A.T. Hanson on 1 Corinthians 15:45-49 and Jesus as the "Second Adam"

The identification of Christ with a pre-existent being is attested by Paul’s presentation of Christ as the ‘Second Adam’ in 1 Corinthians 15:45-49. We know from the writings of Philo that there was a tradition in Alexandrian Judaism at least that the two distinct accounts of the creation of man in Genesis 1:26-7 and 2:4 following referred to two distinct men. The first account referred to an ideal, heavenly man, who belonged to the sphere of mind; the second to empirical physical man, the figure we moderns would call homo sapiens. Now Paul certainly makes use of this tradition in the passage in 1 Corinthians 15 just referred to. But he alters it in that he says the heavenly Adam came after the earthly one: ‘The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven’ (v. 47). It seems very unlikely, however, that Paul meant that the Second Adam only first came into existence when he appeared on earth. We know from other passages, such as Galatians 4:4; Romans 8:3; Philippians 2:6-8, that Paul believed that Christ pre-existed and was sent from heaven. In saying therefore that Christ was the Second Adam, he meant that he appeared on earth second to empirical Adam, not that he was created second. Here then is another passage where Paul is finding the pre-existent Christ referred to in scripture. (Anthony Tyrrell Hanson, The Living Utterances of God: The New Testament Exegesis of the Old [London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1983], 46-47)