The Names of Jesus - Elmer Towns

In an effort to escape the connotation that the wrath of God must be appeased, some
translators prefer to translate this term “expiation.” They consider “propitiation” applies in Scripture
only to pagan deities. But this view fails to recognize the offensiveness of sin in the eyes of
God and the reality of the wrath of God against sin.
That Jesus is our Propitiation has deep meaning for every believer. First it is the basis of
our salvation. The so-called “sinner's prayer,” “God be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13), is
literally, “God be propitious to me the sinner.” Also, it is the incentive for our love for other
Christians. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be
the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another” (I
John 4:10,11).
THE LAST ADAM
The Apostle Paul taught that the human race consisted of two groups-those who were “in
Adam” and those who were “in Christ.” In presenting this contrast, he used several comparative
names of Christ, including “the Last Adam” (I Corinthians 15:45) and “the Second Man” (I
Corinthians 15:47). These two related titles are fundamental to the doctrine of imputation, the
means by which God reckons our sin to Christ and His righteousness to us.
When we speak of “the headship of the race,” we do so in two senses. First, Adam was
the Federal Head of the race and when he sinned, we sinned in the same sense that when our
representative government takes a course of action, we who elected certain candidates as our
leaders are also involved in the decisions they make. Secondly, Adam was the Seminal Head of
the race in that he was the physical father of the human race. When Adam sinned, he became a
sinner by nature, a nature which we as Adam's descendants also received, much as the child of a
mother who is a drug addict may be born with an addiction to that drug.
Christ as the Last Adam and Second Man is the head of a new race in the same way
Adam was the head of the old race. When He died for us, He paid the price for our sin on our
behalf much as a government might pay off its national debt, which is the debt also of those who
elected that government. When Christ rose from the dead, He did so as a quickening or lifegiving
spirit, able and willing to impart new life to all who come to Him.
History and society are the result of two men and their respective acts. Adam, by
disobedience, plunged this world into the slavery of sin. Jesus, by obedience, brought this world
back to Himself. Because of what the first Adam did, we need to be saved. Because of what the
Last Adam did, we may be saved. In order to be saved, we must be “in” the Last Adam.
AUTHOR OF ETERNAL SALVATION
Describing Jesus, the writer to the Hebrews notes, “He became the author of eternal
salvation unto all them that obey him” (Hebrews 5:9). The Greek word used here for salvation is
aitios, which denotes that which causes something else. He is the “Author of Salvation” as one
might be an author of a novel. The author knows all that is to be written before the book is
published. He develops the plan of the book, its underlying thesis, the characters, and plot or