Comparison of the Natural and Spiritual Body

I Corinthians 15:45–50
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It was not until 1850 that our world reached the one billion mark. By 1930 we reached two billion. It took only thirty more years for the world’s population to reach three billion. We have now arrived at six billion. Statisticians tell us that by the end of this century we’ll hav … More

Changed

In our passage today we are told about a bigger change than this (vv. 45-50). In the previous passage, we were told that the body is buried in corruption because it is going to decay; but it is raised with such a nature that it cannot decay. With this change there is no decay or death in heaven. The expression “last Adam,” (v. 45), was coined by the Apostle Paul as a reference to Christ. Today we have a “natural body,” that is, a body suited to an earthly environment. We received this body from our first parent, Adam. Adam was made from the dust of the ground and so are we (Gen. 2:7). Our resurrection body will be made in the image of Jesus Christ, the last Adam. In His resurrection body, He was able to move quickly from place to place, even through locked doors; yet He was able to eat food and His disciples were able to touch and feel Him (John 20:19-29).

The point that Paul seems to be making in this passage is that the resurrection body completes the work of redemption and transforms us into the image of our Savior (vv. 46-48). It was the natural which came first; it was the spiritual which came afterward. We are made in the image of God, as far as personality is concerned. We are made in the image of Adam, as far as the body is concerned. One day we will bear the image of our Savior, when we are in heaven (v. 49). Our first birth gave us that which is natural, but our second birth gives us that which is spiritual. The certainty of the resurrection is verified by the reality of human earthly existence. God rejects the first birth and says, “Ye must be born again!” If we depend on our first birth, we will be condemned forever; but if we experience the new birth, we shall live with Christ forever (v. 50).

Application

When I am resurrected, God will give me a changed, eternal body suited to my new eternal life.

I Corinthians 15:45-50 (English Standard Version)

Thus it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

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More I Corinthians commentaries

Comparison of the Natural and Spiritual Body

I Corinthians 15:45–50» View this passage in NIV (Bible Gateway)

Application

I Corinthians 15:45-50 (English Standard Version)

I Corinthians 15:45–50
» View this passage in NIV (Bible Gateway)