"A glance through Genesis 1-2 reveals how many of its major themes are alluded to in Paul's present argument. The creator God made the heavens and the earth, and filled both with his creatures; Paul mentions these two categories in verse 40, and uses a discussion of them to distinguish the first Adam from the final one. The powerful divine wind, or spirit, moved over the waters, and the divine breath or spirit also animated Adam and Eve; the life-giving activity of both the creator and Jesus is seen by Paul in terms of the pneuma, the spirit, wind of breath (verses 44-6). The creator made the lights in heaven, which Paul mentions in verse 41. He created plants bearing fruit containing seed, so the more plants could be produced; Paul makes this a major theme in verse 36-8, and then draws on the language of 'sowing' in verses 42-4. The creator made every kind of bird, animal and fish; Paul brings them, too, into his argument (verses 39-40). At the climax of Genesis 1, the creator made human beings in his image, to have dominion over the rest of creation, and in Genesis 2 he entrusted Adam in particular with the responsibility for naming the animals; for Paul, too, the climax of the story is the recreation of humankind through the life-giving activity of the final Adam, whose image will be borne by all who belong to him. This is indeed a deliberate and careful theology of new Genesis, of creation renewed." (Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God, pg 341)
This sets the context for understanding the Christian teaching of the resurrection in a way that cuts against the grain of several aberrant theologies. Modern theories about gnosticism and the early church are obliterated by Paul's analogy here. 1 Corinthians is recognized by virtually all scholars as one of the earliest extant Christian documents. And here, very early on, we see that Christian theology affirmed the goodness of creation and was rooted organically in the Old Testament. Paul knew he didn't have apologize for using the Old Testament in making his point to the Corinthian Christians. Furthermore, the manner of his argument in verses 35-49 assumes a positive acquaintance with the Old Testament amongst his audience. All of this testifies to the fact that Christian theology, from the very beginning, was firmly rooted in the overarching themes of creation, fall, and redemption. It was not rooted in Gnosticism's worldview of evil matter being created by an evil "lesser" god who they associated with Yahweh.
The theology of the cults is also undermined by Wright's observations. Mormonism bases their eschatology largely on a misreading of this text. They argue, based upon verse 40, that there is a "terrestrial" heaven, a "celestial" heaven and a "telestial" heaven (the "telestial" heaven is admittedly an addition of Mormon "revelation"). Mormons claim that this verse is unintelligible apart from their interpretation of it. However, viewing it as an analogy of Genesis 1-2, and the creation of the heavenly bodies, sufficiently explains the meaning of the text apart from their bizarre innovation. The Jehovah's Witnesses' understanding of Christ's resurrection is also compromised by the creational roots of this text. Jehovah's Witnesses argue that the natural body/spiritual body dichotomy of verse 44-46 argues for a "spiritual," or disembodied, resurrection of Christ. However, if we keep in mind that "spiritual" in the New Testament almost always refers to the Holy Spirit, and we couple that with a recognition of the parallels with Genesis 2, a different conclusion is reached. Just as Adam "became a living being"(vs 45) through the Spirit's work, so did the second Adam become a life giving Spirit (vs. 45) through His work being applied to the church by the Spirit's power.
I can't recommend reading Wright's book enough. He is a man that I strongly disagree with in some areas, and I have even found areas of disagreement with him in this volume. However, rarely do I walk away from the book without feeling edified and challenged in my understanding of the text.
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