1 Corinthians 15:46
1 Corinthians 15:4646The spiritual, however, was not first, but the natural, and then the spiritual.
JWs read the "natural first, then spiritual" sequence as confirming the order of salvation history in their system — the earthly physical comes first, the heavenly spiritual comes later. The verse is also used to support the idea that Christ's resurrection was to a spirit-creature state, following an earlier physical phase. The framework allows the two-track JW eschatology to cite Paul as a witness for its own ordering.
The "natural then spiritual" sequence is Paul's structural hinge between Adam and Christ. Adam is the head of the natural / earthy creation; Christ is the head of the spiritual / heavenly creation. This is not about Jesus undergoing a status change from physical to spirit; it is about the two orders of humanity represented by Adam and Christ respectively. At the door, use it to set up verse 49: believers bore Adam's image in the natural creation and will bear Christ's image in the spiritual creation. The direction of travel is toward conformity to Christ's glorified humanity, not away from embodiment into disembodied spirit.