The Truth comes to Corinth

Paul Declares the Wonder of the Christians Resurrected Body Part 3

1 Corinthians 15:45-49 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. NKJV

Paul now makes the contrast between the natural lives we all have in Adam the first man created by God to the supernatural life every repentant sinner receives from our Lord Jesus Christ the moment we are born again. Adam was created from the dust of the earth (Genesis 2:7) while our Lord Jesus Christ is very God from heaven who humbled Himself and put on human flesh to become a sacrifice for our sins as Paul wrote in this manner to the Roman believers here, “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:3). Just as we have taken upon and in us the nature of Adam (sinful and rebellious), so have we now been given the nature of Christ Jesus our Lord just as Paul has already earlier written to these Corinthian believers in this same letter when he said, “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:12-16).

The fact of our sinful nature cannot be denied by any person who looks inwardly and truthfully at his or her own heart and it is what we have inherited from the first man Adam whom we are all of his offspring no matter what part of the world one resides. However, the fact of our new nature in Christ also cannot be denied as we see ourselves being drawn to read God’s Word and follow our Lord Jesus Christ desiring to see others be forgiven, even those we have never met in this life because we now have a proper perspective on this life and our pending physical death. The continual war between the “old man in Adam” and the “new man in Christ” will always rage on within us (Galatians 5:17), but we are assured of ultimate victory in Christ when we take our last breath here on the earth and are then ushered into His Presence. Paul wrote about this ultimate victory over sin through our resurrection life in Christ and finally at the death of our flesh when he wrote this to the Roman believers, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned--for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification. For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 5:12-21).

Paul concludes his wonderful discourse on the glorious body that awaits us with these words, “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” (1 Corinthians 15:48-49). There are two key words Paul uses here that I want to highlight and the first is the English word borne or bear which is translated by the Greek word phoreo which means to have a burden or carry a load; it has the idea or analogy of someone wearing clothing seeing that your clothing is always on you or attached to you. Paul declares that as we are in this earthly life attached to the old nature we received from Adam on account of his sin and rebellion, but that union will be forever broken for those of us who have come to our Lord Jesus Christ at the Cross in repentance and faith and we will then be empowered by Him to put off forever our old man and bear or phoreo in His Righteous image forever and this English word image is the second of the two keys words in this discourse by Paul and it is translated by the Greek word eikon which means exact representation; likeness of the things (the heavenly things) or the moral likeness of renewed men to God the Father through the Son of God (Jesus Christ); the likeness given into which true Christians are transformed;  the likeness not only to the heavenly body, but also to the most holy and blessed state of mind, which Christ possesses in Himself. To think that at the moment of our death, we will be made just like our Lord Jesus Christ is completely and absolutely boggling and baffling to our mind still trapped here on the earth and in time, but this is exactly what Paul declares to us here and what is taught by every writer of New Testament epistles or letters.

“We must have weak, frail, mortal bodies by descent from the first Adam, before we can have lively, spiritual, and immortal ones by the quickening power of the second. We must die before we can live to die no more. Yet if we are Christ’s, true believers in Him (for this whole discourse relates to the resurrection of the saints), it is as certain that we shall have spiritual bodies as it is now that we have natural or animal ones. By these we are as the first Adam, earthy, we bear his image; by those we shall be as the second Adam, have bodies like His own, heavenly, and so bear His image. And we are as certainly intended to bear the one as we have borne the other. As surely therefore as we have had natural bodies, we shall have spiritual ones. The dead in Christ shall not only rise, but shall rise thus gloriously changed.” Matthew Henry

“Therefore, there is nothing left for us to do but to believe and receive this truth and shout our praises unto the Lord Jesus Christ for His Greatness and loving-kindness shown to each of us His children. We will spend all eternity doing so.” Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...


Sincerely in Christ,


Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…