When Paul was seeking to attain the first resurrection he was striving to become what God means by "man."

In the beginning God created man in His image.

As we have stated previously, "man" must be created in two steps. The first step is the development of the initial form of man, consisting of a material body, an intelligent soul, and a spirit that can communicate with God. The second step is the development of the permanent form of man, consisting of a spiritualized flesh and bone body, a soul that has been changed into the Substance and image of Divine Life, and a spirit that is one with the Holy Spirit of God.

The first man is a living soul. He is an intelligent animal with the potential for becoming "man."

The second man is a life-giving spirit (I Corinthians 15:45). He is the dwelling place of God.

It has been given to the second man, who is what God means by "man," to rule the works of God's hands.

The first man is the dust of the ground. The second man is the Lord from Heaven.

By striving to attain the early resurrection from the dead, Paul was pressing toward becoming "man."

What is born of the flesh is flesh. The flesh profits nothing. Flesh and blood cannot enter the Kingdom of God.

What is born of the Spirit of God is Divine in Substance and Nature. It is of the Kingdom of God. It is eternal.

Man must bear the image of the earthly, and also the image of the heavenly, in order to become "man."

The Christian redemption is not directed toward the perpetuation of the first man in the spirit Paradise. The Christian redemption is directed toward the completion of what God means by "man." What an altogether different understanding from the current viewpoint this is! What a different meaning, what an urgency it gives to the choices we Christians make concerning how we conduct ourselves in the world!

It is impossible to overstate the necessity, the urgency for today's Christian people to understand the Kingdom law of sowing and reaping. What we are sowing we shall reap. If we are sowing to our first man, our first, natural personality, we will reap corruption in the Day of Christ. The first nature is corrupt. Our first personality will be raised from the dead—to face what?

If we give ourselves to the Holy Spirit, diligently following the Lord each moment, we will stand before the Lord in that day in newness of life. It will not be a redeemed first personality standing before the Lord Jesus, it will be a new creation that has been fashioned from His Life just as Eve was fashioned from the substance of Adam. We will enter life in that day because we have become life. We will enter a body and an environment compatible with that which has been developed in our spiritual personality.

To be continued.