Scripture · 1 Corinthians 13:8-13
1 Corinthians 15:22
The Nativity
For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
Before reaching the child, the eye passes Adam and Eve. Christus has built the story of the Fall into the stone doorway around the Nativity.
About the artwork
The first parents stand on the columns, while carved episodes from Genesis continue overhead. Below them, crouching figures carry the weight of the supports. Within this heavy frame, Mary, Joseph and angels attend a small baby laid on the ground. Stone preserves one history; living bodies begin another.
The National Gallery of Art connects the carved arch with humanity’s fall and redemption. The angels’ church vestments carry that connection into worship: the birth is being contemplated with knowledge of Christ’s later sacrifice. The doorway does more than identify symbols. Its great scale makes the infant appear almost impossibly slight beside the burden of the story surrounding him.
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What does 1 Corinthians 15:22 mean?
In 1 Corinthians 15:22, Paul sets death in Adam against life in Christ. He is arguing for resurrection, including the future of those who belong to Christ. That ending matters beside this beginning. The newborn cannot yet be separated from the history carved around him, but Paul’s words invite the viewer to consider whether the stone’s account of death will have the final word.
Sources
National Gallery of Art collection record. National Gallery of Art discussion of the Genesis sculpture, Adam and Eve, the figures carrying the arch and the angels’ liturgical clothing.
1 Corinthians 15 — Berean Standard Bible. The paired text read in its surrounding chapter.