“If there is a natural, there is a spiritual,” Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15. This is often read as a statement about two states: As soon as Adam was created a living soul, he was destined to rise to the state of “Spirit.” In context, though, this contrast is a contrast not of two states of one man, but of two men. Paul immediately goes on to identify the natural/soulish with “the first man” and “live-giving Spirit” with the second.

Hence, Paul’s if-then statement appears to mean: If there is Adam, there is also an eschatological Adam. Once God creates through the Word, He commits Himself be incarnate as the word.