What Our Resurrection Body Will Be Like
June 3, 2021
Commentary
Paul opens a discussion concerning the nature of the resurrection body. He deals with two questions which foolish objectors raise (v. 35). The first question implies that resurrection is impossible; the second, that it is inconceivable.
1. "How are the dead raised up?”
2. "With what body do they come?”
A comparison is made between the resurrection of our bodies and the growth of a plant in the field. Seeds planted in the ground don’t grow unless they “die” first (v. 36). The plant that grows looks very different from the seed because God gives it a new body (v. 38). Our resurrection body will be somewhat, but not altogether, different from our earthly body. The resurrection body is related to the earthly body in the same sense that the plant is related to the seed. This should not seem strange because there are different kinds of bodies here on earth (v. 39). There are also differences in bodies adapted to the heavenly realm and those to the earthly realm (v. 40).
In the context of reaping and sowing the resurrection reflects both unity and diversity. The resurrection body is related to the earthly body in the same sense that a plant is related to a seed.
Application
If the body I am living in on this earth gives me trouble, I can claim the victory because I am going to have a body in heaven that is perfect. What a day that will be!
1 Corinthians 15:35– 44 (NET)
35 But someone will say, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” 36 Fool! What you sow will not come to life unless it dies. 37 And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare seed —perhaps of wheat or something else. 38 But God gives it a body just as he planned, and to each of the seeds a body of its own. 39 All flesh is not the same: People have one flesh, animals have another, birds and fish another. 40 And there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. The glory of the heavenly body is one sort and the earthly another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon and another glory of the stars, for star differs from star in glory.
42 It is the same with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.