It’s been a long time since my last blog entry. I’ve been busy obviously; and with busyness come tiredness. I’ve been tired too. But thanks be to God Almighty that through the gospel of Jesus Christ I, and all the Lord’s people will receive a resurrection body like Christ’s resurrection body.
Of course many people don’t believe in the resurrection of the dead, let alone the resurrection on Christ. However, as we have seen in past blogs, the Scripture in 1 Corinthians 15 makes it clear that if there is no resurrection then: 1) Christ is not raised and we are still in sin (v.12-13), 2) there is no point in believing in Jesus Christ (v.14-17) , 3) our loved ones who have died have perished permanently (v.18-23), 4) the world would not be sorted out and put right (v.24-28), and 5) the Christian life would not have any meaning (v.29-34). If there is no resurrection then Christianity is blank. However, it is not blank! In fact Christ has been raised, and at his coming all his people will be raised too as he proclaimed in v.12-34.
Well, these same people who denied the resurrection of the dead antagonistically asked two questions. (v.35). Thankfully, Paul for their benefit, and ours, was led by the Spirit to answer these questions in v.36 – 57. We will deal with the first question in this blog.
Question:
What kind of body will God’s people come with at the second coming of Christ?
Answer:
The Resurrection body. (v.36-50). Well, what will this resurrection body be like? Here are Paul’s three descriptions of the resurrection body.
One. The resurrection body comes from our normal physical body; death cannot prevent this from happening (v.36-38). Paul shows this with the illustration of the seed. In seeds we see that death is not the end of new life! Instead, out of death new life springs forth. These Corinthians experienced this when they sowed. In a few months millions of corns seeds will go into the ground…there they will rot, but from them will come new corn. Our body is a seed so to speak. Death will not thwart God’s purposes of new-life in us. God gives it a new body as he has chosen (v.37). In God’s great day…in his spring time all in Christ will raise from the ground!
Two. The resurrection body is different from the body we have today (v.39-41). The point is pretty simple. We are all used to different kinds of material. From rubber, to ice, to a star; from the fish, to the Moose, to the pork they are all different. So it is between our body now and our future resurrection body. They are different! But to what degree? Not in kind…our resurrection body will still be our body…but the difference will be in glory! (v.41-42a).
Three. The resurrection body is a body, but glorified body (v.42-50). A tulip bulb is sown in ugliness, but it comes to life in beauty. So with our bodies. Our present body is subject to decay….the resurrection body is imperishable. Our present body is in dishonour (sin affects our bodies)…the resurrection body will be raised in glory. No shame, no blindness, no ailments. Our present body is weak. We become emotionally and physically tired. But the resurrection body is raised in God’s peace and health. Our present body is physical, but the resurrection body is spiritual. (v.44).
OK, let’s talk about this last point a little. What does it mean that our body is a spiritual body? I need to alert us at this point to a heresy. Yes, there are heresies! It is the tenant that the resurrection body is not a physical body. And they get in from v.44. They think Paul is saying the R is not a physical body, but some other spiritual thing; maybe from un-invented material called mushmug!
But this is exactly what Paul is not saying. Here God’s word contrasts how the body lives in one existence and then in another. Our present body is made alive by the normal life which all humans share – the soul. Paul uses the Greek word for soul here. We all depend on the soul for our bodies to live. But the body we will be given in the resurrection will be made alive by God’s own Spirit. It will be a Spirit-made-alive body. Paul says in a simpler way in Rom 8:10-11.
Paul shows this in v.45-49, and v.51-53 with the Adam and Christ comparison. Adam whose body was made of dust had to come first, and so our bodies of dust have to come before the resurrection body. Adam passed on the soul to all mankind, so our bodies have to be made alive by soul before the resurrection body. But then God gave us Christ. He is from heaven, who is the full image of God, who makes his people of heaven because he gives us the Spirit who makes our body’s alive in the resurrection. (v.45-49).
Conclusion:
So the resurrection body will be different from our present body, but it will be a body! It will be like Jesus’ body (Phil 3:20-21). Think of the resurrection as something like a person taking off one set of clothes and putting on another, exchanging an old suit for a new tuxedo; or, even think of the body itself changing its clothes - taking off the old garments of this life (weakness, sinful desires, decay) - and putting on the new set of clothes (power, purity, and immortality and the perpetual filling of the Spirit). We won’t be tired anymore.
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