Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [1 Corinthians: Chapter 15].
\s•ma\ for the natural man, but there is spiritual
(\pneumatikon\) \s•ma\ for the resurrection.
15:36 {Thou foolish one} (\aphr•n\). Old word (\a\ privative,
\phr•n\), lack of sense. It is a severe term and justified by the
implication "that the objector plumes himself on his acuteness"
(Robertson and Plummer). Proleptic position of \su\ (thou)
sharpens the point. Sceptics (agnostics) pose as unusually
intellectual (the intelligentsia), but the pose does not make one
intelligent. {Except it die} (\ean m• apothan•i\). Condition of
third class, possibility assumed. This is the answer to the "how"
question. In plant life death precedes life, death of the seed
and then the new plant.
15:37 {Not the body which shall be} (\ou to s•ma to
gen•somenon\). Articular future participle of \ginomai\,
literally, "not the body that will become." The new {body}
(\s•ma\) is not yet in existence, but only the seed (\kokkos\,
grain, old word, as in Mt 13:31). {It may chance} (\ei
tuchoi\). Fourth class condition as in 14:10 which see. Paul is
rich in metaphors here, though usually not so (Howson, _Metaphors
of St. Paul_). Paul was a city man. We sow seeds, not plants
(bodies). The butterfly comes out of the dying worm.
15:38 {A body of its own} (\idion s•ma\). Even under the
microscope the life cells or germ plasm may seem almost
identical, but the plant is quite distinct. On \sperma\, seed,
old word from \speir•\, to sow, see on ¯Mt 13:24f.
15:39 {The same flesh} (\h• aut• sarx\). Paul takes up animal
life to show the great variety there is as in the plant kingdom.
Even if evolution should prove to be true, Paul's argument
remains valid. Variety exists along with kinship. Progress is
shown in the different kingdoms, progress that even argues for a
spiritual body after the body of flesh is lost. {Of beasts}
(\kt•n•n\). Old word, from \ktaomai\, to possess, and so
property. See Lu 10:34. {Of birds} (\pt•n•n\). Old word from
\petomai\, to fly, winged, flying. Only here in N.T.
15:40 {Celestial} (\epourania\). Old word, from \epi\, upon,
\ouranos\, heaven, existing in heaven. Paul now rises higher in
the range of his argument, above the merely {terrestrial}
(\epigeia\, upon earth, \epi, ge\) bodies. He has shown
differences in the bodies here on earth in plants and in the
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