“1 Corinthians 15:42-49”

Monday, May 07, 2018

“So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So also it is written, ‘The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A LIVING SOUL.’ The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.”

---End of Scripture Verses---

In today’s reading Paul continues his farming metaphor from the previous verses. Just as seed is sown in the ground one way and raised another way, the same is true for the human body. It is “sown” in weakness and dishonor as a perishing, decomposing, natural, fleshly body. But it is “raised” in power and glory as an imperishable, undefiled, eternal, spiritual body (verses 42-44). God crafted our physical bodies to be suited for life on this temporary, physical plane of existence. But in eternity, He will change each of them into spiritual bodies that will be suitable for an everlasting existence in the eternal realm.

The Apostle Peter wrote the following in 1 Peter 1:3-4 – “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.” Jesus went back to heaven to prepare a dwelling place for His faithful disciples, and God will fit their spirits with “glorious” bodies that are capable of dwelling there forever.

“The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A LIVING SOUL” (verse 45). Paul quoted Genesis 2:7 here which refers to God creating the first man from the dust and “breathing” life into him. The word “Soul” in this verse refers to physical and not eternal life. The same word for “soul” is used in reference to animals in Genesis 1:24. All this verse means is that Adam was a living, physical being, and the implication is that we all acquired our “fleshly” bodies through Him. But Christ became a “life-giving” Spirit when He defeated death for us and arose from the grave. Since this statement is said in juxtaposition to what we get from “the first Adam”, I believe this just means that Christ will provide us with a spiritual body similar to His own.

How is Christ considered to be “The last Adam”? I just think it means that Jesus is the only individual who holds a unique relationship with all humanity similar to that which Adam holds. Both Adam and Jesus had (have) a profound effect on our very existence. The story of life on earth opened with Adam when he entered the grand, physical “stage”. And that same great story will come to an awesome conclusion when Jesus returns for the “grand finale”. Jesus is God’s last and greatest offer to mankind. He is our only hope of eternal salvation. It is true that through Jesus everyone (whether saved or lost) will be equipped with spiritual bodies suitable for an eternal existence. But only those of us who love and serve and obey Him in trusting faith will be delivered up to heaven with the kingdom when our King returns.

“However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual” (verse 46). This is a great, general, universal truth and reality. In all of God’s dealings with mankind, first came the physical “type” or “shadow”, and afterward came the spiritual reality. Paul wrote in Colossians 2:16-17, “Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day— things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.”

The Sabbath day of rest was just a “shadow” of the real, eternal rest that Christ provides to His faithful followers in heaven (Hebrews 4:9-11). The temple in Israel was just a foreshadowing of the spiritual holy place that is the church of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 3:16), and even the bodies of Christians that “house” the Holy Spirit who “dwells” in them (1 Corinthians 6:19). All the kings and priests under the Old Covenant merely prefigured the perfect High Priest and King of kings that we have in Jesus (Hebrews 4:14-16; Revelation 19:16).

And the same is true for the kingdom that our Eternal Monarch reigns over. Under God’s prior covenant with Israel, there was a physical kingdom. But under God’s covenant with His people through Christ, the kingdom is spiritual. And God will never revert back to the inferior, temporary, physical nature with His kingdom. Nor should He. Jesus established His superior, eternal, spiritual (church) kingdom on the day of Pentecost in the city of Jerusalem nearly 2000 years ago (Daniel 2:44-45; 7:13-14; Acts 2:14-36); and when He returns it will be to deliver that kingdom up to His Father in heaven (1 Corinthians 15:24).

Please read 1 Corinthians 15:50-57 for tomorrow.

Have a blessed and safe day!

- Louie Taylor

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