Last Adam Nevertheless, in talking of Christ as refusing to use for his own advantage or exploit for himself the godhead which was his, v. 6 might "also" be contrasting his humility (in becoming human and dying the death of a slave) with the presumptuous aspiration of Adam (and Eve) to enjoy illegitimate equality with God and become "like God" (). Whether one accepts the wider circle of references to Adam or limits oneself to the clear references in and 1 Corinthians 15, the New Testament used Adamic language to express the being of Jesus and, even more, his task and goal.
Last Adam of about Adam being created in the divine image. If so, Paul would be thinking here of Christ as the ideal Adam, with his humanity perfectly expressing the divine image. But this exegesis is not fully convincing. One may likewise be less than fully convinced by those who find a reference to Adam in two hymnic or at least poetic passages: and . Colossians 1:15 In , Christ is called "the image ("eikōn") of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation". In isolation, this verse could be taken merely in an Adamic sense as referring to Christ as the