IMMORTALITY, WHY WE DID NOT INHERIT IT FROM ADAM Edward O’Hara

Was Adam immortal when God made him? Was his body different from what ours is now? What does the Bible say about this? I ask this question because there is so much false teaching regarding this issue. And this issue is very important because it speaks to the very heart of what it means to be human. Are we as Adam was when he was made? Or is our flesh different from his when God made him? This is a very important issue because Heb.2:14 says that Jesus came in the same flesh all men have. But, if Adam was mortal then how is it that he could live forever? Isn’t that what being immortal means? We will begin by reading from the Genesis account first to see what, if anything, is there regarding this issue. 

In Gen.1:26 we see God telling the story about man being created in His image and likeness. We then see God defining in plain language at least some of what this image and likeness is by saying He gave him dominion over the earth and what is in it. God has dominion over all things. So being made in His image we are told is that Adam was also given dominion. So this is part of what it means that Adam was made in God’s image and likeness. Can we find something else here that defines further what it means to be made in God’s image and likeness? I believe we can. 

As we read further in chapter2 we see God bringing the things He made before Adam so he could name them. God also tells Adam to dress and keep the garden. He was also given a choice between the different fruit he would eat. Adam had to have free will in order to do these things. Because God did not do them for him. Nor do we see instructions given by God to Adam as to how to go about accomplishing these things. He chose names for the animals and the process by which he would dress and keep the garden from his own volition. His own free will. 

So from what the Bible plainly says we now see that Adam had free will and dominion. These are 2 things specifically shown in the Genesis account that made him in God’s image and likeness. Is there more? Well, as we look further in Gen.2 we see that God gives us a more detailed description of what Adam was when God made him. In vs.7 God says He took from the dust of the ground and made Adam’s body. Then we see God breathes the breath of life into his nostrils which God said made Adam a “living soul”. So from these we see exactly what Adam was when God made him in His image and likeness. He was a body with breath in it that made him alive. It made him a breathing creature. A living soul. 

Now as we look for more clues from our Bibles about what made Adam in God’s image and likeness we see Paul in 1Cor.15:45-50 relating the same thing that Gen.2:7 says about Adam when God made him. Paul says that Adam was a living soul. He adds that Adam was of the earth earthy. Flesh and blood. And Paul adds that when all men are born they are the same as Adam was when God made him. Saying that those that are earthy are earthy because they are the same flesh Adam was when he was made. Paul also contrasts Adam with Jesus saying that while Adam was a living soul, Jesus was a life giving spirit. Saying that Adam was not spiritual when God made him. But, that Jesus was. Showing us that Adam was made as mortal as all men are. 

Jesus adds to this definition in John3:1-8 saying that all men must be born again. He says the reason men must be born again is because “what is born of the flesh is flesh. And what is born of the Spirit is spirit”. This lends greater illumination to what Adam was when God made him. And why it really is that all men are in need of being born again. Because since Adam was not spiritual when God made him, but only natural, it is since Adam was made that men needed Jesus. And not just since Adam was sent from the garden and began to die. 

This is why we see Peter teaching that it was God’s plan from before He made the worlds(1Peter1:20) that Jesus should come to save mankind. Because since God made Adam a mortal man we can not inherit the kingdom of God. For as Paul said in 1Cor.15:50 “Flesh and blood can not inherit the kingdom of God”. 

This leads us back to our original question. Was Adam’s body different from ours is when God made him? Was his body somehow immortal? The answer as we have seen from what the scriptures plainly teach is emphatically no. His body was as mortal as ours is. So that man’s need for deliverance has been from the beginning. And not just since Adam was sent from the garden.

So what made the difference for Adam? Why did he only begin to die after he was sent from the garden? The answer is really quite simple. And it has nothing to do with any so called punishment for sin. It is staring us in the face every time we read about the events that took place in the garden that led to Adam being sent out from it. Only while Adam was in the garden could he freely eat from the tree of life. And as long as he ate from it he lived. Only whenhe could no longer eat from the tree of life did he begin to die. And since he was natural and not spiritual when he was made as Paul said, this death was only physical death. This is why Paul says in Rom.5:12 that this death that came to Adam also passed to all men. This was because no man had access to eat from the tree of life. This proves conclusively that Adam was not immortal when God made him. He was kept alive physically while in the garden by eating from the tree of life. 

His body was no different in any way from what ours is today. He was of the earth earthy when God made him. We are of the earth earthy when we are born. He was flesh and blood when God made him. We are flesh and blood when we are born. Making his need to be born of the Spirit as great as ours is. 

So when Gen.5:3 says that Adam’s children were made in his image, it is not saying that image is something different from Adam’s image before he ate the fruit vs after as some falsely teach. And that men are now made in Adam’s corrupted image as the false teachers whose beliefs are based in Gnosticism would have you believe. It is saying that the image and likeness Adam was made in is the same image and likeness that all men are made in. And being born from Adam is to be born in his image. An image that is the same image Adam was made in when God made him. The image and likeness of God. An image and likeness of free will and dominion. Mortal and corruptible just as Paul says in 1Cor.15:50-57. 

This is what led Paul to write “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.” These statements were as much for Adam when he was made as it is for all men since Adam was sent from the garden. Because Adam was only flesh and blood when God made him. A living soul that is of the earth earthy just as all men are. He was mortal and corruptible. But, since Jesus came the promise to us who have trusted in Jesus and His resurrection is explained in the following verses in 1Cor.15 where Paul writes;

“Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 

This is why Jesus came. To swallow up death in victory. The victory of the cross and the resurrection that changes us from mortal to immortal. From corruptible to incorruptible. Not as Adam who ate from a physical tree that could only provide physical life. But, by eating from the giver of life Himself. By spiritually eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking His blood as Jesus taught them in John6:55-63. Not a cracker and cup of wine. And certainly not cannibalistically as the pagan RCC believes. But, by believing His word and trusting in Him and His resurrection. 

You too can have this eternal life. You too can have the immortality of an incorruptible spirit and body. All you need to do is believe the gospel. Believe that Jesus came as a man in the same flesh all men have. That He joined with mankind in our death so that by the resurrection He could conquer death. And in conquering death He made the way so that we could join with Him in His eternal life. Do you believe this? Then pray this prayer to thank Jesus for giving you eternal life. Thank you Jesus for joining with me in my death. So that I could join with you in your eternal life by trusting in you and your resurrection. Thank you for making me a spiritual being so that I inherit your spiritual kingdom. Thank you for loving me. I love you Jesus. In Jesus’ name, Amen!

If you prayed with me just now then I want to say welcome to God’s family and eternal life! God bless you. And I want to encourage you as you begin reading the Bible to believe what it plainly says and you will know the truth and the truth, which is Jesus, will set you free. 

See you there or in the air!!
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Edward O’Hara