Lessons #569and 570
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual delivery not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GW = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New American Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible, UBS = United Bible Society +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
+ 4. Text is based on 1984 edition of the NIV +
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Superiority of the last Adam (1 Cor 15:45-50)
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 from heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven. 50 I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
Let me begin with a quick review of where we have been in our consideration of the major section of 1 Corinthians 15:35-50 that is concerned with the nature of resurrection body. We have so far considered three paragraphs of this major section. The first paragraph covers verses 35 to 38 and is concerned with analogy drawn from the final body of a sown seed. A message the Holy Spirit conveyed in this first paragraph is God alone determines the nature of resurrection body. The second paragraph consists of 1 Corinthians 15:39-41 that is concerned with different natures of created objects and still involves analogy drawn from creation. The message of the second paragraph we stated in our last study is that There will be a difference between resurrection body and earthly body in their composition and even then, there will be differences in the radiance of resurrection bodies. The third paragraph that consists of 1 Corinthians 15:42-44 contrasts the body buried at death and the resurrection body. Consequently, the message of this third paragraph is that Resurrection body will be markedly superior to the body buried at death. With this brief review we proceed to consider the fourth paragraph in the section before us.
This section of 1 Corinthians 15:45-50 is the fourth paragraph of the major section of 1 Corinthians 15:35-50 that is concerned with the nature of resurrection body. This paragraph is concerned with the first Adam and the last Adam or second man. On a surface reading it might appear that the apostle focused on a topic that has nothing to do with resurrection per se. However, the apostle is still concerned with the matter of the nature of resurrection. The apostle had indicated that there is a body of flesh that would be different from that of resurrection. As the apostle contemplated this difference, it seems the Holy Spirit led his thought to focus on the two individuals that are associated with each kind of body. The body of flesh is associated with first Adam while the body of resurrection is associated with Jesus Christ described as the last Adam or second man. Thus, the apostle compares both as a further way of conveying the superiority of the resurrection body over the body of flesh since the last Adam is superior to the first Adam. Our section, therefore, is concerned with the superiority of the last Adam when compared to the first Adam. The apostle had previously compared Adam and Christ in 1 Corinthians 15:21–22:
21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
The comparison of verses 21 and 22 is concerned with the causal agents of death and resurrection but the comparisons given in verses 45-50 focus on the superiority of Christ as the last Adam over the first Adam, the father of humanity.
Examination of this fourth paragraph leads us to assert that the superiority of the last Adam is presented in three relationships that enable us to understand this subject of the superiority of the second or last Adam over the first. The first relationship concerns life as the apostle discoursed in verses 45 and 46. The second concerns the relationship to the origin of the first and last Adam in verse 47. The third is in relationship to resultant associations with the first and last Adam considered in verses 48 to 49. The apostle ends the paragraph with a conclusion that is given in verse 50. Because the paragraph is concerned with comparisons of the first Adam to the last Adam, the message of this fourth paragraph is that The last Adam, the God man, Jesus Christ is eminently superior to the first man, Adam. It is true that the apostle does not here directly mention Jesus Christ but everything he wrote leads us to understand that the last Adam he meant is the Incarnate Son of God, Jesus Christ. Because of the comparisons the apostle gave, we can deduce that he thought of Jesus Christ as the God man in one person as he penned the paragraph we are about to consider. It is for this reason that we explicitly stated that the message is concerned with the superiority of the last Adam, the God man over the first Adam. Anyway, it is as we expound on this paragraph that it would become clearer the reason for asserting the apostle thought of the last Adam as the God man, Jesus Christ.
Apostle Paul began verse 45 using the same phrase that he used to begin verse 42 although the NIV begins with the word So whereas literally the Greek reads So also. Hence, the Greek phrase consists of two Greek words. The first is the Greek word (houtōs) that is used primarily in two ways in the Greek. It could refer to that which follows in a discourse material and so may be translated “in this way” or “as follows.” Another usage is to refer to what precedes, in which case, it may mean “in this way, in this manner, so, thus.” It is in the second usage of “in this manner” or “in that way indicated” that the apostle used the word in our passage of 1 Corinthians 15:45 to support what he stated especially in verse 44 concerning the existence of natural and spiritual bodies. The support for what the apostle stated in verse 44 is presented in an emphatic manner. This is because of the second Greek word (kai) the apostle used in the beginning phrase of verse 45 that is often translated “and” in our English versions. However, the Greek particle has several other usages. For example, it may be used to introduce a result that comes from what precedes and so may be translated “and then, and so.” It may be used to emphasize a fact as surprising or unexpected or noteworthy with the meaning “and yet” or “and in spite of that” or “nevertheless.” Of course, it could be used simply for emphasis with the meaning “even.” It may be used to mark an explanation so that what follows explains what goes before it, leading to the translation “that is, namely, and so.” In our verse, the Greek particle is used for emphasis so that it may be translated “also” as in the NASB or the NET, or it may be translated “indeed” as in the ISV. The point being that the apostle is being emphatic as he supports his assertion of the existence of natural and spiritual bodies.
It is not quite difficult to understand the apostle being emphatic in what he wrote in verse 45 because he did what we all should endeavor to do whenever we assert something as truth, which is to support it from Scripture. Thus, the apostle cited the Scripture in support of his assertion. We know that he cited the Scripture because of the sentence of 1 Corinthians 15:45 it is written.
The word “written” is translated from a Greek word (graphō) that means “to write.” However, the sentence it is written or its equivalent For it is written is a formula for quotation from the OT Scripture. The Lord Jesus used it to cite Scripture to Satan during His temptation as we read in Matthew 4:4:
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
He quoted exactly from Deuteronomy 8:3:
He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
Interestingly, Satan used the same formula in his quotation of Scripture in his temptation of Jesus Christ as we read in Luke 4:10–11:
10 For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; 11they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
Satan quoted exactly from Psalm 91:11–12:
11For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; 12they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
The Jews who contended with the Lord Jesus used the formula as it is written in their quotation of the OT Scripture as we read in John 6:31:
Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
The Jews did not quote exactly any passage of the OT Scripture but they in a sense referenced the account given in Exodus 16:4:
Then the LORD said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.
Apostle Peter in addressing the disciples regarding replacement of Judas Iscariot supported that move by citing Psalms using the formula we are considering, as we read in Acts 1:20:
“For,” said Peter, “it is written in the book of Psalms, “‘May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it,’ and, “‘May another take his place of leadership.’
The apostle pieced together two different psalms. The first quotation May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it is from Psalm 69:25:
May their place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in their tents.
In this verse of Psalm 69, the psalmist desired the complete destruction of his enemies and their families so that there would be no inhabitants left to occupy their cities and homes so rendering them empty. However, the apostle applied what was aimed at all the enemies of the psalmist to one person, Judas Iscariot, viewed probably as enemy of Christ because he betrayed Him. Anyway, the second quotation of Acts 1:20‘May another take his place of leadership’ is from Psalm 109:8:
May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership.
Again, the psalm is concerned with the psalmist’s desire or prayer for the death of his enemy so that another person will take up the position the enemy occupies. One thing we learn from the quotation in Acts 1:20 is that although the apostle pieced together two different passages in Psalms, the two passages have something in common, desire or petition for the death of an enemy. Peter’s approach lets us know that we could piece together various passages of the Scripture that are germane to our position in support of our arguments. The human author of Hebrews used the formula we are considering in quoting from the Scripture as we read in Hebrews 10:7:
Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll— I have come to do your will, O God.’”
The quotation is from Psalm 40:7–8:
7Then I said, “Here I am, I have come— it is written about me in the scroll. 8I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”
Comparison of the quotation in Hebrews 10:7 to the original passage reveals that there is a change in the order of the sentences. In the original, the sentence I have come comes before the sentence it is written about me in the scroll but in the quotation the reverse was the case. Furthermore, the quotation left out the sentence I desire in the original and assimilated the rest of the verbal phrase to do your will, O my God to the sentence I have come, leading to the reading I have come to do your will, O God. The implication is that the OT Scripture may be used in argument not necessarily citing every word in the text. In short, we may summarize a passage in the OT or NT in support of an argument. That aside, Apostle Paul quoted from Genesis in 1 Corinthians 15:45 in support of his assertion regarding natural and spiritual bodies although his focus on the verse is that associated with natural body. We will get to the passage he quoted from shortly.
Anyway, Apostle Paul not only began verse 45 with the same Greek phrase he used in verse 42 but also, he followed the same method in the comparisons of the previous section that he focused on the superiority of the resurrection body. In effect, the apostle states what makes the object of comparison, the first Adam, inferior before stating the superior quality of the last Adam, that we indicated is Jesus Christ. This fact is indicated in the first point of superiority of last Adam to the first Adam which is in relationship to life in verses 45 and 46 as we indicated in our introduction of the section we are considering.
The apostle began by asserting that the first Adam was a receiver of life. We derive this point from the apostle’s quotation from OT Scripture as we read in 1 Corinthians 15:45 The first man Adam became a living being. Literally, the Greek reads The first man Adam became into (a) living soul. The Greek preposition (eis) translated “into” in the literal translation could here be interpreted as “with reference to” so that the literal Greek may then read The first man Adam became with reference to soul, living, indicating the apostle is concerned about soul being alive. That aside, the apostle quotes in a modified form the creation account of the first human from Genesis 2:7:
the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
The apostle quoted with modifications the last sentence of Genesis 2:7 from the Septuagint. Unless the apostle had a different version of the Septuagint than the ones available to us, we are correct to state that he quoted the last sentence of verse 7 with some modifications. Our reason is that the Septuagint did not have the word “first” in the sentence of 1 Corinthians 15:45 The first man Adam became a living being.
The word “first” is translated from a Greek word (prōtos) that pertains to being first in a sequence that involves time, number, or space. The meaning “first” as it pertains to sequence is the sense the word was used in the instruction of what a person had to do in case of a problem with another, prior to offering his gift in the altar as we read in Matthew 5:24:
leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.
The meaning “first” as it pertains to time is the sense of the word when it was used in Apostle Paul’s farewell address to the elders of the church in Ephesus as we read in Acts 20:18:
When they arrived, he said to them: “You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia.
It is in the sense of number that the word with the meaning “first” is used to describe the number of gates Peter passed when an angel released him from prison as we read in Acts 12:10:
They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.
The word may pertain to prominence and so may mean “first, foremost, most important, most prominent” as it is used, for example, in the question of teachers of the Law to Jesus about the most important commandments as recorded in Mark 12:28:
One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
The phrase the most important is literally first. The word may pertain to being superior in value to all other items of the same class, hence means “best” as it is used in the description of the robe the compassionate father ordered to be put on his prodigal son after he came back, in the parable of the Compassionate Father or what is often described as the parable of Prodigal Son in Luke 15:22:
“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
The phrase the best robe is literally the first robe. In our passage of 1 Corinthians 15:45, the word is used in the sense of preceding all others in time hence means “first” as an adjective.
It is not difficult to understand the probable reason the apostle introduced the word “first” so that we have the phrase of 1 Corinthians 15:45 The first man. The Septuagint from which the apostle quoted simply reads the man. The definite article “the” used in the Greek text of the Septuagint was used to describe a well-known man. It is true that we could say that Adam was unique because he was the only human that was directly created by God using dust, but it is probably that the Holy Spirit wanted those who translated the Hebrew text into the Greek to recognize that the man in question was the one that is well-known among people as in the Hebrew text from which they translated. However, it is possible that there were men everywhere that could be considered unique among their people for whatever reason, so to ensure we understand the literal phrase the man is a reference to Adam, the apostle introduced the word “first”, so we have the phrase The first man.
The word “man” is translated from a Greek word (anthrōpos) that means “a human being” without regard to gender, as Apostle Paul used it to describe the fate of evil doers as stated in Romans 2:9:
There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; …
The word may mean “man” as male person as the apostle used it to describe Jesus Christ in His humanity in Romans 5:15:
But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!
The word may mean “person” as that is the way the word is used when the concern is to be inclusive of men and women, as in the doctrine of justification by faith the apostle stated in Galatians 2:16:
know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.
Justification is for both men and women so that the phrase a man is to be understood as “a person,” hence the NRSV simply used the phrase a person. In our passage of 1 Corinthians 15:45, the word is used in the sense of “man,” that is, an adult person who is male, as opposed to a woman.
To further ensure that “man” is used as a reference to the first adult male in creation, the apostle introduced a second word “Adam” in his quotation in 1 Corinthians 15:45 that was not in the text of Genesis 2:7 in the Septuagint. The word “Adam” refers to the first human being God created as Apostle Paul stated in 1 Timothy 2:13:
For Adam was formed first, then Eve.
Consequently, he was the ancestor of all humans although all humans after the flood are descended from Noah as stated in Genesis 9:19:
These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the earth.
Adam as the first human created, is related directly to God so that he is described as “the son of God” in genealogical record of Luke 3:38:
the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
He is the only human whose body was directly formed by God as stated in the passage we previously cited, that is, Genesis 2:7:
the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
Adam eventually disobeyed God so that through him sin entered the world as the Holy Spirit communicated through Apostle Paul according to Romans 5:12:
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned—
In any event, Adam is an important figure in human history, being the male that was instrumental in propagating humankind.
Apostle Paul having indicated that he was concerned with the first male God created, proceeds to make the assertion that leads us to describe the first Adam as the receiver of life. The apostle writes in 1 Corinthians 15:45 The first man Adam became a living being. A literal translation is The first man Adam became into (a) living soul or as we have previously indicated it may be translated The first man Adam became with respect to soul, living.
The word “became” is translated from a Greek word (ginomai) that may mean “to be” although it is different from another Greek word (eimi) that may also mean “to be” in that our Greek word emphasizes that of being what one was not before. That aside, our Greek word has several meanings. For example, it may mean “to come into existence” so may have the sense of “to perform” as it is used for the description of the miracles of the apostles in Acts 5:12:
The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade.
The word may mean “to become something” as Apostle Paul used it in cautioning believers not to become stumbling blocks to others in their use of their freedom in Christ in 1 Corinthians 8:9:
Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak.
The word may mean “to occur as process or result” hence may mean “to take place, to happen.” It is in this sense of something occurring because of another thing that the word is used by Apostle Paul regarding the commendation the Lord will give in the future as stated in 1 Corinthians 4:5:
Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.
The sentence each will receive his praise from God is literally praise will come to each one from God. It is with the meaning “to happen” that Apostle Paul used the word to describe his sufferings as stated in 2 Timothy 3:11:
persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 15:45, the general sense of the word is “to become,” that is, “to enter or assume a certain state or condition.”
The state Adam entered is given in the phrase of the NIV of 1 Corinthians 15:45 a living being or literally living soul. The word “being” or “soul” is translated from a Greek word (psychē) that may mean “soul” as “seat and center of the inner human life in its many and varied aspects” as the word is used when the Lord Jesus spoke to His disciples as He awaited the cross in the narrative given in Matthew 26:38:
Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
The word may mean “person as a living being” so the word is translated “being” in the NIV in Apostle Paul’s description of what would happen to every person that does evil, as recorded in a passage we cited previously, that is, Romans 2:9:
There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.
The word may mean “life, earthly life” as that which animates the body making bodily functions possible as the word is used to describe what Epaphroditus risked in the work of Christ on behalf of the Philippians as Apostle Paul stated in Philippians 2:30:
because he almost died for the work of Christ, risking his life to make up for the help you could not give me.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 15:45, the word is used in the sense of that which possesses life hence “a being.”
The adjective “living” in the phrase of the NIV of 1 Corinthians 15:45 a living being is translated from a Greek word (zaō) that may mean “to live” in the sense of “to be physically alive” or “to conduct oneself in a pattern of behavior.” The apostle used our word as a participle, that is, a verbal adjective, although here it is used as an adjective. Thus, the participle is used in different senses. It is used in the sense of giving life in some passages. Jesus Christ informed the Samaritan woman that He could give her living water to which the woman questioned how that would be as it is recorded in John 4:11:
“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?
The phrase living water should be understood as “water that causes life.” It is the same concept that is meant when Jesus Christ described Himself as living bread in John 6:51
I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
The phrase the living bread may be understood as “the bread which gives life.” In another context the word “living” may refer to that which is enduring as the word is used to describe God’s word that Moses received and passed on to Israel as Stephen stated as recorded in Acts 7:38:
He was in the assembly in the desert, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; and he received living words to pass on to us.
The phrase living words may be understood either as “enduring words,” that is, “message which lasts always” or “words that meant life.” In our passage of 1 Corinthians 15:45, the word is used with the Greek word that we indicated means “a being” so that Apostle Paul meant that Adam became a being with physical life or soul as some prefer. This being the case, the apostle meant that the first Adam was a recipient of life since it is only because he received life that he became a living being. This, of course, contrasts with the last Adam, Jesus Christ as the apostle described. This brings us to the superiority of the last Adam over the first Adam.
The superiority of the last Adam, unlike the first, is because He is a giver of life. It is this truth that is given in the last phrase of 1 Corinthians 15:45 the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. This phrase has generated different kinds of interpretation, especially because many have inserted the word “became” to make sense of it, leading to the interpretation that Christ became a life-giving spirit at His incarnation or that He became a life-giving spirit at His resurrection. Some even used the phrase to teach that Jesus Christ is a creature, something that is not in keeping with Scripture. We will argue later that the phrase states what has always been true of Jesus Christ and not something associated only with His incarnation. Anyway, since the apostle did not add any verb here it is very likely that he felt there was no need for it if the reader understood the Greek preposition used as “with reference to.” The means that the literal Greek that reads the last Adam into (a) life-giving spirit could be translated the last Adam with respect to life-giving, spirit.
The word “last” is translated from a Greek word (eschatos) that may mean “least, last” as it pertains to being the final item in a series, as the word is used to the describe the workers hired last in the parable of Workers in a Vineyard as narrated in Matthew 20:8:
“When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’
The word may mean “last, least, most insignificant,” as it pertains to furthest extremity in rank, value, or situation, as the word is used in Jesus’ teaching regarding humility in Luke 14:9:
If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this man your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place.
The word may mean “farthest, last” as it pertains to being at the farthest boundary of an area, as the word is used in Jesus’ declaration of the mission of His disciples when they received the empowerment of the Holy Spirit in Acts 1:8:
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 15:45, the word has the sense of “last,” that is, “coming last with reference to its relationship with something preceding.” In effect, it is the opposite of “first.”
In any case, the phrase of 1 Corinthians 15:45 the last Adam does not mean the last man standing or the last man on earth. No! It is a reference to Christ. Christ is described as last Adam in comparison to the first Adam because of the way humanity is divided since Christ’s death on the cross. Since the death of Christ on the cross, humanity is divided into old and new humanity. This we learn from what the Holy Spirit wrote through Apostle Paul in Ephesians 2:15:
by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace.
On the one hand, the phrase the two refers to the old humanity that is divided primarily into Jews and Gentiles. The head of this old humanity is our father, Adam. On the other hand, the phrase one new man is a reference to the new humanity that is created in Christ and so He is the head of this new humanity. It is because of this position that He is called the last Adam. In effect, there are two Adams, the first is head of the old humanity and the last is head of the new humanity. We will return to this passage in Ephesians 2:15 shortly because of its importance in identifying the last Adam as Christ.
Be that as it may, we had already stated that the superiority of the last Adam is because He is a giver of life. This fact proves that the last Adam is Christ. This we can derive from the passage of Ephesians 2:15 that we cited, specifically the sentence His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two. The person described in this sentence in the pronoun His is Christ since He was the subject referenced in Ephesians 2:13–14:
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.
Thus, there is no doubt that Christ is the creator of the new humanity as He was also the creator of the old humanity. Since the apostle described Him as the last Adam, he provided a description that should enable us to recognize that this last Adam is the same Christ that he described as the creator of the new humanity. The description is provided to the Corinthians, and so to us, in the phrase of 1 Corinthians 15:45 the last Adam, a life-giving spirit or literally, as we stated previously, could be translated the last Adam with reference to life-giving, spirit.
The expression “life-giving” is translated from a Greek word (zōopoieō) that means “to cause to live.” So, it has the meaning “to give life” as it is used by Apostle Paul in describing what the Holy Spirit will do for believers in the future according to Romans 8:11:
And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
The word may mean “to impart life” as Apostle Paul used it to describe what the law could not do as we read in Galatians 3:21:
Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law.
It is in the sense of “to make alive” that the word is used to describe the role of the Holy Spirit in Christ’s resurrection in 1 Peter 3:18:
For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit,
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 15:45, the word is used with the sense of “to be made alive, that is, “to be caused to have life or to be caused to have life a second time.” The apostle used a Greek participle that is used three other times in the Greek NT. It is used to indicate that the Holy Spirit or God’s Spirit gives life in Jesus’ assertion recorded in John 6:63:
The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.
The participle is used to describe God in His action regarding Abraham to enable him to become the father of many nations as stated in Romans 4:17:
As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.
The other usage of Greek participle is in connection with the resurrection of Jesus Christ that the Holy Spirit played a role as indicated in the passage we cite previously, that is, 1 Peter 3:18:
For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit.
A participle is a verbal adjective, so it is used in 1 Corinthians 15:45 to emphasize the action of giving life although the NIV and many of our English versions interpreted it as an adjective in the phrase a life-giving spirit. The problem is how to relate the expression “life-giving” to the word “spirit” since we have indicated that literally the last part of verse 45 could be translated the last Adam with reference to life-giving, spirit. To see the relationship between the expression “life-giving” and “spirit” we need to examine the Greek word used.
The word “spirit” is translated from a Greek word (pneuma) that we considered extensively in our study of 1 Corinthians 14:32 but we reference only the meanings that are possible candidates in our passage. The word may mean “breath” as Apostle Paul used it to describe the manner of the destruction of the future lawless one by the Lord Jesus in 2 Thessalonians 2:8:
And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.
The word may mean “spirit” as that which animates or gives life to the body, as the word is used to indicate that without it the body is lifeless in James 2:26:
As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
The word may mean God’s being as controlling influence, with focus on association with humans hence means “Spirit.” Accordingly, Apostle Paul used it to describe God the Holy Spirit using different phrases. For example, he described the Holy Spirt as the Spirit of God in Philippians 3:3:
For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh—
He described the Holy Spirit as “Spirit of Jesus Christ” in Philippians 1:19:
for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.
A person may say that the two passages in Philippians that we have cited do not decisively imply that the Spirit of God or the Spirit of Jesus Christ is a description of the Holy Spirit. If that is the case, let me refer to a passage that leaves no doubt that the Holy Spirit may be described as the Spirt of Jesus. Luke reports how the Holy Spirit kept Apostle Paul and his team from preaching the gospel in a specified region as we read in Acts 16:6:
Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia.
It is the Holy Spirit that kept Apostle Paul and his team from preaching in the province of Asia but then Luke reports that it was the Spirit of Jesus that would not allow the apostle and his team to enter the province of Asia as we read in Acts 16:7:
When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to.
Mysia was an area in northwest Asia Minor, part of the province of Asia. Thus, the Spirit of Jesus in verse 7 is in parallelism to the Holy Spirit in verse 6. Therefore, there is no doubt that the Spirit of Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit. The phrase Spirit of Jesus should be understood as the Spirit sent by Jesus or from Jesus. In our passage of 1 Corinthians 15:45, the word means “God’s being as controlling influence,” that is, according to the standard Greek English lexicon (BDAG) “that which differentiates God from everything that is not God, as the divine power that produces all divine existence, as the divine element in which all divine life is carried on, as the bearer of every application of the divine will.” It is probably because of this interpretation that some of our English versions such as the TEV and NLT capitalized the word as “Spirit” in our verse of study.
The meaning of “spirit” as we have stated enables us to understand the relationship between the expression “life-giving” to the word “spirit” is that “life-giving” is associated with the being that is God. In other words, we should understand the apostle to be saying that when it comes to “giving of life,” the last Adam is God. This interpretation removes the difficulty of trying to determine when Jesus Christ became “life-giver.” Jesus Christ is the creator and so there is no time He has not been One who gives life. The incarnation did not bring Him to become life-giver, as that is what He has always been as the creator. Hence, the last Adam is the God man, Jesus Christ, who as God gives eternal life as He communicated to the Jews when He described Himself as the true Shepherd as we read in John 10:28:
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.
The Lord Jesus also indicated the same truth in His priestly prayer recorded for us in John 17:2:
For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.
In any event, in relationship to life, the last Adam, Jesus Christ, is superior to the first Adam in that He as God is a giver of life. This supports the message of the fourth paragraph we are considering which is The last Adam, the God man, Jesus Christ is eminently superior to the first man, Adam.
11/03/23