“For since by a man came death, by a man also came
the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ
all will be made alive.” (1 Corinthians 15:21–22; see also Romans 5:12–21).
Jesus is called “the last Adam” (1 Corinthians 15:45)
because He came to undo the work of the first Adam. He took upon
Himself, in His body on the Cross, the Curse of death for the lost race
of Adam (Galatians 3:13; Colossians 1:22).
Clearly, the teaching about the reason for Jesus’ death depends upon
the events in Genesis being real: that physical death originated with
Adam’s sin and that it was not already a part of the created order.
Those who devalue the history of Genesis often claim that Adam’s death
was only ‘spiritual’ (separation from God). But it was also physical
death: “from dust you came and to dust you will return” (Genesis 3:19).
Thus Jesus also died a physical death on the Cross. He also rose from
the dead, bodily, victorious, having dealt with the Curse of death that
came through Adam."
CMI
