So also it is written, “The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A LIVING SOUL.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.
(1Co 15:45-49 NASB)
Regarding these verses the NICNT states:
There is a history of interpretation that sees these clauses as referring to the origin of Adam and Christ. [See, e.g., Parry, 240; Grosheide, 388; Barrett, 375-76; Martin, 137.] That is, the first man’s origin is “from the earth,” therefore he is “earthly,” while the second man “comes [This is the verb supplied by Barrett, 375.] from heaven” and is therefore “heavenly.” More likely, however, these prepositions, which have come about by way of Gen. 2, are intended to be synonyms of psychikos and pneumatikos and are thus intended to be qualitative, having to do with human [Thus the use of “first and second man,” the emphasis here being on Christ’s humanity now being “of heaven” by virtue of his resurrection.] life that is characterized by being either “of earth” or “of heaven.” Several considerations support this view of things: [Cf., inter alios, Godet, 427-30; Findlay, 939; Bruce, 153; Lincoln, 45-46.]
(1) The context nearly demands such an understanding. Paul’s concern here, as before (1Co_15:45), is not with Christ’s origins but with his present (heavenly) somatic existence as the ground of believers’ similar heavenly existence at their resurrection. Thus Christ’s body is “of heaven” in the same way that Adam’s—and ours now—is “of earth.” (2) The grammar also supports this contextual understanding. The adjective “made of earth” is nominative and follows “of the earth” as its duplicate, so that together they modify “man” as predicate adjectives; the adjective seems to have been added to show that it is in fact with regard to the body that Paul thus speaks. [So also Godet, 427, whose language has been borrowed.] That means, therefore, that the verb “to be” must be supplied, and that it must be supplied after anthrōpos. Thus what characterizes the first anthrōpos is that his life is of the present earth, earthly, whereas what characterizes the second anthrōpos is that his life is “of heaven,” that is, heavenly. (3) The following sentences, which elaborate this one, indicate most clearly that Paul did not intend to identify Christ as having come from heaven. The same adjective, “made of earth,” is repeated in Adam’s case; the counterpart used of Christ is now “heavenly”—which qualitatively describes his resurrected existence—not “from heaven.” The reason for this is simple: Believers are said to share both kinds of existence, that of Adam through their humanity, that of Christ through their resurrection. They do not share Christ’s heavenly existence because, as he, [The correlatives οἷος … τοιοῦτοι are crucial here: “of such nature as the one, of such nature also the other.”] they are from heaven, but because at the resurrection they will receive a heavenly body that is just like his. (4) Finally, for Paul now to refer to Christ’s preexistence and incarnation would be to contradict the very point just made (1Co_15:45-46), that the pneumatikos comes second. (The New International Commentary on the New Testament)
The IVP states:
Natural [psychikon] body… spiritual [pneumatikon] body (v. 44) has produced considerable discussion.[64] The -ikos ending on the adjective signals an “ethical or dynamic relation, not a material one” (Harris [1990] p. 402). So the words denote “not substances but modes of being” (Thiselton [2000] p. 1275). Therefore the proper distinction between the two types of embodiments is not material or physical versus immaterial or nonphysical but a body suited for the mere functioning of the psychē, the life principle, a body destined because of sin to die and to corrupt (Gen_3:19), in contrast to a body suited for the full functioning of the Holy Spirit, the imperishable resurrection body.
The future spiritual body is not a mere physical body (resuscitation) but a new creation of God that befits the transformation of our character into the pattern of life in Christ effected by the Holy Spirit, a body suited for the full expression of love (chap. 13). As Christ’s resurrection body exhibited identity, communicability and communion, so also will ours. “The transformed body is not composed of ‘spirit’; it is a body adapted to the eschatological existence that is under the ultimate dominance of the Spirit” (Fee [1987] p. 786; also Thiselton [2000] p. 1277; Wright [2003] pp. 348-53). As William Blake observes about each species having a body suited to its environment even in the present creation: “Robin Redbreast in a cage puts all heaven in a rage.”
The first man Adam became a living being (v. 45) refers to Gen_2:7, with Paul’s addition of first, which prepares him to refer to Christ as the last Adam (cf. 1Co_15:21-22; Rom_5:12-19). The nature of the body of the resurrected Christ is described as a life-giving spirit (v. 45), pneuma zōopoieō, “Spirit that gives life” from the dead. Probably this is a reference to both the salvation experience of the Corinthians and the power of life in the future resurrection of the dead that is mediated through Christ (v. 21).
The order of the natural first, then the spiritual (v. 46), helps us keep Adam’s significance in proper perspective to Christ and his importance to the human plight and God’s triumphant reversal. Only when the natural with all its limitations and qualifications has been laid down in death can the Spirit fully transform our body and allow us to give full expression to the indwelling Spirit of Christ.
The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven (v. 47) is possibly an allusion to both Gen_2:7 (man from dust) and Dan_7:13-14 (man of heaven). Both seem to be individuals that also incorporate groups into their being. As… the heavenly man, so also… those who are of heaven argues that the archetype of each group grounds the character and nature of all who belong to the archetype. As we have borne (phoreō, “wear,” “bear”) the likeness (eikon̄, “image”) of the earthly man [Adam], so shall we bear [or “wear”] the likeness of the man from heaven [Christ] in the resurrection (v. 49).[65] This is a clear statement that the resurrection archetype is the resurrected Christ himself. Paul beautifully states this same truth in a later letter: “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Php_3:20-21). Hallelujah!
Footnote 64: 15:44-49 A controversy in evangelical circles has emerged over the exact nature of the resurrection body (see Harris 1990).
Footnote 65: 15:49 So shall we bear the likeness (phoresomen, future tense) is probably the correct text, but other primary witnesses read “let us bear the likeness” (hortatory subjunctive). (The IVP New Testament Commentary)