The organic unity of the race with the first man Adam being

established, we must next ascertain whether Christ, as the Second Man and the

Last Adam, has a vital and real union with the race.  If we find it to be so,

identification becomes a glorious fact.  Underlying this doctrine lies the

Hebrew conception of the Kinsman-Redeemer, which makes it imperative that

Christ should have been made partaker of flesh and blood.  This truth is set

forth most clearly in Hebrews 2:14,15 :

`Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He

also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He

might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and

deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject

to bondage'.

Christ, to fulfil His great mission, must come as the Seed of the

woman, the Seed of Abraham, the Seed of David, the Son of man and the Son of

God.  The `kingdom' purpose required that His genealogy should go back to

David and to Abraham (Matt. 1:1), but the gospel committed to Paul

necessitated that He should have a lineage that went back to Adam (Luke 3).

The virgin birth of Christ made it possible for Him to be related to man,

without partaking of the awful entail that came upon the race in Adam.

The doctrine of Romans 5 is impossible apart from the organic unity of

the human race, the headship of Adam, and the new Headship of Christ.  This

doctrine we express in the one word `identification'.  What this

identification carries with it we learn in chapters 6 and 7; here we are but

learning the basic fact.

Closely associated with this unity and headship, is the Scriptural

revelation that there are two seeds in the earth.  This is seen in Genesis 4,

for 1 John 3:12 says, `Cain, who was of that wicked one'.  Physical

connection with Adam does not constitute participation in his headship or

prove inclusion in his seed; a truth set forth in Israel:

`They are not all Israel, which are of Israel: neither, because they

are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy

seed be called.  That is, They which are the children of the flesh,

these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are

counted for the seed' (Rom. 9:6-8).

Cain, Ishmael and Esau were `children of the flesh', but that does not

constitute them the true seed.  The true seed are the children of promise,

they are `in Isaac' if true Israelites, and `in Christ' in the wider

application of the figure.  The Lord had dealings with men who were literal

descendants of Abraham, yet He denied that they were the true seed:

`We be Abraham's seed ... I know that ye are Abraham's seed ... Abraham

is our father ... If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works

of Abraham ... ye do the deeds of your father ... ye are of your father

the Devil' (John 8:33-44).

There are men therefore who, though `of Adam', are not `in Adam': such

was Cain.  (See In Adam2).  For all `in Adam' Christ became Kinsman-Redeemer.

We shall find in Romans 5 that the interchange in the use of `all' and `many'