Commentary on 1 Corinthians
Lecture 7. The earthly and the heavenly man
15:44 It is sown a natural body: it shall rise a spiritual body. If there be a natural body, there is also a spiritual body, [n. 989]
15:45 As it is written: the first man Adam was made into a living soul; the last Adam into a life-giving spirit.
15:46 Yet that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural: afterwards that which is spiritual. [n. 994]
15:47 The first man was of the earth, earthly: the second man, from heaven, heavenly. [n. 995]
15:48 Such as is the earthly, such also are the earthly: and such as is the heavenly, such also are the heavenly.
15:49 Therefore, as we have borne the image of the earthly, let us bear also the image of the heavenly. [n. 998]
15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot possess the kingdom of God: neither shall corruption possess incorruption. [n. 999]
989. Here the Apostle shows by reason the difference of the quality of the dead body to the body of the resurrection, indicated by the examples above.
Regarding this he does two things.
First, he presents what he intends to prove;
second, he proves what he presented, at as it is written.
990. Therefore he says first: I say that what is sown animal rises spiritual, and I show that this is true, namely, that something is a spiritual body, because if it is an animal body, it is also spiritual. And the Apostle does not intend to argue from this to the proposition, but he accepts this, intending to prove just what he says, if there be a natural body: look upon all the works of the Most High; they likewise are in pairs, one the opposite of the other (Sir 33:15).
991. As it is written. Here he proves the proposition. His demonstration is as follows: there are two principles of human generation; one according to natural life, namely Adam; the other according to the life of grace, namely Christ. But animality is distributed in all men by the first principle, namely, Adam. Therefore, it is certain that to a much greater extent, by means of the second principle, that is to say, Christ, spiritual life is distributed in all men.
The reason for this, first, he proves, the first difference of the principles; second the middle term, namely, the determination of likeness from both of the principles, at such as is the earthly.
In regard to the first, he does three things.
First, he shows the difference of the principles;
second, the mutual order of the principles, at yet that was not first which is spiritual; third, he assigns the order of reason, at the first man was of the earth.
992. Therefore he lays down first the condition of the first principle according to natural life, drawing on the authority of Genesis (Gen 2:7). Hence he says, as it is written: ‘the first man Adam was made into a living soul’, namely, an animal life which the soul is able to give, when, namely, God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (Gen 2:7). For the human form and soul is also called spirit. For insofar as he is concerned with the care of the body, namely, with animating, nourishing and generating, thus it is called ‘soul.’ However, insofar as he is concerned with knowledge, namely, with understanding, willing and the like, thus it is called ‘spirit.’ Therefore when he says, the first man Adam was made into a living soul, the Apostle has in mind here the life by which the soul is devoted concerning the body, not the Holy Spirit, as some imagine, by reason of what was cited above: and he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, saying that this is the Holy Spirit.
Second, he lays down the condition of the second principle, saying, the last true Adam, i.e., Christ. And he is called the last because Adam introduced one state, namely of guilt; Christ of true glory and life. Hence, since after that state no other one followed in that life, therefore he is called the last: we desired him, despised and last of men (Isa 53:2); I am the First and the Last (Rev 1:17); and elsewhere: I am the Alpha and the Omega (Rev 21:6).
But he says, Adam, because from the nature of Adam he was made a living spirit.
993. And from this, with the conditions of the principles perceived, the difference between them is evident, because the first man was made ‘animal,’ the last man ‘spiritual.’ The former was made a living animal only, the latter truly a living and life-giving spirit.
The reason for this is because, just as Adam obtained the perfection of his being through the soul, so too Christ obtained the perfection of his being, as far as he was man, through the Holy Spirit. And therefore, since the soul could not give life to the body except properly, so Adam was made ‘animal’, not life-giving, but just living. But Christ was made a living and life-giving spirit, and so Christ had life-giving power: from his fullness (John 1:16): I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly (John 10:10); and in the Creed: and in the life-giving Holy Spirit.
994. But someone might say, If Christ was made a life-giving spirit, why is he called last? Therefore, accordingly, when he says, yet that was not first which is spiritual, he shows the order of principles.
We see in nature that in one and the same thing, the imperfect is prior to the perfect. And so since the spiritual state is situated with respect to the animal state, as the perfect to the imperfect, then in human nature the spiritual must not be prior, which is the perfect, but so that order might be preserved, the imperfect must be first, namely, what is animal, then the perfect, namely, what is spiritual: but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away (1 Cor 13:10).
As Augustine says, the sign of this is that the firstborn of antiquity are commonly ‘animal,’ as Cain was born before Abel, Ishmael before Isaac, and Esau before Jacob.
995. He assigns the reason for what is said about diversity, saying, the first man. As if to say: truly the first man was made a living animal, because he is of the earth: God formed man of dust from the ground (Gen 2:7), and therefore he is said to be of the earth, i.e., animal. The second man, namely Christ, was made a life-giving spirit, because he is from heaven. Because it is the divine nature that was united to this nature, he is from heaven. And therefore he must be heavenly, i.e., he ought to have such perfection that it is fitting it come from heaven, namely, spiritual perfection: he who comes from heaven is above all (John 3:31).
He says that the first man is from the earth, in the manner described, by which things from that one are said to be because the first part is in their coming to be, as a knife is said to be from iron because the first part whence the knife is is iron. And because the first part of whence Adam was made is earth, he is said to be from the earth. Accordingly he is called the man from heaven, not that he will have borne his body from heaven, since he will have assumed it from the earth, namely, from the body of the Blessed Virgin, but because the divinity (which was united to the human nature) comes from heaven, which was prior to the body of Christ.
So then the diversity of principles is clear, which was the major proposition of the principal reason.
996. Then when he says, such as is the earthly, he shows the derivation of the likeness of these principles from each one:
first, in common;
second, he divides it into parts, at therefore, as we have borne.
997. He says, therefore, such as is the earthly. As if to say: because the first man was of the earth and mortal, so it follows that all were both of the earth and mortal: for as in Adam all die (1 Cor 15:22); Adam was my exemplar (Zech 13:5).
Because the second man was from heaven, i.e., spiritual and immortal, so we all will be both immortal and spiritual: for if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his (Rom 6:5).
998. Therefore, as we have borne the image of the earthly. Here he concludes with how we ought to be specially conformed to the man, that is to say, the heavenly man.
We can be conformed to the heavenly man in life in two ways, namely, of grace and of glory, and the one is the way to the other, because without the life of grace we cannot attain to the life of glory. And so he says, as we have borne, i.e., inasmuch as we are sinners, the likeness of Adam is in us: that is the law of Adam, O Lord God (2 Sam 7:19). Therefore, so that we might be of heaven, i.e., attain to the life of glory, let us bear also the image of the heavenly, by the life of grace: those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son (Rom 8:29). And so we ought to be conformed to the man of heaven in the life of grace, because otherwise we will not attain to the life of glory.
999. And this is what he says: now this I say, brethren; as if to say: unless you live, namely, the life of grace, you cannot attain to the kingdom of God, i.e., to the life of glory, that flesh and blood cannot possess the kingdom of God.
What we must not think, as some heretics say, is that flesh and blood will not rise according to substance, but rather that the whole body will be changed into spirit or into air. This is heretical and false. For the Apostle says that our body will be conformed to his body of radiance. Therefore, since Christ after his resurrection, has flesh and blood, as it says in Luke: see my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have (Luke 24:39), it is certain that we too will have flesh and blood in the resurrection.
1000. We must not think that by flesh and blood, he means that the substance of the flesh and blood cannot possess the kingdom of God, but rather flesh and blood, i.e., those devoting themselves to flesh and blood, namely, men given to vices and lusts, cannot inherit the kingdom of God. And thus is flesh understood, i.e., a man living by the flesh: but you are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you (Rom 8:9).
Or: flesh and blood, i.e., the works of flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, which is against the Jews and Muslims who imagine that after the resurrection they will possess for themselves wives and rivers of honey and milk.
Or: flesh and blood, i.e., the corruption of flesh and blood cannot possess the kingdom of God; that is, after the resurrection, the body will not be subject to the corruption of flesh and blood, as it is of the man who lives.
Therefore and accordingly, he adds, neither shall corruption possess incorruption, i.e., nor can the corruption of mortality, which is expressed here by the term flesh, inherit incorruption, i.e., the incorruptible kingdom of God, because we will rise in glory: because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God (Rom 8:21).