LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
The Corporate Adam
What Adam could not do, Christ –the last corporate Adam– did: to raise up a descendant for God.
Roberto Sáez
"And did he not make one, although he had the residue of the Spirit? And wherefore one? He sought a godly seed." (Mal.2:15). "And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." (Gn.1:27). "...and they shall be one flesh." (Gn.2:24b). " ...and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great: but I speak in regard of Christ and of the church." (Ef.5:31b-32).
The man in Genesis is not an individual, but a corporate being. When Malachi refers to that man it says that God made him one because it included the woman. It is both a male and female - why, or for what reason? So that man would offer Him (God) a descendant or a seed. This descendant would then be the church which began with the corporate Adam, continued with the forefathers, with earthly Israel and, finally, the church that emerges from Christ; from His wounded side, in the same way that Eve emerged from Adam's wounded side.
The corporate Adam
Individuals were not useful to God. Obviously, He could not have demanded multiplication from an individual. The requirements of God given to the man of Genesis are in plural terms; God is not speaking to an individual, but to both as if they were one, and they are, because such is the sense of His creation. "Multiply... have dominion", they are commandments given to a collective being.
When God says: "Let us make man in our image" He is not thinking of an individual but of a corporate being. The image of God is not that of an individual, but of God who coexists in unity, in a plurality of people. A lone individual can never show the image of God. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the image of God in as such that He reveals the intimate fellowship with the Father and with the Holy Spirit. He did nothing by Himself, nor spoke anything by Himself. His life and work were intensely corporate.
When we read the New Testament, we notice that all the advice and commandments of the Word of God are directed to a collective being, that is, to the church, with the single exception of the personal letters. The Word of God is not applied to an individual except when he or she is one member inserted in the body, in fellowship with the Father and with the Son through the Holy Spirit.
The mystery of unity
From two there was made one. It could not be otherwise. God is one, although in three people. Yes, the being that God was to carry His image had to be the same, or the lifestyle of God, which is intensely corporate, would not be manifest. The will of God is that man, when uniting to his wife, be one flesh with her, so that this complete man offers Him a descendant. Herein lies the importance of multiplication.
Unity is not just about enabling women to procreate; it is about unity of life, unity of nature, like Eve who has Adam's nature, and the church that has Christ's nature. It is the unity of character determined by the life of Christ, to be modeled in a determined time through the multiplicity of relationships of daily life in a marriage and in the context of the church life. The goal of unity of marriage is to offer God a descendant. Not only in procreating children, but in forming them so that they might be a seed for God. For that reason it is indispensable that they be born again by means of the regeneration of the Holy Spirit, so that Christ is the center of the home. However, God's chosen place for the formation of His image in His children is the church.
God is against divorce, against man's unfaithfulness with the wife of his youth. "For the Lord God of Israel says that He hates divorce" (Mal.2:16) because this breaks unity. People who live in a broken family, are in some way affected, with a distorted personality. Only when the person meets with Christ and is brought to the bosom of the church to live a corporate life, will they have the option of being healed and recovered for the purpose of God.
By this example, we can understand how much division between Christians affects God's designs and God's heart. The division of the church reveals that Christians ignore the nature of the church, since the church is one with Christ; it is of one and the same nature with Him. God imparted His Son's life to it. The devil, nevertheless, has managed to divide it; for that reason, it is time for Christians to arise and resist the enemy's work and return to the purpose of God.
The division of the church is similar to the tragedy of divorce amid marriage. The whole family is affected, and leaves God's purpose without effect. Paul, speaking of the division among the Corinthians, points out that division is evidence of carnality; while unity is evidence of spirituality and maturity. Division is a sign of babyhood, of selfishness and of an inability to live a corporate life.
The mystery of Christ and the Church
Unity between a man and a woman as a single flesh is a simile of the union between Christ and the church. Since the first couple failed in the procreation of a family for God, the Lord Jesus Christ came as the head of a new creation in order to obtain the descendant that God looked for. Christ is the Adam who was to come, all that was said and was expected from the first man with his 'helper ', was a figure of the One who was to come in Christ and His church. The first man failed, the second Man fulfilled and got what the Father wanted: a descendant for Himself, which are the children of God who have been united to Christ through their faith in Him. It is the multiplication that came as a result of His wounded side. This descendant is the fruit of the affliction of His soul.
The true sense of marriage is in the revelation of the mystery of Christ and of the church. In weddings this revelation is often applied, because the church is currently Christ's bride and is preparing to be espoused. One day in the near future the church will be the wife of the Lamb. Christ is the Groom who comes to seek the bride. If He has still not come, it is because she is not ready. The most perfect sign of her preparation will be the day in which she washes the stain of division away. Then and only then, the Groom will come then for her. The romance has lasted almost two thousand years. He has been very patient in waiting, and she has been tested in patience waiting for Him. Neither He nor she have desisted in the patient wait. But faithful is He who promised. It is not that He has forgotten her; it is only that she is not yet ready.
It was necessary that she be modeled to His likeness in order to become His suitable helper in the future tasks of the Kingdom that await Him. This could not be achieved in one century, nor in two, nor in ten, but in the time necessary to complete the desire of God's heart.
We return to ask the question we asked at the beginning once more: "why one?" Ask a brother from a different congregation! Ask your husband! Or the minister ask the fiancées! Parents, ask the children! Servants, ask your co-servants! ... Why one? The answer is clear. God wants us to offer him a descendant. As it says in Hebrews: God has intended "to bring many sons unto glory" (2:10). This is the descendant of God: The church together with Christ, being of one spirit with Him; she being the body and Christ the head. The new collective man will appear this way, configured by the many members connected to the Head.