TWO PARTS

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual.

The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven.

And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.

1 Corinthians 15:44b-49

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

When we receive Jesus as Savior, we are assured that a new, vastly improved life awaits us when this life is over, a life eternal in a spiritual resurrected body that will be raised in power to be imperishable and glorious.

Unfortunately, not everyone is going to experience this amazing, holy transformation. They will reject God’s offer of salvation through His Son and opt to remain in their perishable, dishonorable, weak natural bodies.

These truths were made evident in yesterday’s message drawn from verses 42 through the first half of verse 44 in 1 Corinthians 15. As we move onto the next verses today, we see the Apostle Paul make yet another distinction between the natural and spiritual bodies, this time associating each with a mainstream biblical figure. Look again at these verses here:

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual.

The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven.

And just as we have bore the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.  1 Corinthians 15:44b-49

Adam was the first man, formed from the dust of the earth after God breathed life into the soil. He had everything going for him. God gave him dominion over all living things, even offering Adam the privilege of providing them names. And not wishing for Adam to be alone, God used one of his ribs to create a woman companion named Eve. Together, they inhabited the lush garden of Eden with full reign over everything, except the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil which was forbidden by God (Genesis 2:15-17).

Well, we know how things went, don’t we?

Adam and Eve disobeyed God with a little nudge from a wily serpent and sin infected the world, a problem that still exists today and will exist until that day that Jesus returns.

Now, since Adam and Eve were the first man and woman, every single person who has ever lived knows the origin of their family tree. Everyone ultimately is a descendant of both and all are spiritually and genetically connected which includes the predisposition to sin against God. We all bear the image of the earthly man and we can thank the first Adam for that.  

This puts us in a bad place with God because He hates sin and in fact judges anyone who is living in it. Barring a change of status, all people, those who are born in the image of the first Adam, are destined for eternal damnation, torment, and suffering.

Thankfully, we serve a loving and merciful God who didn’t wish for us to perish in our sin. And so He provided the opportunity for atonement and pardon, doing so through His one and only Son Jesus, the Lamb of God He sent to take away the sin of the world.

Jesus ushered in the chance for the spiritual body to live forever after the natural body dies. He, the second Adam, became a life giving Spirit of heaven and anyone who places their belief in Him will bear His image, become children of God and be given the privilege to be co-heirs of Heaven, the very Kingdom of God (Romans 8:17).

Friends, the scriptures assure us that Christians become people with two parts when it comes to their bodies. They live in a natural, perishable body, born of the first Adam, but their eternal destiny is to live on in their spiritual body through Jesus, the second Adam, the Savior of the world who rescued us from Hell and delivered us to a sure place in Heaven when He returns.

Thanks be to God for His gift of salvation through His Son.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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