1 Corinthians 15:47

The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(47) The second man is the Lord from heaven.—Better, the second man is from heaven. The words “the Lord,” which occur in the English version, are not in the best Greek MSS. The word which is twice rendered “of” in this verse has the force of “from,” “originating from,” in the Greek. The first representative man was from the earth, the second representative man was from heaven; and as was the first earthly Adam, so are we in our merely physical condition; and as is the second heavenly Adam, so shall we be in our heavenly state.

Benson Commentary

1 Corinthians 15:47-49. The first man is [was] of the earth, earthy — Being from earth, and having forfeited his immortality by sin, he became subject to corruption and dissolution, like the earth from which he came. The second man is the Lord from heaven — St. Paul could not well say, “is of, or from heaven, heavenly:” because though man owes it to the earth that he is earthy, yet the Lord does not owe it to heaven that he is glorious. He himself made the heavens, and by descending from them, showed himself to us as the Lord. Christ is called the second Adam in this respect, that as Adam was a public person who acted in the stead of all mankind, so was Christ; and as Adam was the first general representative of men, Christ was the second and the last: and what they severally did, terminated not in themselves, but affected all whom they represented. As is the earthy —

The first Adam after his fall; such are they also that are earthy — Who continue without any higher principle; they are sinful, mortal, corruptible creatures: such a body as Adam had, have all his posterity while they remain on earth. And as is the heavenly — Man, Christ, at present; such are — Or rather, shall be; they that are heavenly — Who are united to Christ by the quickening and regenerating influences of his Spirit. That they may live with him in heaven, they shall at last have glorious bodies like his. And as we have borne the image of the earthy — As assuredly as we are now sinful, afflicted, and mortal men, like the first Adam; we shall also bear the image of the heavenly — So surely shall we be brought to resemble Christ in holiness, glory, and immortality.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

15:35-50 1. How are the dead raised up? that is, by what means? How can they be raised? 2. As to the bodies which shall rise. Will it be with the like shape, and form, and stature, and members, and qualities? The former objection is that of those who opposed the doctrine, the latter of curious doubters. To the first the answer is, This was to be brought about by Divine power; that power which all may see does somewhat like it, year after year, in the death and revival of the corn. It is foolish to question the Almighty power of God to raise the dead, when we see it every day quickening and reviving things that are dead. To the second inquiry; The grain undergoes a great change; and so will the dead, when they rise and live again. The seed dies, though a part of it springs into new life, though how it is we cannot fully understand. The works of creation and providence daily teach us to be humble, as well as to admire the Creator's wisdom and goodness. There is a great variety among other bodies, as there is among plants. There is a variety of glory among heavenly bodies. The bodies of the dead, when they rise, will be fitted for the heavenly bodies. The bodies of the dead, when they rise, will be fitted for the heavenly state; and there will be a variety of glories among them. Burying the dead, is like committing seed to the earth, that it may spring out of it again. Nothing is more loathsome than a dead body. But believers shall at the resurrection have bodies, made fit to be for ever united with spirits made perfect. To God all things are possible. He is the Author and Source of spiritual life and holiness, unto all his people, by the supply of his Holy Spirit to the soul; and he will also quicken and change the body by his Spirit. The dead in Christ shall not only rise, but shall rise thus gloriously changed. The bodies of the saints, when they rise again, will be changed. They will be then glorious and spiritual bodies, fitted to the heavenly world and state, where they are ever afterwards to dwell. The human body in its present form, and with its wants and weaknesses, cannot enter or enjoy the kingdom of God. Then let us not sow to the flesh, of which we can only reap corruption. And the body follows the state of the soul. He, therefore, who neglects the life of the soul, casts away his present good; he who refuses to live to God, squanders all he has.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The first man - Adam.

Is of the earth - Was made of the dust; see Genesis 2:7.

Earthy - Partaking of the earth; he was a mass of animated clay, and could be appropriately called "dust;" Genesis 3:19. Of course, he must partake of a nature that was low, mean, mortal, and corruptible.

The second man - Christ; see the note on 1 Corinthians 15:45. He is called the second man, as being the second who sustained a relation to people that was materially to affect their conduct and destiny; the second and the last 1 Corinthians 15:45, who should sustain a special headship to the race.

The Lord from heaven - Called in 1 Corinthians 2:8, the "Lord of glory;" see note on that place. This expression refers to the fact that the Lord Jesus had a heavenly origin, in contradistinction from Adam, who was formed from the earth. The Latin Vulgate renders this, "the second man from heaven is heavenly;" and this idea seems to accord with the meaning in the former member of the verse. The sense is, evidently, that as the first man had an earthly origin, and was, therefore, earthy, so the second man being from heaven, as his proper home, would have a body adapted to that abode; unlike that which was earthy, and which would be suited to his exalted nature, and to the world where he would dwell. And while, therefore, the phrase "from heaven" refers to his heavenly origin, the essential idea is, that he would have a body that was adapted to such an origin and such a world - a body unlike that which was earthy. That is, Christ had a glorified body to which the bodies of the saints must yet be made like.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

47. of the earth—inasmuch as being sprung from the earth, he is "earthy" (Ge 2:7; 3:19, "dust thou art"); that is, not merely earthly or born upon the earth, but terrene, or of earth; literally, "of heaped earth" or clay. "Adam" means red earth.

the Lord—omitted in the oldest manuscripts and versions.

from heaven—(Joh 3:13, 31). Humanity in Christ is generic. In Him man is impersonated in his true ideal as God originally designed him. Christ is the representative man, the federal head of redeemed man.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Adam, who was the first man, was of the earth, Genesis 2:7, and was of an earthy constitution, like unto the earth out of which he was formed; but Christ had another original: for though his body was formed in the womb of the virgin, and he was flesh of her flesh, yet she conceived by the Holy Ghost overshadowing her, and Christ had an eternal generation (as to his Divine nature) from his Father.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

The first man is of the earth, earthy,.... He was formed out of the earth, Genesis 2:7 and the word there used signifies red earth. Josephus (c) observes, that the first man was called Adam, which in the Hebrew tongue signifies red, because he was made out of red earth; for such, adds he, is the true and virgin earth: Pausanias (d) makes mention of a clay, which is not the colour of earth, but like the sand of brooks and rivers; and gives a smell very near to that of the skin, or body of men; and which is said to be the remains of that clay, out of which all mankind was made: but be that as it will, Adam was certainly made out of the earth, and had his habitation and abode assigned him in the garden of Eden, and was made to cultivate and till it; his lordship and dominion, at most and best, only extended to the terraqueous globe, and the creatures in it; and having sinned, he was not only thrust out of the garden to till the ground out of which he was taken, but doomed to return to the dust from whence he came; and whose sin and fall had such an influence on him and his posterity, as to make their souls sensual and earthly, to mind, affect, and cleave unto earthly things:

the second man is the Lord from heaven; as Adam was the first man, Christ is the second man; and these two are spoken of, as it they were the only two men in the world; because as the former was the head and representative of all his natural posterity, so the latter is the head and representative of all his spiritual offspring: and he is "the Lord from heaven"; in distinction from the first man, who was of the earth, and whose lordship reached only to the earth; whereas Christ is Lord of all, not only Lord of lords below, but Lord of angels and saints above; the whole family in heaven and in earth is named of him; and he has all power in heaven and in earth, and a name above every name in this world, and that to come, and is indeed higher than the heavens: this is not to be understood of his human nature, or of his human body, as if that came down from heaven, and passed through the virgin, as some heretics of old said, as water through a pipe; for though it was conceived and formed in a miraculous manner, under the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost from on high, yet was formed out of the matter and substance of the virgin, and so was of the earth; and was indeed an earthly body, supported by earthly means, and at last returned to the earth, and was interred in it: but it is to be understood either of Christ as a divine person, as the Son of God, as Lord of all, coming down from heaven at his incarnation; not by local motion, or change of place, but by assumption of the human nature into union with him, the Lord from heaven; or rather of him as he shall descend from heaven, as the Lord and Judge of all at the last day, when he will come in his glorious, spiritual, and heavenly body; and raise the righteous dead, and fashion their bodies like his own; when what follows will have its full accomplishment. The Cabalistic doctors among the Jews often speak (e) of , "the superior man", and , "the inferior man"; and in their Cabalistic table (f), in the sixth "sephirah", or number, they place the man from above, the heavenly Adam; and, in one of their writings (g), have these remarkable words,

"anynt Mdaw hale Mda Nam, "who is the supreme man and the second man", but of whom it is said, Proverbs 30:4 "what is his name, and what is his son's name?" what is his name? this is the supreme man; what is his son's name? this is the inferior man; and both of them are intimated in that Scripture, Exodus 3:13 "and they shall say unto me, what is his name? what shall I say?"''

Some copies, and the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions; leave out the word "Lord", and add the word "heavenly", reading the clause thus, "the second man from heaven, heavenly".

(c) Antiqu. l. 1. c. 1. sect. 2.((d) Phocica, sive l. 10. p. 615. (e) Raziel, fol. 26. 1. & 31. 1. & 33. 1. Tzeror Hammor, fol. 1. 4. (f) In Cabala Denudata, par. 2. p. 9. (g) Zohar in Gen. fol. 39. 2.

Geneva Study Bible

The first man is of the earth, {z} earthy: the second man is the Lord from {a} heaven.

(z) Wallowing in dirt, and wholly given to an earthly nature.

(a) As Adam was the first man, Christ is the second man; and these two are spoken of, as if they were the only two men in the world; because as the former was the head and representative of all his natural posterity, so the latter is the head and representative of all the spiritual offspring: and that he is the Lord from heaven; in distinction from the first man. (Ed.)

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

1 Corinthians 15:47, by the concrete phenomena of the two heads of the race of mankind, Adam and Christ.

The principal emphasis is upon πρῶτος and δεύτερος, so that the former corresponds to the πρῶτον, and the latter to the ἔπειτα of 1 Corinthians 15:46; hence, too, ἔσχατος is not used here again. “The first man (not the second) is of earthly origin, earthy (consisting of earth-material); the second man (not the first) is of heavenly origin.”

ἐκ γῆς χοϊκός] Origin and material nature. Comp. Genesis 2:7, χοῦνλαβὼν ἀπὸ τῆς λῆς; Ecclesiastes 3:20; Ecclesiastes 12:7; 1Ma 2:63. That the article (John 3:31) was not required with γῆς (in opposition to van Hengel, who, on account of the lacking article, explains it, terrenus sc. terram sapiens; and then χοϊκός; humilia spirans) is clear not only in general (see Winer, p. 114 [E. T. 149]), but also from passages such as Wis 15:8; Wis 17:1; Sir 36:10; Sir 40:11. It may be added, that since, by the words ἐκ γῆς χοϊκός, Adam’s body is characterized as ψυχικὸν σῶμα, as in 1 Corinthians 15:45, and the psychical corporeity, again, taken purely in itself (without the intervention of a modifying relation), includes mortality (1 Corinthians 15:44), it is clear that Paul regards Adam as created mortal, but so that he would have become immortal, and would have continued free from death, if he had not sinned. The protoplasts are accordingly in his eyes such as under an assumed condition potuerunt non mori, which, however, through the non-fulfilment of this condition, i.e. through the Fall, came to nothing; so that now death, and that as a penalty, came to be a reality,—a view which agrees alike with his own doctrinal statement, Romans 5:12,[85] and also with Genesis. For had the protoplasts not sinned, they would, according to Genesis, have remained in Paradise, and would have become immortal (Genesis 3:22) through the enjoyment of the tree of life (Genesis 2:9), which God had not forbidden to them (Genesis 2:16-17). But they were driven out of Paradise, before they had yet eaten of this tree (Genesis 3:22); and so, certainly, according to Genesis also, through sin came death into the world as the penalty appointed for them by God (Genesis 2:17). Comp. Augustin, De pecc. meritis et remiss. i. 5 : “ipsum mortale non est factum mortuum nisi propter peccatum;” see, too, Ernesti, l.c. p. 248 f.; Ewald, Jahrb. II. p. 153 f.

ἐξ οὐρανοῦ] of heavenly derivation. This applies to the glorification of the body of Christ,[86] originating from heaven, i.e. wrought by God (comp. 2 Corinthians 5:2), in which glorified body He is in heaven, and will appear at His Parousia (comp. Php 3:20). Comp. on 1 Corinthians 15:45. According to de Wette (comp. also Beyschlag in the Stud. u. Krit. 1860, p. 437 f., and Christol. pp. 228, 242), it applies to the whole personality of Jesus, “which, through its preponderating spirituality, has also a spiritual body,” or to the heavenly origin characterizing the nature of the whole person (Beyschlag). But the above-given definite reference is the only one which corresponds, in accordance with the text, to the contrast of ἐκ γῆς χοϊκός, which applies to the formation of Adam’s body, as well as to the whole point of the development (σῶμα πνευματικόν). Van Hengel is wrong in seeking to conclude from the absence of the article here also, that the heavenly dignity of Jesus is meant. Comp. 2 Corinthians 5:2; Galatians 1:8. Paul has the article before οὐρανός or ΟὐΡΑΝΟΊ, after ἘΚ or ἈΠΌ, only in 1 Thessalonians 1:10.

No predicate in the second clause corresponds to the ΧΟΪΚΌς of the first half of the verse,[87] because the material of the glorified body of Christ transcends alike conception and expression.

[85] In connection with this, no difficulty whatever is occasioned by the ἐφʼ ᾦ πάντες ἥμαρτον, Romans 5:12, according to its correct interpretation, which does not make it refer to the individual sins of the posterity; see on Rom. l. c. The Pelagian view, that Adam, even if he had not sinned, would have died, is decidedly against the Pauline doctrinal conception. This in opposition to Schleiermacher, Neander, and others; especially, also, against Mau, v. Tode, d. Solde der Sünde, 1841.

[86] Hence Gess (v. d. Person Chr. p. 75) very irrelevantly objects to the reference to the body of Christ, that that body was not from heaven, but from the seed of David. Delitzsch (Psychol. p. 334 ff.), by referring ἐξ οὐρανοῦ back to the incarnation, which is contrary to the context, mixes up things that differ. Beyschlag (comp. also his Christol. p. 226) finds in our text a heavenly humanity of Christ (human pre-existence); but the connection and the contrast lead us only to the heaven-derived body of the risen and exalted One. Comp., too, Hofmann and J. Müller, v. d. Sünde, p. 412, ed. 5; Weiss, bibl. Theol. p. 315 f.

[87] Delitzsch, Psychol. p. 336, prefers the Marcionitic reading: ὁ δεύτερος κύρ. ἐξ οὐρ., i.e. the second is Lord from heaven. According to the critical evidence, this reading deserves no consideration. Offence was taken at ἄνθρωπος.

Expositor's Greek Testament

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 Php 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 (Php 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

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

47. The first man is of the earth, earthy] See Genesis 2:7. The word earthy (χοϊκός from χοῦς dust) is an allusion to the ‘dust of the ground’ in that passage, in the Septuagint χους.

the second man is the Lord from heaven] The Vulgate reads, is from heaven, heavenly, Tyndale follows the Vulgate, and also Wiclif, who translates however, the secunde man of heuene is heueneli. Alford reads the second man is from heaven, with the majority of MSS. and versions. The law of progress, above referred to, is illustrated by the creation of the second man. The first man was ‘dust of the ground,’ and God breathed a breath of life into his soul. But the second man is not created anew altogether, but takes the first man as the starting-point of the new life. By the agency of the Holy Spirit Jesus Christ took our flesh in the womb of the Blessed Virgin, being a new creation, but not directly from heaven. See note on 1 Corinthians 15:21. This passage bears a strong resemblance to St John 3:31; and in the reading we have mentioned the resemblance is even stronger than in the authorized version. The margin of St John 3:3 may also be compared.

Bengel's Gnomen

1 Corinthians 15:47. Ὁ πρῶτος ἄνθρωπος, ἐκ γῆς, χοϊκος· ὁ δεύτερος, ὁ Κύριος ἐξ οὐρανοῦ, the first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven) We have here an exact antithesis. The first man, ἐκ γῆς, viz. ὢν, since he is of the earth, is χοϊκὸς, earthy, affected in the same way as a heap of earth (χοῦς) χυτὴ, accumulated, and then scattered: the reason of this is, because he is sprung from the earth. This is the protasis; the apodosis follows, in which it would not have been appropriate to say, the second man, from [of] heaven, heavenly; for man owes to the earth his obligations for this, that he is earthy; but the Lord does not owe His glory to heaven, inasmuch as it was He Himself who made heaven what it is, and by descending from heaven, presented Himself to us as the Lord. Therefore the order of the words is now changed, the Lord, from heaven [Lord coming before from heaven; whereas earthy, the antithesis to Lord, comes after of earth]. The word Lord signifies the same thing in the concrete, as glory does in the abstract (Germ. Herr, Herrlichkeit, Lord, Lordship), whence it is properly opposed to earthy, 1 Corinthians 15:43; Php 3:20, etc.: and from this glory is derived the incorruptibility of Christ’s flesh, Acts 2:24; Acts 2:31. In this way the received reading is defended, and the various readings, although ancient, which are mentioned in the Apparatus, are withdrawn.[144]

[144] BCD corr. later, G Vulg. g (these last three add οὐράνιος) f omit ὁ Κύριος. Rec. Text retains the words, with A (according to Tisch., but Lachm. quotes A against the words), Marcion (according to Tertullian) both Syr. Versions. Origen, 2,559d supports them. But in 4,302d he rejects them.—ED.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 47. - Earthy. Made of" the dust of the ground" (Genesis 2:7). Is the Lord from heaven. The words "the Lord" are a gloss, not found in א, B, C, D, E, F, G. The verse remarkably resembles John 3:31, and probably oral reminiscences of our Lord's discourses were current among the apostles long before the Gospels were written. Tertullian attributes the insertion of "the Lord" to Marcion. 1 Corinthians 15:47

Vincent's Word Studies

Earthy (χοΐ́κός)

Only in this chapter. The kindred noun χοῦς dust appears Mark 6:11; Revelation 18:19. From χέω to pour; hence of earth thrown down or heaped up: loose earth. Compare Genesis 2:7, Sept., where the word is used.

From heaven (ἐζ οὐρανοῦ)

Ἑξ out of, marking the origin, as ἐκ γῆς out of the earth. Meyer acutely remarks that "no predicate in this second clause corresponds to the earthy of the first half of the verse, because the material of the glorified body of Christ transcends alike conception and expression." The phrase includes both the divine origin and the heavenly nature; and its reference, determined by the line of the whole argument, is to the glorified body of Christ - the Lord who shall descend from heaven in His glorified body. See Philippians 3:20, Philippians 3:21.