God in Flesh as a New Creation

“Absolute deity was poured into holy humanity, and not a drop was lost.”

This is one of many ways we can describe the incarnation—God made flesh—and his name is Jesus.

The new creation is one of the concepts or themes intertwined with the incarnation. This post will investigate that relationship to better understand the incarnation’s significance and relevance.

New Creation

Right at the beginning of the Creation narrative, we hear God say (Genesis 1:3),

“Let there be light,” and there was light.

In the first century, Paul takes that text about the Creation and connects it with the incarnation (2 Corinthians 4:4-6):

… God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 

After making a parallel between “let there be light” and “the light … of the glory of God in the face of Christ,” Paul again explains (2 Corinthians 5:17):

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he [or she] is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 

A person “in Christ”—God incarnate—is a new creation.

This is one example of how the incarnation is interwoven with the theme of new creation.  

Drawing on Genesis 1-5, let’s trace four more parallels between the first Creation and the incarnation of Jesus Christ.

1.         A New Image 

In Genesis 1:26-28, 

God created man in his own image …

And yet, because of Adam’s transgression (Genesis 3), that image was distorted, marred, corrupted by sin.

In the incarnation, God re-introduced and re-instated his image anew without the corruption of sin. So, concerning Jesus Christ, we read:

… the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:4b)

And again, 

[Jesus Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. (Colossians 1:15)

There is a new, uncorrupted, undistorted “image of God.” Since the incarnation, two distinct images of God are present: Adam’s corrupted image and God’s new image—Jesus Christ.

2.         A New Adam 

In Genesis 2:7, we learn that God

formed the man [adam] from the dust of the ground [adamah] and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man [adam] became a living being. 

God breathed into a human form made from the created elements of the Earth— “the dust of the ground” and “the man became a living being”—and his name was Adam. Such is God’s creative purpose, power, and life. 

Luke 1:26-38 records Mary’s experience. Regarding her impending pregnancy, she asked, “How can this be since I am a virgin?”

The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit [pneuma] will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.

Depending on the context, the Greek word pneuma can be translated as S/spirit or wind. In some cases, it is also rendered “breath.” For instance, in Revelation 11:11 we read,

… after the three and a half days a breath [pneuma] of life from God entered them [the two witnesses], and they stood on their feet… 

This insight of pneuma as “breath” uncovers a striking parallel between the making of Adam and the incarnation of Jesus. 

Adam becomes a living being when God breathes into the created elements of the ground. 

The eternal Son becomes a human when God breathes into the created elements of Mary’s womb.

Jesus is identified as a new Adam. Paul writes (1 Corinthians 15:22, 45):

as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 

And again,

The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam [Jesus Christ], a life-giving spirit. 

Since the incarnation, two distinct “Adams” inhabit the earth—the first Adam and the last Adam—Jesus Christ.

3.         A Dissimilarity 

Following the Creation narrative, we learn of the tragic Fall in Genesis 3-4. Here, we discover a glaring and wonderful discontinuity between the first Creation and the new Creation.

Paul underscores this contrast in Romans 5:12-21. Here is a sample (5:17):

For if, by the trespass of the one man [Adam], death reigned through that one man [Adam], how much more will those who received God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. 

This is possible because the last Adam—Jesus Christ—is sinless.

• He committed no sin (1 Peter 2:22),
• who had no sin (2 Corinthians 5:21),
• in him is no sin (1 John 3:5).

So, we learn (Romans 5:18):

Consequently, just as the result of the one trespass [Adam’s] was condemnation for all [people “in Adam”], so also the result of one act of righteousness [Jesus’s] was justification that brings life for all [people “in Christ”]. 

4.         A New Humanity 

In “What On Earth Happened to God’s Creation,” we realize from Genesis 5 that: 

Adam pro-created descendants just like himself—complete with the same image that was distorted, marred, corrupted by sin. Each of us is essentially born in the same condition as Adam—not as bad as we can be, but surely as bad off as we can be. 

That is what it means to be “in Adam.”

In Romans 5:12-21, Paul explains the contrast between the one trespass of Adam (resulting in death to all humanity) and the one obedient life of Jesus Christ (resulting in life to all who are “in Christ”).

Here is how Paul puts it near the end of his argument (Romans 5:19):

For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many [those “in Adam”] were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many [those “in Christ”] will be made righteous. 

Two humanities inhabit Earth: those who bear the image of the first Adam and those who bear the image of the last Adam (Jesus Christ)—in short, those who are “in Adam” and those who are “in Christ.”

Where to from here?

Even a cursory reading of these texts should convince us that “in Christ” God has created a way in which we can be made new and placed in an intimate relationship with a loving God as our Father. It is not only about forgiveness of sins but much more, which is what we will explore in this series.

All of us are conceived and born as descendants of Adam—we are “in Adam.” As such, we bear Adam’s corrupt image. And yet, there are those descendants of Adam who are no longer “in Adam”—they are “in Christ.”

The question we now need to answer is how can we move from “in Adam” to “in Christ”—from a state of death to a new life?

That will be the topic of our next post.

FORWARD TO the next post in this series

BACK TO What Did God Do That Was So Amazing and Unimaginable? 

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