1 Cor
15:45-49 (ESV) Thus it is written, "The first man Adam became a living
being"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 But it is not the
spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, a man of
dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are
those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who
are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall
also bear the image of the man of heaven.
NOTE: Today we
struggle to live the Christian life in a fallen body. It was weak and it was
weakened by Adam's sin. Maybe, it never had a chance since it was made of dust.
Who is to know? Maybe it was a test of obedience that would have led to a
spiritual body at some time--again, we do not know. But we do know that God
provided a way to eternal life through faith in his son. Jesus himself told us
that we must be born anew; flesh gives birth to flesh but spirit gives birth to
spirit. We need a spiritual rebirth. Although, interestingly, while men of dust
live on this planet, the new bodies are promised in the future, when the old
body (the perishable seed mentioned in the preceding verses) is resurrected,
giving birth to a body of power and strength, and at that point, made in the
image of the man of heaven, Jesus. It is hard to imagine a body that is not
susceptible to sin as our bodies are now. But that is the promise, and that is
the key to living eternally. We will still have free will but we will have no
desire to rebel against our savior. We will be at peace with God--something we
can taste today but not fully realize until we are in the presence of God.
Lord, help me to say no to my flesh, and to live kindly and rightly before you
and others.
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