1 Corinthians 15:35-53

There were some in the Corinthian church who denied the future resurrection of the Christian. In the first part of this chapter, Paul showed that you could not deny that without also denying the resurrection of Christ, and you cannot remove that without destroying all of Christianity. These two things are bound up together, not just because they are conceptually similar, but because the resurrection of the Christian is a result of the resurrection of Christ. They are organically linked. Throughout this chapter, I've made a point of separating these things for the sake of clarity, but on some level, this is false. The resurrection of Christ and the resurrection of the Christian are interconnected. In one sense, perhaps, they are the same event, though different phases occurring at different times.

In the last section, Paul showed how the hope of this resurrection should change the way we live now. We can have the courage to face the difficulties of life and the danger of death, because we have hope beyond this world. Now, he finally comes to addressing directly the objections of the anti-resurrection party in Corinth.

For those of us who have grown up in the church, the words of this passage, especially the last few verses, are extremely well-known. The doctrine of the resurrection is something we are familiar with, at least in a general sense. And I think we have to be careful not to let the familiarity blind us to the strange and startling nature of this doctrine. 

What Paul is picturing here is not some general principle or gradual process. He is not presenting a tired truism or a self-evident platitude. He is describing a wonder, a miracle, something marvelous, something impossible and absurd—at least, something that would be impossible and absurd if it were not for the power of God.

But to understand this a little better, we have to consider what happens at death in Christian theology.

Let's take, for example Stephan, the first Christian on record to die. That happened somewhere around AD 30. We are here, 2000+ years after that event. Stephan is no longer with us. He is dead and, presumably, there is nothing left of his body. So where is Stephan now? In general, what happens to people when they die?

There are a small number of Christians who believe in SOUL SLEEP--they believe that, at death, the spirit goes into a sleeplike state and remains unconscious until the resurrection.

However, the more common belief is the INTERMEDIATE STATE. Most Christians believe that when a person dies, their spirit exists in an intermediate state, and in this state, the Christian experiences blessedness while the lost experience torment. When we talk about someone dying and going to Heaven or Hell, we are talking about the intermediate state. The strongest case for this theory is the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, which describes such a state.

In modern Christian thought, we tend to emphasize the intermediate state almost to the point of excluding the future resurrection. And that's why it strikes me as strange that Paul seems to ignore this idea. Paul dealt with similar issues in the Thessalonian church. Notice what Paul says to them: “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13) Without the doctrine of the resurrection, we have no hope. Paul says the same thing earlier in this chapter. “Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.” (1 Corinthians 15:18-19) He doesn't suggest anything along the lines of: “Even if there is no resurrection, at least they are safe in the intermediate state.” 

I think this suggests that if the intermediate state does exist, it is still not enough. It is only intermediate—a temporary, stop-gap measure meant only to prepare for the resurrection.

Look at how Paul describes the resurrection in 2 Corinthians 5:1-3: “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.”

Paul uses two metaphors here—he refers to the body as a house and as clothes lived in or worn by the spirit. And here's the thing. A man can exist without a house; he can exist without clothes. Losing those doesn't make him less real. But we would still say that the proper, the normal, even (in a sense) the natural state of man is to be clothed and housed. And in the same way, though a man may continue to exist without the body, the proper, the normal, even the natural state of man is to possess the body. The union of body and spirit and/or soul—that is who we are. The spirits of those in the intermediate state are, at best, ghosts. Blessed ghosts, perhaps, but incomplete and disenfranchised from their home. And if there is no resurrection, that is all they will ever be.

So we come back to Stephan. Stephan is dead and, on general Christian doctrine, his spirit is in the intermediate state. But there is coming a time, somewhere in the future, when he will be raised from the dead. When his spirit and body will be reunited and he will once again walk the earth as a full and complete man. This future event is call the Resurrection (or the Rapture).

And this event is what some at Corinth were denying. Perhaps they believed in some sort of intermediate state—this would have been closer to pagan Greek thought, which did believe in a kind of afterlife but not a resurrection. Or perhaps they thought that death was the end. In either case, they denied the future resurrection.

And there is a very obvious reason why. There is a reason why this doctrine is difficult to believe—something that should be clear to anyone, but which would probably have been even clearer to people in Paul's day. In modern Western society, we have censored and sanitized death. It would have been very different then.

We remember the story of the crucifixion of Jesus and the two thieves. In that case, the bodies were taken down at the end of the day, and Jesus, at least, was buried. But this was because of special rules in place in Israel. That wasn't usually the case.

Suppose that one of the members of the Corinthian church was a slave. Suppose that one his fellow-Christians was also a slave who, for some reason, had angered their master and so had been crucified. And so this man had to watch—not just watch his friend die in agony, but also to watch his body rot away until it fell from the cross. Having seen that, it would be hard to believe in resurrection. That is an extreme example, but the general truth holds. When a person dies, their body begins to decompose. There are various ways to slow it down, but it still happens. If the resurrection requires a fully complete and intact body to begin with, then there will be very few who are raised on that day. (Incidentally, that is probably why it was easier for the Corinthians to believe in Jesus' resurrection than the future resurrection. Jesus was dead for less than 48 hours and had been wrapped and embalmed.)

This is the key problem with belief in the resurrection. From a certain perspective, it is an unanswerable problem. From a certain perspective, the question of verse 35 is a very obvious and pressing one: “How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?”

I specifically say 'from a certain perspective.' Because Paul clearly did not find this to be a sensible or obvious question. There is one thing that makes the difference—one thing that draws the line between the impossibility of the resurrection and the possibility, nay, the certainty of it. It is the beginning of verse 38: “but God...” If you believe in God, then you can believe in a resurrection. And if you do not believe in God, then you can't. It is interesting to note that many religious and irreligious people believe in some sort of afterlife. So far as I know, the only ones who believe in a resurrection are those who believe, in some sense, in a transcendent, creator God. When Jesus dealt with those who denied the resurrection, this was his answer: “Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.” (Matthew 22:29b)

God made the world; creation is something that could only be achieved by God. And God will someday remake the world in a new creation. The resurrection is something new, something miraculous, something which can only be achieved by God—a great transformation. That is the wonder of the resurrection.

But though Paul does accuse the Corinthians of foolishness for asking the questions, he does also attempt to answer them. The basic answer is given in verses 36-38. There, Paul uses an analogy of a seed.  When you plant a seed, you take a small, dead-looking object and put it into the ground--and from it comes life. Whether it is the blazing beauty of a sunflower or the rich fruitfulness of an apple tree, they all begin with something small and very unlike the final result. And that final result—the flower or the tree—not only can they grow despite the destruction of the seed, they only happen specifically BECAUSE of that destruction. The seed has to die for anything else to happen.

It seems that the Christians at Thessalonica (and perhaps those in Corinth) were able to believe that those Christians alive at the second coming would be taken, but not the dead. But I think Paul is saying that it is no harder or easier for God to take the living than the dead. Even for those alive at the resurrection, there will be a kind of death. This is in verse 51: “We shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed.” And it echoes what Paul says throughout the rest of the passage. Even our living human bodies are not enough. They must be changed. They must, in a sense, die, like a seed dies.

 But in this analogy, the important point is verse 38: “But God giveth it a body.” We call the growth of a plant a natural process because it is part of the world as we know it and, in many cases, it happens without any human intervention. But nature itself is a result of God's power. It was God who created a world in which seeds could turn into trees. That is the God who brings about the resurrection.

This analogy of the seed is the key part of the passage. In essence, Paul says that there must be a change to something new and that this comes about by the power of God. In the next few verses, he expands on this idea.

Let's consider the following groups: HUMANS, ANIMALS, FISH, and BIRDS. Now these things are vastly different. Humans have arms and legs. The majority of animals have legs and no arms. Birds have legs but also wings. Fish have neither arms nor legs. Fish have scales; birds have feathers. Animals and humans have neither. There are a few fringe cases, but by in large these are distinct and you wouldn't confuse them. You wouldn't think a fish is an animal or an animal is fish (unless it's a manatee). 

And yet we can also see why these things are also very similar; why we would group them together. These are physical, organic beings that move and breathe. We can class them together as ORGANIC BODIES.

Now, let's consider another group: SUN, MOON, STARS.  Again, these are very different. Even if we consider them merely from our standpoint, just how they appear to us. The sun is blinding and is only seen during the day. The moon is much dimmer, goes through phases of waxing and waning, and can barely be seen during the day. The stars are much smaller and dimmer and can only be been at night.

And yet we also see the similarities between these things. They all appear in the sky and give light. We can class them all together in the general category of HEAVENLY BODIES.

And this becomes more interesting if we consider specifically the sun and the moon. These are often considered corresponding objects, and yet they function in completely different ways and are made out of different materials. Very different yet also similar.

 And these principles can be extended further. Look at STARS. Not all stars are the same—they vary in brightness as seen from Earth. They are different, and yet they are categorized together.

And we can even say that both of these groups—the earthly bodies and heavenly bodies—both fit together within the general category of BODIES—that is, of physical objects which exist in space and which were, incidentally, created by God.

All of that establishes this principle: that two things can be very different and yet also be similar. Two things can be classed together in a general sense and yet have radically different features or composition. Similarities do not disprove distinctions; distinctions do not disprove similarities. That is the principle Paul is establishing in verses 39-41. 

And here is the point—here is why this theoretical discussion matters. We have the CURRENT body; the human bodies that we currently have. And there is the RESURRECTION body; the bodies we will possess in the resurrection. These are two separate things with radically different characteristics. We'll get into the differences that Paul lists in the next several verses. But first, we also have to note that these two things are also similar; they both exist in the general class of BODY. 

Look at the characteristics Paul gives for our current body. It is CORRUPTIBLE. While living, it can be injured, mutilated, and diseased. And when dead it begins to break down completely. It is DISHONORABLE. (Some commentators think this refers specifically to death, not to the living body. But I think it does apply to the living, as well.) Of course, the human body is a wonder. The fact that it can live and function is proof of the wisdom of God. Sometimes the body may possess great beauty in itself. But compared to what it could be, what it should be, the current human body is a poor and cheap thing. We are dressed in rags, even if they are rags that were once the finest cloth. At its best, it isn't great. And at its best, it isn't very strong. It is also WEAK. Humans can do some truly amazing things, but there is always a limit. We can only do so much and for so long. Even compared to other creatures of this earth, we are weak, to say nothing of the forces of nature.

The sum of all this is that the current body is NATURAL. It is what naturally occurs; what happens without outside interference. We have human ancestors and so we have human bodies. It is the obvious thing; the thing you expect. It needs no explanation. We are part of this whole world system and so share in the problems of that system. Yes, there are things in this world that are less perishable or are stronger than man, but in the end, these attributes would apply to the entire natural order.

That is our current body. What of the resurrection body? It is INCORRUPTIBLE, not liable to corruption, not capable of sickness or decay.  Look at what John saw concerning life in the resurrection: “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” (Revelation 21:4) Look at all those things that won't be present—death, crying, pain, and tears. The absence of things would all seem to indicate an incorruptible body.

It will also be GLORIOUS. “Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.” (Matthew 13:43) The resurrection body will possess some sort of beauty, a sort of glory, though we can only speculate exactly what that means in practice. It will also be POWERFUL. I don't think we have any Biblical suggestion as to what that means. Some theologians have suggested that the Christian in the resurrection will be able to perform miracles such as Christ performed—that they will be able to walk on the water or turn water into wine. That's speculation, but something like that might be true.

Finally, Paul says the resurrection body is SPIRITUAL. Keep that in mind, because we'll come back later and discuss what that means.

Before we get to that, we have to point something out. These two things—the body we currently possess and the resurrection body—are very different. Paul depicts them using antonyms. They are almost defined by their contrasts. And yet Paul's whole argument up to this point has shown us this: two things may be very different but also very similar. The sun, moon, and stars are very different both in appearance and composition, but, so far as humans are concerned, they serve similar purposes. And the current body and the resurrection—despite their obvious differences—are also alike. Paul indicates this by classing them together under the umbrella term BODY. 

Paul doesn't give us any further details about the resurrection body. So you might think we have nothing to go on except speculation. But remember what the rest of this chapter has established—the foundation both for our belief in and the reality of the resurrection is the resurrection of Christ. And so we can get some hint of the resurrection body by looking at the resurrection body of Christ. Obviously, there may be differences between Christ's resurrection body and ours—since He's Christ and we're not. But I think it can give us some hints. Especially as there are several attributes of our current human bodies that also appear in the resurrected body of Christ. 

“And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him. Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.” (Matthew 28:9-10) These women met Jesus on the day of His resurrection, and they talked with him. Jesus greeted them and then gave them a message to carry to His disciples. In other appearances, He met with and spoke with His friends and disciples. He engaged in COMMUNICATION.

Broadly speaking, our body is the means of communication with other people. Think of the difference between talking to someone person to person and talking to them over the phone. In both cases, it is the same person. But the experience is different and (I suspect, though I don't know if there are any definitive scientific studies on the point) there is a greater chance of miscommunication in the latter. When we talk over the phone, we are using two parts of our body—our mouth and ears. When people talk in person, they use their whole person, their whole body. God communicates to us in our spirits; perhaps angels and demons do as well. But when we talk to one another, we use our body—certainly as a general rule. And we see that in the resurrection, Jesus also communicated with His body. He came to people to talk to them and listen to them; to have conversations. I think we can say that this ability or principle is something present in both our current body and the resurrection body.

Another principle of our body is ACTIVITY. Our body is the means by which we act in this world. It is our user interface, our avatar if you will. Everything we do, we do directly or indirectly through our bodies. It may be just a matter of writing on paper or speaking into a phone, yet we are still using our bodies. It is the vehicle of our agency. Now, look at what Jesus did when His disciples met Him by the sea of Galilee following His resurrection: “Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise.” (John 21:13) We see Jesus, though He had died and been resurrected in a new body—we see Him still acting in this world. Not in a miraculous, supernatural way (as God usually works) but with His own hands, doing something as ordinary and mundane as cooking breakfast for his friends. Both the current body and the resurrected body are agents of activity; both can act, can do things, can accomplish things.

This point may be more of a stretch, but bear with me. There were the two men on the Emmaus road that Jesus talked to. Jesus walked with them and ultimately joined them for supper. And this is what happened. “And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.” (Luke 24:30-31) Seemingly, there was something supernatural going on that prevented them from recognizing Jesus up to that point. So perhaps it was simply that that supernatural vale was then lifted. But I wonder if it was the act of breaking the bread itself that was the trigger. If we suppose that they had seen Jesus do this act thing before with his disciples, it makes sense that the familiar activity, performed in the familiar way, would strike a chord with them.

And here's the point. One facet of our body is our PERSONALITY. A person is far more than their body, but the way they look, the way they act, their expressions, and their mannerism—all of that expresses their personality. And I think the case can be made that in the breaking of the bread, Jesus was still expressing His personality—not just in words and ideas, but in His movements and expression. This could be another thing that links our current body to our resurrection body.

The body is also the vehicle of our relationships. It is through our bodies that we meet with others. Yes, you can technically have a relationship without direct physical contact—via letters or electronic communications—but it is still truly broadly speaking, that our body is the medium through which our relationships are formed. This is obviously true in a special sense for romantic and familial relationships, but it is still true for other relationships as well; it is an extension of the earlier point about communications. 

Now, look at John 21:15: “So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.” We know that Peter and Jesus had had a relationship before Jesus' death—a relationship which Peter had ultimately betrayed. And now, after Jesus' death and resurrection, we find them standing on the sea shore talking and repairing that relationship. What is happening here is largely spiritual—Peter is renewing his commitment to Jesus. But as a point of fact, they are meeting in person in a physical space. Jesus speaks to Peter man-to-man. 

This is a special case, because it is Jesus. But we can argue that, generally speaking, the resurrection body will still be capable of continuing our relationships with one another or forming new ones. Of course, there are exceptions to this—we know that there is no marriage in the resurrection—but that doesn't change the overall point.

These are all functions or properties of our bodies now, which (seemingly) will also be shared by the resurrection body. So we have this principle—the resurrection body will be very different in all these ways, and yet it will be similar in having these functions or properties. Again, we have this principle—things can be similar and yet different, different and yet similar. They are alike enough to both be called 'bodies' but also have vastly different attributes.

Now, we have to come back to the point Paul made by saying that the resurrection body is spiritual. What does that mean? In the general use of the word, a 'spiritual body' is a contradiction. Usually, we use the word spiritual to mean incorporeal—something which does not have a body, something which cannot be touched. This may be the state of the spirit in the intermediate state, between death and the resurrection. But that is not the case in the resurrection.

Look at this depiction of the resurrected Christ in Luke 24:37-43: “But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet. And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them.” When the disciples saw Jesus, they thought He was a spirit, a ghost, the soul of a man without a body, appearing to them. And Jesus went out of his way to make sure they knew this wasn't true. He showed that He had a physical body and was even capable of eating a meal with them. And by extension, this applies to the resurrection body of all believers—it will still be a body.

So what does it mean for the resurrected body to be spiritual? Some have suggested that this means the body and spirit will have a different relationship. In this life, there is often a conflict between the body and the spirit. They sometimes pull in two different directions. Perhaps in the resurrection, the soul and body will be melded into one thing, rather than two.

However, in context, I think there is a more probable explanation. Paul places spiritual in competition with natural. Our current body is natural, because it is what the world produces without outside help. But the resurrection body is spiritual, because it can only come about through God. It is supernatural; miraculous. 

Because that is what Paul goes on to say in the next few verses. In verse 45, Paul points to the contrast between Adam and Christ. When Adam was made, he was a living soul. He had life, but that life was contingent. And after sin came into the world, the life which he had began to decay, and by now he's been dead for millennia, and the body he was given has deteriorated to nothing. That is all nature can do.

But Jesus Christ, the Last Adam, is not merely alive, not merely resurrected out of death, but is a “quickening spirit”--that is, not only is He alive, but He brings life to others. Adam was a pool of life, but Christ is a fountain, a never-ending source of life for those who believe in Him. The life which comes from Christ is not natural, not a part of this world, not something the natural order ever could have created on its own. Adam came from the earth—he was literally formed from the earth. And while Jesus shared that natural composition, as a physical descendant of Adam, yet He came from Heaven. And His resurrection body was supernatural; though it had continuity with it was distinct from his pre-death body. As descendants of Adam, we share the same kind of body he did. He could not give us something better than he had. But as Christians, we will bear the image of Christ, the spiritual, the heavenly body.

We've covered a lot of territory, so I want to make sure we're clear on all this. The Corinthians were questioning the resurrection, because they didn't know how it was possible. They didn't know what body the Christian would have in the resurrection. Paul's answer is that the resurrection body is something different from the current body. Similar, but different. And most importantly, different in origin. It is supernatural, not natural. The resurrection IS impossible without God. And with God, ANYTHING is possible.

And now with verse 50, we get the why. “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” We have been talking about the resurrection of the body, but that is only one part of the picture. That is only the preparation for something else. “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.” (Revelation 21:1-3)

When God made this world, He made Adam with a body that would allow him to live in and interact with this world. God will make or is making another world. And when we enter it, we must have a body which will allow us to live in and interact with that world. We could not go on with our current body. There must be a change.

The resurrection is not just a stopgap measure to deal with the people who happen to die before Christ's return. It is something for all Christians. This is what Paul points to in verse 51: “We shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed.” Not patched-up, painted over, or given a little polish—but changed, made anew, transformed. That is the hope of the Christian and not of some Christians, but all Christians.

Verse 52 emphasizes when this will happen. It will be instantaneously and it will happen at the last trump, at the second coming. And then all Christians—living and dead—will rise again with a new body, incorruptible and immortal. The word translated as immortality in verse 53 means literally not-dying. With the resurrection comes new life, and that new life is a life which will not end.

During WWII, the United States government began researching nuclear weapons and ultimately built two atomic bombs, which were dropped on Japan, bringing an end to the war. These weapons were powerful, more powerful than any human creation up to that point. Before the actual bomb drop, a prototype was tested in the deserts of New Mexico. One man who was present, upon witnessing the incredible power and energy of the atomic blast, commented: “It was like being present on the first day when God said 'Let there be light.'” 

There must have been something truly awe-inspiring about such a display of raw power. That was what man was able to achieve, and it must have been impressive. But that power was a power of destruction. The power which thrilled through the world on that first day, the power of God—that was the power of creation. Man has shown some truly impressive things when it comes to manipulating this world, for good and for evil. But only God could have created this world. The difference between the highest and greatest man has ever done or ever will do and the power of God is infinite.

And there is coming a day when that infinite, unmatched power will touch the world once again in a way that it hasn't done since that first week. Once again, that voice which cannot be stopped will say 'Let there be...' The trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised. The stolid, indestructible fact of death will be transformed into something greater than life. The frustrated, incomplete, incomprehensible things of this earth will find their glory and consummation. Things both temporary and transitory will be filled with the strength and permanence of the eternities. Once God made a world out of nothing, and that was a marvel. Someday, God will make a new world, not out of nothing but from the broken fragments of this world—and that is a still greater marvel.

Our hope as Christians is not in a faded platitude. Our hope is in something new, something startling, something in a strict and literal sense wonderful. And ultimately, our hope is in God, for it is God and God alone who can bring life out of death or a new creation out of the ruin of the old.