Feb 17, 2025 Written by 
Art'working

7th Sunday in O.T. (C)  (1Cor 15,45-49)

7th Sunday in O.T. (C)  (1Cor 15,45-49)

(1Cor 15,45-49)

 

1Corinthians 15:45 the first man, Adam, became a living being, but the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

1Corinthians 15:46 There was not the spiritual body first, but the animal body, and then the spiritual.

1Corinthians 15:47 The first man from the earth is of the earth; the second man is from heaven.

1Corinthians 15:48 As the man made of the earth, so are they of the earth; but as the heavenly, so are they of the heavenly.

1Corinthians 15:49 And as we have borne the image of the man of earth, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.

 

 

In these verses Paul delves into the Adam-Christ parallelism. Adam, the first man, because of his sin was a bringer of death, disease, suffering, pain. He was also the cause of a concupiscent body, a body that was difficult for man himself to govern. Adam instead of a father of life proved to be a father of death, instead of freedom he proved to be a father of slavery, instead of salvation he became a father of perdition.

In his infinite and eternal mercy, God had from eternity foreseen an effective remedy against the death that Adam would bring into the world. Thinking of Jesus Christ, Saviour and Redeemer, He thought of Him as the life-giving spirit in order to work our redemption. How did He work it? Through His dead and resurrected body. That body that was clothed with divine and immortal life, with glory and incorruption, the Lord gives it as our food and drink of eternal life so that we too may become partakers of it, and be clothed with it.

Adam bequeathed a body of sin. This is our condition. Only those who become one with Christ can clothe the spiritual body. If we remain outside the body of Christ, we remain in the bondage of vice and sin; we dwell in our selfishness, we spend our days driven and tossed about by the concupiscence that makes us instinctive, passionate, proud, fanatical, transgressors.

To those who ask why the spiritual state, though more perfect, came after the more imperfect animal state, the apostle answers with a general principle: the natural order dictates that we begin with what is imperfect, and then move on to what is more perfect. God wanted to follow this law, and therefore established that the more perfect spiritual state should be preceded by the imperfect animal state.

We have received an animal body; through this body, in a path of truth we are called to clothe the heavenly body. The death of Christ enables us to set out on the journey, because the Holy Spirit in the waters of baptism clothes us with Christ. It is a journey towards acquiring our true humanity. It is a long journey, not easy, it costs the sacrifice and holocaust of our lives. There is only one way: remain anchored in Christ, become one with him.

Adam came from the earth because according to the Genesis account he was moulded from the dust of the ground. This is his origin. Jesus comes from heaven as the true God. He is not from heaven as a body. He assumed the body from the blessed Virgin Mary. He too therefore has a body that was taken from the flesh of Adam, although this flesh by a singular privilege is most holy, full of grace, from the first moment of its conception. The body of Jesus Christ was born in the greatest holiness, but it is still human flesh and therefore Jesus Christ also has a body that comes from the earth, otherwise he could not have redeemed us.

"What is earthly, such also are earthly; and what is heavenly, such also shall be heavenly." Each one produces according to his nature. Adam, who was taken from the dust of the ground, begat men in his image, also made of a material body. But Christ's gift is different: through his passion, death and resurrection his body has become spiritual, glorious. His body bears within itself the perfection of the divine image. By grace we will be in all things similar to his heavenly body, if we allow ourselves to be generated by God through faith. This is the greatest act of love with which God will clothe us tomorrow, if we allow ourselves to be clothed in our souls today through conversion, faithfulness to the gospel, that is, a life wholly made up of the word of Christ.

For "as we have borne the image of the earthly, so shall we also bear the image of the heavenly. By descent from Adam we bore the image of the earthly man; so by faith we shall bear the image of the heavenly man. Christ is in the glory of his spiritualised body. This is the image with which we shall one day be clothed. Towards the fulfilment of this truth we must walk.

The present moment is the place of the passage, that is, of this gestation in which progressively our animal life, our concrete everyday life, our existence, is lived in spiritual terms. And this is already the harbinger of resurrection. Death then will not be the failure of this life, but the next passage which is all a hymn to life. In baptism we have laid down the image of the earthly man and begun to bear the image of Jesus Christ, an image that will become perfect after the resurrection.

 

 

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Revelation - exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers - Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ true God and true Man in the Trinitarian mystery

The prophetic discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)

All generations will call me blessed

 Catholics and Protestants compared - In defence of the faith

 

(Buyable on Amazon)

                                                                         

  

81 Last modified on Monday, 17 February 2025 20:03
Rate this item
(2 votes)
Argentino Quintavalle

Argentino Quintavalle è studioso biblico ed esperto in Protestantesimo e Giudaismo. Autore del libro “Apocalisse - commento esegetico” (disponibile su Amazon) e specializzato in catechesi per protestanti che desiderano tornare nella Chiesa Cattolica.

Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Latest from Argentino Quintavalle

Previous
« 6th Sunday in O.T. (C)  1Cor 15:12.16-20
Next
8th Sunday in O.T. (1Cor 15,54-58) »
back to top
Christians are a priestly people for the world. Christians should make the living God visible to the world, they should bear witness to him and lead people towards him. When we speak of this task in which we share by virtue of our baptism, it is no reason to boast (Pope Benedict)
I cristiani sono popolo sacerdotale per il mondo. I cristiani dovrebbero rendere visibile al mondo il Dio vivente, testimoniarLo e condurre a Lui. Quando parliamo di questo nostro comune incarico, in quanto siamo battezzati, ciò non è una ragione per farne un vanto (Papa Benedetto)
Because of this unique understanding, Jesus can present himself as the One who reveals the Father with a knowledge that is the fruit of an intimate and mysterious reciprocity (John Paul II)
In forza di questa singolare intesa, Gesù può presentarsi come il rivelatore del Padre, con una conoscenza che è frutto di un'intima e misteriosa reciprocità (Giovanni Paolo II)
Yes, all the "miracles, wonders and signs" of Christ are in function of the revelation of him as Messiah, of him as the Son of God: of him who alone has the power to free man from sin and death. Of him who is truly the Savior of the world (John Paul II)
Sì, tutti i “miracoli, prodigi e segni” di Cristo sono in funzione della rivelazione di lui come Messia, di lui come Figlio di Dio: di lui che, solo, ha il potere di liberare l’uomo dal peccato e dalla morte. Di lui che veramente è il Salvatore del mondo (Giovanni Paolo II)
It is known that faith is man's response to the word of divine revelation. The miracle takes place in organic connection with this revealing word of God. It is a "sign" of his presence and of his work, a particularly intense sign (John Paul II)
È noto che la fede è una risposta dell’uomo alla parola della rivelazione divina. Il miracolo avviene in legame organico con questa parola di Dio rivelante. È un “segno” della sua presenza e del suo operare, un segno, si può dire, particolarmente intenso (Giovanni Paolo II)
That was not the only time the father ran. His joy would not be complete without the presence of his other son. He then sets out to find him and invites him to join in the festivities (cf. v. 28). But the older son appeared upset by the homecoming celebration. He found his father’s joy hard to take; he did not acknowledge the return of his brother: “that son of yours”, he calls him (v. 30). For him, his brother was still lost, because he had already lost him in his heart (Pope Francis)
Ma quello non è stato l’unico momento in cui il Padre si è messo a correre. La sua gioia sarebbe incompleta senza la presenza dell’altro figlio. Per questo esce anche incontro a lui per invitarlo a partecipare alla festa (cfr v. 28). Però, sembra proprio che al figlio maggiore non piacessero le feste di benvenuto; non riesce a sopportare la gioia del padre e non riconosce il ritorno di suo fratello: «quel tuo figlio», dice (v. 30). Per lui suo fratello continua ad essere perduto, perché lo aveva ormai perduto nel suo cuore (Papa Francesco)
Doing a good deed almost instinctively gives rise to the desire to be esteemed and admired for the good action, in other words to gain a reward. And on the one hand this closes us in on ourselves and on the other, it brings us out of ourselves because we live oriented to what others think of us or admire in us (Pope Benedict)
Quando si compie qualcosa di buono, quasi istintivamente nasce il desiderio di essere stimati e ammirati per la buona azione, di avere cioè una soddisfazione. E questo, da una parte rinchiude in se stessi, dall’altra porta fuori da se stessi, perché si vive proiettati verso quello che gli altri pensano di noi e ammirano in noi (Papa Benedetto)

duevie.art

don Giuseppe Nespeca

Tel. 333-1329741


Disclaimer

Questo blog non rappresenta una testata giornalistica in quanto viene aggiornato senza alcuna periodicità. Non può pertanto considerarsi un prodotto editoriale ai sensi della legge N°62 del 07/03/2001.
Le immagini sono tratte da internet, ma se il loro uso violasse diritti d'autore, lo si comunichi all'autore del blog che provvederà alla loro pronta rimozione.
L'autore dichiara di non essere responsabile dei commenti lasciati nei post. Eventuali commenti dei lettori, lesivi dell'immagine o dell'onorabilità di persone terze, il cui contenuto fosse ritenuto non idoneo alla pubblicazione verranno insindacabilmente rimossi.