Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.
So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.
I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
“Where, O death, is your victory?
    Where, O death, is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

• 1 Corinthians 15:35-58

Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

1 Corinthians 15:35-50 ‘The Resurrection Body’: ” How will the dead be raised, and what will the resurrection body be like (1 Corinthians 15:35)? The old body must be sown in the ground; it muse die (verse 36). It is like wheat that begins as a grain or a kernel and is lacer turned into something else (verse 37; John 12:24). To the grain chat turns to dust, the Lord had given ‘a body just as He wished,’ but now ‘to each of the seeds a [distinct] body of its own’ (1 Corinthians 15:38).
“In life, each species has a different flesh-‘all flesh is nor the same flesh” (verse 39). Human beings, animals, birds, and fish-all possess a different kind of flesh. ‘The inanimate bodies in space such as the sun, the moon, and the stars, likewise have different qualities (verses 40-41)’ (Walvoord, Prophecy Knowledge Handbook, p. 463). So also will the resurrected ‘heavenly’ body be different from the ‘earthly’ body in which believers once existed (verse 40). ‘It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body’ (verse 42). It will be raised in glory, in power, and as a spiritual body (verses 43-44). This heavenly spiritual body will be re-created by the Lord from a heavenly source and not an earthly one. However, it is still a real and tangible body, yet without ‘dishonor,’ ‘weakness,’ and earthly limitations.
“The resurrection body is specifically empowered by the new man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Referring to Genesis 2:7 Paul writes, ‘The first man, Adam, became a living soul,’ but the last Adam, Christ, ‘became a life-giving spirit’ (verse 45; Romans 5:14). The spiritual man comes after the natural man (verse 46), and ‘the first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven’ (verse 47). Believers have the certain promise that ‘just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly’ (verse 49). ‘The one partakes of temporality, the other of eternality   Thus, the human body, instead of becoming an argument against the resurrection, becomes an argument in its favor’ (Mitchell, First Corinthians, p. 224).”

• Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson, Exploring Bible Prophecy

1 Corinthians 15:35 ‘God’s Yes to Creation’: ”The resurrection of Jesus Christ is God’s Yes to Creation. Not destruction, but a new creation of physicality is what happens here. The body of Jesus goes forth from the tomb, and the tomb is empty (Mark 16:15-16). How it is possible, how it is thinkable, that the mortal and perish-able body is now there as the body that is immortal, imperishable, transfigured (1 Cor. 15:35ff.), remains a mystery for us. Perhaps nothing is made as clear by the various kinds of reports on the resurrected One’s encounter with the disciples as the fact that we can in no way imagine the new physicality of the resurrected One. God produced the first creation, and he has made a new creation equal to the first one. Not an idea of Christ, but the bodily Christ him-self lives on. In the resurrection we know that God did not surrender the earth but reconquered it. He gave it a new future, a new promise. The same earth that God created bore the Son of God and his cross. On this earth the resurrected One appeared to his own. To this earth Christ will come on the last day. Those who affirm the resurrection of Christ in faith can no longer withdraw from the world, nor can they become slaves to the world, for in the midst of the old creation, they know God’s new creation.”

• Dietrich Bonhoeffer, I Want to Live These Days with You, devotional compiled from several of his writings

1 Corinthians 15:45 ‘natural and spiritual’: “Paul concluded his presentation on the doctrine of the resurrection by explaining that there were two types of bodies, ‘natural’ and ‘spiritual’ (v. 46). The first man, Adam, was created with a natural, physical body, which became subject to decay and death. Jesus Christ, ‘the last Adam,’ overcame death and was given a ‘spiritual’ (glorified), immortal body. Therefore, by virtue of creation, Adam was ‘of the dust of the earth,’ and by virtue of the resurrection, Christ was ‘of heaven’ (v.47). Paul said that these two were prototypes: the first bearers of the two kinds of bodies. The first man Adam represents all those who share in having a physical body. The last Adam represents all those who bear his spiritual likeness. The first Adam was human, the last, infinitely more. Believers have borne the image of the former, and they shall someday also bear the image of the latter (v. 49).”

• Dorothy Kelley Patterson, General Editor, NIV Woman’s Study Bible (Patty Comber, Pauline Epistles contributor)

1 Corinthians 15:50-52 ‘some to not face death’: “Paul affirmed that some Christians would not face death. When Christ returns, the dead in Christ will be raised first (v. 52), but then those believers who are alive will be caught up to meet him.”

• Dorothy Kelley Patterson, General Editor, NIV Woman’s Study Bible (Patty Comber, Pauline Epistles contributor)

1 Corinthians 15:51-58 ‘The Resurrection and the Rapture’: “In these verses and in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, the apostle Paul mentions both the resurrection and the ‘change’ (Greek, alasso) that describes the rapture of the church. The rapture is also called a ‘mystery’ (Greek, musterion) that has to do with the fact that ‘we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed’ (1 Corinthians 15:51). This great event was not revealed in the Old Testament.
“First Corinthians 15:52 is virtually the same as 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, which is a well-known rapture passage. There, the trumpet is sounded and the resurrection of the dead in Christ takes place. Then the believers who are alive on earth ‘shall be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air.’ The ‘change’ takes place followed by the ‘catching up.’ This is the imparting of the new, glorious and heavenly body Paul wrote about earlier (verses 40-44).
“With both the resurrection and the rapture, ‘change’ must take place, ‘for this perishable must put on imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality’ (verse 53). Though the context of these verses has to do with church believers of all generations, Paul quotes from Isaiah 25:8 and Hosea 13:14 that the general promise of resurrection is for all peoples of all dispensations. Paul writes ‘O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ (verse 55). ‘The sting of death is sin,’ he adds (verse 56). Death is like a fatal sting, and everyone who is so afflicted dies, which means, of course, the entire human race.”

• Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson, Exploring Bible Prophecy

1 Corinthians 15:55 ‘fire that sparked the early church’: “The fire that lit the boiler of the New Testament church was an unquenchable belief that if Jesus had been only a man, he would have stayed in the tomb. The earliest Christians couldn’t stay silent about the fact that the one they saw hung on a cross walked again on the earth and appeared to five hundred people.
“Let us ask our Father humbly, yet confidently in the name of Jesus, to remind us of the empty tomb. Let us see the victorious Jesus: the conqueror of the tomb, the one who defied death. And let us be reminded that we, too, will be granted that same victory!”

• Max Lucado, Walking with the Savior

1 Corinthians 15:58 ‘You learn doctrine by living it’: “In this chapter Paul dealt with the fact of the resurrection and argued in defense of it. Yet he closes with these words. This is a lesson for us. Let us never think we have learned a doctrine until we have seen its fruit in our lives. The text has in it two things-first, it mentions two great points of Christian character-‘steadfast, immovable’ and ‘always excelling in the Lord’s work.’ And, second, it gives us a grand motive-‘because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.’
“The apostle has given us two terms descriptive of godly firmness. Each word has a distinct meaning. By “steadfast” the apostle means steadfast in the doctrines of the gospel. We are to know what we know and, knowing it, cling to it. We are to hold fast sound doctrine. But the apostle meant much more; he intended to urge us to be steadfast in character. Inasmuch as the resurrection doctrine is true, he urges us to keep to that holy living that is the natural inference from belief in eternal life and the judgment to come. We also need to be steadfast in the level of Christian maturity we have attained. We should never slip backward in our Christian lives. And we should be steadfast in our Christian work, persevering and enduring to the end. Let us, therefore, remain stead-fast in doctrine, in character, in attainment, and in labor. The apostle added ‘immovable.’ He supposes that our steadfastness will be tried, and he bids us remain un-movable. We are not to be moved by the world’s customs, by its persecutions, or by its approval.
“The second characteristic of a Christian is ‘always ex-celling in the Lord’s work.’ Every Christian ought to be engaged in the Lord’s work. In this work the apostle says we are to excel. And he says we are to be ‘always excel-ling.’ Some Christians think it enough to excel on Sundays or only for a few years of their lives. The text calls this service ‘the Lord’s work,’ and we must always bear this in mind so that, if we are enabled to excel in Christian service, we may never become proud but may remember that it is God’s work in us rather than our own work. And whatever we accomplish is accomplished by God in us rather than by us for God.
“Finally, Paul identified the motive that urges us to be faithful in these duties. While there are a great many other motives, the one he mentioned is ‘because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.’ If we derive our motives for Christian labor or steadfastness from the things we see, our spirit will oscillate from enthusiasm to coldness. It will rise and fall with the circumstances around us. But we have gazed into another world where the resurrection will bring with it our reward. We are not fighting for a dead man’s cause. We have a living, reigning King! “

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

1 Corinthians 15:58 ‘The resurrection is real’: ”But praise God, the resurrection was a real event. It did not occur in someone’s imagination; it occurred in history. Jesus is alive! That’s why Paul can close chapter 15 with these words of confidence and encouragement.“

• Ray C. Stedman, Adventuring Through the Bible

My Thoughts

As I have mentioned in the first two parts, the Corinthians thought nothing good can come from the grave.  Thus, even if Jesus had been resurrected, surely there was decay, a smell, or rotting flesh.  In thinking of such things, would we wish to return in such a body?

Paul uses the rest of this chapter to explain what the resurrected body is like.

Paul uses the concept of planting the deceased body of someone in the ground as if it were a seed.  The seed must die.  Jesus used this analogy in John 12:24.  And what bursts forth after the seed turns into a plant is not like the seed that was planted.  It is alive.

Our bodies are not like the mammals, reptiles, fish, and birds.  So, it is between our earthly bodies and heavenly bodies.  Look at the heavenly bodies that shine at night.  They each have their splendor, but that splendor is different between the sun, moon, and stars.  Why should we question that life after death will be different than this life?

Paul uses a little poetic license.  He uses parallelism to contrast the earthly body from the heavenly body.  We are corruptible; we will be incorruptible.  He ends with the idea that we are natural, but we will be spiritual.  Yet, all descriptions that I have heard is that we will have physical bodies.

The problem here is that Paul is describing something in which we have no reference.  Each time scientists come up with an indestructible substance, someone finds a way to destroy it.

From my Army road-building classes, we have rigid roadways (concrete) and flexible roadways (asphalt).  My first time driving from the Tri-Cities of Washington (Kennewick, Pasco, Richland) to Seattle, we drove over some interstate highways that were dangerous.  The heavy truck traffic in the righthand lane caused the flexible pavement to flex deeply.  There were ruts where the truck tires traveled and high ridges between the ruts and on either side.  Thus, changing lanes became an adventure.  At one point, the slope of the ridges would launch your car sideways.  But then again, I have driven over concrete roads and roads that have an asphalt covering over the old concrete road.  Concrete, like anything else will expand, and even allowing for some expansion, the road can expand even further, buckling and crumbling.  If you are lucky, the buckling causes your car to “jump” off the high side, but driving the other way is like hitting a curb at interstate speeds.  This collision can rip through the tires, break the wheels, and destroy the vehicle’s suspension system.

I say this to relate a story about a workmate and friend.  There was a section of the interstate north of where I worked for twenty years.  In fact, the section of interstate went past the church where I have been a member for twenty-five years.  The contractor used a new experimental surface that was guaranteed to last thirty years.  When the project was completed, my friend was one of the first to drive that section of the interstate.  Between completion of the construction including testing and inspection of the road and when the roadway was opened for traffic, there was a large temperature change overnight.  The drive in the early morning was fine, but the drive north, for my friend, ended when his car hit a section of pavement that was about a foot (roughly 30cm) higher than the section of road he was on.  Tires exploded. His fancy wheels broken.  And suspension in pieces.  Was my friend exceeding the speed limit?  Probably, but that much of an immovable barrier would wreck the car at half that speed.  He was blessed to still be alive.  The contractor promised thirty years, and the road lasted less than one day.

Everything in this world is dying.  We do not like to think of it, but a baby who is just born has cells that die.  There is a circle of life about all living things, and everything that man makes can be destroyed, regardless of the advertisement hype.

So, Paul is speaking about something that we have no reference point in which to compare.

Paul switches to a different analogy.  Adam came from the dust of the earth, but the second Adam (Jesus) comes from heaven.  Thus, we cannot compare the second body, the resurrected body, with anything here on earth.

Jesus rose from the dead imperishable.  We were made in God’s image here on earth.  Our resurrection body will be like that of Jesus, imperishable.

The sting of death and the power of sin belong to the Law.

We, those who believe and trust in Jesus Christ, have been granted Mercy and Grace.  Jesus claims victory over death and sin.

Now, we must not waste time here on earth.  We should give God our time in service to Him and His will on this earth.

Some Serendipitous Reflections

1 Corinthians 15:35-58 The Resurrection Body 1. What is the most comforting thing here for you as you consider the reality of your own death? What here is hardest for you to understand?
“2. Whose death was the toughest for you to experience? What did you learn through it?
“3. What motivates you to push on with the Christian life: The hope of resurrection? The fear of judgment? The knowledge God will reward faithfulness? Explain.
“4. Write out a prayer of thanks to the Lord for what the hope of the resurrection means to you. Read these prayers as way of closing your meeting.”

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

First Corinthians 15 has one set of questions for this segment.

Substitute whatever group for any reference to a small group or ask who could come to your aid.

If you like these Thursday morning Bible studies, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Thursday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.