Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Corinthians 15:48
As [is] the earthy, such [are] they also that are earthy: and as [is] the heavenly, such [are] they also that are heavenly.
48. As is the earthy ] i.e. Adam. Man, when united to Christ by faith, partakes of both natures. He is liable, therefore, still to the weakness and infirmities of the former. “This infection of nature doth remain, yea in them that are regenerated.” Art. IX. And this he must bear to the end. He must be subject to the law of the natural order of things, before he attains fully to the law of the spiritual order. He must receive the wages of sin, namely death. But, possessing faith in Christ, he possesses the imperishable principle of life.
as is the heavenly ] i.e. Christ. ‘When that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be brought to an end.’ ‘Mortality shall be swallowed up of life:’ the old Adam shall be done away in Christ Cf. Php 3:20-21.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
As is the earthy – Such as Adam was.
Such are they also … – Such are all his descendants; all who derive their nature from him. That is, they are frail, corruptible, mortal; they live in an animal body as he did, and like him, they are subject to corruption and decay.
And as is the heavenly – As is he who was from heaven; as is the Lord Jesus now in is glorified body. Such are they also, etc. Such will they be also. They will be like him; they will have a body like his. This idea is more fully expressed in Phi 3:21, Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 48. As is the earthy, c.] As Adam was, who was formed from the earth, so are all his descendants frail, decaying, and subject to death.
As is the heavenly] As is the heavenly state of Adam and all glorified beings, so shall be the state of all those who, at the resurrection, are found fit for glory.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Such a body as Adam had, (which was earthy), such all the sons of Adam have; and such a body as Christ now hath since his resurrection, (which is a heavenly body), such a body also shall believers, who are heavenly, have in the resurrection.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
48. As is the earthynamely,Adam.
they . . . that areearthyAll Adam’s posterity in their natural state(Joh 3:6; Joh 3:7).
the heavenlyChrist.
they . . . that areheavenlyHis people in their regenerate state (Phi 3:20;Phi 3:21). As the former precedesthe latter state, so the natural bodies precede the spiritualbodies.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy,…. As was Adam’s body, so are the bodies of those that descend from him; they are houses of clay, earthly houses of this tabernacle, which rise out of the earth, are maintained by the things of it, and return to it again:
and as is the heavenly, such are, or will be
they also that are heavenly; as is the glorious and spiritual body of Christ, the Lord from heaven, as that now is in heaven, and will be when he descends from thence; so will be the bodies of them that are heavenly, that are heaven born souls now, are partakers of the heavenly calling, and whose conversation is in heaven; and who, in the resurrection morn, will have heavenly, spiritual, and glorious bodies, like unto Christ’s: so Philo h the Jew on those words, “and man became a living soul”, has this note;
“there are two kinds of men, for the one is “the heavenly man”, and the other is “earthy”; the heavenly man is he, who is made after the image of God, incorruptible, and wholly devoid of earthy substance; the earthy is made of seminal matter, which is called the ground.”
h Leg. Allegor. l. 1. p. 46.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
As is the earthly ( ). Masculine gender because of and correlative pronouns (, ) of character or quality. All men of dust () correspond to “the man of dust” ( ), the first Adam.
As is the heavenly ( ). Christ in his ascended state (1Thess 4:16; 2Thess 1:7; Eph 2:6; Eph 2:20; Phil 3:20).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “As is the earthy,” (hoios ho choikos) “Such as is the earth, in sin, polluted in ruin,” doomed to death, decay, Ecc 9:5-6; Heb 9:27.
2) “Such are they also that are earthy:- (toioutoi kai hoi choikoi) “Such also are the earthy ones (bodies) under the law of sin and death.” Rom 5:12; Rom 5:17; Rom 5:19. To die in earthy weakness is man’s destiny, but to be raised in His power is also decreed for His own, Php_2:8; 1Pe 3:18.
3) “And as is the heavenly,” (kai hoios ho epouranios) “And such as is or exists the heavenly man, the second Adam, Jesus Christ, with a resurrected, glorified, spiritual body, 2Co 13:4.
4) “Such are they also that are heavenly.” (toioutai kai hoi epouranioi) “Such also the heavenly ones,” bodies that await the redeemed ones, in full redemption from the grave to eternal life for the new bodies, Rom 8:23.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
48. As earthy, such earthy By the universal law of descent, earthly beings inherit the nature of their progenitors. See note, Rom 5:12, on the phrase all have sinned.
Heavenly But the nature of the heavenly is stamped at the resurrection upon the earthy by a direct act of divine power.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.’
And just like the first man was of the earth, and so produced earthy descendants of similar nature to himself, so is the second man heavenly, and produces heavenly seed of like nature. Those who look to Adam will die. Those who look to Christ have everlasting life (Joh 5:24). They have passed from death to life. They are, as it were, already heavenly men.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
1Co 15:48 . Application to our present and future bodily nature. We are to supply simply and .
] Adam .
] all Adam’s posterity , as such, in so far as they have the same material nature with their first father. This common nature is the psychical corporeity .
] He who is in heaven (comp. the frequent in Homer; Mat 18:35 ; Phi 2:10 ; 2Ma 3:39 ; see also on 1Co 15:40 ), i.e. Christ ; not, however, as the heavenly archetype of humanity , as which He was pre-existent in God (Beyschlag), but as the exalted to heaven , Phi 2:9 ; Eph 4:8 ff.
] These are the risen Christians, inasmuch as they shall be citizens of the heavenly commonwealth, Phi 3:20 ; Heb 12:22 ; 2Ti 4:18 . The common nature of the and the is the pneumatic body. Comp. Phi 3:21 . Instead of referring the twofold resemblance in kind to the nature of the body , Hofmann makes it refer to the nature of the life , on the one side, sinfulness and nothingness; on the other side, holiness and glory. But the matter is thus turned to its ethical side, which Paul cannot have in view here in accordance with the whole connection, which has to do only with the twofold bodily condition that belonging to the first, and that to the last Adam. This also in opposition to van Hengel.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
Ver. 48. They that are earthy ] , Vulgus fictilis. Man is but an earthen pot, Isa 64:8 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
48. ] , Adam ; ., his posterity on earth : ., Christ ; ., His risen people . See, as admirably illustrating this verse, Phi 3:20-21 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
heavenly. Greek. epotiranios. Same as “celestial”, 1Co 15:40.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
48.] , Adam; ., his posterity on earth: ., Christ; ., His risen people. See, as admirably illustrating this verse, Php 3:20-21.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Co 15:48
1Co 15:48
As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy:-All bodies in the mortal state are like Adam subject to corruption and decay.
and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.–All the spiritual bodies of Christians are like the second Adam, Jesus Christ, in his ascended state. (1Th 4:16; 2Th 1:7; Php 3:20-21).
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
such are they also that are earthy: 1Co 15:21, 1Co 15:22, Gen 5:3, Job 14:4, Joh 3:6, Rom 5:12-21
and as: Phi 3:20, Phi 3:21
Reciprocal: Gen 18:27 – dust Psa 10:18 – the man Joh 3:31 – he that is Joh 8:23 – Ye are from Rom 8:5 – For they
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Co 15:48. This offers the same thought as that in verse 45.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
1Co 15:48. As is the earthy (man)the first Adam,such . . . the earthy: and as is the heavenly (One), such are they also that are heavenlythe risen saints shall be invested with heavenly properties, like their Head (see Php 3:21).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Vv. 48, 49. As is the earthly, such are they also that are earthly: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. 49. And as we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
The two facts pointed out in 1Co 15:48 rest on this principle: that every race bears the characteristics of the head from which it proceeds. As Adam was, such is Adamite humanity; as is the glorified Christ, such is humanity glorified in Him. Hence the final consequence drawn in 1Co 15:49.
Vv. 49. : and in consequence of this law. The two verbs, the one in the past, the other in the future, show that Paul transports himself to the time of the Advent, which for believers will separate their Adamite past from their Messianic future. During their whole earthly life, even after their conversion, believers bear to the end the image of man taken from the dust, as he was created at the beginning. The past: we have borne, places us at that glorious point of time when we shall have laid down this inheritance, and when our existence as sons and heirs of Adam will give place to existence as sons and heirs of God, thenceforth like to the Lord Himself.
In the second clause the large majority of the Mjj. and Fathers read the subjunctive aorist , let us bear, that is to say: Let us strive to bear. And most modern editors think themselves obliged to follow these authorities. But here again, as in the perfectly analogous case Rom 5:1, we do not hesitate for an instant to prefer the reading which is by far the least supported. The future has on its side only the Vaticanus and the Peschito; but it is demanded by the context, which does not admit of an exhortation any more than in the case of Rom 5:1. The object is simply to conclude the argument begun in 1Co 15:39 : Such, then, is the body with which they will come: a heavenly body like that of the Lord Himself. If this were an exhortation, it would be necessary, with Chrysostom, to take the word , image, in the moral sense: Let us therefore put on the holiness of Christ, which is manifestly contrary to the entire preceding and subsequent context. We shall see at 1Co 15:50 what has led this Father into his false explanation. This reading was early introduced, because, as Holsten says, it was customary to quote passages separately, and with a view to giving them a practical application.
The future indicative corresponds to the aorist , exactly as these same two tenses correspond to one another, Rom 6:5; with this difference, that the past and the future are there separated by conversion, here by the Advent. The necessity for reading the future is confessed by Meyer, Rckert, Osiander, Holsten, etc.; and it is vain for Heinrici, Hofmann, Beet, Edwards, to defend the other reading so evidently condemned by the context.
The apostle has answered the two difficulties which were raised at Corinth to the hope of a resurrection: How will it be effected after death has dissolved the body? By that very death and dissolution. But with what body will the risen appear?
With a body like that of the glorified Christ, as appropriate to their spiritual state as the present body is to our psychical state.
After this very compact and complete discussion, there remained another case, not anticipated in these answers, that of believers whom the Lord shall find living on the earth at the time of His return. How will it go with them? Here was a question which the apostle, who never forgets a single side of the subjects he treats, could not neglect. This is the theme of the passage 1Co 15:50-52.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Verse 48
As is the earthy; that is, as is Adam, the source and origin of the earthly, physical nature of man.–The heavenly; Christ, as designated in the 1 Corinthians 15:47.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
15:48 {27} As [is] the earthy, such [are] they also that are earthy: and as [is] the heavenly, such [are] they also that are heavenly.
(27) He applies both the earthly naturalness of Adam (if I may so say) to our bodies, so long as they are naturally conversant upon earth, that is, in this life, and in the grave. And also the spirituality of Christ to our same bodies, after they are risen again: and he says that the former goes before, and that this latter will follow.