience reversing the ancient disobedience
Christ as the Second Adam is the teaching that Jesus is the new head of humanity whose obedience and life undo the disobedience and death brought by the first Adam. Paul develops the parallel in Romans 5 and 1 Corinthians 15, and Irenaeus expanded it into his theme of "recapitulation," in which Christ retraces and heals the whole human story. The contrast holds that what was lost in Adam is restored and surpassed in Christ.
How it traveled
- 1 CorinthiansEphesus · 54explains
- RomansCorinth · 57explains
- ActsRome · 84explains
- RevelationPatmos · 95explains
- Dialogue with TryphoRome · 165explains
- Against Heresies: Book VLyons · 202explains
- Against Heresies: Book IIILyons · 202explains
- Against Heresies: Book IVLyons · 202explains
- Aphrahat: Select DemonstrationsMosul · 345explains
- Ephraim Syrus: The Nisibene HymnsEdessa · 373explains
- Ephraim Syrus: Nineteen Hymns on the Nativity of Christ in the FleshEdessa · 373explains
- Ephraim Syrus: Fifteen Hymns For the Feast of the EpiphanyEdessa · 373explains
- Ephraim Syrus: Three HomiliesEdessa · 373explains
- The Catechetical Lectures of S. CyrilJerusalem · 386explains
- Select Orations of Saint Gregory NazianzenNazianzus · 390explains
- The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. JohnAntioch · 391explains
- Homilies on First CorinthiansAntioch · 392explains
- Against EunomiusNyssa · 395explains
- A Commentary on the Acts of the ApostlesConstantinople (Istanbul) · 400explains
- The Homilies of St. John ChrysostomConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the HebrewsConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the RomansConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Philippians, Colossians, and ThessaloniansConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- The Commentary and Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Galatians and EphesiansConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- Expositions on the Book of PsalmsHippo Regius · 430explains
- Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. JohnHippo Regius · 430explains
- City of GodHippo Regius · 430explains
- A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of InfantsHippo Regius · 430explains
- Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New TestamentHippo Regius · 430explains
- Reply to Faustus the ManichæanHippo Regius · 430explains
- Letters of St. AugustinHippo Regius · 430explains
- The Harmony of the GospelsHippo Regius · 430explains
- The Ecclesiastical History, Dialogues, and Letters of TheodoretCyrrhus · 458explains
- The Letters and Sermons of Leo the GreatRome · 461explains
- Treatise on the Incarnation (qq[1]-59)Paris · 1274explains
- Book Second. of the Knowledge of God the Redeemer, in Christ, as First Manifested to the Fathers, Under the Law, and Thereafter to Us Under the GospelGeneva · 1564explains
- A History of the Work of RedemptionNorthampton, Massachusetts · 1758explains
- The great christian doctrine of original sin defendedNorthampton, Massachusetts · 1758explains
- XIV Five discourses on the soul's eternal salvationNorthampton, Massachusetts · 1758explains
- Seventeen Occasional SermonsNorthampton, Massachusetts · 1758explains
Key passages(20)
Against Heresies: Book V · Irenaeus of Lyons
1. He has therefore, in His work of recapitulation, summed up all things, both waging war against our enemy, and crushing him who had at the beginning led us away captives in Adam, and trampled upon h
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So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
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Homilies on First Corinthians · John Chrysostom
Homily XLII. 1 Cor. xv. 47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. Having said that “the natural was first,” and “the spiritual afterward,” he again states an
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Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John · Augustine of Hippo
11. But perhaps this is demanded of us, whether the fact that the temple was forty and six years in building may not have in it some mystery. There are, indeed, many things that may be said of this ma
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XIV Five discourses on the soul's eternal salvation · Jonathan Edwards
So on the same account we have not eternal life merely as void of guilt, which we have by the atonement of Christ; but on the account of Christ’s activeness in obedience, and doing well. Christ is our
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A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter · Augustine of Hippo
Chapter 9 [VI].—Through the Law Sin Has Abounded. The apostle, then, wishing to commend the grace which has come to all nations through Jesus Christ, lest the Jews should extol themselves at the expe
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Ephraim Syrus: Nineteen Hymns on the Nativity of Christ in the Flesh · Ephrem the Syrian
Hymn V. At the birth of the Son, there was a great shouting in Bethlehem; for the Angels came down, and gave praise there. Their voices were a great thunder: at that voice of praise the silent ones c
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The great christian doctrine of original sin defended · Jonathan Edwards
But to return, it is plain, that death by Adam, and life and happiness by Christ, are here set in opposition: the latter being spoken of as good, the other as evil; one as the effect of righteousness,
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A Treatise on the Grace of Christ, and on Original Sin · Augustine of Hippo
Chapter 34 [XXIX.]—No Man Ever Saved Save by Christ. Now, whoever maintains that human nature at any period required not the second Adam for its physician, because it was not corrupted in the first A
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Against Heresies: Book III · Irenaeus of Lyons
1. Those, therefore, who allege that He took nothing from the Virgin do greatly err, [since,] in order that they may cast away the inheritance of the flesh, they also reject the analogy [between Him a
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Book First. of the Knowledge of God the Creator · John Calvin
4. But our definition of the image seems not to be complete until it appears more clearly what the faculties are in which man excels, and in which he is to be regarded as a mirror of the divine glory.
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Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John · Augustine of Hippo
7. “John beareth witness of Him, and crieth, saying, This was He of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is made before me.” He came after me, and He preceded me. What is it, “He is made before me”?
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The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans · John Chrysostom
And what is this that he is speaking of? It is that sin had power to bring in death and condemnation; but grace did not do away that one sin only, but also those that followed after in its train. Lest
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The great christian doctrine of original sin defended · Jonathan Edwards
This abounding of grace our author explains thus; “a rich overplus of grace, in erecting a new dispensation, furnished with a glorious fund of light, means, and motives,” (p. 44.) But will any pretend
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The great christian doctrine of original sin defended · Jonathan Edwards
2. There is no evidence, that the benefit by the second Adam, spoken of in Rom. v. is the very same (containing neither more nor less) as the resurrection spoken of in 1 Cor. xv. It is no evidence of
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XIV Five discourses on the soul's eternal salvation · Jonathan Edwards
So on the same account we have not eternal life merely as void of guilt, which we have by the atonement of Christ; but on the account of Christ’s activeness in obedience, and doing well. Christ is our
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The first man is of the earth, made of dust. The second man is the Lord from heaven.
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Against Heresies: Book III · Irenaeus of Lyons
1. It was necessary, therefore, that the Lord, coming to the lost sheep, and making recapitulation of so comprehensive a dispensation, and seeking after His own handiwork, should save that very man wh
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Against Heresies: Book V · Irenaeus of Lyons
1. That the Lord then was manifestly coming to His own things, and was sustaining them by means of that creation which is supported by Himself, and was making a recapitulation of that disobedience whi
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Against Heresies: Book V · Irenaeus of Lyons
1. He had indeed been already accustomed to lie against God, for the purpose of leading men astray. For at the beginning, when God had given to man a variety of things for food, while He commanded him
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