The church fathers made the Adam-Christ parallel their foundational typology, drawing directly from Paul’s identification of Christ as the “last Adam” (1 Corinthians 15:45).
Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 130-202 AD) develops this with remarkable depth in Against Heresies. He writes that “the Word of the Father and the Spirit of God, having become united with the ancient substance of Adam’s formation, rendered man living and perfect… so that as in the natural [Adam] we were dead, so in the spiritual we may all be made alive” . For Irenaeus, the incarnation is God’s “hands” (the Son and Spirit) re-fashioning what was lost in Adam: “In the last times, His hands formed a living man, in order that Adam might be created [again] after the image and likeness of God” .
Gregory of Nyssa says the first creation “waxed old and vanished away,” so “it was needful that there should be a new creation in Christ” . He notes the precise parallel: “He took dust from the earth and formed man; again, He took dust from the Virgin, and did not merely form man, but formed man about Himself” . Christ is “the first-born of all creation… the first-fruits of them that slept” .
Origen goes even further, arguing that “the first man may be properly referred to Christ Himself” and “is no longer a type and representation and image of the Only-begotten, but has become actually Wisdom and the Word” . He notes that Paul says Christ is literally called “Adam” — “The last Adam was made a life-giving spirit” .
John Chrysostom draws the contrast vividly: in the first creation, “He made man in the image of God, now He hath united him with God Himself; then He bade him rule over fishes and beasts, now He hath exalted our first-fruits above the heavens; then He gave him a garden for his abode, now He hath opened heaven to us” . The new creation surpasses the old at every point.