ADAM

Adam was to God what a figure of speech is to thought, a symbol, an analogy, a type.

When Nebuchadnezzar saw in a dream the successive kingdoms of Gentile rule in the form of an image, neither

he nor Daniel ever imagined that such kingdoms were actually `like' the image itself, but simply that this image and

its peculiar construction `shadowed forth' in symbol the moral characteristics of the kingdoms concerned. So, in

Genesis 1:26, there is no question of external resemblance. Whether seen in the frail type Adam, or in the glorious

person of the Son of God, the `image and likeness' are never to be understood as physical.

How far, and in what direction, was Adam intended to shadow forth God Himself? How far was he, as a

creature, able to represent Deity? What limits can be set? The reader will no doubt be acquainted with the two

extreme answers to these questions. There are some who will not allow the image and likeness to be anything more

than physical, while there are others who would deduce from this passage the inherent immortality of the soul. The

truth lies mid-way between the two extremes.

`And God said, LET US make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness; and LET THEM have dominion' (Gen. 1:26).

The name `Adam' is similar to the Hebrew word for `likeness'. This `likeness' was expressed in the `dominion'

which was originally conferred upon man. When sin entered into the world, however, resulting in a curse upon the

earth, his dominion over the lower creatures was impaired. When Noah, whom we can regard as a sort of second

Adam, steps out of the ark into a new world, the word `dominion' is no longer used and `the fear of you and the

dread of you' takes its place (Gen. 9:2). Man, however, is still looked upon as being `in the image of God' (Gen.

9:6), and `in the likeness of God' (Jas. 3:9).

The dominion that was given to Adam was:

`over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every

creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth' (Gen. 1:26).

This dominion was a `shadow' of the greater dominion that was to be exercised by Christ, the true image of God.

David, in Psalm 8, sees something of this, and the apostle Paul in the New Testament completes the story:

`When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained; what

is man, that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that Thou visitest him? For Thou hast made him a

little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion

over the works of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet: all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of

the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas' (3-8).

If we turn to the Epistle to the Hebrews, we shall see that Adam foreshadowed Christ. The Creator of Genesis

1:26 is addressed in Psalm 8 and the Psalmist says that `the heavens are the work of Thy fingers'. Unless we are

willing to quibble over the difference between `fingers' and `hands', it is clear that Christ is the Creator in Whose

image and likeness Adam was created, for in Hebrews we read:

`And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of Thine

hands' (Heb. 1:10).

From Hebrews 1, we proceed to Hebrews 2, where we have Psalm 8 quoted, with the comment:

`For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him' (Heb. 2:8).

This shows that we have passed from the type, whose dominion was over sheep and oxen, to the antitype, whose

dominion is over all. The apostle continues:

`But now we see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus, Who was made a little lower than the angels

for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that He by the grace of God should taste death for

every man' (Heb. 2:8,9).

This dominion of which Adam's `likeness' was but a faint shadow, is further expanded in Ephesians 1, where we

reach the zenith of the revelation of `the mystery of Christ'. In this epistle we are concerned with that section of the

`all things' that is associated with the exalted sphere where Christ sitteth `far above all heavens' (Eph. 4:10). And so

we read: