1 Corinthians 15:20-22: "But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through one man, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive."
While this text, particularly the final phrase, is often employed as a bolster to the argument of universal salvation, at its core it is a passage dealing with the role of Christ as the true Adam. Remember, Adam was the supreme joy of God's creation. He was the head over all that God had made and God was very pleased. But Adam failed. He sinned. And as a direct result of that sin, all of his descendents are born into sin, the direst consequence being death itself.
However, we should remember that Adam was not merely the biological head of humanity, even more so was he the spiritual federal head, representing all of humankind in his relationship with God and, ultimately, in his disobedience. As a result, mankind has been left spiralling away from God at birth. It would seem that each generation become steadily more sinful and more evil in their idolatrous self-exaltation. This is death, death of the most severe kind. But we should not lose heart for it is this very situation that Jesus came to rectify. Christ succeeded just as Adam failed.
It is this pattern that Paul is concerned with, that through one man sin came to affect the whole human order just as through one man salvation has come to remove sin and its effects, namely death. But this salvation has a certain prescription of reception. It is an utter act of grace, to be sure, but it is appropriated to the sinful person through faith.
Apart from faith in Christ that reckons the sinner alive, the sinner remains enscossed in the death of Adam. Think of a vast ocean. The swimmer attempting to wade through is hopeless for anything other than death by drowning. On the other hand, if a boat comes along and the swimmer gets into the boat, then, they may be saved from their demise. In a similar sense, we are all born in the sea of sin, wading all our lives to avoid the inevitably fatal end. But as we enter into the boat of Christ's crucified flesh and resurrected Lordship through faith, we are saved and we are brought from death to life.
But just as only those who are not out in the rain storm may not get wet so will those who are not in Christ through faith will not receive salvation unto everlasting life. There is no other way, no other door to God Himself than through the gate that God Himself has made which is the life, death, and resurrection of Christ Jesus. Death in Adam is a spiritually stillborn life. We are born into it, exhibit the same self-serving, lackluster faith that our forefather did. While life in Christ is the true life that brims overfilling into eternity. This is what the apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, is telling us. We would be wise to consider it.
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