Thomas Aquinas Commentary 1 Corinthians 15:44-50

"it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual [body]. So also it is written, The first man Adam became a living soul. The last Adam [became] a life-giving spirit. Howbeit that is not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; then that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is of heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption." — 1 Corinthians 15:44-50 (ASV)

Here the Apostle shows by reason the difference in quality between the dead body and the resurrection body, which was indicated by the examples above. In this regard, he does two things. First, he presents what he intends to prove; secondly, he proves what he presented (1 Corinthians 15:44b).

Therefore, he first says: I say that what is sown a natural (physical) body rises a spiritual body, and I show that this is true—namely, that there is such a thing as a spiritual body—because if there is a natural (physical) body, there is also a spiritual one. The Apostle does not intend to argue for this proposition but simply accepts it, intending to prove what he says with this principle: if there is a physical body, Look upon all the works of the Most High; they likewise are in pairs, one the opposite of the other .

Thus it is written. Here he proves the proposition. His demonstration is as follows: there are two principles of human generation. One is according to natural life, namely Adam; the other is according to the life of grace, namely Christ. But the natural life is distributed to all people through the first principle, Adam. Therefore, it is certain that to a much greater extent, spiritual life is distributed to all people by means of the second principle, Christ. He proves the reason for this by first showing the difference between the principles, and secondly by explaining the middle term—namely, the derivation of likeness from both principles (1 Corinthians 15:48). Regarding the first point, he does three things. First, he shows the difference between the principles; secondly, their mutual order (1 Corinthians 15:46); and thirdly, he explains the reason for this order (1 Corinthians 15:47).

Therefore, he first lays down the condition of the first principle of natural life, drawing on the authority of Genesis 2:7. Hence he says, thus it is written: the first Adam was made by God a living being—that is, having the natural life which the soul is able to give—when God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (Genesis 2:7). For the human soul is also called 'spirit.' Insofar as it is concerned with the care of the body—that is, with animating, nourishing, and generating—it is called 'soul.' However, insofar as it is concerned with knowledge—that is, with understanding, willing, and the like—it is called 'spirit.' Therefore, when he says, the first Adam became a living being, the Apostle is referring to the life that the soul devotes to the body, not the Holy Spirit, as some imagine. They mistakenly interpret the previously cited verse, And he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, as referring to the Holy Spirit.

Secondly, he lays down the condition of the second principle, saying, the last Adam, that is, Christ. He is called the last because Adam introduced one state, the state of guilt, while Christ introduced the state of true glory and life. Hence, since no other state follows in this life, He is called the last: We desired him, despised and last of men (Isaiah 53:2–3, Vulgate); I am the First and the Last (Revelation 1:17); and elsewhere, I am the Alpha and the Omega (Revelation 21:6). But he says, Adam, because from the nature of Adam he was made a living spirit.

From this, once the conditions of these principles are understood, the difference between them is evident: the first man was made 'natural,' the last man 'spiritual.' The former was made only a living being, while the latter was truly a living and life-giving spirit. The reason for this is that just as Adam obtained the perfection of his being through the soul, so too Christ obtained the perfection of His being, as a man, through the Holy Spirit. And therefore, since the soul could only give life to its own body, Adam was made 'natural'—not life-giving, but merely living. But Christ was made a living and life-giving spirit, and so Christ had life-giving power: From his fulness (John 1:16); I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly (John 10:10); and in the Creed: "And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life."

But someone might say, "If Christ was made a life-giving spirit, why is He called 'last'?" Therefore, in response, when he says, but it is not the spiritual which is first, he shows the order of these principles. We see in nature that in any one thing, the imperfect comes before the perfect. And so, since the spiritual state relates to the natural state as the perfect relates to the imperfect, the spiritual (which is perfect) must not come first in human nature. For order to be preserved, the imperfect must come first—that is, the natural—and then the perfect—that is, the spiritual: But when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away (1 Corinthians 13:10). As Augustine says, the sign of this is that the firstborn of antiquity are commonly 'natural,' as Cain was born before Abel, Ishmael before Isaac, and Esau before Jacob.

He assigns the reason for this diversity, saying, the first man. It is as if he said: Truly, the first man was made a living, natural being because he is of the earth—God formed man of dust from the ground (Genesis 2:7)—and therefore he is said to be earthly, that is, natural. The second man, namely Christ, was made a life-giving spirit because He is from heaven. He is from heaven because the divine nature was united to His human nature. And therefore, He must be heavenly; that is, He ought to have the kind of perfection that is fitting for one who comes from heaven, namely, spiritual perfection: He who comes from heaven is above all (John 3:31). He says the first man is 'from the earth' in the sense that something is said to be 'from' its primary material. For example, a knife is said to be 'from iron' because the primary material from which the knife is made is iron. And because the primary material from which Adam was made is earth, he is said to be 'from the earth.' Accordingly, Christ is called the man 'from heaven,' not because He brought His body from heaven (since He assumed it from the earth, from the body of the Blessed Virgin), but because His divinity, which was united to His human nature, comes from heaven and was prior to His body. Thus, the diversity of the principles is clear, which was the major proposition of the main argument.

Then, when he says, As is the man of dust, he shows how the likeness of these principles is derived from each one: first, in general, and secondly, he divides it into parts (1 Corinthians 15:49).

He says, therefore, As is the man of dust. It is as if he said: Because the first man was earthly and mortal, so it follows that all people were both earthly and mortal: For as in Adam all die (1 Corinthians 15:22); Adam was my exemplar (Zechariah 13:5, Vulgate). And because the second man was from heaven—that is, spiritual and immortal—so we all will be both immortal and spiritual: For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his (Romans 6:5).

Just as we have borne. Here he concludes with how we ought to be conformed to the heavenly man. We can be conformed to the heavenly man in two ways: through the life of grace and the life of glory. The one is the way to the other, because without the life of grace, we cannot attain the life of glory. And so he says, just as we have borne the image of the earthly man—that is, inasmuch as we are sinners, the likeness of Adam is in us: That is the law of Adam, O Lord God (2 Samuel 7:19, Vulgate). Therefore, so that we might be heavenly—that is, attain the life of glory—let us bear the image of the man of heaven through the life of grace: Those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son (Romans 8:29). And so we ought to be conformed to the man of heaven in the life of grace, because otherwise we will not attain the life of glory.

And this is what he says: I tell you this, brethren. It is as if he said: Unless you live the life of grace, you cannot attain the kingdom of God, which is the life of glory, because flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. We must not think, as some heretics say, that flesh and blood will not rise in substance, but rather that the whole body will be changed into spirit or air. This is heretical and false, for the Apostle says that our body will be conformed to His body of radiance. Therefore, since Christ had flesh and blood after His resurrection, as it says in Luke 24:39, See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me, and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have, it is certain that we too will have flesh and blood in the resurrection.

We must not think that by "flesh and blood" he means that the substance of flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Rather, "flesh and blood" can mean several things:

• Those who devote themselves to flesh and blood—that is, people given to vices and lusts—cannot inherit the kingdom of God. In this sense, "flesh" is understood as a person living according to the flesh: But you are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you (Romans 8:9).
• The works of flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. This refutes the ideas of those who imagine that after the resurrection they will possess for themselves wives and rivers of honey and milk.
• The corruption of flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. This means that after the resurrection, the body will no longer be subject to the corruption that affects it in this present life. Therefore, he adds, nor does the corruptible inherit incorruption. This means that the corruption of mortality, expressed here by the term "flesh," cannot inherit the incorruptible kingdom of God, because we will rise in glory: Because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God (Romans 8:21).