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heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the
earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly" (15: 45-49 R.V.).
It is hardly necessary for us to state that Gen. 2: 7 does not teach that man was given
an immortal soul which was distinct from the animal world. Adam BECAME a soul; he
was not given one together with other faculties in his make-up. Genesis clearly shows
that the Creator gave nephesh `soul' to the animal world as well, for Gen. 1: 20, "the
moving creature that hath life", and in verses 21 and 24 the word `creature', and verse 30
life (see margin) is nephesh also. It should be plain that Adam was not spiritual but
soulish, quite apart from sin. It is the second Man, the last Adam, Who is truly spiritual,
and it is to His image that the redeemed will ultimately be conformed (Rom. 8: 29), for
nothing less than this is adequate for God's great redemptive purpose.
"For we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall fashion anew the body
of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of His glory, according to the
working whereby He is able even to subject all things unto Himself" (Phil. 3: 21 R.V.).
Adam and Christ are the heads of the old and new humanity respectively.
The Apostle now begins to sum up his arguments:
"Behold, I tell you a mystery (secret): we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be
changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall
sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this
corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality" (15: 51-53
R.V.).
Paul now reveals, under the Spirit's guidance, a secret which deals with the living
believers at the Second Advent, as well as the dead ones and dates it `at the last trumpet'.
The phrase `the last trumpet' must refer to the last of a series and the only series of
trumpets in the N.T. are those of the book of Revelation. It is pathetic to see the efforts
of some expositors to try and dissociate `the last trumpet' from the Revelation, for they
can see that this would take these believers into the Great Tribulation. The problem is of
their own making in that they insert the future church related to the Secret of Eph. 3:
either at Pentecost or Acts 13: and so bring it into the earlier position of the Pentecostal
assembly being dealt with in I Corinthians.
Nor can we get out of the difficulty by saying that at this point we are at the end or the
`last day', so that this is the final trumpet of all time. The earthly kingdom has yet to run
its course, and the whole creation be brought under the control of Christ as verses 24-28
testify. However, one thing is certain. In resurrection immortality and incorruption are
put on. It may be that immortality refers to living believers at this time and incorruption
those who are asleep in Christ.
If human beings possess immortality now then it cannot be `put on' at the resurrection.
Those who believe the pagan doctrine of the natural immortality of the soul, should
carefully ponder Gen. 3: 22, 23: