Paul is continuing on from his metaphors of earthly and heavenly bodies and moves us to think of Adam and Christ.
“If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.” (1 Corinthians 15 v 44-49)
We are now of Adam, we bear his image, we have Adam’s weakness and his mortality. But through the resurrection we will bear Christ’s image and characterised by a body of glory, wholeness and immortality.
What does this mean?
- Our physical reality is not abandoned for some ghostly existence in the after-life but rather a perfecting of what is now.
- Our limitations now with regards to weakness and decay give way to strength and glory.
- We become something greater because we bear the image of Christ not Adam.
At the time of Paul the world had thoughts of some disembodied immortality. But Paul knows differently. His gospel is the complete transformation of our bodies to that of Christ’s.
The gospel isn’t about simply eternal life but entering into something completely transformative and gloriously new. Whatever current limitation you have it is temporary. Whatever decay and disappointment you are experiencing Paul’s teaching offers a compelling alternative – bodies transformed by the power of resurrection. Amen!
Missions Paul 