I have not heard a more clear understanding of the last Adam and second Man as presented by Nee. Enjoy!
As the last Adam, Christ is the sum total of humanity; as the second Man He is the
Head
of a new race. So we have here two unions, the one relating to His
death and theAs the last Adam, Christ is the sum total of humanity; as the second Man He is the
other to His resurrection. In the first place His union with the race as "the last Adam"
began historically at Bethlehem and ended at the cross and the tomb. In it He gathered up
into Himself all that was in Adam and took it to judgment and death. In the second place
our union with Him as "the second man" begins in resurrection and ends in eternity --
which is to say, it never ends -- for, having in His death done away with the first man in
whom God's purpose was frustrated, He rose again as Head of a new race of men, in
whom that purpose shall be fully realized.
When
therefore the Lord Jesus was crucified on the cross, He was crucified
as the last
Adam.
All that was in the first Adam was gathered up and done away in Him.
We wereincluded there. As the last Adam He wiped out the old race; as the second Man He brings
in the new race. It is in His resurrection that He stands forth as the second Man, and there
too we are included. "For if we have become united with him by the likeness of his death,
we shall be also by the likeness of his resurrection" (Romans 6:5). We died in Him as the
last Adam; we live in Him as the second Man. The Cross is thus the power of God which
translates us from Adam to Christ.
Watchman
Nee, The Normal Christian Life, p. 32.
1 comment:
As you said, our Brother Nee gives a clear word regarding the last Adam, and the second man, or the one new man, the new race. Christ "gathered up into Himself all that was in Adam and took it to judgment and death." Our union with Him begins in His resurrection, and takes us with Him all the way into and through eternity, which means it never ends. So on the cross all of the negative things in the universe were dealt with. God's intention which is to dispense all that He is into us who love Him is now able to go forward. God's eternal economy, to make man the same as He is in life and nature, is taking place in His body of believers. The First God-man is mingling Himself into His chosen people, forming the One New Man. It is so precious, that as Brother Nee says and you point out, we are included. The old race was wiped out, and we are part of the new race. We are also included in His resurrection. (Roms. 6:5). The footnote 5-1 on that verse is precious regarding "grown." Grown - denotes an organic union in which growth takes place, so that one partakes of the life and characteristics of the other. In the organic union with Christ, whatever Christ passed through has become our history. His death and resurrection are now ours because we are in Him and are organically jointed to him. This is grating (11:24). Such a grafting (1) discharges all our negative elements, (2) resurrects our God-created faculties, (3) uplifts our faculties, (4) enriches our faculties, and (5) saturates our entire being to transform us.
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