Friday, March 11, 2022

Example of a "Biblical Unitarian" (Socinian) Understanding of 1 Corinthians 15:47

  

Paul’s statement, ‘The first man [is] from the earth, earthly: the second man [is] the Lord from heaven.’ (1 Cor 15:47), is a contrast between Adam’s dust origins and the origin of Christ—the Lord was born from above. Paul does not mention birth, but he does mention heaven and being from heaven in a context of coming into existence. John 3 is helpful here because Jesus uses the concept of birth from above (v. 6 KJV mg., cf. v. 31) in a context which makes the same contrast as Paul—between the earthly and the heavenly. It is difficult to resist the inference that Paul is quoting John, and inviting his readers to make a reference to Christ’s miraculous birth. Both John and Paul are using Jesus’ birth from above to model the new spiritual birth of believers. (Andrew Perry, Before He Was Born: Combating Arguments for the Pre-existence of Christ [7th ed. [4th revision]; Staffordshire, U.K.: Willow Publications, 2022], 339 n. 1)