this earth, and had an earthly body ; the person of Christ was constituted in reference to his reigning in heaven, and there- fore he has a spiritual body. The apostle argues from the na- ture of Adam to the nature of his body ; and from the nature of Christ to the nature of his body. This argument does not involve the assumption that the body of Christ was here a spiritual one — for we know that it was flesh and blood ; but that such was the state to which, from the very constitution of his person, he was destined, a spiritual body alone could be suited to him. The last Adam, therefore, was made a quick- ening spirit, by the union of the divine with the human in the constitution of his person. Others say that it was at his resur- rection ; and others, at his ascension. As to the former opin- ion, it is enough to say, that no change took place at his re- surrection in the nature of Christ's body. It was necessary in order to its satisfactory identification that it should remain the same that it was before. He therefore not only called upon his disciples to handle his risen body and to satisfy them- selves of its identity by probing the wounds in his hands and feet, but he also repeatedly ate before them. He did not as- sume his permanent pneumatic state until his ascension. But this did not make him a quickening spirit. It only affected his body, which then assumed the state adapted to its condi- tion in heaven.
46. Howbeit that (was) not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural ; and afterward that which is spiritual.
This does not mean simply that the natural tody precedes the spiritual body. But it announces, as it were, a general law. The lower precedes the higher ; the imperfect the per- fect. This is true in all the works of God, in which there is a development. Adam's earthly state was to be preparatory to a heavenly one. The present life is like a seed time, the har- vest is hereafter. The natural comes before the spiritual ; as Calvin says, we are born before we are regenerated, we live before we rise.
47. The first man (is) of the earth, earthy: the second man (is) the Lord from heaven.
The general principle stated in the preceding verse, that