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Timestamp: 2019-04-21 22:42:14+00:00

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Scholars have generally placed Paul’s Adamic hermeneutic in either a Gnostic or a broadly Jewish stream of thought. The Gnostic background, though initially strong, has severely waned in recent years, whereas the Philonic backdrop ebbs and flows. Others see Paul developing his framework against the background of the OT and early Judaism. In this respect, some argue that Paul’s Adamic Christology had its seeds in the Damascus road encounter with Christ, and that Paul further developed this Christology in the light of the OT and early Jewish tradition. The emphasis on the Jewish background is probably correct, but nobody has been able to explain convincingly why Paul uses the expression ‘‘life-giving Spirit’’ in its wider context.
Verse 45a is obviously a quotation from Gen 2:7 but, surprisingly, 45b appears syntactically identical to 45a. Commentators have offered various suggestions as to the significance of 45b and its relationship to 45a (see below); however, despite these attempts, no one, as far as I am aware, has investigated the use of Gen 2:7 and its immediate context in much detail and related it to 45b.
Attempting to evaluate any quotation in the book of Genesis, or for that matter, Gen 1–3, is quite daunting. Divergent views on every imaginable option accost the reader, demanding rigorous investigation. Fortunately, since we are only concerned with the final form of the Pentateuch, the form that Paul was deeply familiar with, we will begin with the narrative of Gen 1–3.
Chapter 1 begins with the creation of the cosmos and climaxes with the creation of man on the sixth day in 1:26-28. This first creation account primarily describes the purpose of the creation of Adam and Eve, namely, that they are to ‘‘subdue’’ and ‘‘rule’’ over all things (cf. 1:22). Just as God rules over the entire cosmos, so mankind, created in the ‘‘image’’ of God, is to rule over the earth and its inhabitants. Furthermore, immediately after God emphatically creates ‘‘man in His own image’’ (1:27), Adam and Eve are charged with the mandate to ‘‘be fruitful and multiply, and fill the Earth’’ (1:28). Apparently the couple, created in God’s image, was commissioned to produce a family of image bearers. They too were to pass on God’s image to their progeny.
In 1:26-27 Adam and Eve, made in the image of God, are to rule over the created order and fill it with divine image bearers through their progeny. Here in 2:7 Adam receives the ‘‘breath of life.’’ In the first creation account, Adam is created in the image and likeness of God, whereas in the second account Adam receives the ‘‘breath of life.’’ According to the narrative, therefore, receiving the ‘‘breath of life’’ is perhaps parallel in some way to being created in the image of God; particularly the notion of being created from the ‘‘dust’’ may be likened unto kingship. In addition, God appoints Adam to ‘‘cultivate’’ and ‘‘keep’’ the garden (2:15), a reference to the cultic work of laboring within the garden that possibly should be paired with ‘‘subdue’’ and ‘‘rule’’ in 1:28.
Then God said, ‘‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness’’;. . . God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them.
The rehearsing of the creation account at this point in the narrative is telling. This is the second genealogy thus far. Genesis 4:17-26 comprises the first, but, unlike that genealogical section, this is prefaced with a review of 1:26-28. Therefore, perhaps 5:1-32 is viewed, according to the Genesis narrative, as the beginning fulfillment or continuation of the 1:26-28 mandate and blessing; juxtaposed with the genealogical section of blessing is the ungodly line in 4:1726.
The early Priestly tradition presents a consistent picture of human ‘‘likeness’’ and ‘‘image.’’ An ever-narrowing branch of male descendents from Seth shares the (cap-) ability to reproduce, proliferate, and maintain an ever-lasting human genealogy. They are depicted as co-creators of the world. The same branch also holds royal power to rule the world’s creatures, control the land, and regulate human behavior by administering justice.
In v. 35 the question is posed: ‘‘But someone will say, ‘How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?’ ’’ Verses 36-57 constitute Paul’s lengthy reply to this question. Asher has cogently and persuasively argued that Paul uses a type of deliberative and didactic rhetoric that would have been familiar in Corinth—a sophisticated argument in vv. 35-57 consisting of adaptation or ‘‘accommodation’’ of the audience’s currently held beliefs, followed by Paul’s correction. In vv. 36-38 Paul condemns his audience or the ‘‘pupil’’ (note ‘‘fool’’ in v. 36) for denying God’s power in creation: ‘‘That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies; . . . God gives it a body just as He wished.’’ In other words, as demonstrated in nature, God is able to transform a dead seed to a living plant or tree.
Verses 39-41 unpack the nature of spatial polarities: ‘‘there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts . . . birds and . . . fish. There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars’’ (italics original). Contrary to a number of scholars, Paul’s point is not to explain the presence of a multitude of ‘‘glories’’ or flesh; rather, Paul has in mind only two polarities: earthly and heavenly. Furthermore, some of the Corinthians probably even affirmed such a distinction, which led to their denial of the resurrection in the first place.
In vv. 42-44a Paul brings together his two previous points—that God can transform things in nature from death into life (vv. 36-38), and that two polarities indeed exist (vv. 39-41)—and therefore makes an inference concerning the nature of the resurrection: ‘‘So also [oÛtwj ka…] is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body [cf. vv. 36-38]; . . . it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body [cf. vv. 39-41].’’ By bringing together these two previous points, Paul has, in effect, made room for a doctrine of the resurrection within his established framework. God is able to transform (vv. 36-38) a terrestrial body into a heavenly one (vv. 39-41).
From all appearances, Paul typologically recasts Gen 2:7 and applies it to Christ. The quotation is simply reconfigured to fit Paul’s immediate purpose. Goppelt concludes, ‘‘This is not an inference that Paul makes, but something he perceives [in Gen 2:7] to be a typological fulfillment with respect to Christ.’’ The first Adam is from the earth, whereas Christ is from heaven (cf. 15:47). Death is the result of Adam’s failure, and eschatological life is the result of Christ’s obedience (15:21). However, does the typological interpretation strictly fit Paul’s use of Gen 2:7 as Goppelt and others contend? The phrase ‘‘lifegiving Spirit’’ (pneàma zJopoioàn) seems to indicate otherwise. Paul appears to surpass the type, for we expect to read the following: ‘‘The first man Adam became a living soul [yuc¾n zîsan], and the last Adam became a living Spirit [pneàma zîn].’’ In other words, how can Paul typologically infer from the Genesis narrative that the last Adam is not simply a ‘‘living Spirit’’ but a ‘‘lifegiving Spirit’’?
But, in light of our analysis of Gen 1–5, the former interpretation appears more likely—Paul typologically interprets Gen 2:7. Unlike most scholars who restrict the typology to Gen 2:7, it is best to include Gen 5:3, since it is alluded to only four verses later in clear development of the Gen. 2:7 quotation in v. 45. Being created as a ‘‘living being’’ and receiving the ‘‘breath of life’’ (2:7) is functionally equivalent to being made in the image of God (1:27-28). Adam was created in God’s image (1:27-28), and he passed that divine image on to his son, Seth (Gen 5:3). The allusion to Gen 5:3 is thus conceptual.
Finally, in 15:49, as a number of commentators have pointed out, Paul alludes to Gen 5:3.
If we thus connect v. 45b with vv. 49-52, then the picture is relatively clear: Christ, as the last Adam, imparts his image to believers at the resurrection. What was a tacit and conceptual reference to Gen 5:3 in v. 45b finally becomes explicit in v. 49. In v. 45b, Christ and the Spirit are the focus, whereas in v. 49 believers receive the attention. The event and the typology remain the same, but the focus shifts. Paul therefore alludes to Gen 5:3 in order to assert that Christ functions typologically as an Adamic figure (vv. 45-47) by passing on his image to believers or ‘‘sons’’ (vv. 49-52; cf. Rom 8:14; Gal 3:26; 4:6-7).
This interpretation addresses the difficult problem of Paul’s comment that Christ became a ‘‘life-giving Spirit.’’ If the Genesis narrative, particularly chs. 1–5, is kept in mind, the phrase is far less enigmatic and offers a way forward in this debate. The OT rather than other cultural backgrounds may adequately explain Paul’s hermeneutic. Just as Adam passed his image on to Seth, so Christ imparts his image to believers.

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