1 Corinthians 15:45

Good News Translation

For the scripture says, "The first man, Adam, was created a living being"; but the last Adam is the life-giving Spirit.

Parallel Translations

Easy-to-Read Version
As the Scriptures say, "The first man, Adam, became a living person." But the last Adam is a life-giving spirit.

Revised Standard Version
Thus it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
as it is written: the fyrste man Adam was made a livinge soule: and ye last Ada was made a quickeninge sprete.

Hebrew Names Version
So also it is written, "The first man, Adam, became a living soul." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

International Standard Version
This, indeed, is what is written: "The first man, Adam, became a living being."Genesis 2:7">[fn] The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.Genesis 2:7; John 5:21; Romans 5:14; Philippians 3:21; Colossians 3:4;">[xr]

New American Standard Bible
So also it is written: "The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A LIVING PERSON." The last Adam was a life-giving spirit.

New Century Version
It is written in the Scriptures: "The first man, Adam, became a living person." But the last Adam became a spirit that gives life.

Update Bible Version
So also it is written, The first man Adam became a living soul. The last Adam [became] a life-giving spirit.

Webster's Bible Translation
And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam [was made] a vivifying spirit.

English Standard Version
Thus it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

World English Bible
So also it is written, "The first man, Adam, became a living soul." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
And so it is written, The first Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam is a quickening Spirit.

Weymouth's New Testament
In the same way also it is written, "The first man Adam became a living animal"; the last Adam is a life-giving Spirit.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
as it is writun, The firste man Adam was maad in to a soule lyuynge, the laste Adam in to a spirit quykenynge.

English Revised Version
So also it is written, The first man Adam became a living soul. The last Adam [became] a life–giving spirit.

Berean Standard Bible
So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being;" the last Adam a life-giving spirit.

Contemporary English Version
The first man was named Adam, and the Scriptures tell us that he was a living person. But Jesus, who may be called the last Adam, is a life-giving spirit.

Amplified Bible
So it is written [in Scripture], "The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A LIVING SOUL (an individual);" the last Adam (Christ) became a life-giving spirit [restoring the dead to life].

American Standard Version
So also it is written, The first man Adam became a living soul. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

Bible in Basic English
And so it is said, The first man Adam was a living soul. The last Adam is a life-giving spirit.

Complete Jewish Bible
In fact, the Tanakh says so: Adam, the first man, became a living human being ; but the last "Adam" has become a life-giving Spirit.

Darby Translation
Thus also it is written, The first man Adam became a living soul; the last Adam a quickening spirit.

Etheridge Translation
as also it is written, Adam the first man became a living soul, and the last Adam a life-giving spirit.

Murdock Translation
45 So also is it written: " Adam, the first man, became a living soul;" the second Adam [fn] a quickening spirit.

King James Version (1611)
And so it is written: The first man Adam was made a liuing soule, the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

New Living Translation
The Scriptures tell us, "The first man, Adam, became a living person." But the last Adam—that is, Christ—is a life-giving Spirit.

New Life Bible
The Holy Writings say, "The first man, Adam, became a living soul." But the last Adam (Christ) is a life-giving Spirit.

New Revised Standard
Thus it is written, "The first man, Adam, became a living being"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

Geneva Bible (1587)
As it is also written, The first man Adam was made a liuing soule: and the last Adam was made a quickening Spirit.

George Lamsa Translation
And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Thus, also, it is written - The first man, Adam, became, a living soul, the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.

Douay-Rheims Bible
The first man Adam was made into a living soul; the last Adam into a quickening spirit.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
As it is also written: The first man Adam was made a lyuyng soule, and the last Adam was made a quickenyng spirite.

Christian Standard Bible®
So it is written, The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

King James Version
And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

Lexham English Bible
Thus also it is written, "The first man, Adam, became a living soul"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

Literal Translation
So also it has been written, "The" first "man", Adam, "became a living soul;" the last Adam a life-giving Spirit. Gen. 2:7

Young's Literal Translation
so also it hath been written, `The first man Adam became a living creature,' the last Adam [is] for a life-giving spirit,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
As it is wrytten: The first man Adam was made in to a naturall life, and the last Ada in to a spiritual life.

Mace New Testament (1729)
and so it is written, the first man Adam was made an animating soul, the last Adam was made a vivifying spirit.

THE MESSAGE
We follow this sequence in Scripture: The First Adam received life, the Last Adam is a life-giving Spirit. Physical life comes first, then spiritual—a firm base shaped from the earth, a final completion coming out of heaven. The First Man was made out of earth, and people since then are earthy; the Second Man was made out of heaven, and people now can be heavenly. In the same way that we've worked from our earthy origins, let's embrace our heavenly ends.

New English Translation
So also it is written, " The first man , Adam , became a living person "; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

New King James Version
And so it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being." Genesis 2:7">[fn] The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

Simplified Cowboy Version
The Good Book tells us, "Adam, the first man, became a living being." But the last Adam—Jesus Christ—is a Spirit who brings life instead of death.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
So also it is written, "The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A LIVING SOUL." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

Legacy Standard Bible
So also it is written, "The first man, Adam, became a living soul." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

Contextual Overview

³⁵ Someone will ask, "How can the dead be raised to life? What kind of body will they have?" ³⁶ You fool! When you plant a seed in the ground, it does not sprout to life unless it dies. ³⁷ And what you plant is a bare seed, perhaps a grain of wheat or some other grain, not the full-bodied plant that will later grow up. ³⁸ God provides that seed with the body he wishes; he gives each seed its own proper body. ³⁹ And the flesh of living beings is not all the same kind of flesh; human beings have one kind of flesh, animals another, birds another, and fish another. ⁴⁰ And there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies; the beauty that belongs to heavenly bodies is different from the beauty that belongs to earthly bodies. ⁴¹ The sun has its own beauty, the moon another beauty, and the stars a different beauty; and even among stars there are different kinds of beauty. ⁴² This is how it will be when the dead are raised to life. When the body is buried, it is mortal; when raised, it will be immortal. ⁴³ When buried, it is ugly and weak; when raised, it will be beautiful and strong. ⁴⁴ When buried, it is a physical body; when raised, it will be a spiritual body. There is, of course, a physical body, so there has to be a spiritual body.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

The first: 1 Corinthians 15:47-49, Genesis 2:7, Romans 5:12-14, Revelation 16:3

a quickening: John 1:4, John 4:10, John 4:14, John 5:21, John 5:25-29, John 6:33, John 6:39, John 6:40, John 6:54, John 6:57, John 6:63, John 6:68, John 10:10, John 10:28, John 11:25, John 11:26, John 14:6, John 14:19, John 17:2, John 17:3, Acts 3:15, Romans 5:17, Romans 5:21, Romans 8:2, Romans 8:10, Romans 8:11, Philippians 3:21, Colossians 3:4, 1 John 1:1-3, 1 John 5:11, 1 John 5:12, Revelation 21:6, Revelation 22:1, Revelation 22:17

Reciprocal: Job 33:4 - General Psalms 68:18 - for men Psalms 119:40 - quicken Ezekiel 37:14 - shall put Ezekiel 47:9 - shall live Luke 3:38 - of God John 5:26 - so hath Romans 4:17 - who quickeneth 1 Corinthians 15:22 - in Adam 2 Corinthians 3:6 - giveth life 2 Corinthians 3:17 - the Lord Galatians 4:6 - the Spirit Galatians 5:25 - we Ephesians 2:1 - you Colossians 2:13 - he Colossians 3:3 - your 1 Timothy 2:5 - the man

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And so it is written,.... In Genesis 2:7

the first man Adam was made a living soul: in the Hebrew text it is, man, or Adam, became, or was made a living soul; that is, as the apostle says, "the first man Adam": he calls him, as the Jews a frequently do, אדם הראשון, "the first man"; he was the first man that was made, and the first parent of mankind, and the head and representative of all his posterity, and so the first in time, causality and dignity; whose name was Adam, so called by God in the day he was created, because he was formed מן האדמה, "from the ground, or earth"; when God breathed life into the earthly mass, or lump; and being animated with a rational soul, it became an animal body, or a living creature; and so the apostle proves, from the first man that was upon earth, that there is a natural, or animal body; a body animated by a soul, and which was supported by eating and drinking, by sleep and rest; and was capable of dying, and should die, in case of sin; and which was the state of it in its first creation, whilst in innocence, and before the fall; and this is all he meant to prove by this Scripture; for what follows is not mentioned as therein written, or elsewhere, but as the apostle's own assertion:

the last Adam was made a quickening spirit: by "the last Adam" is meant Jesus Christ, called Adam, because he is really and truly a man, a partaker of the same flesh and blood as the rest of mankind; and because he is the antitype of the first man Adam, who was a figure of him that was to come; and therefore called Adam, for the same reason as he is called David and Solomon: he is said to be "the last", in distinction from the first Adam, with respect to him he stood, אחרון, last upon the earth, as in Job 19:25 to which passage some think the apostle here alludes; and because he appeared in the last days in the end of the world, and is the last that shall rise up as a common head and representative of the whole, or any part of mankind: now he is made "a quickening spirit"; which some understand of the Holy Spirit, which filled the human nature of Christ, raised him from the dead, and will quicken our mortal bodies at the last day; others of the divine nature of Christ, to which his flesh, or human nature, was united; and which gave life, rigour, and virtue, to all his actions and sufferings, as man; and by which he was quickened, when put to death in the flesh, and by which he will quicken others another day: though rather I think it is to be understood of his spiritual body, of his body, not as it was made of the virgin, for that was a natural, or an animal one; it was conceived and bred, and born as animal bodies are; it grew and increased, and was nourished with meat and drink, and sleep and rest; and was subject to infirmities, and to death itself, as our bodies be; but it is to be understood of it as raised from the dead, when it was made a spiritual body, for which reason it is called a "spirit": not that it was changed into a spirit, for it still remained flesh and blood; but because it was no more supported in an animal way; nor subject to those weaknesses that animal bodies are, but lives as spirits, or angels do; and a quickening one, not only because it has life itself, but because by virtue of the saints' union to it, as it subsists in the divine person of the Son of God, their bodies will be quickened at the last day, and made like unto it, spiritual bodies; also because he lives in his body as a spiritual one, they shall live in theirs as spiritual ones: and so the apostle shows, that there is a spiritual, as well as an animal body; that as the first man's body, even before the fall, was an animal or natural one; the last Adam's body upon his resurrection is a spiritual and life giving one, as the Syriac version renders it; so the Cabalistic writers b speak of

"Adam; who is the holy and supreme, who rules over all, and gives spirit and life to all.''

a T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol 38. 2. & 100. 1. & alibi passim. & אדם

קדמון, Cabala denud. par. 4. p. 195, &c. Vid. 2 Esdras iii. 21. b Zohar in Exod. fol. 59. 4.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And so it is written, - Genesis 2:7. It is only the first part of the verse which is quoted.

The first man Adam was made a living soul - This is quoted exactly from the translation by the Septuagint, except that the apostle has added the words “first” and “Adam.” This is done to designate whom he meant. The meaning of the phrase “was made a living soul” (ἐγένετο εις ψυκὴν ζωσαν egeneto eis psuchēn zōsan - in Hebrew, נפשׁ חיה nephesh chayaah is, became a living, animated being; a being endowed with life. The use of the word “soul” in our translation, for ψυχὴ psuchē, and נפשׁ nephesh, does not quite convey the idea. We apply the word “soul,” usually, to the intelligent and the immortal part of man; that which reasons, thinks, remembers, is conscious, is responsible, etc. The Greek and Hebrew words, however, more properly denote that which is alive, which is animated, which breathes, which has an animal nature, see the note on 1 Corinthians 15:44. And this is precisely the idea which Paul uses here, that the first man was made an animated being by having breathed into him the breath of life Genesis 2:7, and that it is the image of this animated or vital being which we bear, 1 Corinthians 15:48. Neither Moses nor Paul deny that in addition to this, man was endowed with a rational soul, an immortal nature; but that is not the idea which they present in the passage in Genesis which Paul quotes.

The last Adam - The second Adam, or the “second man,” 1 Corinthians 15:47. That Christ is here intended is apparent, and has been usually admitted by commentators. Christ here seems to be called Adam because he stands in contradistinction from the first Adam; or because, as we derive our animal and dying nature from the one, so we derive our immortal and undying bodies from the other. From the one we derive an animal or vital existence; from the other we derive our immortal existence, and resurrection from the grave. The one stands at the head of all those who have an existence represented by the words, “a living soul;” the other of all those who shall have a spiritual body in heaven. He is called “the last Adam;” meaning that there shall be no other after him who shall affect the destiny of man in the same way, or who shall stand at the head of the race in a manner similar to what had been done by him and the first father of the human family. They sustain special relations to the race; and in this respect they were “the first” and “the last” in the special economy. The name “Adam” is not elsewhere given to the Messiah, though a comparison is several times instituted between him and Adam. (See the Supplementary Note on 1 Corinthians 15:22; also Romans 5:12, note.)

A quickening spirit - (εἰς πνεῦμα ζωοποιοῦν eis pneuma zōopoioun. A vivifying spirit; a spirit giving or imparting life. Not a being having mere vital functions, or an animated nature, but a being who has the power of imparting life. This is not a quotation from any part of the Scriptures, but seems to be used by Paul either as affirming what was true on his own apostolic authority, or as conveying the substance of what was revealed respecting the Messiah in the Old Testament. There may be also reference to what the Saviour himself taught, that he was the source of life; that he had the power of imparting life, and that he gave life to all whom he pleased: see the note at John 1:4; note at John 5:26, “For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.” 1 Corinthians 15:21, “for as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.”

The word “spirit,” here applied to Christ, is in contradistinction from “a living being,” as applied to Adam, and seems to be used in the sense of spirit of life, as raising the bodies of his people from the dead, and imparting life to them. He was constituted not as having life merely, but as endowed with the power of imparting life; as endowed with that spiritual or vital energy which was needful to impart life. All life is the creation or production of “spirit” (Πνεῦμα Pneuma); as applied to God the Father, or the Son, or the Holy Spirit. Spirit is the source of all vitality. God is a spirit, and God is the source of all life. And the idea here is, that Christ had such a spiritual existence such power as a spirit; that he was the source of all life to his people. The word “spirit” is applied to his exalted spiritual nature, in distinction from his human nature, in Romans 1:4; 1 Timothy 3:16; 1 Peter 3:18. The apostle does not here affirm that he had not a human nature, or a vital existence as a man; but that his main characteristic in contradistinction from Adam was, that he was endowed with an elevated spiritual nature, which was capable of imparting vital existence to the dead.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 45. The first man Adam was made a living soul — These forms of expression are also common among the Jews: hence we find אדם הראשון Adam harishon, "Adam the first;" and אדם קדמאי Adam kadmai, " Adam the last." They assert that there are two Adams: 1. The mystical heavenly Adam; and 2. The mystical earthly Adam. See Sohar Exod., fol. 29; and the several examples in Schoettgen. The apostle says this is written: The first man Adam was made a living soul: this is found Genesis 2:7, in the words נשמת חיים nishmath chaiyim, the breath of lives; which the apostle translates ψυχην ζωσαν, a living soul.

The last Adam - a quickening spirit. — This is also said to be written; but where, says Dr. Lightfoot, is this written in the whole sacred book? Schoettgen replies, In the very same verse, and in these words: ויהי האדם לנפש חיה vayehi ha-Adam le-nephesh chaiyah, and Adam became a living soul; which the apostle translates πνευμα ζωοποιουν, a quickening, or life-giving spirit. Among the cabalistic Jews נפש nephesh is considered as implying greater dignity than נשמה nishma. The former may be considered as pointing out the rational, the latter the sensitive soul. All these references to Jewish opinions and forms of speech the apostle uses to convince them that the thing was possible; and that the resurrection of the body was generally credited by all their wise and learned men. The Jews, as Dr. Lightfoot observes, speak frequently of the Spirit of the Messiah; and they allow that it was this Spirit that moved on the face of the waters, Genesis 1:2. And they assert that the Messiah shall quicken those who dwell in the dust.

"It ought not to be passed by," says the same author, "that Adam, receiving from God the promise of Christ-The seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent, and believing it, named his wife Chauvah, that is, life; so the Septuagint, και εκαλεσεν Αδαμ το ονονα της γυναικος αυτου Ζωη· And Adam called the name of his wife, Life. What! Is she called Life that brought death into the world? But Adam perceived τον εσχατον Αδαμ, the last Adam exhibited to him in the promise, to be πνευμα ζωο, ποιουν, a quickening or life-giving spirit; and had brought in a better life of the soul; and should at last bring in a better life of the body. Hence is that saying, John 1:4: Εν αυτῳ ζωη ην, In HIM was LIFE."

Some contend that the first Adam and the last Adam mean the same person in two different states: the first man with the body of his creation; the same person with the body of his resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15:49.