1 CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 15
Of the Resurrection of the Dead. 1 Corinthians 15, 1–58
A contrast between the present and the future states: V. 45. And so it is written, The first man, Adam, was made a living, soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. V. 46. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. V. 47. The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven. V. 48. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. V. 49. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
The apostle substantiates this doctrine by a Scripture quotation: The first man, Adam, became a living soul, Gen. 2, 7.
That was the natural state of Adam, as the representative and the forefather of the entire human race; he was created to be a bodily being animated with a living soul, and as such he existed during his earthly life.
In contrast to this Paul says that the last Adam, the progenitor of the new spiritual humanity, became a life-giving spirit, for Christ is the antitype of Adam.
From Adam, as a forefather, the human race received only soul, earthly, natural life; but from Christ, the Forefather of the spiritual race of mankind, the believers receive the true spiritual life, which extends beyond the grave and makes us possessors of the divine glory: He is the Source of the heavenly and eternal life.
In case someone should now object by asking why God did not immediately create every human being so as to make the body spiritual at once, to give to soul, body, and spirit the eternal, heavenly life, Paul answers: However, not is first the spiritual, but the psychic, the natural, then the spiritual.
Even the body of Adam, the first man, was not spiritual, but natural, God's intention being that the spiritualized condition was to be realized by man's remaining in permanent communion with the Lord, for which Adam had received strength. Through the. Fall, of course, the intention of God was thwarted, and now, more than ever, the body of sin is a natural body, truly born of the flesh. Only by the power of the Spirit in the means of grace is the spiritual life planted in us, and only by the application of the same power will He raise us up as spiritual bodies.
It follows, then, that the first man is of the earth, earthy, his body partaking of the nature of the dust out of which he was formed.
The second man, Christ, had no such origin, even though He assumed human nature in the body of the Virgin Mary. From the very moment of His conception He was the Lord from heaven, the Son of Man which is in heaven, John 3, 13. And so He succeeded and displaced the first father of mankind; He is of heaven, the God-man.
As the earthy, such they also that are earthy; all those that have descended from Adam are, like him, of an earthy nature. Adam, instead of rising to a spiritual state, fell into sin; and we, who are his bodily descendants, fell in his fall, and bear his mere natural, earthy life.
And as the heavenly, such they also that are heavenly; as the exalted Christ, the First-born of many brethren, partakes of the fullness of the heavenly glory in His spiritual body, so Christ's risen followers, their bodies made like unto His own glorious body, shall share in this glory.
And just as we have borne the image of the earthy, the outward, bodily form of our progenitor, Adam, so let us bear also the image of the Heavenly One. We drag around this body of sin with us, homesick throughout our earthly life for the true life above; but we look forward to the happy day of our final deliverance, when we shall be restored to His image and once more, according to soul and body, enter the ranks of the children of God, 1 John 3, 2; Col. 3, 4. "The wearing of Christ's moral likeness here carries with it the wearing of His bodily likeness hereafter."