NT Text: Romans 5:14
OT Source(s):
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): Typology + Contrast
Significance: Paul explicitly identifies Adam as "a type of the one who was to come" (typos tou mellontos) — one of the clearest typological declarations in the NT. Adam's headship over humanity in the fall prefigures Christ's headship over the redeemed in salvation. Yet Paul immediately qualifies the typology with contrast: "the free gift is not like the trespass" (v. 15). The Adam-Christ parallel operates through both correspondence (federal headship, one act affecting many) and escalation-through-contrast (death vs. life, condemnation vs. justification, disobedience vs. obedience). This is the locus classicus for the doctrine of the two Adams.