Vertical Divider
Vertical Divider
Vertical Divider
Vertical Divider
Vertical Divider
Adam’s headship proved insufficient to vindicate the nature of God and repopulate His kingdom with willing citizens. Thus, it was no surprise to God that the first man, Adam, could not adequately represent the human race.
    
With foreknowledge, God predetermined to fulfill the stipulations of the redemptive Eternal Covenant. Therefore, in the fullness of time, He sent the mediator of the covenant to earth. Fulfilling covenantal stipulations by His sacrificial death and resurrection, Christ Jesus provided for the redemption of the elect from “every tribe and tongue and people and nation.” (cf. Daniel 7:14; Revelation 5:9; 7:9; 14:6) 
    
The Eternal Covenant furnished the New Testament church with new law. Freely offered without condition, it ensured legal suitability with God. As a result, the New Testament church could be transferred from the representative headship of unrighteous Adam to the representative headship of the righteous Savior.
    
The new covenantal law of the Eternal Covenant was specifically referred to as the “law of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 9:21; Galatians 6:2) It is described in the New Testament as the “law of faith,” the “law of the Spirit of life (zoe) in Christ Jesus,” the “perfect law,” and the “law of liberty.” (Romans 3:27; 8:2; James 1:25; 2:12) The law of the Eternal Covenant is often referred to in this book as the “rule of life.”
    
The Eternal Covenant also provided the New Testament church with new life. It too was freely awarded without condition and ensured organic compatibility with God. As a result, the New Testament church could be moved from the dead representational headship of Adam to the representational headship of the living (zoe) Christ.
    
The new covenantal life of the Eternal Covenant was life shared with the mediator of the Eternal Covenant, Jesus Christ. It is accomplished by the divine work of regeneration and spiritual birth.
    
​By further benefit of the Eternal Covenant, the redeemed members of the New Testament church were transferred from the “domain of darkness” to the Kingdom of God. Eternally positioned in the kingdom, they are “blessed… with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” (Ephesians 1:3)
Vertical Divider
Vertical Divider
​In Romans 5:14-21, Paul distinguished between Adam and Jesus Christ as two contrasting figures divinely positioned in the role of covenantal headship:
Vertical Divider
Adam
Jesus Christ
Verse
“death reigned from Adam” “who is a type of” (foreshadow or pattern)
“Him who was to come” (fulfillment of the type, foreshadow, or pattern)
14
“For if by the transgression of the one many died,”
“much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.”
15
“The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation,”
“but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification.”
16
“For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one,”
“much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.”
17
“So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men,”
“even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.”
18
“For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners,”
“even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.”
19
Vertical Divider
According to Paul, Adam, the first head of humanity, was a “type of Him who was to come.” (Romans 5:14) The immediate context clarifies that Jesus Christ is the One “who was to come.” (Romans 5:15, 17) By principle of headship, Adam, the first man and first head of humanity, was a type, foreshadow or pattern of Jesus Christ. In contrast, Jesus Christ is not the second Adam, but the “last Adam”. He is not just another Adam. Instead, He is the fulfillment of the first Adam and, thus, the fulfillment of the type, foreshadow or pattern.
    
Paul provided additional emphasis for the contrasting headship of Adam and Christ in 1 Corinthians 15: 
Vertical Divider
Adam
Jesus Christ
Verse
“For since by a man came death,”
“by a man also came the resurrection of the dead.”
21
“For as in Adam all die,”
“so also in Christ all will be made alive.”
22
“So also it is written, "The first man, Adam, became a living soul.”
“The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.”
45
“….the natural;”
“then the spiritual.”
46
“The first man is from the earth, earthy;”
“the second man is from heaven.”
47
Vertical Divider
Adam’s original act of unrighteousness allowed sin and death to enter into the world. (Romans 5:12) Consequently, the human race became legally unsuitable and organically incompatible with God. Thus, Adam’s headship proved insufficient to vindicate the nature of God.
​    
By the redemptive work of Christ, however, the real New Testament church is no longer positioned under the headship of Adam. Instead, it is gloriously and eternally positioned under the representative and representational headship
​of Jesus Christ.
Vertical Divider
Representative Headship
Representational Headship
  • The remedy for imputed sin is the legal imputation of Christ’s righteousness.
  • The remedy for inherited sin is the impartation of Christ’s life (zoe).
Vertical Divider
The new life of the church positioned under the headship of Christ is vastly different from its old life positioned under the headship of Adam. It is obligated but not indebted; regenerated; intimately joined to God by the union of shared life; enlightened and empowered in accordance with His indwelling life (zoe).
    
By stipulation of the Eternal Covenant, the New Testament church is utterly privileged to be forever positioned under the representative and representational headship of Jesus Christ. As a consequence, it is representative of divine righteousness and representational of divine life (zoe) on earth.                         
Vertical Divider
Vertical Divider
                                 New Testament Church

​In harmony with the gracious benefit of the redemptive Eternal Covenant, the New Testament church is comprised of people made legally suitable and organically compatible with God. They are joined as one covenantal body under the representative and representational headship of the Mediator of the Eternal Covenant, the “last Adam” and the “second man”, Jesus Christ.
    
Under His covenantal headship human beings are legally suitable and organically compatible with God: 
Vertical Divider
Category:
Position in Christ:
Reference:
Legally
Suitable:
  • Justified from all transgression of the rule of law, not guilty.
  • Debt of sin “paid in full” by the blood of the Eternal Covenant.
  • Forgiven of all transgression of the rule of law (past, present, and future).
  • Declared righteous according to the standard of the rule of law.
  • “Holy and blameless and beyond reproach.”
  • New law: the "law of the Spirit of life (zoe) in Christ Jesus."
Romans 4:1-5:11; 8:15; Ephesians 1:4-5; 7
Organically
Compatible:
  • New life:
  • Spiritual regeneration:
        made suitable to accommodate divine life.
  • Spiritual birth:
  1. Made alive to God by His shared, spiritual life.
  2. Heavenly.
  3. Controlled by the regenerated nature in willing submission to the indwelling God; “obedient from the heart.”  
Romans 5:18- 6:14; 7:14-25; Ephesians 2:4; Colossians 2:12-13; 3:4;
2 Peter 1:4
Vertical Divider
Made legally suitable and organically compatible with God, the new man is transferred into a living (zoe), spiritual realm of existence:
Vertical Divider
Category:
Position in Christ:
Reference:
Realm of
Existence:
  • The realm of the Spirit of life (zoe) (described by the terms “in the Spirit,” “according to the Spirit,” and “led by the Spirit”).
Romans 8:1-14; Ephesians 4:1-6:12
Vertical Divider
The realm or sphere of the Spirit is characterized by a distinct familial standing, citizenship, security, and style of governance:
Vertical Divider
Category:
Position in Christ:
Reference:
Familial
Standing:
  • Children of God
        (legally by adoption and organically by spiritual birth).
John 1:12; Romans 8:15-17
Citizenship:
  • Heavenly citizenship.
Philippians 3:20; 1 Peter 2:9
Security:
  • Eternally and temporally secure.
  • Ascended and seated with Christ; 
  • Sealed by the Spirit;
  • Secured by divine hope (Romans 8:18-25); divine intercession (Romans 8:26-27); divine purpose (Romans 8:28-30); divine benevolence (Romans 8:31-34); divine love (Romans 8:35-39); and divine choice (Romans 9:1-11:36).
Romans 8:18-11:36; Ephesians 1:13-14; 2 Corinthians 2:22
Style of
Governance:
  • Positioned under the immediate headship of Jesus Christ.
  • Set free from the power of the indwelling principle of sin. 
  • New life and nature that allows for internal control by the gracious rule of indwelling life (zoe); obedient from the heart.
Romans 6:14-7:13; 8:3-4
Vertical Divider
Jesus Christ is the “last Adam,” the perfect fulfillment of the office of headship for the human race. Eternally positioned under His gracious headship, the New Testament church is the primary beneficiary of the Eternal Covenant. Unconditionally transformed by its gracious law and life, the church was made legally suitable and organically compatible with God. As a result, the New Testament church on earth is both representative and representational of Christ on earth.

© 2023 James Hiatt                                     
Vertical Divider
Vertical Divider