literally "soulish," that which has. is quickened by, an anima; and to translate spiritale as
318 The Literal Meaning of Genesis
Whether thefirst man 's body wasformed embodying soul or spirit
19, 30. Again, a question often raised is whether it was an embodiment of soul23 that was first formed for the man out of mud, such as we now have, or an embodiment of spirit, such as we shall have when we rise again. For although this sort of body will be changed into that—it is sown, you see, embodying the soul, it rises embodying the spirit (1 Cor 15:44)—still the reason there is some debate about what sort was first made for the man is that if it was an embodiment of soul that was made, we will not receive again24 what we lost in him, but some thing altogether better to the extent that spirit surpasses soul, when we shall be equal to the angels of God (Lk 20:36). But while the angels can indeed surpass other human beings, in theirjustice as well as their nature, can they also surpass the Lord? And yet it says about him: You have made him a little less than the angels (Ps 8:5; Heb 2:7); in what respect, if not because of the weakness of the flesh which he took from the virgin, accepting theform ofa slave (Phil 2:7), in which he died to redeem us from slavery?
But why should we spend any more time discussing the point? After all, there is not a shadow of doubt about the apostle's judgment on this matter. When he wished to present evidence to prove that there is a body embodying soul,25 he did not point to his own or anyone else's body which could be seen then and there, but rather turned to this very place in scripture, and presented it with the words: lf there is an embodiment of soul, so also is there of spirit. That too is how it is written: Thefirst man, Adam, was made into a living soul, the lastAdam into a life-giving spirit. But notfirst the one with the spirit, but the one with the soul; later the one with the spirit. Thefirst manfrom the earth, earthy; the secondman from heaven, heavenly. As the earthy one, such are those who are earthy; and as the heavenly one, such are those who are heavenly. Andjust as we have put on the image of the earthy one, so let us also put on the image of him who isfrom heaven (1 Cor 15:44-49). What answer can be made to that? So then, we now bear the image of the heavenly man by faith, due to have in the resurrection what
23. Animale corpus, contrasted with corpus spiritale. Animale does not mean "animal." but literally "soulish," that which has. is quickened by, an anima; and to translate spiritale as "spiritual" conveys entirely the wrong impression in current English, suggesting to most people an immaterial body, which amounts to a bodiless body. 1n contrast loanimale it means being quickened by spirit, no longer by soul. "Soul" and "spirit" are by no means synonymous in scripture, whether in the Hebrew of the Old Testament or the Greek of the New; on the contrary, they are nearly always in mutual opposition, so that in Saint Paul, who is here just following Old Testament usage, psychikos, having a psyche or soul, is mostly synonymous with sarkikos, being carnal or fleshly. 24. 1n the resurrection of the dead. 25. 1n fact, Saint Paul was wishing to prove that real, material bodies will rise again in the resurrection of the dead, but that then they will be embodiments of spirit, not of soul. 1t is Augustine who is wishing to prove, from Saint Paul, that Adam's body was an embodiment of soul—which indeed he does quite legitimately.