Series: The Resurrection of the Dead (1 Corinthians 15)

The Nature of the Resurrection Body (Part 2)

1 Corinthians 15.42-49

Introduction

A Summary of the Argument

At this point in his treatment of the subject of the resurrection of the dead Paul is exploring the nature of the resurrection body. What will the resurrection body be like? Or, what kind of body will be raised? At first Paul seems to regard this question as foolish, perhaps because he knew the Corinthians and their doubts. Rather than believing the Gospel and what Paul himself had preached, some of the Corinthians had scoffed at the idea of a bodily resurrection. The Jews believed in the resurrection of the body. The Gospel declares that this resurrection of the dead has already begun in Jesus, who is the first-fruits from the dead. Even if the Corinthians were asking skeptical questions, Paul begins to give an answer anyway.

The first issue Paul seems to be addressing is the idea that the mortal bodies we now have will be raised from the dead. Paul dismisses this possibility. Using the metaphor of a seed that is planted, Paul makes it clear that these mortal bodies must pass away and that something new and different will emerge. No one has to worry about being trapped perpetually in a mortal and corruptible body.

The fact that there is a different kind of body coming at the resurrection should not surprise anyone who knows the creative power of God. God has created all kinds of bodies, even in this creation, and so He is perfectly capable of creating a new kind of body for His people at the resurrection.

The thing to grasp from the first part of Paul’s explanation of the nature of the resurrection body is that it is a different kind of body from these mortal bodies we now have. Having established this, Paul will then go on to further develop this thought. He will present a series of comparisons and contrasts between our mortal bodies and the new bodies of the resurrection. Sometimes the best way to learn about something is through a kind of comparison so that we see how two things are both alike and perhaps also very different from each other.

To be sure, the resurrection body is a body. But it is not the kind of body we now have.

The Relevance of the Resurrection 

A modern audience might wonder if raising this subject is even necessary. In our anti-intellectual Age most people do not like to read or hear a disputation and an argument. Furthermore, whatever the resurrection body will be like, this is something that is in the future. At this point we are still in our mortal bodies. So why not talk about something that we can apply immediately? Paul seems to be dogmatic, or insisting that the Corinthians believe something specific about the resurrection body. This kind of dogmatism is unappealing to the modern mind that values freedom of thought and opinion. Why not just let the issue alone or allow the Corinthians to form their own thoughts and opinions on the matter? There are few reasons why Paul considers this an important subject: 1.) the resurrection is a key component of the Gospel, which in turn is the very foundation of the Christian Faith. Get this wrong and you may not be a Christian anymore! 2.) This doctrine of the resurrection is the hope of the believer. We cannot live without hope. 3.) The implication of the resurrection is the Day of Judgement.

Two Different Bodies

Perishable vs. Imperishable

Paul is making the point that the resurrection body will not be like the bodies we have now. He has already introduced this comparison and is now developing this thought even further. In nature we see that there are different kinds of bodies. So it should not surprise anyone that God can create a new kind of body at the resurrection. The idea of these same, old bodies coming back may not be very attractive to us. But getting a whole new kind of body is something we can look forward to! The first set of contrasts is between the perishable and the imperishable. The bodies we have now are perishable. The resurrection body will be imperishable. Now this is perhaps the foundational thought in this entire passage.

Death is going to be destroyed. Jesus Himself has already risen from the dead and is a little glimpse of what is to come. So it should be obvious that when death is destroyed and the dead are raised there will be no more dying after that point. Our bodies are now in a continual state of perishing. We are all in the process of death. “All flesh is grass.” This truth is so obvious to everyone that it really needs no further proofs. Everyone can see that we are dying, even if we prefer not to talk about it. The Bible continually reminds us of our eventual demise, probably because pride makes us forget it. Consider what Moses said in Psalm 90: “For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh. The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away” (Psalm 90:9-10). What is our “life expectancy?” If we avoid some kind of untimely end we can probably expect about 80 good years, on average! We may live longer than that, but there is a very good chance that these years will be difficult because of the degeneration of the body. In Western countries life expectancy has risen in recent years. But much of these years are spent with illness and the frailties of old age. I do not say these things to cause morbidity or depression! We should remember our frailty and the brevity of life so we do not waste our time. Our main job here is to prepare for eternity.

The resurrection body will not be subject to death or to aging. It will be imperishable. It will never be sick and it will never degenerate. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, but Lazarus eventually had to die a second time! That is because Lazarus was raised in the same body in which he had passed away previously. But that will not be the case at the resurrection! When Jesus was raised from the dead He was no longer subject to death. We will one day be like our Lord in this respect. When we have those imperishable bodies then we will have the fullness of eternal life and we will be more “alive” than we have ever been!

Dishonor vs. Glory

The second contrast is between dishonor and glory. The body we have now we will have to lay in the grave in a state of dishonor. I think that the dishonorable part is what happens to the body in death. Anyone who has seen a corpse has a natural revulsion to it, especially if there is an advanced state of decay. Death is not pretty, even though we go to a lot of effort to cover this fact. What death does to our bodies is something that we don’t want to see and so we have to dispose of the dead body quickly. This is something that makes the passing of our loved ones especially hard to experience. The resurrection body will not have any of the dishonorable marks of death upon it! I have no doubt that the resurrection body will be so beautiful and amazing that if we were to see ourselves now as we will be we would probably not be able to stand it. When John saw Christ on the isle of Patmos he was not able to bear the sight of the glorified body of the Lord. These mortal bodies are certainly not glorious like that!

Weakness vs. Power

The third comparison between the body we now have and the resurrection body is that of weakness versus power. The bodies we now have are weak. The resurrection body will be one of power. The weakness that Paul is referencing has to do primarily with mortality. Our bodies are weak because these bodies are mortal. The mortal body is subject to both sickness and injury, both of which are liabilities, either of which can lead to death. As we age our bodies become weaker and even more subject to sickness and injury. But even during our youth and the prime of life the body can prove to be weak. Even young people get sick and injured. And we are never guaranteed a long life. Many people die while they are relatively young. Our bodies are also weak in that we have certain limitations. We get hungry and we have to stop what we are doing and feed our bodies. We also get tired and have to rest and go to sleep. Think of all the time we would have if we did not get tired or hungry!

Perhaps God has given us these limitations in the body just to keep us humble and remind us that we are dependent and cannot do just anything that we might want to do. The weakness of the body is one way that God has set limits for the wickedness of men. How wicked would men be if they had no fear of injury or death? We usually think of a strong, healthy body and a long life as a blessing. But it could also be an opportunity for wickedness. Many people use their bodies for wicked purposes. If wicked men had greater power in their bodies this would increase their wickedness and would possibly make human life intolerable. Remember that our bodies are vessels or instruments. Our bodies are utilitarian and are designed to be used to do something. Righteous people offer their bodies to God as instruments of righteousness. Wicked people pervert the purpose of their bodies and live for their own pleasure. The righteous may be frustrated that their bodies have limitations because they would do even more to serve God. The wicked may be frustrated because they cannot enjoy themselves without some limitations.

The resurrection body will be perfectly designed for the righteous in that we will have the power to serve the Lord and be in His presence without any of the hindrances of mortality. The resurrection body will serve us perfectly as we serve God according to our desires. Part of the power of the resurrection body will no doubt be somehow connected to our authority over the New Creation. The world in which we live is not under our power and is actually dangerous to our bodies. But this will not be the case in the New Creation. Our bodies and the environment itself will all be subject to us! But as we consider the limitations of our mortal bodies we must also learn to depend on the power of the Holy Spirit, who dwells in our mortal bodies, and helps us to put to death the sin in our members and use even our mortal bodies to serve God. The Holy Spirit is helping us to get ready to inhabit our new bodies!

Natural vs. Spiritual

The final comparison between our mortal bodies and the resurrection body is that of the natural versus the spiritual. This comparison will continue to be important as Paul’s argument continues to be developed. There is a natural body and there will be a spiritual body. This comparison may be more difficult to grasp than the previous ones. To understand these terms we must think of them as two different orders or worlds. The natural order is everything associated with this creation. The spiritual is a different order. Our bodies belong to this world and are therefore part of the natural. The resurrection body will be of a different order. Note that there is such a thing as a spiritual body. Most people think of something spiritual as being immaterial or without a physical body. But Paul puts the two things together: a spiritual body. We are not looking forward to being bodiless spirits. We will have bodies, but these bodies will be of a spiritual order. The point that Paul is making is that the resurrection body will be far superior to the natural body. The spiritual order is superior to the natural order.

Two Different Humanities

The First Man and His Legacy

Up to this point Paul has been comparing and contrasting two different kinds of bodies: the mortal bodies we have now and the spiritual bodies we will have at the resurrection of the dead. Paul will continue to make a comparison between two different orders or sources: Adam and Christ. The natural bodies we now have come from the order of Adam, the Father of the Human Race. (Eve is included because she and Adam were one flesh.) The spiritual bodies we will have at the Resurrection can be traced to Jesus Christ.

So there are two different humanities: the humanity that sprang from Adam and the new humanity that comes from Christ. (To see the foundation of Paul’s argument here in Corinthians it is wise to be familiar with Romans 5.12-21.) Every person came from Adam and so we all are like Adam. Adam fell because of transgression and became a sinner. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Adam died. All of us will eventually die. We cannot rise above Adam because we are his children and we all are made in his likeness. This included having a natural body that will eventually die. God made Adam from the earth. After he had sinned God told Adam that he would return to the earth from whence he came. In other words, his body would die and then decay back into its essential elements. All of us will follow in the footsteps of our father Adam. There is no possibility that anyone who belongs to Adam’s race will be something other than what Adam was. We possess all of the characteristics of Adam. This is what it means to be human. Essentially the Bible is teaching us that to be human means to be under the sentence of death. Every human being is born to die. There is no way to escape this destiny. Adam’s legacy is death.

Now we must remember that it was God Himself who imposed this sentence of death. Adam was not created to die. The sentence of death has been imposed on Adam and his children. Actually, all of creation is under the sentence of death. How will this curse of death be lifted from humanity? Is there any hope?

The Second Man and His Legacy

Jesus is the Second Man, or the last Adam. In other words, God started over in Christ. Adam brought death into the world. Christ brought eternal life and the hope of the resurrection of the dead. The resurrection of Jesus Himself from the dead is the proof that He is the source of this eternal life. As Jesus is so shall we be. Now it is important to remember that Paul is really indicating that every person who has died will be raised at the end of time. Both believers and unbelievers will be raised with immortal resurrection bodies. The wicked will be cast into Hell in these bodies, bodies that can never die, be destroyed, or give them any form of pleasure. But that is not Paul’s focus here. Paul’s focus is on the glorious destiny of the children of God.

Every believer in Christ has been like Adam. We have all sinned and our natural bodies are subject to death. But when we were born again there was an inner, spiritual transformation. Unfortunately, our bodies were not transformed. Christians still carry this old, dying, body we got from Adam. The good news is that these bodies will eventually be redeemed just like our inner selves have already been regenerated. Christ saved our souls and He will eventually save our bodies too! When our redeemed spirits are linked up to our redeemed bodies there will be a glorious wholeness and freedom that we struggle to even comprehend. We were saved in order to one day move into that heavenly, spiritual body that is waiting for us (See 2 Cor. 5.1-5).

When Jesus rose from the dead He defeated death for every man. The whole human race will rise from the dead. But only the believer in Christ will truly be prepared for what this resurrection will mean. Let’s get ready for that day!

We are Image-bearers

We have all been like Adam. This point has already been established. It is interesting here that Paul does not make any reference to man being made in the image of God. Instead, he says we are in the image of Adam. While the image of God in man has not been erased, sin has certainly caused man to fall short of the perfection of God’s image. We are much closer to Adam’s image than to God’s image. In fact, the very thing that Adam’s children are lacking is the Divine life. We have a natural, or biological life, but we do not have eternal, or Divine-kind of life. Natural life is under the curse of death and is always in the process of decay and corruption. Natural life simply runs out, like a battery that gradually loses its charge and power. But spiritual life, or the Divine life, is eternal and never runs out or becomes weaker. When Adam sinned and the way to the Tree of Life was blocked, this Divine source of life was removed from man and he became mortal. The only way back to the Tree of Life, or the source of a Divine, eternal kind of life, is Christ.

Jesus is Himself the source of life from God. To have Christ is to have the very life of God infused into our own souls so that we become a new kind of creature. This new creature is created after the image of Christ Himself. Instead of reflecting the image of Adam we now come to bear the image of Christ. It should be noted here that God’s purpose is not simply to restore what was lost in Adam. God’s purpose is for us to become part of an entirely new order, or new creation, in Christ. Christ is the first of a new creation, a new race of men. And Jesus had a body. So if we are being made into the likeness of Jesus we can expect to have bodies also, bodies that are like Christ’s glorious resurrection body (See Phil. 3.20-21). We get just a few glimpses of the nature of Christ’s resurrection body.

There are two important episodes in the New Testament that teach us a little about the resurrection body by the example of Christ Himself. The first episode is the Ascension of Christ. It is significant that after His resurrection Jesus ascended into heaven and did not remain on the earth. It is as if Christ no longer belonged in this world. He had to go back to heaven because He now belonged to another world. The fact that His disciples even saw Him at all is something of a miracle and required a kind of Divine revelation. With His resurrection body Christ was able to ascend into heaven and be received into the very presence of God, something that these mortal bodies could never endure. The second scene is John on the Isle of Patmos in the book of Revelation. When John sees Christ the vision is so glorious that John can hardly stand it. This is Jesus in all of His glory in heaven as He reigns over this world. The days of Christ’s humility in an earthly body are over. The next time the world sees Jesus He will be coming in power and great glory. The saints are going to be raised from the dead to share in Christ’s glory and to reign with Him over the New Creation.

The Future of the Human Race

Christ in His glorious resurrection and ascension is a little glimpse of the future of the human race. Adam’s race will come to an end. Only those who belong to the New Humanity in Christ will have a future at all. This is why it is essential that everyone should be in Christ. Only Christ’s people have a future. We have all belonged to Adam but we must belong to Christ or we will perish along with the rest of Adam’s race, which is perishing already. The only hope for the human race is Christ. To be saved we must become something more than human. Salvation is really about the sharing of the Divine life with man. If we get close enough to Christ, and if we are spiritually united with Him, He will infuse us with His own, Divine, eternal life. Even though our mortal bodies are running out of life, there will be a part of us that can never die. Jesus said “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die” (John 11:25-26). Those in Christ have this hope: even though our bodies will die we can never really die but will rise again!

Conclusion

Our Hope is not in this World

The reality of death should make us think about the implications of the fact that our lives here are not permanent. If this life is not permanent then we should not think that this life is the most important part of our existence. While we certainly have to live and there are certain things that we need in order to subsist, we should not think that those things that keep our lives in this world going are themselves the main point of life. We may need food to eat in order to live, but is anyone willing to argue that eating food is the reason we live? We may need to work in order to live, but should we think that our work is the reason why we are alive? Confusing the substance of life with the reason for life is such a common human problem that Jesus addressed it directly: “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:31-33). Why should we spend all of our time, energy, and thought on a body and a life that is eventually going to run down and pass away? This certainly does not mean that life is without meaning.

But, oddly enough, the meaning of life is not found in the things that sustain that life but in something outside of it and beyond it completely. Even if we were to get everything we could want eventually our lives will end and all of those things that we had amassed would be left behind. But the human race continues to ignore this simply truth. Because of death our hope can never be connected to this world. Our hope must come from outside. We live in a generation that has no hope outside of this life. This is not because there is no hope. It is because where there is no faith there can be no hope. Christians are not to live like the pagans who have no hope. We live in hope that there will be a resurrection and we die in that hope as well. The best this world has to offer is nothing but dust blowing away with the wind.

The Illusion of the Good Life

The world simply fails to come to terms with certain realities of life. Most people live under a kind of half-conscious dream or illusion. In fact, we even have something called the “American Dream.” What is that? It is the belief that we can make our lives better and better by amassing possessions, economic security, and a good job, and then enjoying ourselves with what we have gained. For most people in our culture, and in many other places in the world, this is what gives life meaning. And when these things cannot be had, or when these things are taken away, then life ceases to have meaning.

There is not only a political dimension to the pursuit of the good life, there is also a religious version of this illusion. The religious version may be harder to debunk. People are told that God wants us to be happy and to have a good life. We think we already know what happiness means and what the good life is, so we certainly want to enlist the help of a powerful Deity who will grant us all our wishes. In its more obvious forms it is called the Prosperity Gospel or Health & Wealth. But that is not its only form. It is also in the form of this misguided patriotism that sees the United States as a nation favored by God. And if we will just enact the right policies then God will bless us and give us what we want. The illusion of the good life is found in Christian clothes in the form of the perfect family life and domestic tranquility.

All of these things are like a mirage in the Sahara which can disappear as quickly as it appears. These things that we want seem to be real and what life is all about. But having all our hopes set on these earthly things is bound to disappoint. The world cannot deliver what we are really seeking. Real life comes from God.