In this there is a very interesting comparison made by Paul between Adam and Jesus. Both are covenantal heads of the human race. What this means is that Adam was supposed to be the forerunner for a complete and wholesome life, but due to his disobedience in the Garden of Eden, he became the forerunner of sin and death for the entire human race. Now everybody who would be born after Adam would experience sin and all of its consequences which all comes to a head in death. Jesus, on the other hand, comes onto the scene as a "second Adam", in that instead of an act of disobedience, he obeys God and his act of obedience brings about righteousness before God.
The issue here is that, you, me, and Dupree are all under the curse of Adam by default. We are born into the human race under the law of sin and death, and to them both we are destined to pay debt. What Jesus offers us in being a second Adam is an opportunity of second birth. We are given an opportunity to ultimately cancel out the curse, and not by our own merit, but by the act of obedience of Jesus on the cross. He died so that the law of sin could be destroyed and he rose again that we also might follow him as the forerunner in beating death ourselves one day. We still will die on this earth, but if we have experienced second birth, we also will experience eternal life.
We can be one or the other: We are either "in Adam", or we are "in Christ", one of which causes us to die forever, and another that gives us life abundantly that starts now and continues on for eternity.
"All are in Adam by physical birth, while only those with the new birth are in Christ." -- ESV Study Bible
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