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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

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

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 Philippians 3:21, "Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body."

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

48. As is the earthy—namely, Adam.

they … that are earthy—All Adam's posterity in their natural state (Joh 3:6, 7).

the heavenly—Christ.

they … that are heavenly—His people in their regenerate state (Php 3:20, 21). As the former precedes the latter state, so the natural bodies precede the spiritual bodies.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

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.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire 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.

Geneva Study Bible

{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.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

1 Corinthians 15:48. Application to our present and future bodily nature. We are to supply simply ἐστί and εἰσί.

ὁ χοϊκός] Adam.

οἱ χοϊκοί] 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.

ὁ ἐπουράνιος] He who is in heaven (comp. the frequent ἐπουράνιοι θεοί in Homer; Matthew 18:35; Php 2:10; 2Ma 3:39; see also on 1 Corinthians 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, Php 2:9; Ephesians 4:8 ff.

οἱ ἐπουράνιοι] These are the risen Christians, inasmuch as they shall be citizens of the heavenly commonwealth, Php 3:20; Hebrews 12:22; 2 Timothy 4:18. The common nature of the ἐπουράνιος and the ἐπουράνιοι is the pneumatic body. Comp. Php 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.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

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.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 48. - As is the earthy, etc. Men resemble their first parent Adam; Christians, their spiritual Redeemer, Christ (Philippians 3:20, 21). 1 Corinthians 15:48