ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

Monite Sanuali 9, 2023

 

The Earth Man אדם

Ko e Tangata ‘o e Kelekele

GENESIS 2:7

THEN THE LORD GOD FORMED THE MAN OF DUST FROM THE GROUND AND BREATHED INTO HIS NOSTRILS THE BREATH OF LIFE, AND THE MAN BECAME A LIVING CREATURE.

SENESI 2:7

Pea na‘e ngaohi ‘e Sihova ‘Elohimi ‘a e tangata mei he efu ‘o e kelekele, ‘o ne hō ki hono ava‘i ihu ‘a e mānava mo‘ui; pea na‘e hoko ‘a e tangata ko e kakano mo‘ui.

Our father, Adam, is named after the adamah ("earth or arable ground") from which he was formed. His name also becomes the word for all people. This is important. Hebrew speaks not of a generic "humanity" but adam (adamkind, if you will). In that one specific man we began. This was his genesis-and ours. God, the divine potter, got his hands dirty as he formed and shaped us like clay (Isa. 64:8). By the breath of the Almighty, this first man rose from the earth.

"The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven" (1 Cor. 15:47). This "second man" from heaven came down to earth as a second Adam to begin a new humanity. As Adam's "one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men" (Rom. 5:18). In this one specific man we begin anew. Like the first Adam rose to life from the adamah, the second Adam rose to life again from the adamah of the grave, "for as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive" (1 Cor. 15:22).

Raise us, O LORD, from the dust, that we might sit with Christ in the heavenly places.