In The Garden!

The Resurrection Body: Death through a man, Resurrection through a man

1 Corinthians 15:45-49 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 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.

1Cor.15:20-22 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. 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.

1Cor.15:35,44 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” …  It is sown as a natural body and raised as a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

Genesis 2:7,17 Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being…but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

 Commentary:

 God in the beginning formed the first Adam Genesis Chapters 1, 2. God made Adam from the dust of the earth. The first created, Adam, was “earthy” - he is representative of all humankind. From Adam and Eve came all men and women in human history. “So, God created mankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Gen.1:27”.

 The apostle Paul, writer to the church at Corinth, explains that because of the Fall (Gen.3) – despite countless generations thereafter being recorded in Gen.5, the first Adam died spirituality. The earth was accursed, and Adam and Eve were driven from the Garden, and access to the tree of life (Gen.3:22,24) and alienated from God.

 The apostle Paul calls Jesus, the Christ the Son of God, God Incarnate, “the second Adam”.

The first Adam – from the earth, mortal, human – “died” spiritually. The second Adam, namely Jesus Christ, born of the Spirit, brings new life, spiritual life, and eternal life to those who believe.  Therefore, (“earthy”) mortal man or woman, girl or boy, being born again (born of the spirit), although he or she may die physically will live for all eternity with heavenly, spiritual bodies.

By: Dr. Laurence Wedderburn November 2024