The Message Bible MSG
New International Version NIV
45 We follow this sequence in Scripture: The First Adam received life, the Last Adam is a life-giving Spirit.
45
So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being” ; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.
46 Physical life comes first, then spiritual -
46
The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual.
47 a firm base shaped from the earth, a final completion coming out of heaven.
47
The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven.
48 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.
48
As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven.
49 In the same way that we've worked from our earthy origins, let's embrace our heavenly ends.
49
And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.
50 I need to emphasize, friends, that our natural, earthy lives don't in themselves lead us by their very nature into the kingdom of God. Their very "nature" is to die, so how could they "naturally" end up in the Life kingdom?
50
I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
51 But let me tell you something wonderful, a mystery I'll probably never fully understand. We're not all going to die - but we are all going to be changed.
51
Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—
52 You hear a blast to end all blasts from a trumpet, and in the time that you look up and blink your eyes - it's over. On signal from that trumpet from heaven, the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again. At the same moment and in the same way, we'll all be changed.
52
in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
53 In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal.
53
For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.
54 Then the saying will come true: Death swallowed by triumphant Life!
54
When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
55 Who got the last word, oh, Death? Oh, Death, who's afraid of you now?
55
“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.