📖WEB · 1 Corinthians 15:46
What does 1 Corinthians 15:46 mean?
"However that which is spiritual isn’t first, but that which is natural, then that which is spiritual."
— 1 Corinthians 15:46 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.
It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is also a spiritual body.
So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
However that which is spiritual isn’t first, but that which is natural, then that which is spiritual.
The first man is of the earth, made of dust. The second man is the Lord from heaven.
As is the one made of dust, such are those who are also made of dust; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
As we have borne the image of those made of dust, let’s also bear the image of the heavenly.
Explanation
1 Corinthians 15:46 is part of Paul's extended argument about the resurrection of the body, a topic he addresses at length in this chapter because some believers in Corinth were doubting or denying that the dead would be raised. In plain language, the verse simply states a principle of order: the natural comes before the spiritual, not the other way around. Paul is not saying the natural is superior, only that it comes first in sequence, with the spiritual following.
To understand the context, Paul has just been describing the difference between our current physical bodies and the resurrection bodies believers will receive. In the verses surrounding this one (15:42-49), he compares the body that is "sown" in death—perishable, weak, natural—with the body that will be "raised"—imperishable, powerful, spiritual. He then draws an analogy to Adam and Christ: Adam was "a living soul," the first man, made of dust and representing natural, earthly life. Christ is called "a life-giving spirit," the "last Adam," representing the spiritual, resurrected life that believers will share. Paul's point in verse 46 is to correct any assumption that the spiritual existence came first and the natural was somehow a lesser copy or fall from it. Instead, the natural order (Adam, earthly life, our present bodies) precedes the spiritual order (Christ, resurrection life, our future bodies).
Theologically, this verse reinforces Paul's larger argument that the resurrection body is a real transformation, not a return to a pre-existent spiritual state. It also affirms the goodness and necessity of embod
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