Our current, corrupt bodies, which came into being from Adam, are like seeds that are sown to bring life to the plant. These forms are temporary, dishonorable, and weak.
We believers in Jesus Christ will go through eternity with resurrected bodies that will not be reanimated corpses or some lesser version of our pre-death frame. Our transformed bodies will be eternal, glorified, and powerful, made from the materials of heaven, not earth, and built for an eternity with God.
First Corinthians Chapter 15 describes how the resurrected bodies of believers will be different from our current bodies. Resurrected bodies will not be reanimated corpses or some lesser version of our pre-death frame. The opposite is true.
1 Corinthians 15:45 – First & Second Adam
Paul begins 1 Corinthians 15:45 with the phrase “It is written.” Then Paul quotes Genesis 2:7 which explains that the first Adam became a living earthly being after God formed him from the dust of the ground. Thus, Paul again confirms the historical accuracy of the special creation of Adam, and, therefore, of the Genesis record of creation as a whole. 1
“First man Adam” (verse 45) is a clear affirmation that Adam was, indeed the first man thus refuting the various evolution theories involving pre-Adamite men. 2
The Apostle Paul empathically believed:
- in the historicity of this one-man Adam,
- that Adam was the first man created,
- that Adam committed a sin significant for the rest of the human race,
- in the one-man Jesus and his atoning death.
In verse 45, Paul distinctly refers to “the first man Adam.” If one understands the word “Adam” always to mean “man” there is something of a redundancy here, to say the very least.e one-man Jesus and his atoning death. 3
Earlier in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul’s position becomes even more evident. Here Paul says that death came by a man (verse 21), then makes it clear that he is referring to Adam (verse 22). It seems clear enough that Paul thought of Adam as a real, historical person. 3
The Rabbinical explanation of that passage was—that God breathed into man the breath of life originally, but that man became (not “was made”) only a living soul, i.e., one in whom the mere human faculties held sway, and not the spirit. The first Adam became, by his disobedience, a mere living soul, and from him we inherit that nature.
Verse 45 also calls Jesus the last Adam, because he is posterior in time to the first Adam, or because there shall be no restorer and head of the human race after him. That is, as the first Adam existed before Christ was sent to assume our nature and become our Saviour. So must we first wear that first animal body, which we derive from the one before we put on that spiritual body which we receive from the last Adam.
“The last Adam” refers to the Lord Jesus. Christ is called Adam, because believers receive our sanctified, spiritual nature, and our immortal bodies, from him, (Ephesians 5:32) just as mankind has derived their corrupted nature and mortal bodies from the first Adam.
The last Adam, Christ, became a “life-giving spirit” after being resurrected from death to life by God. Jesus was raised as a life-giving spirit in the sense that through Him, and Him alone, those who are born again can look forward to being resurrected as He was.
The last Adam, by his obedience, became a life-giving spirit, and from Him we inherit the spiritual nature in us. (Romans 5:19)
As in Romans 5:12-19, the divinely inspired Apostle showed Adam to be a contrasting type of Christ. Both were true men, yet their bodies were formed directly by God. Adam was the first man made a living soul, the head of the human race. The Lord Jesus was the first begotten from God. He is our salvation. 2
The first perfect man gave us one kind of body; the second perfect man (Jesus, the last Adam) can give us another kind of body. Jesus is a life-giving Spirit. 4
Adam brought sin and death into the world; Christ brought everlasting righteousness and eternal life. 2
We have all borne the image of the first Adam, and those who put their trust in the last Adam will also bear His resurrection image. 4
In 1 Corinthians 15:47, “the second man,” Jesus Christ, was certainly not the “the second man” in the natural sense – that would be Cain. Neither was He the second man born supernaturally; there were Isaac and Samuel and John the Baptist, for example. The phrase obviously is comparing Him with Adam as “the first man” but Adam was not born at all – he was formed directly by God (Genesis 2:7). In fact, that is the key. The body of Jesus was directly formed by God, in Mary’s womb and this was the second and the last of whom this was true. 2
Scripture not only explains differences but also the connections between the natural-born body of Christians and the resurrection bodies of those same believers in eternity. Paul wrote in verse 44 that if there is a natural body—the one we live in now—then there is also a “spiritual body.” In this specific context, Paul means the body we will be raised into after God transforms us. In other words, there must be a progression from the natural body, built to live on earth, to the spiritual body, which will be built to exist in heaven and eternity.
This was first explained as parallel to how a planted seed dies, only to grow into the ultimate form for which it is intended (1 Corinthians 15:37).
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In conclusion, consider the Daily Bread email message sent on 2/5/2005, 9/26/2008, and 7/7/2023 says,
1 Corinthians 15:45 – So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. (NASB)
Jesus, through His death and resurrection, ushered in a new world order – not a political regime but the power of the Holy Spirit. By raising Jesus from the dead, God made Him a “life-giving spirit.” Jesus is the one through whom God fulfills His promise to Abraham, that through his seed all nations would be blessed. (Genesis 12:3; 18:18; 22:18; Galatians 3:8)
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References:
- Morris, Henry, The New Defender’s Study Bible (Nashville, TN: World Publishing Inc, 1995 and 2006) pg. 1763.
- Ibid, pg. 1764.
- Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House Company, 1985), pg. 875.
- David Guzik, Commentary on 1 Corinthians, (Enduring Word, https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/1-coringthians-15)