Nigel Tomes on 1 Corinthians 15:45 "Let's Get It Right"

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by Trapped

Nigel's whole comparison is just about the spiritual body. Not about the life-giving part of it that is unique to Jesus.

Listen carefully to the transition that Nigel misses when he posts I Cor 15.44-45. He discusses Paul's comments on two types of body, the soulish or natural body and the spiritual body, the body before resurrection, and the body after.

Then Paul quotes a part of Genesis 2.7, "Adam became a living soul." But that was NOT Adam's body. Adam's body was dust, made from dust, and will return to dust. Paul did not refer to Adam's body here, rather to what Adam became after God breathed into him.

Likewise when the Last Adam became "life giving spirit," Paul was not referring to the spiritual body of Jesus, but what He had become following resurrection.

I don't agree with Nigel's premise here. He misses the transition, "So also it is written." (I Cor 15.45a) Paul's word use here indicates he is making a further point, not just expanding the previous point. To repeat, Adam's body was not "a living soul," and Jesus' resurrected body was not "living giving spirit." These two descriptions refer to something more "intrinsic" for lack of a better word.

Then Nigel quotes E.P. Sanders saying this verse is easy to misunderstand. I would say that E.P. Sanders is "easy to misunderstand" since he has numerous controversial ideas about Paul, Jesus, and Judaism. Many evangelicals do not accept his ideas. He may be a scholar, and I do not reject scholars, but "scholars" come in all flavors. Dr. Bart Ehrman has been widely referenced on this forum and he is now a professed agnostic/atheist. When it comes to "scholars," buyer beware!