ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

1 Corinthians 15.45

Book: 1 Corinthians · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

43. it is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: 44. it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

45. So also it is written, The first man Adam became a living soul. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

  1. Howbeit that is not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; then that which is spiritual. 47. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is of heaven. (1 Corinthians 15:43-47, ASV)
WEB

43. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is also a spiritual body.

45. So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

  1. However that which is spiritual isn’t first, but that which is natural, then that which is spiritual. 47. The first man is of the earth, made of dust. The second man is the Lord from heaven. (1 Corinthians 15:43-47, WEB)
KJV

43. It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: 44. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

45. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

  1. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. 47. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. (1 Corinthians 15:43-47, KJV)
YLT

43. it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44. it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body; there is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body;

45. so also it hath been written, 'The first man Adam became a living creature,' the last Adam [is] for a life-giving spirit,

  1. but that which is spiritual [is] not first, but that which [was] natural, afterwards that which [is] spiritual. 47. The first man [is] out of the earth, earthy; the second man [is] the Lord out of heaven; (1 Corinthians 15:43-47, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: Paul the Apostle, with Sosthenes named as co-sender
  • Audience: the church at Corinth, a divided congregation in a wealthy Roman colony
  • Location: written from Ephesus during the third missionary journey
  • Time period: c. AD 53-55

Theological reading

The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

Paul's title for Christ as the last Adam, and it is the verse behind the whole representative-headship structure.

The contrast is drawn from Genesis 2:7, where the man becomes a living nephesh, and Paul sets against it a figure who does not merely possess life but gives it. The difference is not degree but direction.

"Life-giving spirit" is not a statement that Christ became incorporeal; the surrounding argument is about the resurrection body, and pneuma here corresponds to the Spirit-animated existence the resurrection inaugurates.

The verse is why the symbolic reading of Adam and the historical question about him are separable: the argument's structure requires a representative, and what it requires of him is disputed. See Federal Headship, Adam and Eve Historicity, and the symbolic-role point made at Moses Did Not Exist Objection Defeater.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

People:

Lexicon:

Guides:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.