Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
Afterward. Adam had "a living soul," framed for eternal life by eating the tree of life (Genesis 3:22): still, his body was but an animal-souled, not a spiritual body, such as believers, shall have; much less was he a 'life-giving spirit,' as Christ. The natural principle ruled in him. His soul had the germ rather than the fullness of the spirit, such as man shall have when restored, 'body, soul, and spirit,' by the second Adam. As the first and lower Adam came before the second and heavenly Adam, and as we are born naturally before we are in soul born again of the Spirit, so the animal-souled body comes first, and must die before it be changed into the spiritual body - i:e., that in which the spirit predominates over the animal soul.