1 Corinthians 15:47-49

1 Corinthians 15:47-49 draw another contrast between the two “men,” types of the two eras of humanity, which is suggested by the words χοῦν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς (‘ aphâr minha'adamâh) of Genesis 2:7. The first is ἐκ γῆς, χοϊκός (terrenus, Vg [2556]; more literally, pulvereus, Bz [2557]); the second is ἐξ οὐρανοῦ (om. ὁ Κύριος). The former epithets, and by antithesis the latter, point to bodily origin and substance (cf. 40, also 2 Corinthians 4:7, ἐν ὀστρακίνοις σκεύεσιν), but connote the whole quality of the life thus determined. The expression ἐξ οὐρανοῦ (e cœlo, Bz [2558]; not de cœlo, Vg [2559]) has led to the identifying of the δεύτερος ἄνθρ. with the incarnate Christ (see Ed [2560]), to the confusion of Paul's argument (cf. note on 1 Corinthians 15:45). This phrase is suggested by the antithetical ἐκ γῆς : the form of existence in which the risen Jesus appeared was super-terrestrial and pneumatic (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:2); it possessed a life and attributes imparted “from heaven” by an immediate and sovereign act of God (Romans 1:4; Romans 6:4; 2 Corinthians 13:4; Ephesians 1:19 f., Peter 1 Corinthians 1:21, etc.). This transformation of the body of Jesus was foreshadowed by His Transfiguration, and consummated in His Ascension; P. realised it with the most powerful effect in the revelation to himself of the risen Christ “from heaven”. The glorious change attested, indeed, the origin of Christ's personality, but it should not be confused with that origin (Romans 1:4; cf. Matthew 17:5). From His resurrection onwards, Christ became to human faith the ἄνθρωπος ἐπουράνιος (Romans 6:9 f., Revelation 1:17 ff.), who was taken previously for a θνητὸς and χοϊκὸς like other men. Baur, Pfleiderer, Beyschlag (N.T. Theology), Sm [2561], and others, see in the ἄνθρωπος ἐξ οὐρανοῦ the pre-existent Christ, whom they identify with Philo's ideal or “heavenly man” of Genesis 1:26 (see note on 1 Corinthians 15:45 above); on this interpretation an entire Christology is based the theory that Christ in his pre-in-carnate state was simply the Urmensch, the prototype of humanity, existing thus, either in fact or in the Divine idea, with God from eternity, and being in this sense the Eternal Son. Doubtless the “second man” is ideally first and reveals the true end and type of humanity, and this conception is, so far, a just inference from Paul's teaching. But what P. actually sets forth is the historical relation of the two Adams in the development of mankind, Christ succeeding and displacing our first father (1 Corinthians 15:46, see note; 49), whereas the Baurian Urmensch is antecedent to the earthly Adam.

[2556] Latin Vulgate Translation.

[2557] Beza's Nov. Testamentum: Interpretatio et Annotationes (Cantab., 1642).

[2558] Beza's Nov. Testamentum: Interpretatio et Annotationes (Cantab., 1642).

[2559] Latin Vulgate Translation.

[2560] T. C. Edwards' Commentary on the First Ep. to the Corinthians. 2

[2561] P. Schmiedel, in Handcommentar zum N.T. (1893).

The above χοϊκὸς and ἐπουράνιος have severally their copies in χοϊκοὶ and ἐπουράνιοι (1 Corinthians 15:48). Is this a purely physical distinction, between pre- and post-resurrection states of the same men (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:44)? or is there a moral connotation implied, as Hf [2562] and Ed [2563] suggest? The latter seems likely, esp. on comparison of Philippians 3:18 ff., Colossians 3:1-4; Romans 6:4, and in transition to the exhortation of 1 Corinthians 15:49. Those who are to be “heavenly” in body hereafter already “sit in heavenly places” (Ephesians 2:6), while those are “earthy” in every sense “whose flesh hath soul to suit,” οἱ τὰ ἐπίγεια φρονοῦντες. Admitting the larger scope of 1 Corinthians 15:48, we accept the strongly attested hortatory φορέσωμεν of 1 Corinthians 15:49 : “Let us wear also the image of the Heavenly One”. The εἰκὼν embraces the entire “man” not the body alone, the σχῆμα and σκεῦος ἀνθρώπου (Philippians 2:7; 2 Corinthians 4:7; 1 Thessalonians 4:4) in Adam and Christ respectively (cf. 1 Corinthians 11:7; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Romans 8:29; Colossians 1:15; Colossians 3:10); and we are exhorted to “put on Christ” (Romans 13:14; Galatians 3:27), realising that to wear His moral likeness here carries with it the wearing of His bodily likeness hereafter: see 1 Corinthians 15:20-23; Romans 8:11; 1 John 3:2 f.

[2562] J. C. K. von Hofmann's Die heilige Schrift N.T. untersucht, ii. 2 (2te Auflage, 1874).

[2563] T. C. Edwards' Commentary on the First Ep. to the Corinthians. 2