[UntoHim]

Let's get back to "interpreting 1 Cor 15:45."

From Charles Ellicott's commentary Charles John Ellicott (1819–1905) was a distinguished English Christian theologian, academic and churchman.
http://biblehub.com/commentaries/1_c...ians/15-45.htm

And so it is written, The first man Adam became a living soul: the last Adam became a quickening spirit.
The quotation which follows here is from Genesis 2:7, and it is the latter part of that verse which is quoted. The Rabbinical explanation of that passage was—that God breathed into man the breath of life originally, but that man became (not “was made”) only a living soul, i.e., one in whom the mere human faculties held sway, and not the spirit. He became this lower thing by his own act of disobedience. Here, then, St. Paul, contrasts the two Adams—the first man and Christ—from whom we derive our natural and our spiritual natures, and our natural and spiritual bodies. The first Adam became, by his disobedience, a mere living soul, and from him we inherit that nature; the second Adam, by his obedience, became a life-giving spirit, and from Him we inherit the spiritual nature in us. The same verb which is expressed in the first clause must be understood in the second clause. The same thought is expressed in Romans 5:19.

Very interesting take. Ellicott's main twist here is that Adam was originally perfectly created with God's breath of life, but then through disobedience "became this lower thing", presumably incapable of fulfilling God's original intention of being a wholesome natural AND spiritual being. After the fall, man became a creature "in whom the mere human faculties held sway" and now needed the outside intervention of his Creator so that he could "inherit the spiritual nature".

Then comes "the last Adam", in whom we can now inherit the spiritual nature. To Ellicott, Jesus' becoming a life-giving spirit is just as much as for the here and now as it is for the future. He emphasizes "the two Adams—the first man and Christ—from whom we derive our natural and our spiritual natures, and our natural and spiritual bodies." Ellicott does not mention Romans 8:11 "If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you", but I think it might be what he was thinking of in speaking of "our spiritual natures".