There is a resurrection body…how will it be raised?

Last week’s post described what kind of resurrection body we will have when the resurrection happens.  This post answers the question of how.  How will God’s people in Christ Jesus be given a physical but glorified body? Answer: By the grace and power of God.  See 1 Corinthians 15:51-57.

In this Scripture we are taught first that, resurrection, like the forgiveness of sins is of God’s free gift.  We can see this grace from the time when God clothed Adam and Eve with coats of skin, and when God kept them from the tree of life by a flaming sword.  God did not want them to live forever in their sinful flesh, but he would cloth them with his grace through the sacrifice of Son.  This included a new body.  For this reason none of God’s people cremated themselves, like the pagans did.  Their bodies were always buried in faith.  They believed creation would one day be renewed.  The grace of resurrection is full pinnacle of this promise!  Notice grace in this passage.  (v.38a, 45b, 47b, 49b).

Secondly Scriptures teaches that this resurrection happens by the power of God! (v.51-57) Presently we are made of corruptible decaying material; but one day by God’s power who through the victory of his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, will transform us into non-corruptible, un-decaying material and we become people who will never again feel the sting of death. 

Jesus Christ overcame death’s power and sting because he grappled with the power of sin, which God’s law exposed time and time again.  That is, Jesus fulfilled all the law even the law that says, “The soul that sins, shall die.”  However, because he was God, this law could not condemn him.  He took the law’s condemnation away from us by taking our sins on him, and the death we deserved, and defeated them at the cross and resurrection.  By the power of God’s gospel comes the resurrection of our bodies.

Very few think long and hard about life after death.  But the church should call people to do so.  All the dead will rise, but not all will rise to a life worthy to be called life.  Sinners outside Jesus Christ will spend eternity in the lake of fire with a body that will never die.  But God is his great love has given sinners the gift of Christ to save us from the wrath of God.  (1 Thess 5:9-10).  Today is the day of salvation.

The Spirit concludes his teaching here with v.58.  Because Jesus did rise from the dead, all who are in him, risen with him in union with him by faith have their sins are forgiven and will received a glorified body like his.  Therefore, Christians can serve the Lord with steadfastness, immovability, and abundance.

Here I quote John Piper.  He preached this many years ago. “‘Steadfast’ means steady as you move forward. Keep on going and don’t let up. Don’t be given to fits and starts. Put your hand on the plough and don’t take it off till your work is done. Steady movement forward till your work is done.

‘Immovable’ means don’t get knocked over by sudden blows. Keep your balance. Stand strong and unshaken when the rains come down and the floods come up and the winds blow and beat against your house. Be like a boulder that can’t get washed away. Be like a tree that can’t get blown down.

‘Abounding in the work of the Lord’ means do lots of it. ‘Abound in’ means ‘overflow with.’ Fill your days with things that count for Christ. Pray and dream and plan and then work, work, work while it is day.”

There is a resurrection…so what will our body be like? (Description #1)

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.

Our highest good is God, so let’s study theology

Studying theology by reading our bibles, bible study, reading books, listening to sermons, talking with others, and partaking of the sacraments is for our ultimate good.  Why, because our ultimate good is God.  Polanus (1561-1610) put it clearly is this nice syllogism.  You can find it in volume one of Richard Muller’s Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics page 246.

            1.  That which is our salvation, glory, strength, shield, and, indeed, all things whatsoever are necessary to our blessedness, that is our highest good.

            2.  God alone is our salvation, glory, strength, shield and all things whatsoever are necessary to our blessedness:

            3.  Therefore God alone is our highest good.

The blessedness of all rational creatures then, is the contemplation of and communion with God the Father, Son, and Spirit in eternity, consisting in the vision of God, conformity to God, sufficiency in God, a freedom from all evils, and a possession of all true good.

Here are some Scriptures which show this.  Psalms 27:1; 28:7; 62:2,7; 3:3; 18:2; 1 Corinthians 15:28; Colossians 3:11.

Of course good works and loving our neighbour as ourselves would come under the category of true good.  Being in fellowship with God, and being shaped into conformity to him involves doing the good works of God.  We come into fellowship with God through the good work of his good Son, and therefore we are created in Christ for good works.  Ephesians 2:10   For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

God gives us theology, but how do we get it?

Reading in Richard Muller’s Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics I came across an excellent explanation of where theology comes from and how we get it.  The short answer is God Almighty.  However, a two sentence blog post is to short so here are the little-bit-longer answers.

God Almighty is the cause of our knowledge about God and his world. That is to say, by the grace of God the Father in and through the Lord Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit’s teaching work, we come to know God.  God has the perfect theology of God, “for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.  For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God” (1 Cor 2:10-11).

Well, how do we get this knowledge?  Answer: God by his grace.  This comes in basically three parts.  Muller only lists two in the section I read today, but in other places he cites the third part. 

Part one: “God as he wills, gives us to know the mysteries of his heavenly kingdom by means of his Holy Spirit”  (Muller. vol.1, Pg.242). 

Part two: “An attentive meditation on the divine Word, by the grace of the Holy Spirit’s illumination.”  (Muller. Vol.1, Pg.242).    Getting the knowledge of God is a supernatural blessing.  God the Spirit gives it by grace as he speaks through the Scriptures which he has also given by grace. 

Part three and best of all: Jesus Christ the Word of God.  Through him, the eternal and immutable Word of God we come to know God the Father, God the Spirit, and God the Son. 

John 14:9-11  “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?  Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.”

Matthew 11:27  “All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

Praise God Almighty.  He gave us theology!  We can worship him and love our fellow man because of his gift of theology.

Studying theology and glazed eyes

In the monotony of everyday work people with glazed eyes sometimes ask, “Why am I doing my job?” The pastor/theologian can get to this place too. Studying the Bible and theology for the church to prepare sermons, lessons, and life can become monotonous.


In reading Richard Muller’s, Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics I came across some encouraging words from Johann Alsted on what the work of theology is and some reasons for studying theology.

The scope of studying theology takes in the church and the world. Calvin laboured in Scripture, preaching and teaching so that people in the church and world might hear the gospel and be saved on that final day. Alsted put it this way, “The work of academic theology…is the activity that occupies the student in his study of divine things for the sake of teaching them to others. The scope of theological study seeks the glory of God and the eternal blessedness of the believer and, in a less ultimate sense, the perfection of the intellect, will, and speech: it is an effort of the whole person that relates directly to the conforming of that person to the image of God” (Muller, vol.1, Pg. 211).

This leads me to list Alsted’s five reasons for studying theology. I paraphrase them here.

1. Its divine origin.
2. The majesty of its arguments. It is about Christ, the wisdom of God; and how to live the life of faith in union with Christ.
3. The use and goal of the theology is eternal life and the glory of God.
4. Jesus Christ revealed the Father to us.
5. It is pure and blessed by God, for he gave us his word.

So the pastor’s work in the Scripture and theology though laborious, frustrating, and puzzling at times, is nonetheless also joyful and full of potential as Jesus Christ is displayed. The scope of studying and then teaching Christ takes in both the church and the world. The reasons for studying and teaching theology are ultimately for the glory of God, and the sinners good.

If there is no resurrection…then what? (Point #5)

You might recall that old Latin hymn The Strife Is O’er, the Battle Done. It’s about the resurrection. Once you sing it you realize that if there was no resurrection the Christian life would have no meaning. The second line reads,


The pow’rs of death have done their worst,
but Christ their legions hath dispersed:
let shouts of holy joy out-burst.
Alleluia.

If there was no resurrection then death is not dispersed and there is no joy in the world.

Paul in 1 Cor 15:12-34 gives us the “if there is no resurrection then…” argument. In this entry we look at v.29-34. Notice the word “otherwise” in v.29. Paul still wants us to imagine, “Just think if the resurrection was not true?” He gives two answers.

Answer one: Christian funeral practices make no sense if we don’t have the resurrection to look forward too (v.29). This verse has been foggy to the church for a long time. There is no other mention of it in the OT or NT. So what does it mean? Definitely, it something this church did, and it is clear what they did…some people were baptized on behalf of the dead.

There are two possible meanings. First, some believers had died without being baptized, so others were baptized on their behalf. Secondly, it could refer to an unbeliever(s), who after the death of relative or friend who was a Christian; decided to become a Christian so he could be with his loved one in the resurrection.

We don’t know the exact meaning, but the point is understandable. Christian funerals and what we say at them, and the hope given makes no sense if there is no resurrection! Yes, heaven is a hope for us…but not the final hope. It’s not even mentioned in this chapter. Resurrection is what Christians look forward to. In the new Creation we will be with our loved ones.

Answer two: Suffering for Jesus Christ, and even being martyred for him makes no sense if there is no resurrection (v.30-33). Paul is speaking of the dangers he went through. He lived in danger very often. He died daily to his needs. He even endured physical abuse.

Why endure hostility and risk your life for the sake of the gospel if Christ is not risen? There is no gain, because God has gained nothing if there is no resurrection! If there is no resurrection we suffer for the gospel’s sake for nothing. If there is no resurrection, “Give up on Jesus, and then live it up for tomorrow we die.”

But as Paul intimates, this is completely deceptive, and we are commanded to not believe the lie that there is no resurrection, and watch out for those who deny it. Notice v.33. Quoting a phrase from Menander, Paul applies it to the church. He says in essence, “Bad company, like those who deny the resurrection of the dead, will only have a corrupting influence on the godliness God has worked in you! People want to seek the good life, so they don’t want to suffer.”

But Christian’s have a different mind-set. Realizing the glorious resurrection of the dead is yet to come, we are willing to give our lives for others for the sake of Christ. Yes, death is still alien, and we know its pain, but in Christ we don’t fear it…so we can give ourselves for the gospel. A Christian can risk his or her life because; his or her life is not at risk. Life after life after death ahead!

If there is no resurrection…then what? (Point #4)

I read a funny comic strip a few weeks ago. Two people with suit and tie, and tote bag were going door to door proselytizing Jehovah Witness style. They were at a door and the owner was looking at the pamphlet. He says, “This is blank!” The two guys respond, “We’re atheists.”


Some in the Corinthian church believed and promoted the error that there is no resurrection of the dead! So from v.12-34, to show exactly how wrong this error is, Paul uses the, “If it is not true, then…, argument. If there is not resurrection of the dead then Christianity is blank like that pamphlet; it is nothing and there is no God.

Well, from v.24 to 28, Paul shows that if there is no resurrection then the world will not be sorted out and put right. The resurrection of Jesus was the time when God took this messed up world and put it back to order! Notice how the Bible explains this.

Point One: One human messed up the world, one human will put it right. The first Adam brought death to man & God’s creation. In passages like Romans 8, Gen 3, and also Job we learn creation is subjected to frustration and groans under the curse of sin. But here Paul’s focus is on the death Adam brought onto man. By his rebellion against God he sullied our world with death through sin. Notice v.20a, & v.22a. Paul said the same thing in Rom 5.

Adam’s sin brought us spiritual death. Separation from God’s person, his will, and his good purpose for us. Adam’s sin brought physical death too. Now we have to face what hurts us the most; life being taken away from us. This all came to us through Adam’s sin.

But there was another man! The last Adam, he gets us out of this mess. Notice v.21b, v.22b, v.45, and Rom 5:15,18-19. God gave the job to put sinners right to this man! Through him, God, as it were to the problem by the scruff of the neck and set sinners right again! How?

Jesus took death upon him on our behalf and went to battle with it on our behalf – and won! This means as our sin & death was imputed to him, so now his life is imputed to us also…so we are guaranteed to have a resurrection like his. This is why Paul says, Christ is the firstfruits!. This means Jesus is the pioneer to go into resurrection territory where no man has ever gone before – and he takes his children along! Notice v.22-23. All who belong to Christ shall be made alive! First, it was Christ; one day it will be all who belong to him. Of course, this “putting the world & sinners right” has only started it is not finished yet. Be completed at Christ’s 2nd coming - but it has started. This brings me to point two.

Point Two: Through the resurrection of Christ God the Father becomes King of the world (v.24-28). These verses describe God’s final putting-the-world-perfectly right. It describes the work of Jesus, the role of God the Father, and how this world will function forever. It’s about the coming Kingdom of God!

The Jews believed that God’s kingdom would come; but they did not agree on how it would come. Well, the church now knew! Jesus brought the kingdom and by his life, death & especially here, the resurrection! The surprise in God’s plan was that before God’s people would rise at the end of history, one person would first be raised in the middle of history. And this meant God’s order for saving the world was in two phases!

Phase one: The resurrected Jesus is now reigning. (v.25, 26, 27.)

Phase two: God the Father will be all in all (v.24,27-28). Christ victory (phase one) is guaranteed (v.25, 27a). This is why phase two will come. At the last day, the Son of God will, in the final putting-the-world-right, place all things under the order of the Father…that God may be all in all. Is Jesus less than the Father, or the Spirit? No! They are co-equal. The Father is the one from whom all things come, the Son and Spirit are the ones through whom all things come (1 Cor 8:6). There is order in God.

As God Almighty puts the world in its proper order; part of that order, which has been the order eternally in God, is that Jesus will be forever the Father’s true Son…doing all things that please him, handing all things over to him, and always being in subjection to him as God the Son. So in phase two God the Father will reign eternally, and God the Son will be the obedient Son eternally, and God the Spirit will bind them together eternally, and so God will be all in all!

One man messed things up, but another man came to put things right. Death is being reversed, being undone, losing its corrupting power; and this means sin is being conquered! That’s good news! And what’s more at the 2nd coming the living Lord will give all things to the Father and God’s final redemption and justice will happen. But if there is no resurrection…?

If there is no resurrection…then what? (Point #3)

My study on the resurrection from 1 Corinthians 15 continues after a two week pause. Not that I have not been thinking about the resurrection, I have. It’s just that I have been busy, but busy in a world where the resurrection has happened. That is encouraging.

By the way, before I go to my point today let me point out that Fyodor Dostoevsky’s masterpiece of a novel, The Brothers Karamazov ends with the good news of the resurrection. The speech at the stone given to the boys of the Russian village by Alyosha concludes with Alyosha’s affirmation, “Certainly we shall all rise again, certainly we shall see each other and shall tell each other with joy and gladness all that has happened!” “Ah, how splendid it will be!” shouted one of the boys. It the midst of all the sin and injustice in the novel, Dostoevsky gives the answer of God…resurrection.

Anyway, to our study. We are looking at 1 Corinthians 15:12-19 where Paul asserts the certainty of the resurrection by showing the absurdity of everything if there was not resurrection. We have covered his first two points. If the dead are not raised then Christ is not raised and therefore we are still in sin. And two, if the dead are not raised then our loved ones who have died have perished permanently.

Here is Paul’s third point. If the dead are not raised then there is no point in believing in Jesus (v.19). If there is no resurrection Paul was misrepresenting God. Ministers do the same if they preach the resurrection. There is no point in preaching Jesus if Jesus is still dead. But also, for us, there in no point in believing in him. If all he was a good guru, a good teacher, and even a great miracle worker, but stayed dead when the Romans killed him…our faith is empty and our religion really is a crutch…and people should feel sorry for us. If the dead are not raised and Jesus is not raised then Albert Schweitzer was right.

As N.T. Wright put it… “If there is no resurrection, what’s the point of being a Christian in the first place? Hated, reviled, persecuted, struggling with sin – if this is all there, surely it would be better to throw in the towel, to admit that another philosophy of life can make life easier.” If Jesus did not rise from the dead but still has our sins, if he is the Son of God but stayed dead and did not destroy sin and death, if his atoning death was not sufficient and all we have to believe in is a Messiah who died we have not hope at all! There is no point in this!

But…v.20, “Christ has in fact been raised from the dead.” Robert Chandlish: “Therefore, we as well as those who have fallen asleep in Jesus have a hope that neither death nor sin can touch. Christian’s who fall asleep before the great day of resurrection are alive and forgiven now. We also, believing, are not in our sins.”