Defenders 3: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 25): Paul’s Use of Adam in 1 Corinthians 15

Summary

---

Defenders Podcast — Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 25): Paul’s Use of Adam in 1 Corinthians 15

Host: Dr. William Lane Craig
Date: August 14, 2019

---

Episode Overview

This episode focuses on Paul's use of Adam in 1 Corinthians 15 and its implications for the doctrine of the historical Adam, particularly in light of the Genesis creation narrative. Dr. Craig examines whether Paul's argument depends on Adam’s actual historicity or if it can be read as a purely literary device. The discussion explores the theological nuances of physical vs. spiritual death, the purpose of the Tree of Life, and the relationship between Adam’s creation and human mortality.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Paul’s Adam-Christ Typology in 1 Corinthians 15

• Text Focus: 1 Corinthians 15:21-22, 45-49
• Central Question: Is Paul referencing Adam merely as a literary figure or as a real historical person?
• Verses Highlighted: “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” (01:29)

Craig’s Analysis:

• Paul draws upon the Genesis narrative, stating “the first man, Adam, became a living being,” focusing on Adam as the first natural/physical human (psuchikos).
• The contrast Paul makes in 1 Corinthians 15 is physical—not judicial or spiritual. The focus is on mortality and resurrection life, “In Adam all persons die physically, but in Christ we shall someday be made alive and enjoy resurrection life.” (08:13)
• Adam is associated with human mortality, not immortality lost at the Fall. “Paul implies that physical mortality is the natural human condition.” (12:41)

2. Literary vs. Historical Adam

• John Collins’ Position: For some passages, Paul’s argument doesn’t require a historical Adam, but in 1 Corinthians 15 and Romans 5, there’s a stronger case for historicity due to the typological comparison.
• Craig’s Nuance: While Paul’s language is tied closely to the Genesis story, there may be hints that he’s thinking about Adam as a real, historical progenitor, especially when discussing chronology (“It is not the spiritual which is first, but the physical and then the spiritual.”)

3. The Nature of Adam’s Mortality

• Gordon Fee Cited: Adam’s natural body is “a body subject to decay and death.” (10:50)
• Craig's Shift in View: Formerly believed Adam's mortality was due to the Fall; now, based on 1 Corinthians 15, sees mortality as present at Adam’s creation (24:13)
• Purpose of the Tree of Life:
  • If Adam was naturally immortal, the Tree of Life would be unnecessary.
  • The Tree serves to “rejuvenate its eater physically, not spiritually.” (11:58)
  • Mortality is thus not a result of sin per se, but expulsion from the Garden cuts off access to immortality.

4. Resurrection Bodies and Physical vs. Spiritual Life

• Our resurrection/transformation into immortality occurs at Christ’s return, not at conversion or spiritual rebirth.
• Paul’s focus is on the transformation from a natural (psuchikon) body to a spiritual (pneumatikon) body, paralleling Adam and Christ (17:52–18:40).

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Craig’s Paradigm Shift:
  “I’m amazed I could have missed what Paul says in First Corinthians 15, where he says so plainly that God created the first man, Adam, and he became a living being, Psuche. And that's the soma. So I’ve had to change my own thinking on this.” (24:13)

• On the Tree of Life’s Purpose:
  “If they were naturally immortal, then why have a tree of life in the garden at all? It would serve no physical purpose in paradise if they were naturally immortal.” (11:33)

• Student (Sandy) raises Revelation Analogy:
  “In eternity, in paradise, there will be a tree of life... what is the purpose of that one when we have immortal bodies?” (26:31)

• Craig on Symbolism in Revelation:
  “I think that probably what the author of Revelation is... portraying heaven as a kind of restoration of an Edenic state... But I don't see that as being necessarily literal or in any way non symbolic.” (30:42)

---

Key Segment Timestamps

• Text Introduction & Paul’s Adam-Christ Typology – 00:00–12:41
• Nature of Adam’s Mortality; Purpose of the Tree of Life – 10:50–13:56
• Student Q&A: Spiritual vs. Physical Death, Theological Discussion – 13:56–23:37
• Craig’s Rethinking on Original Mortality – 24:13–24:49
• Revelation’s ‘Tree of Life’ and its Eschatological Meaning – 25:49–31:44
• Literal Days and Justice Delayed Argument – 31:54–36:41
• Summing Up the Fall’s Consequences; Best Reading of Paul & Genesis – 36:41–40:00
• Final Summary and Looking Ahead to Romans 5 – 40:00–41:25

---

Student Interactions & Broader Implications

• Taewon’s Objection: Adam was not created mortal; the Fall altered human conscience and brought about mortality. Craig responds by distinguishing spiritual from physical death, underlining the Pauline focus on physical mortality as a baseline human trait, not a result of the Fall (15:19–19:54).
• Sandy & Kevin: Question whether the presence of the Tree of Life in Revelation undermines its function in Genesis. Craig argues against imposing Revelation’s imagery onto the Genesis narrative (26:37–30:42).
• John & Don: Discuss the interpretation of “in the day you eat of it, you shall surely die,” leaning towards spiritual rather than physical death and challenging literal readings about the timing and nature of “death” (31:54–36:41).

---

Episode Takeaways

• Paul’s use of Adam in 1 Corinthians 15 revolves around physical mortality and resurrection, not primarily about spiritual or forensic (legal/salvation) categories.
• The Genesis narrative, when interpreted alongside Paul’s argument, suggests that Adam was created mortal, with the Tree of Life as a potential source for ongoing physical renewal (but not for initial or natural immortality).
• Diverse symbolic representations (especially Revelation) should not be used as direct interpretive keys for Genesis or Paul’s writings, due to different genres and theological purposes.
• Dr. Craig demonstrates intellectual humility in sharing how his own thinking has developed in light of Scriptural analysis, inviting listeners to rethink their assumptions.

---

Next Episode Preview:
Dr. Craig will continue with Paul’s statements about Adam in Romans 5, specifically regarding condemnation and death “in Adam.”

---

For more resources, visit reasonablefaith.org.

---

Transcript

[A]

Welcome to Defenders, the teaching class of Dr. William Lane Craig Today the Creation of Life and Biological Diversity, Part 25. For more information and resources from Dr. Craig, go to reasonablefaith.org Today we want to turn to Paul's use of Adam in 1 Corinthians 15:21, 22 and and 45 to 46 and then in Romans chapter 5, verses 12 to 21. John Collins, the Old Testament scholar, has remarked that while it's not easy to insist that Paul's argument in the texts that we looked at last week depends upon the assumption of Adam's historicity for its validity, the case is different when it comes to to 1 Corinthians 15 and Romans chapter 5, not to mention Acts 17:26. In these crucial passages, Paul lays out his Adam Christology. Now we'll not try in our brief time to unpack all of the theological riches in these passages, but we'll restrict our attention to to their implications for the issue of the historical Adam. In dealing with Paul's two passages About Adam in First Corinthians 15, the question we face is whether his use of Adam is a merely literary figure, whether that suffices to capture Paul's meaning with respect to Adam. So let's review what Paul says in First Corinthians 15:21 to 22 and then 45 to 49, Paul writes, for as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. And then down to verse 45, thus it is written, the first man, Adam, became a living being the last Adam became a life giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual which is first, but the physical and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth a man of dust the second man is from heaven, as was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. Now in verses 45 and 46, Paul's expression thus it is written, followed by his paraphrase of Genesis 2, 7, directs our attention immediately to the Genesis narrative of Adam's creation, and there's little in the ensuing paragraph that takes us beyond the literary character in Genesis chapter two. There, Adam is said to be the first man physical or, as it's sometimes translated, natural. The word in the Greek is psuchikos. Psuchikos means natural or physical and Adam is said to be physical or natural, to be from the earth, and to be made of dust. All of that is true of the figure that we meet. In the Genesis account he was, according to the story, the first human being that God had made formed by God out of the dust of the earth, and therefore having a natural psychicos body. In saying that we all bear the image of the one made of dust, Paul may not be saying more than that we are all like the man described in the story. Each of us has a natural body, a soma. Psucon. Soma is the Greek word for body. Such is the adjective describing that body, a natural body, a body made of dust, and therefore mortal. There may, however, be a hint of the historical Adam in Paul's expression. It is not the spiritual which is first, but the physical and and then the spiritual. Paul might mean simply that in the story the natural or physical body is created first, but it is not the case that in the story after the physical, then the spiritual is created. Now it's true that God breathes into the earthly man the divine breath, though the word pneuma for spirit is not mentioned, so the man becomes then a living being. But that still belongs to the natural realm, not to the spiritual realm. We have to wait until Christ's resurrection for the spiritual to appear. So Paul might be attributing a genuine chronological or historical priority of Adam to Christ, in which case we have moved outside of the story to postulate a historical Adam. Ultimately, whether Paul is using Adam more than just illustratively in 1st Corinthians 15:45-46 is apt to depend upon what he meant by his earlier statement in 21 to 22, as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive. An illustrative reference to the literary Adam would suffice, I think, for Paul's statement as by a man came death, by a man also has come the resurrection of the dead, for the antecedent of that sentence, as by a man came death, and does not clearly move outside of the Genesis narrative, even though the consequent of that sentence so by a man has come the resurrection of the dead is external to the narrative. Paul's statement in Adam all die may look like a truth asserted external to the narrative, because it's not part of the literary atom of Genesis that all die in in Adam. But it's important to note that while Romans 5 contrasts the spiritual death and condemnation in Adam versus justification and righteousness in Christ, here in 1st Corinthians 15. The contrast is not forensic or judicial rather it is physical. In Adam all persons die physically, but in Christ we shall someday be made alive and enjoy resurrection life. So notice that the concern here in First Corinthians 15, in contrast with Romans 5, is with physical immortality, not with righteousness and salvation. The contrast is between Adam's mortality and the immortality that we will have in Christ through his physical resurrection from the dead. In Contrast to Romans 5, Paul's employment of the Adam Christ typology in 1 Corinthians 15 is thus focused on physical death resurrection. Although we might think that physical death is the result of Adam's sin, notice that Paul does not affirm this. Gordon Fee, who is a prominent evangelical commentator on First Corinthians, has commented as follows. On First Corinthians 15:45 and I quote, the first Adam who became a living, that is, a living being, was thereby given a psuchikos body at creation, that is to say, a natural body at creation, a body subject to decay and death. Let me repeat that sentence because it's important. The first Adam who became a living being was thereby given a natural body at creation, a body subject to decay and death. Fee goes on to say, the last Adam, on the other hand, whose spiritual glorified body was given at his resurrection, is himself the source of the spiritual or pneumaticos life as well as the spiritual body. So on this view, Adam was created with a mortal natural body. Think about it. If Adam and Eve had been naturally immortal, then why have a tree of life in the garden at all? It would serve no physical purpose in paradise in if they were naturally immortal. Notice that the tree of life serves to rejuvenate its eater physically, not spiritually. Hence the concern about fallen mans eating from the tree and living forever. Notice that God's concern was not that Adam and Eve would eat from the tree of life and be spiritually regenerated or born anew, but rather that in their condition of alienation and condemnation from God, they would be physically rejuvenated and immortal. So why have a tree of life in the garden at all if they were naturally immortal? Moreover, think about this. Jesus Christ, though sinless, also had a body which was which was natural and therefore mortal, so that he could die. It is only with his resurrection that his soma psucha khan his natural body was transformed into a soma pneumaticon, a spiritual body that happens at the resurrection. It cannot therefore be said that physical death is is solely a consequence of personal sin, or Christ would not be able to die. So the only sense in which physical death might be seen as a consequence of sin, I think is indirect. It is a consequence of Adam and Eve's expulsion from the garden, cutting them off from any hope of immortality symbolized by by the tree of life. So Paul in First Corinthians 15 associates human mortality with the creation of Adam, not with his fall. Mortality is associated with Adam's creation, not with his fall. Adam is created with asoma psucan. He does not get one by sinning. Paul implies that physical mortality is the natural human condition. In saying that in Adam all die, Paul may be saying that it's in virtue of sharing a common human nature with Adam that we share in his natural mortality. Now, perhaps Paul draws that inference based upon the literary Adam, but it may just go beyond the boundaries of the literary Adam to touch the historical Adam. Any question about the use of Adam in 1st Corinthians 15? Taewon?

[B]

It's a handful of questions, but the assumption that Adam is created mortal, I disagree with that because tree of life is in proverb wisdom, described as wisdom and tree of knowledge, of good and evil, actually change the conscience of man from in agreement with God into in agreement with the tempter. So when our conscience is sealed, there's no way that we will go about living God's design and his ways. In that when our conscience is sealed, all decisions are reversed, from obeying God to rebelling against God. So it is that decision that they ate that this tree change human conscience, which bring the mortality in the dead.

[A]

Okay, now wait. That's the inference that I'm questioning. Tawan, everything you said so far, I think is a perfect description of spiritual death, that that is brought about through the fall, resulting in human alienation from God and condemnation. But neither in Genesis 3 nor especially in 1 Corinthians 15 is our having a mortal natural body associated with Adam sinning. Rather, Paul says very explicitly that the first man, Adam, became a living being. And that is the image then that we bear as human beings like Adam.

[B]

There is a direct association between spiritual and physical in my concept that.

[A]

Wait, okay, but the question is, is your concept correct? Is it biblical?

[B]

It's developed by God through all this Bible study. Okay, so I won't claim it's correct, but listen to my justification.

[A]

Yes, I want to hear it.

[B]

Everything in the Bible talk about spiritual truth, which has physical manifestation. Everything, all spiritual truth has physical manifestation. And that is why when our spirit died, our physical body has no chance of live on.

[A]

But But I tell you what, we are spiritually dead apart from Christ.

[B]

Yeah, but eternal life.

[A]

Very well. Right.

[B]

Eternal life is promised for the spiritual being. Right. When we become born again as a spiritual person because Christ as a life giving spirit and then we receive that life from Christ and we become a born again spiritual being which is reconciled to the triune God. And so there is that physical ramification of this truth that is the eternal life.

[A]

Now wait, wait. What you've just been describing, Tawan, sounds to me like spiritual renovation and renewal. But what we're talking about here is having a soma pneumaticon as opposed to a soma Psukha Khan. Having a spiritual or supernatural body compared to a natural body. And when does that take place? It doesn't take place when you're born again or saved. It takes place at the resurrection when Christ returns. Then you will be transformed and you will receive your spiritual body. So the question is, when did you get this Somasucha Khan? Or how did Adam get a Soma Psucha Khan? Was he born with it or did he get it as a result of the fall?

[B]

When our spiritual alignment agrees with Christ, the exchange life takes place. Where he died for our sin, we live for his righteousness. That reality has a physical ramification of eternal life. Yes, that's right. And that's a physical ramification?

[A]

Well, in the sense that it will lead to our resurrection someday from the dead, which is still future. That's something we await for and hope for. Yes, there will be a physical manifestation just like Christ.

[B]

The shield cannot hold his body because he's totally righteous. I mean, he cannot remain dead. Okay, he actually physically died, but he cannot remain dead. He resurrected. So will we. We will physically die, but we will not rem dead because of our spiritual alignment with Christ. And that gives us that physical reality.

[A]

Yeah, I don't think we're disagreeing at all about that, Tawan. As I said, my focus here is not on the part of the contrast between Christ and Adam, where we look at what we will have in Christ and what we will become in Christ. I'm interested in the part of the sentence where he says, as in Adam, all die. What does that mean? Does that mean that when Adam fell, his body lost its natural immortality and became immortal and somehow that's been passed down to us? Or is it the case that Adam was created mortal, but given the Tree of Life as an opportunity for renewal and rejuvenation, but lost it when he fell and was expelled from the garden?

[B]

I believe Adam was created to choose between a tree of life or tree of knowledge of good and evil, which one direct to immortality, the other directed to mortality, and they chose or been tempted into taking the mortality. But I don't believe were created without immortality.

[A]

Do you think they were created immortal?

[B]

Yes. If they choose the wisdom route, they would have the spirit of God and then they will continue that life with God's design and purpose. That's how I believe.

[A]

All right. Yes. Kyle, you know, when Moses talks about nephesh and ruach, how does this tie in in that context with Paul understanding? Okay, the naturalness. Okay. He's using a couple of Hebrew terms here, nephesh and ruach, which can be translated as soul and spirit, though they have a very wide range meanings in Genesis. It doesn't say, interestingly enough, that. Well, what it says is that, as I recall, is that God breathed into him the breath of life and that Adam became a living being, a Nephesh, nefesh chayah, a living being. And that's the same that is true of an animal. For example, an animal is a living being. But the divine ruach, or spirit is not mentioned in Genesis, nor is pneuma mentioned in First Corinthians 15. So the idea there is simply that God animates this physical body that he has formed from the dust and Adam becomes alive. And Paul associates that act in 1 Corinthians 15 with Adam's having this natural body. You see the word here in the word natural, Psuchachan, it comes from psuche, which is the word for soul. It is similar to nephesh in Hebrew, but psuche is soul. So literally a soulish body, that is to say, a body that is animated by the human soul and therefore alive. Thank you.

[C]

Uh huh.

[A]

Yes, Bruce, this poses an interesting question because a lot of times doctrinally we

[C]

predisposed to think of physical death as a result of eating of the fruit.

[A]

Yes, you're right, Bruce. And this has been a reversal of thinking, frankly on my own part as a result of this study, I used to think that the soma Psuchachan was the result of sin. And I'm amazed I could have missed what Paul says in First Corinthians 15, where he says so plainly that God created the first man, Adam, and he became a living being, Psuche. And that's the soma. So I've had to change my own thinking on this. Go ahead.

[C]

So it's certainly something to think about because, you know, I'm in the same boat here. But also in support of it, they

[A]

didn't die right away.

[C]

If they. If they ate the fruit and that was going to be spiritual death as well as physical death at the same time, then certainly Eve would have died first, or you would think this is

[A]

a very point that John Collins, whom I quoted earlier, makes. He says the threat in Genesis 2:7, in the day you eat of it, you will surely die, he said, must be referring to spiritual death, not physical death, because when they ate of it, they didn't drop over dead physically, but they were alienated from God in the way that Tawan so eloquently described. So I think you're right. I think that the threat of death and then what actually happens to them when their sin supports this view, as well as the fact that having a tree of life in the garden for sinless people would be utterly pointless if they already had natural immortality. So I think you're making a good point, which other Old Testament scholars have made. Ms. Kachuk. JJ. JJ is your chaechuk. What's your first name?

[D]

Sandy.

[A]

Sandy. That's easier. Okay. All right. Sandy, please.

[D]

You just said something that's very related to my question. The. The whole thing about the tree of life, what you're saying sounds reasonable. That. Okay, then why would you need the tree of life if. If it was immortal? And was that to keep it alive? But revelations.

[C]

Yes.

[D]

2. Is it 2:7 right now? Just lost it again. Hold on, I just had the verse. Yeah, it's 27 where it says, and this is in eternity, in paradise, there will be a tree of life.

[A]

Yes.

[D]

So what is the purpose of that one when we have immortal bodies, then if we. If that is any evidence.

[A]

Let's see, now you were quoting from Revelation 2:2, verse 7. 7. Hey, no, that's not right. What is the verse?

[D]

Yeah, it is he who has an ear.

[A]

What's the reference, though?

[D]

Revelation 2, verse 7 is talking to the. The church, the message to Ephesus. And after the message, and it says, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches, to him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. Yeah, that's talking about eternity, is it not? And we have an immortal body. And so why. If that's an evidence that it's.

[A]

Well, I would say that.

[D]

Well, that would kind of blow that theory.

[A]

It cannot be for the purpose of bestowing immortality upon otherwise mortal, corruptible bodies, because in the resurrection state, I mean, Paul couldn't be More clear, we will have immortal, honorable, glorious, supernatural bodies which will be incapable of corruption and mortality. Nothing could be clear from 1 Corinthians 15 than that. And therefore, as Christ is raised from the dead, never to die again, you're not going to need a tree of life in the eschaton to keep you alive. Otherwise you're going to corrupt and die. That's out of the question. So at best, this would serve some sort of symbol, symbolic value. It can't be bestowing immortality upon corruptible bodies.

[D]

I agree with you. But because of that, I can't agree with the other theory that the tree of life in the garden has any bearing on proving that the bodies were mortal and needed it to live because it's there in eternity and it's not needed.

[A]

Okay, well, what I'm thinking of here. Here is why God expels them from the garden. Why does he kick them out of the garden? He says, lest they eat the tree of life and live forever. So he seems to think there that if they go and eat this, they'll rejuvenate physically and will live forever. But there wouldn't be any point in having that kind of a tree in the garden if they were sinless. And I think it's important, too, don't impose one part of Scripture on another. I mean, you can't just sort of take things out of the Book of Revelation and use that as an interpretive grid for Genesis or Paul.

[D]

I think it only posed a question, because if that is kind of a proof, if that is the reasoning we're using, I'm thinking it kind of falls apart because it's not always used in that way. There's other unanswered. Yeah, I hear what you're saying. There's other things that don't answer the mortality, immortality. As far as him keeping you out, that sounds like it was maintaining their life mortally. It's just. Yeah, I just would not use the Tree of Life as the point to prove it, because to me, it kind of falls apart on the other end.

[E]

Yeah, I was thinking along the exact same lines. And if the idea is that Adam and Eve would have lived immortally in Eden by continued renewal, continued eating from the Tree of Life, to continue forever having immortality. If that's the case in Genesis, then if you look in Revelation 22, it says that the tree of life was on each side of the river bearing 12 kinds of fruit, and the leaves were for the healing of the nation. So is that the case? Are we then to understand that in Heaven, we would continually. We will be immortal by virtue of continually eating from the tree of life. And then if you skip down to verse 14 of Revelation 22, it says, Excuse me, 15, outside are the dogs. And they don't. The people who are not believers, they don't have access to the tree of life. And that would actually infer that they would ultimately die again in annihilationism. Annihilationism I can't stand.

[A]

Yeah, I would say again, what I said to Sandy a moment ago is that I think it's just illegitimate to take passages written by a different author at a totally different time that are highly symbolic and use those as an interpretive grid for these narratives in Genesis. I think that probably what the author of Revelation is imagining here or Portra portraying heaven as a kind of restoration of an Edenic state, that it's like a return to paradise. And so you've got things like the tree of life and so forth. But I don't see that as being necessarily literal or in any way non symbolic. And it shouldn't be a guide to how to understand Genesis and what Paul has to say.

[F]

Yes, John, I just had something of a comment and it kind of goes back to a previous point in the class where you're talking about in the day you shall eat of it, you shall surely die.

[A]

Yes.

[F]

That the day being interpreted there isn't a literal day. Given that they didn't drop down and die. I was just suggesting, well, maybe this is evidence that, well, the days aren't literal.

[A]

So what are you saying?

[F]

In the day you shall eat of it, you shall surely die. And then you pointed out, well, they don't drop there and dead and die on that day specifically. Well, that suggests that the day that he's speaking of isn't the literal day.

[A]

Yeah. The idea is that if eating from this tree brings physical death, then you would expect that to happen. Yeah. And it doesn't. Instead there is a kind of spiritual death.

[F]

I was just kind of suggesting that this might be like special pleading to kind of take days literally in a certain part. And then when you get to this point, part O, it's a literal.

[A]

It's a well, boy. That gets into the wider debate in Genesis 2 and 3. In contrast to Genesis 1, it is talking about literal days, it seems to me. Right. We're not dealing there with the six days of creation in Genesis 1. We're here in Genesis 2 and 3. And I think that what it's meant to convey is the certainty of their death when they disobey God in this way. But it seems to me naturally to take this as a spiritual death rather than saying that physical death results.

[F]

Okay,

[A]

let's give it someone who hasn't spoken yet. Yes, Don.

[C]

Bill, the human saying that really has thrown me a curve all my life. Is justice delayed, is justice denied. That's a human concept that doesn't apply to God. He doesn't necessarily have to do on exactly the same day what he said, as long as he issues the order. And that's clear in the book of Daniel, where Daniel prayed to God to have something removed from him, and he didn't get an answer. I believe the Bible Sundays for like, 20 days. And he said to the angel when he finally got there, what took you so long?

[A]

Right.

[C]

And the angel says, the order was given the day you prayed. And God sent me. I was intercepted by the Prince of Persia, and I had to go get, I think, a higher angel to come help him get through. And they broke through and came and brought Daniel the answer. So. And I've wrestled with this pretty much all my life. You look at things that are happening and you say, why doesn't God do something about this? And you look at the Second World War and the Nazis and their role across Europe, and I can only say that when Nuremberg came along in 45 and all of those top Nazis ended up facing the court, justice was no longer delayed, and it was swift and they hung big time.

[A]

Yes.

[C]

And I don't know that. And you got into this with the study of Genesis. You know, evening and morning were one day. And my concept is the order may have been given that day. And it became as certain as let there be light. And there was light when. And that's the problem I have with all of this trying to lay human ideas on God. And so why aren't you doing something that I understand? And I just sit back and say, guess who doesn't understand God? And it's not God, it's me.

[A]

Sure.

[C]

And I have never lived in the spiritual realm. I have only lived in the human realm. I don't know what it's going to be like. But I wrestle with the idea of eternity because I just say, how can there be no beginning and no end? I can't understand that everything we deal with has a beginning and it has an end because we're locked in a time frame.

[A]

Okay, well, let's not get into issues of time and eternity. Let's deal with this, the Fall, and its consequences. My argument here is based primarily upon the exegesis of 1 Corinthians 15, where Paul grounds Adam being a soma psucha or having a soma psuchokan, not in his fall, but in his creation. Paul says, this is the way Adam was created. And that's what really leapt out at me in looking at these verses and is that he doesn't point to the fall, he points to the creation. Now, in light of that, go back to Genesis and what do you find? You don't find them dying physically, but you do find them dying spiritually. And if they were naturally immortal, again, as I say, then the tree of life would serve no physical purpose in the garden. Now, maybe it have some symbolic purpose, Sandy suggest suggests, but it sure doesn't look like that what it's for. It seems like it's supposed to be a tree that will rejuvenate your youth when you eat its fruit. And that would suggest naturally mortal people who, if they don't sin, will live forever in paradise because they'll eat of the tree. And so I grant you, you can read it a different way if you want. I think that's perfectly possible. But if your train of thought goes through the steps that I followed, beginning with First Corinthians 15 and then going back, it seems to me that this makes the best sense of the biblical data. Yes, Tim, and this will be our last one this morning.

[G]

If you look, when you look at Revelation 2, the context is the endurance of the church in Ephesus. And so when he tells them that to the one who conquers, he's talking about the church enduring. To the one who conquers, I will grant to eat of the tree of life. To me, that seems like it's just a metaphorical way of saying that those who conquer will enter into eternity. And I don't think that it's interpretive stretch to say that that's metaphor, because the chapter begins with a metaphor. The chapter says, to the angel of the church in Ephesus, write the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lamp stands. So to then go on to describe the endurance of the church of Ephesus and describe the reward as the tree of Life. To me, that just seems to be further metaphor that he's saying that you'll enter into eternal life if you.

[A]

Yeah, Tim's making I think, a very good point about 2, 7, because he is talking to people in Ephesus and says, if you don't lose your faith, if you conquer and succeed, then you'll be able to eat the Tree of Life, which is probably just a symbol for resurrection life, that you'll be raised from the dead and live with Christ in heaven. And then you've got the passages later that Kevin highlighted in 22. The Book of Revelation is just full of these sorts of symbols. And once we're raised from the dead and have a resurrection body patterned on Christ, you're not going to need to eat fruit from a tree to keep from dying again. You're going to have a somaticon that is glorious, immortal, incorruptible and imperishable. So, well, as I said, I thought this would be thought provoking. It's caused my own thinking to change on this issue, and I hope that you will consider it as well. Next time we'll turn to Romans chapter 5 and see what Paul has to say about condemnation and death being in Adam. Let's close with a word of prayer. Father, thank you for the time this morning of iron sharpening iron interacting on these important scriptural issues. And we pray, Lord, that your Holy Spirit would fill us and guide us throughout this week, that we would lead lives pleasing to you and be clean and open vessels to be used of you in the lives of those that we come in contact with. Through Christ our Lord, we pray. Amen.

[C]

The copyright for the preceding material is held by Dr. William Lane Craig. For more, go to reasonablefaith. Org.