Adam Fathered a Son in His Own Likeness
A Devotional Series from Genesis
Online Bible Audio/Readings Links (ESV)
4/28 Reading Portions: Numbers 5; Psalm 39; Song of Solomon 3; Hebrews 3
Genesis 5:3-4
When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters.
SETH
Being the “generations of Adam” (Gen 5:1) as a narrative of truth in the history of mankind, once again we have prophetic foreshadows of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. We already know from the previous chapter, and devotional thought therein, that the death of Abel and the murderous hatred of Cain provoked a more active faith in Adam and Eve, appointing “life” in Seth for the “substitutionary” death in Abel (Gen 4:25, see devotional from 4/24/26). And from the devotional thought two days ago, we see that Adam’s being created in the likeness of God (Gen 5:1) was also a prophetic foreshadow of the gospel intent of salvation through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom 8:29). Yet Seth was not born in the likeness of God, but in the likeness of fallen Adam. It is written,
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Romans 3:23
The doctrine of total depravity did not come from Charles Spurgeon, nor from the Reformers of the 16th century, neither from John Calvin nor Augustine of Hippo, nor even the apostle Paul, though they all spoke upon it. It comes from the truth that Adam sinned and we are all his descendants. Total depravity doesn’t mean that Seth was as bad and evil as Cain. It means that the corrupt DNA of Adam was passed on to Seth, as well as to you and me. It means that as good as we may be, by God’s grace and Christ, our good deeds, our heavenly utterances, and even the most glorious of our thoughts, will never match the superlative goodness, the supreme holiness, and the sinless perfection of the Lord Jesus of Nazareth. This is what makes the good news good: that there is bad news first—you and I have no hope of life unless our Hope is built upon Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
At the risk of sounding redundant, from the Department of Redundancy Dept., I shout this proclamation again: God’s salvation through the gospel of the Lord Jesus Messiah was not a reflexive response to Adam’s sin; it was our Creator God’s plan, purpose, and sovereign design from before He commanded “Light be!” Hallelujah! What a Savior!