God's Best-Kept SecretMuestra

God Living in Us

Did you know Jesus Christ was called the last Adam when he came to this earth? First Corinthians 15:45 says, “It is written, ‘The first man, Adam, became a living soul.’ The last Adam became a life-giving spirit” (NASB). Jesus was called the last Adam because he came to restart the human race. Here’s what that means.

Jesus Christ came to this earth 100 percent God and 100 percent human. Would you be surprised, though, if I told you he never once relied on his deity to live his life, to do ministry or miracles? Although he never stopped being God, he lived only as a human (Philippians 2:6–7). 

Jesus did everything he did as a human by completely relying on his Father to live in and through him, just as Adam was supposed to have done. As he did, he lived a perfect life of love. This includes all his obedience and his ministry (John 14:10–11).

Jesus came to restore what Adam had lost. He lived as Adam was to have lived—dependent on God in him to live through him. And just as everyone born after Adam was to have had God in them, Jesus made a way through his death, burial, and resurrection for God to reenter every human who would be born again. That is why we read earlier in 1 Corinthians 15:45 that Jesus Christ, the last Adam, was a “life-giving” spirit, giving the life of God back to everyone who believes in him for salvation.

We may believe we are supposed to use the behavior of Jesus as our example so we can live as he did in some kind of checklist way, but nothing could be further from the truth. God has come to live in us because we are to live dependent on him in us to live through us—just as Jesus did. That is how you can truly live like Jesus.

Think about what it would mean for you to transition from focusing on right and wrong to focusing on living dependent on Jesus.