The Works of the Man Christ

Notice how salvation and damnation are works of man -- that is, two men:

Romans 5:15 But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense [Adam] many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.

Romans 5:18 Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.  19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous.

1 Corinthians 15:21 For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.

1 Corinthians 15:45 And so it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 

1 Corinthians 15:47 The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven.  48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly.  49 And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.

So, our transformation in soul, and ultimately in body, is due to our union with the Heavenly Man, who took our nature, lived, died under the curse for our sins, triumphed over all curse and death, rose from death immune to it forever, sits at the right hand of God, and reigns till all his enemies are put under his feet.  This Man subdues the cosmos to himself.

This union of the Second Person of the Trinity with our nature, for his glory and our salvation, is a cosmological change.  No, that's not enough.  It's higher than that.  It is not a change that only affects the entire cosmos.  It is a change which affects the one who created the whole cosmos.  The Second Person of the Trinity is now a man -- the God-man -- the theanthropos. Finitum capax infiniti.

One must conclude that the Incarnation of the Son of God, a mystery till it happened, institutes a new and magnificent salvation, promised from the beginning, but infinitely higher than was fully revealed to man and in man at the first creation. Adam was by the original creation the man of dust. Christ is the man from heaven.

Glory be to God.