1 Corinthians 15:50

Τοῦτο δέ φημι, ἀδελφοί (see note, 1 Corinthians 7:29) introduces, with a pause, an emphatic reassertion of the ruling thought of the previous § that of the opposition between the psychic body of the First Adam and the spiritual body of the Second; manifestly the former is unfit for God's heavenly kingdom with the latter, it is assumed (48 b; cf. Luke 20:34 ff., 1 John 3:2 f.), we must be clothed to enter that diviner realm: “Flesh and blood cannot inherit God's kingdom; nor indeed doth corruption (perishableness) inherit incorruption (imperishableness)”. The second assertion explicates the first: σὰρξ κ. αἶμα = φθορά (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:42, and note), since decay is inherent in our bodily nature; ὁ ἔξω ἄνθρωπος διαφθείρεται (2 Corinthians 4:16; cf. Romans 8:10 f.). “Flesh” is the matter and “blood” the essence and life-vehicle of man's present corporeity. Nature forbids eternal life in this earthly dress (cf. note on 46). “Inherit” points to the kingdom as the right of the sons of God (Romans 8:17, etc.; cf. Matthew 25:34), but a heritage unrealised during the “bondage of corruption” (see Romans 8:21 ff.). Another, but removeable, disability of “flesh and blood” appears in Matthew 16:17.