Tag Archives: Apostle Paul

Second Adam

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Mosaics in the Palatine Chapel, palace of the Norman kings of Sicily, built by Roger II, Palermo, Sicily, Italy (built in the AD 1100s). We see Adam & Eve with the serpent in the top row; below them the angels escort Lot and his family away from Sodom and Gomorrah. (Lot’s wife is the white statue of salt.) Read about artistic depictions of Eve and the serpent here.



It is written, “The first Adam was made into a living creature;” the last Adam is made into a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual Adam that is first, but the natural; the second Adam is the spiritual. The first Adam is made of the dust of the earth; the second Adam is from heaven. (1 Cor. 15:45-46)

St. Paul refers to Genesis 2:7 (“Adam became a living creature”) to make his point that Christ, who is the Second Adam–the Ultimate Adam–is the model for human existence. The first Adam received life; the second Adam gives life. The first Adam (in Genesis) is made from the dust of the earth; the second Adam comes down to earth from heaven in order to raise the first Adam to heaven.

The first man was made from the slime of the earth. The second man came from heaven. By using the word MAN, he taught the birth of this person from the Virgin …. [was both human and] from the Holy Spirit who came upon the Virgin. Thus, precisely while he was human he was also from heaven.

St. Hilary of Poitiers, On the Holy Trinity, chapter 10.

Just as Christ was “the Second Adam,” his Mother is frequently referred to as “the Second Eve.” Justin Martyr wrote in AD 150

He became man by the Virgin, in order that the disobedience which proceeded from the serpent might receive its destruction in the same manner in which it derived its origin. For Eve, who was a virgin and undefiled, having conceived the word of the serpent, brought forth disobedience and death. But the Virgin Mary received faith and joy, when the angel Gabriel announced the good tidings to her that the Spirit of the Lord would come upon her, and the power of the Highest would overshadow her: wherefore also the Holy Thing begotten of her is the Son of God; and she replied, ‘Be it unto me according to thy word.” And by her has He been born, to whom we have proved so many scriptures refer, and by whom God destroys both the serpent and those angels and men who are like him; but works deliverance from death to those who repent of their wickedness and believe upon Him.

St. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, chapter 100

It was also St. Irenaeus of Lyons who wrote in AD 182

In accordance with this design, Mary the Virgin is found obedient, saying: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38) But Eve was disobedient, for she did not obey when as yet she was a virgin. … having become disobedient, was made the cause of death, both to herself and to the entire human race; so also did Mary, having a man betrothed [to her], and being nevertheless a virgin, by yielding obedience, become the cause of salvation, both to herself and the whole human race.

And on this account does the law term a woman betrothed to a man, the wife of him who had betrothed her, although she was as yet a virgin; thus indicating the back-reference from Mary to Eve … For the Lord, having been born “the First-begotten of the dead,” (Revelation 1:5) and receiving into His bosom the ancient fathers, has regenerated them into the life of God, He having been made Himself the beginning of those that live, as Adam became the beginning of those who die. (1 Cor. 15:20-22)

Wherefore also Luke, commencing the genealogy with the Lord, carried it back to Adam, indicating that it was He who regenerated them into the Gospel of life, and not they Him. So it was that the knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. For what the virgin Eve had bound fast through unbelief, this did the virgin Mary set free through faith.

St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, Book 3, chapter 22

Just as Adam and Eve were both necessary for the creation of the world, so Christ and his Most Pure Mother were both necessary for the salvation of the world. Just as we share in the dust of the first Adam, we now share the spirit and resurrection of the Second–Ultimate!–Adam who was able to be born because the Second–Ultimate!–Virgin made the right choice when given the opportunity to love or reject God.

What Kind of Body?

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This wall painting from the Dura Europa synagogue in Syria depicts the raising of the dead from the dry bones, described in Ezekiel 37.


But someone will say, “How can the dead be raised? What kind of body will they have?” You fool! What you yourself sow does not come to life unless it dies. As for what you sow, you do not sow the body that will be but only a naked seed, such as wheat or something else. (1 Cor. 15:35-37)

Greek thinkers were disgusted at the thought that a dead body would be raised by God. They taught that the soul was immortal and that at death, it was set free from the prison of the body. That’s why pre-Christians and non-Christians often cremated the dead: to destroy the jail that was the body and liberate the soul.

Jews, like the Apostle Paul, did not believe in the immortality of the soul. They taught that the dead would be raised, body and soul together. A person was not complete without both a body AND a soul. The body was not a prison that a soul was trapped in; a body was an essential aspect of human reality. Early Christians taught that a human body was an aspect of the image and likeness of God that the human race was created to be.

The body is not the obstacle that prevents us from entering the Kingdom of God but rather our willful wickedness.

St. John Chrysostom, Homily 41 on 1st Corinthians

But none of the Jewish or Christian thinkers thought the resurrected bodies would just be our natural bodies resuscitated. The resurrected body of a person would be different somehow from the natural body before death. But no one was sure how the body would be different.

Origen thought our bodies would all be round, like beach balls, because the sphere is the perfect shape. Others thought our bodies would all look as they did when we were 33 years old since that is the age Jesus was when he was raised from the dead. Others said that the resurrected body would be gloriously bright, like Jesus’ body at the Transfiguration.

The resurrected body was described as “spiritual.” This did not mean “immaterial” or “ethereal.” St. Paul always uses the word flesh to mean “fallen, sinful.” He uses the word spiritual to mean “godly, saved.” Our resurrected bodies will not be sinful but godly, permeated and saturated with the Spirit and glory of God. Just as Jesus had a spiritual body after the Resurrection that could eat and drink and that the apostles could touch, so our bodies will be touchable but able to walk through locked doors and appear or disappear from rooms.

Certain saints are able to display some of these qualities even before they die, working various miracles by the Spirit of God that is already saturating their bodies because they have been washed with the water of baptism, anointed with the holy chrism, and consumed the Body and Blood of Christ in Holy Communion. Which is also why their bodies (i.e. relics) are able to perform miracles after they die. Our bodies display characteristics of the resurrection even before being raised because they are already becoming spiritual, i.e. godly.

Baptism For The Dead?

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The earliest known indoor font and baptistery is from a house church located at Dura-Europos in modern-day Syria. It seems to have occupied an ordinary house that was converted for worship between AD 233 and 256.
The church was uncovered by a team of archaeologists during two excavation campaigns in the city from 1931-32. The frescos were removed after their discovery and are preserved at Yale University Art Gallery.



Otherwise, what do those who are baptized for the sake of the dead? If those who are really dead are not raised, why at all are they baptized for their sake? And why are we in danger at every hour? I die every day. (1 Cor. 15:29-30)

St. Paul refers to the living being baptized for the sake of the dead, a practice otherwise unknown in the early church. But it seems to be a practice that the Corinthians were familiar with. “Why be baptized for the dead if Christ is not raised from the dead?” The apostle refers to the liturgical practice of the Corinthians to underscore the point he has been making in the epistle: Christ was raised form the dead. Why else are we in church or doing anything as members of the Church? Nothing we do makes sense if Christ is not risen from the dead.

Sin has brought death into the world and we are baptized in the hope that our dead bodies will be raised again in the resurrection. If there is no resurrection, our baptism is meaningless and our bodies remain as dead as they are now.

St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Epistles to the Corinthians 40.2

The apostle might be referring to the baptism of those in bed and about to die or new-born infants about to die. Why baptize the dying and those as-good-as-dead if there is no Resurrection of the body?

But he seems to be referring not to deathbed baptisms but to people who are being baptized for vicariously for the deceased. People in the city of Corinth were generally concerned about the fate of the dead. Perhaps the living Corinthian Christians were baptized on behalf of their friends and neighbors–as well as their family members–who had not had the opportunity to become Christians during their lifetimes. If baptism was critical for sharing the Resurrection, how else could the living best serve the deceased?

Wherever the Gospel was preached, the new converts were always concerned about the fates of the non-Christian ancestors. Pagan Greeks came to see the poets and philosophers as the equivalent of the prophets in ancient Israel, so their ancestors had some access to the Good News just as ancient Jews did. In Gaul, it was common to bless pagan graves with holy water, baptizing the dead who were buried there. In other places, the prayers for the dead–especially on All Souls’ Day–were the most important prayers a new Christian could offer.

Prayers for the dead. Baptism on behalf of the dead. Blessing the pagan graves. These were all ways the living Christians showed their love and concern for their non-Christian dead relatives, trying to include the dead in the Kingdom of God. No one is ever saved alone. Salvation is, by definition, a communal event.