1 Corinthians 15:47-49 The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven.… Χοὶκος properly means "clayey," but is here used to express man's terrestrial nature. Because he is of the earth in his origin — i.e., as to his body, there is a terrestrial side to his nature and sphere of action. From this we may infer — I. THAT MAN IN HIS SINLESS STATE HAD A BODY CAPABLE OF DYING. If he had continued sinless, his body would have been rendered immortal by a Divine act, and we gather from Genesis 3:22 that the tree of life was the appointed sacrament of immortality. This is consistent with Romans 5:12. In the case of man sin brought death, not mortality, into the world. The correctness of this hypothesis is confirmed by the side light it throws upon the voluntariness of Christ's death. As Christ was sinless, death was not a necessity to Him, though He had a mortal body; and as He was Divine as well as sinless, death was impossible to Him without a voluntary act of "laying down" His life. II. THAT THE DIVINE IMAGE IN ADAM CONSISTED, negatively, in sinlessness and, positively, in a potential and rudimentary goodness; by no means in the full perfection of human nature. Christ does infinitely more than restore our original state (cf. Wisdom 8:1). (Principal Edwards.) Parallel Verses KJV: The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.WEB: The first man is of the earth, made of dust. The second man is the Lord from heaven. |
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