Page 94 - Push Back

So also it is written, "The first man, Adam, became a living soul." The last Adam became a
life-giving spirit.

“The last Adam” is a reference to Christ. The name “Adam” means “man.” Christ is the last man
in a variety of senses. He appeared in the form of man 4,000 years after the first Adam. Yahshua
is also the goal of humanity, the perfected image which we are destined to bear. Christians are
the firstfruits of this work. They are the first to be partakers of the Holy Spirit, receiving within
their beings the divine nature.

Satan is the adversary of God and man. He is working to corrupt, obstruct, and destroy the work
of God. He deceived Eve in the Garden, and tempted the man to sin. Adam deviated from the
thoughts and actions of Yahweh when he disobeyed the commandment of his Creator. Yahweh
told Adam that on the day he ate of the forbidden fruit he would surely die. Nevertheless, Adam
chose death. Men have been continually choosing death ever since.

We speak of this original sin as “the fall” of man. Like an arrow that falls short of its target, man
fell to the ground. Symbolically, all men will fall to the ground and return to dust, for death is at
work in man’s members. We are all falling short of the will of Yahweh.

Sin is not only thoughts, words, and actions that deviate from the character of God, it is a force
that holds men in bondage. When Adam sinned in the Garden, the principle of sin entered into
his being. Through Adam sin spread to all of his descendants.

Romans 5:12, 19
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so
death spread to all men... through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners...

From the time of Adam’s transgression, man has been continually falling short of the image and
likeness of God.

Romans 3:10-18
As it is written, "There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, there is
none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none
who does good, there is not even one. " "Their throat is an open grave, with their tongues they
keep deceiving," "The poison of asps is under their lips"; "Whose mouth is full of cursing and
bitterness"; "Their feet are swift to shed blood, destruction and misery are in their paths, and the
path of peace have they not known. " "There is no fear of God before their eyes."

Let us consider now one of the chief ways in which man has fallen from the original goal of his
creation. The image of the divine nature is seen in Yahshua. He was God appearing in a body of
flesh. Yahshua appeared to show mankind what God looks like when He indwells a body of
flesh. We have read that Christ is a “life-giving spirit.”

As believers, we acknowledge that Christ came to bring life to mankind. By his death on the
cross and resurrection from the grave, He was able to impart life to fallen humanity. Even before