1 Corinthians

The Resurrection.

We've seen 14 chapters of Paul addressing the church at Corinth regarding the issues that were causing division and harming their testimony in a city that was in dire need of Jesus.  For the last three chapters Paul dealt with their attitudes toward the spiritual gifts as well as the function and purpose.  In the end he encouraged them to find a balance; ministering to others for the edification of the church.  This set up the next idea Paul wants to convey and that is the reality of our faith in the risen savior.  This faith is functional and real and applicable to all of life.  And while it has its basis in the cross and an empty tomb, it's from these things we can also look to the present and even to the future. 

Paul may well have been responding to the specific questions asked of him by Corinth or he may have been responding to the questions common among all men.  It may well be that you have the same questions:

• Is there really a resurrection of the dead?
• If so, when are they raised?
• Why are they raised?
• And finally, how are they raised?

As these questions are approached and then answered, we find that in Christ we have a sure hope and an exciting adventure before us.

The 'moreover' of verse one is a continuation of the thought started in verse 36 of chapter 14.  This was a pre-emptive defense to those who would contend with him.  He then drew a conclusion in verse 39 and then picked back up with the thought with 'moreover' connected it together.

 

1 Corinthians 15:1-2

Before one can talk about a sure future with Christ, we must first believe there was a Christ who did what He said He would do.  The established Christ of the past and present makes the way for a sure hope in the future. 

Paul began by establishing the foundation of their beliefs.  The foundation had been laid some time back.  In chapter 1 Paul referred to these people as the saints.  They had received and believed this gospel message.  The gospel means 'good tidings'.  At that time the word was used for any kind of good news.  If a child was born to a family and someone was bringing that news to others, it was a gospel message, because it was good news.  A message of good tidings wasn't unfamiliar to anyone in Corinth.  They had heard many gospel messages.

Paul wanted to reaffirm the 'The' gospel message that he preached to them.  The was the gospel to end all others.  If gospel was 'good' news then his message was the 'best' news ever.  Paul preached it to them, they received it and at the time the letter was written they stood firmly on that message.  Because of that, they were saved.  That may sound strange to us when we know all that had gone wrong at Corinth.  Yet, if they were standing firm in the gospel message, God would bring them to the resurrection.  In fact we could say that in spite of all that was going on, they were saved.  That's good news for all of us.  In this we see:

• I was saved; in that they received it.
• I am being saved; in that they stood in it.
• I will be saved; if they held fast to the end.

But then, Paul threw this 'if' statement on the end.  They will be saved if they hold fast to the word.  If you don't hold fast to the end, then all the time you did believe is meaningless.  Holding fast for a while doesn't do any good.  You have to hold on to the end.  To let go of the gospel was to have believed initially in vain.   The past is the heritage in the Lord having received that gospel.  Standing in the gospel is important in the present in order for there to be a future with the Lord. 

The fact that you have to hold fast seems to indicate that there is something or someone that is constantly trying to tear you away.  Well, we all know that, we've all felt that.  The world, our sinful nature, and Satan are all trying to separate you from Jesus Christ.  They all try to loosen your grip on the gospel.  To weaken your resolve, to distract you and draw you away.  This is a good time to say this; if your future in Christ relies on the belief that 'once saved, always saved' only, then you have some studying to do.  There are many folks who claim a one-time encounter with Jesus in their youth and then live their entire life apart from Christ on the basis that they received their salvation. 

We can in fact be changed, born again in a moment.  Then the process of sanctification begins and never ends in this body.  Sanctification seems to be our growth here in preparation for what's to come; it's schooling in holiness.  Our life is then a combination of being discipled by spiritual elders and becoming a spiritual elder to someone else.  Someone once said we should all have a Paul and a Timothy; as someone pours into us, we also pour into someone.

It is clear from Paul that some, when they heard the gospel, may have received it and believed it but never stood firmly on it. 

You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! ²⁰ But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?

[NKJV (Jas 2:19–20). (1982). Thomas Nelson.]

In other words, if there is no fruit, the tree is dead or it was never alive to start with.

 

1 Corinthians 15:3-8

Paul didn't just make this up.  The scholars call it 'traditioning.'   He received it and then handed it on to others.  From the beginning, the gospel has moved across the globe and across the ages one person at time, receiving it and then passing it on.  The gospel truth is a simple and powerful truth.   

• Christ died for our sins.  The penalty for sin is death.  While Christ was sinless, he was uniquely qualified to die in our place.  He took our place, our cross; and we go free.  It's as if Barabbas represented you.  This is called substitutionary atonement.
  • Sin presupposes the riff between God and man: there must be the acknowledgement that sin had separated mankind from God.  Christ came on a rescue mission to save us from our sin.
  • Death presupposes life; God the son came to earth as a man, born of the virgin Mary and lived a sinless life. 
  • His life was not taken, He was not murdered.  He gave His life freely for you.
  • Then he said, "It is finished."  The debt was paid in full.

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. [NKJV (2 Co 5:21). (1982). Thomas Nelson.]

 

And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. [NKJV(1 Jn 2:2). (1982). Thomas Nelson.]

• According to the scriptures.  This wasn't men acting on impulse.  The Jewish leadership had not railroaded Jesus and manipulated the Roman authority.  God was calling the shots.  He was The Lamb of God, led to the altar to bring atonement one and for all. 
  • The scriptures in reference were what we call the Old Testament.
  • Specifically this refers to Isaiah 52:13-53:12 and Psalm 22. 

The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. [NKJV (Is 53:6). (1982). Thomas Nelson.]

• He was buried.  Burial presupposes confirmed death.  The Roman executioners were experts in bringing death.  They did not fail – ever.  His body was put in the grave.
• He rose again on the third day.  Jesus died and was laid in a grave.  Then on the 3^rd day, an amazing thing happened.  Something that forever altered the course of history and forever changed the eternal destiny of man.  On the 3^rd day, He rose again from the dead. 
  • Imagine what that must have been like to have seen him whipped, beaten and crucified; to have lost hope and run away only to see him again, alive physically.
  • The Pharisees had demanded a sign; Jesus prophesied this very sign to them; a fulfillment of the foreshadow of Jonah 1:17

⁴⁰ For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.  [NKJV (Mt 12:40). (1982). Thomas Nelson.]

 

"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. ²⁶ And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" [NKJV (Jn 11:25–26). (1982). Thomas Nelson.]

• He was seen.  The eyewitnesses begin with Peter.  The women are not mentioned but they were the first eyewitnesses.  The remaining apostles then saw Him.  The over 500 brethren saw Him and most of them were still alive as Paul wrote this.  He was later seen by James, His brother and the leader of the church in Jerusalem.  Paul presents himself as the final and least of the eyewitnesses. 
  • "Born out of due time" was a word for an abnormal birth; a premie or a miscarriage.  Paul knew he was chosen from the womb.  However, he may have seen this as late in coming to Christ.  He instead persecuted the early church and its people before he became one. 

Paul may have been reciting a creed shared among Christians.  The purpose was to link the gospel to the death, burial and resurrection.  These things are inseparable.  You can't be save by a gospel that excludes the resurrection.  If any part is excluded, it is another gospel; which is no gospel at all. 

This gospel is a historical fact, well documented outside the scriptures.  The Romans and the Jews would have loved to produce the body of Jesus but they couldn't because he was physically resurrected.  This wasn't just a story that circulated or myth they had to try to dismiss.  They could not dismiss Jesus alive and walking around and speaking to people. 

 

1Corinthians 15:9-11

We know Paul's history.  He was a Pharisee, one who persecuted the church.  He held the coats for the men who stoned Stephen.  He was zealous as a Jew and zealous to rid the world of Christians.  Now Paul was a humble apostle.  He didn't see himself as being worthy of this calling.  There was no false humility here.  He probably always felt he had done more harm to the church in his early days than he could possibly do good in the latter.

Although he felt unworthy, Paul said I am what I am (a cousin to 'it is what it is').  It's like saying, 'God saved me, He chose me, though I don't know why, I do what he called me to do.'  It was by God's grace he was an apostle and it was because of that grace Paul worked hard.  He wasn't striving for grace, he wasn't trying to earn it, he was simply responding to it.

Paul's abundant labor wasn't a brag of working harder but that he planted and spread the gospel and God grew the church.  The Lord led Paul into the gentile lands; he traveled further and suffered much.  Paul quickly added that it wasn't by his power but by the grace of God that he could do anything.  He partnered with the apostles to preach and see people believe.

Paul suffered from constant attacks to his claim of apostleship.  This was especially true in Corinth.  There was a war going on in Corinth, a major spiritual war.  Besides all the false teachings of pagan gods and goddesses of idol worship, there were many present in the church who were teaching false doctrines and false gospels.  Some were putting laws in the place of the grace telling you that you had to earn your way to God.  Others were teaching there was no resurrection, and so on.  The false teachings are everywhere.

The life Paul lived, the miles he walked, the persecution he endured, the gospel he preached and the Lord he consistently served, gave all that he said and did credibility.  Within this establishment of Paul's credibility is an unspoken challenge on the credibility of those who taught another message.  His words might seem a little arrogant to us but they were true and spoken in humility and giving the glory to God and taking none for himself.

Paul's testimony became an unspoken challenge to his critics.  God's fingerprints were all over his life and this gave his words credibility that the true church should heed.  Paul had given everything for the spread of the gospel.  His challengers had taken all they could get to spread their message.  It's quite a contrast and it's still visible today.  Paul was what the Lord made him to be.  His whole identity was wrapped up in Christ.  He had truly died to himself when he was born again with the hope of resurrection.  What could these other guys say?  They had nothing!  While Paul said he got his message from the Lord, these other teachers could only say," I heard it taught, I read it" or "my tradition is different." 

 

1 Corinthians 15:12-19

The educated Greek would have laughed at the thought of a resurrection.  They thought you became some disembodied spirit after death.  This was the popular belief of the philosophers of that time.  But the church of Corinth believed that Jesus was raised from the dead.  Paul said they believed the gospel and they held fast to it, so far.  They believed Jesus was raised, they just didn't believe everyone else would be raised.  They weren't making the connection between Christ being raised from the dead and the Christian being raised just as Jesus was.

Paul may have been responding to questions about the resurrection.  If the church wasn't in agreement on this, it would have been another point of division and contention among them.  The resurrection of Jesus cannot be separated from the resurrection of the saints.  Without a resurrection, the entire system of belief falls apart.  Why believe a gospel that goes nowhere?  Why pursue a dead end?  Why believe in Jesus being raised but to no benefit to us.  Where is the power in that?  Where is the promise?  Where is the hope and the good news?

Paul's argument shows a logical reversal of the doctrine. 

1. If there is no resurrection, then Christ didn't rise. 
2. If he didn't rise, then preaching is empty; all the gospel is empty; faith is worthless. 
   1. The apostles and disciples would then be justly labeled false witnesses, having given false testimony.
3. If the dead do not rise, Jesus is not risen.
4. If Jesus is not risen, your faith is futile, useless.  You are still in your sins.
5. If all are still in their sins then all who died before us went to dust. 
6. If our hope is only found in this life, we are of all men most pitiable. 
   1. Paul and the apostles gave their life, suffered incredible torture and death and found no hope in this life.  If this is all there is, we should pity them.
   2. If this is all there is for us; if our faith is a crutch for the weak minded, then we also should be pitied. 
   3. If there is no resurrection, we will go to dust also and no one is raised. 

This is an argument purposefully void of hope or benefit. 

• You can't have a resurrected Christ with dead followers.
• You can't have people that are alive if the Christ is dead. 

The argument against resurrection made no sense and deep down, no one believed it.  Everyone has a sense that there is something after we die.  We are eternal creatures; we seem to know this.  However, if you confess a resurrection, you must yield to the rest of the argument and acknowledge Christ.  This was the rub.  Fallen man wants heaven, but on their own terms; just like Adam and Eve in the garden.  Dismissal of the resurrection is to ignore facts, logic and your very nature.  You were created in the image of the eternal God. All will be resurrected because all are eternal.  The resurrected Christ is the first, leading the way to the resurrection for those who follow him. 

¹⁹Your dead shall live;

Together with my dead body they shall arise.

Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust;

For your dew is like the dew of herbs,

And the earth shall cast out the dead.

[NKJV (Is 26:19). (1982). Thomas Nelson.]

 

Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice ²⁹ and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation

[NKJV (Jn 5:28–29). (1982). Thomas Nelson.]

 

And there shall be a time of trouble,

Such as never was since there was a nation,

Even to that time.

And at that time your people shall be delivered,

Every one who is found written in the book.

²And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,

Some to everlasting life,

Some to shame and everlasting contempt.

³Those who are wise shall shine

Like the brightness of the firmament,

And those who turn many to righteousness

Like the stars forever and ever.

[NKJV (Daniel 12:1–3). (1982). Thomas Nelson.]

In Romans Paul wrote about being baptized into Christ.  This is the symbolic picture of baptism; being dead and buried as though submersed in the waters of the grave and then being raised from that grave to new life.  Coming out of the water was symbolic of being raised from the dead; in Christ, by Christ.

Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? ⁴ Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

[NKJV (Ro 6:3–4). (1982). Thomas Nelson.]

If there is no resurrection, then the baptism is equivalent to staying under the water.  Think about that.  Think about that feeling of panic of helplessness.  To remain in your sin will be like being trapped under the water burdened by sin; likewise, to be trapped in the grave and engulfed by death.  As horrifying as this sounds, the real thing would be infinitely worse because it would never end.  We've all sinned against an infinitely holy God.  If there is no resurrection, if all that was true, what a horrible situation because we'd have no way out of our sin and we would face the wrath we deserve. 

The word translated to 'pitiable' is used only here and Revelation 3:17 where it translated to 'miserable'.  The lukewarm chur said, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing' but in reality they were 'wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.'

What a bleak and dark passage.  Paul's point was made. 

 

1 Corinthians 15:20-28

Paul ascends from this darkness and thought of hopeless death with the reality that Christ is risen, there is hope, there is a resurrection!!  In Leviticus 23 Moses was given the law regarding the firstfruits.  After the harvest, before the Jews used any of the grain, they were to take a sheaf of their firstfruits to the priest.  The priest would wave it before the Lord and they made an offering.  This was to show that the entire harvest belonged to the Lord.  The firstfruit was a representative of the full harvest that would follow. 

The feast of firstfruits was celebrated the day after the Sabbath after the Passover.  That was established by God as part of the law, given to Moses.  Yet it was done in anticipation of the resurrection.  God was planning ahead.  Jesus Died on Passover, on a Friday, the day before the Sabbath.  Then the day after the Sabbath, Sunday he was resurrected.  Jesus rose on the day the Feast of the Firstfruits was celebrated.

Jesus Christ was the first to overcome death.  He became the firstfruits and guarantee of the greater harvest; representative of the bigger harvest to come at His Parousia.  And that entire harvest belonged to the Lord.

¹⁹ "A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. [NKJV (Jn 14:19). (1982). Thomas Nelson.]

Yes, there is a resurrection.  We will be resurrected just like Christ was, in body.  He is the firstfruits of "Those who have fallen asleep."  'Those who have fallen asleep' is an idiom for those who have died.

Adam willfully sinned against God and death entered into the world.  He passed that on to us.  All men died spiritually as Adam did.  By a man, death came to all men.  Likewise, by a man, came resurrection and life.  We were all condemned to death through Adam and we all are delivered from that death through Christ, the last Adam.  Those who are in Christ will be made alive.  Each is done in its order; this order is like a military rank.  There is a specific order from top to bottom.  Paul sees that in the resurrection.  No one could be resurrected before Christ.  Now, since His resurrection all can be resurrected at His coming.

There was apparently a lingering question of when this would happen.  It is at the completion of all things.  'Then comes the end' doesn't just mean the end of the world, but the fulfillment or completion of the church age.  The kingdom would be presented to the Father when He puts to end all rule and all authority.  Christ will reign until all enemies are put under His feet; of course, the biggest of the last enemies is death.  When Christ comes again, He will reign for a thousand years.  This is the millennial kingdom.  At the end of that thousand years, Satan arranges for one last rebellion.  At that time Christ will cast him into hell along with all his demons.  Jesus had already conquered death, then death would be destroyed.  All things will be under his feet.  This phrase "He has put all things under His feet" is the picture of the king sitting on his throne with the kingdom at His feet.  All powers, authorities and even death itself will be conquered.

Paul offered a clarification in verse 28 so no one was confused.  Jesus Christ would bring the entire world back to the Father and deliver the kingdom before His throne.  Then the son, Jesus Christ, who is king of kings and Lord of Lords will also subject himself before God the Father.  All things will return to what God had created; a world without sin, perfect, holy, paradise.  Jesus will present the kingdom to the Father, showing He is one with the Father in all purpose, will and authority.

 

1 Corinthians 15:29-32
This is a strange verse that gets the bible scholars going in a lot of different directions.  The phrase 'Baptized for the dead' is the problem.  There are some thirty different documented explanations, none of which carry enough weight to dismiss the others.  There was a sect of early Christianity that practiced this 'being baptized for the dead.'  And the belief is actually still around today.  However, there is nowhere in scripture where this is taught. 

One of simplest explanations that seems to make the most sense is that people were coming to the Lord after seeing the witness and testimony of those who had since died.  A person might have seen their believing parents pass away.  That person knew they were Christians and knew their life and testimony.  At the death of the parents, that person came to the Lord and was subsequently baptized.  This isn't farfetched at all.  The legacy of parents and grandparents includes their faith.  The next generations see that faith and follow after it. 

Paul is using this as argument for the resurrection.  This person is a second-generation believer who got saved and baptized because of the life lived by the person who had died.  However, if they died and there was no resurrection, why follow in their footsteps?  Why do these things happen?  Because there is a resurrection, that's why?  Those in Corinth should have seen it and we should see it and know it and trust it.

Another popular explanation for the people who "are baptized for the dead," in verse 29 is that Paul may have been saying that even the pagans understand the concept of resurrection.  It was like Paul saying those at the idol worshiping temple down the road think there is a resurrection.  They worry about it and are concerned about it.  However, they chased after a false god, they thought you could get baptized for someone who was dead and save them.  The problem with this argument is no one alive was ever saved by baptism.  No one dead would be saved by someone else getting baptized in their place.  Baptism doesn't save.  Repentance and faith does.

Maybe the best explanation comes from the thought that Paul spoke of the dead as Jesus, if there is no resurrection.  We Christians would be baptized into a dead man.  What will we Christians do who were baptized into the dead?  Why risk their life preaching the gospel?  But Paul boasts in the Corinthian Christians.  He put his life on the line daily.  He bet his life he had a better one coming.  The church of Corinth was proof that he died daily.  They were the fruit of all the risks he took.  If Paul hadn't endured all the abuse and kept on, that church would not exists.  Paul said he even fought with beasts in Ephesus.  We really don't know what this life-threatening situation is that he refers to.  It could be a literal wild beast he fought or it could be a reference to the wicked men who tried to kill him there.  Either way, the meaning is the same.  Why risk it all if this life is all there is?  If the dead don't rise, "let's eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!"  Let's have a party, let's have a good time if this is all there is.  That's the thinking of an unbelieving world and the fact that our thinking is different proves there is a resurrection.  Corinth's very existence as a church in that culture became proof that there was a resurrection.   Why would anyone follow Jesus if He came and lived for 30 years just to die?

Read the stories of those in the hall of faith in Hebrews 11:32-40.  Why did all those people go through all that affliction and torture?  They went through it and still go through it because there is something better coming.  Those people did all these things and then God provided something better.  That is Jesus Christ, the hope that all of those people longed for and looked for.  Together, those who were saved by faith looking forward and those who look back and are saved by faith.  We shall be made perfect together.

Paul knew this.  All those people mentioned in Hebrews knew this.  They lived their lives as if life was precious, but not as if this were all there was.  As slaves to sin we were headed toward death.  Suddenly we find out we've been purchased by a God that loves us and has mercy on us.  We are grateful, absolutely, but not nearly as grateful as when we find out we were purchased so we could be set free in paradise.  That's the mercy that brings us to repentance and faith.

 

1 Corinthians 15:33-34

The Corinthians were already deceived and Paul was trying to call them out of their deception.  They were deceived by the Greek culture who believed your soul just floated around like a little cloud after you die.  They were deceived by the pagan religions that believed all kinds of strange things about death.  And they were deceived by the Jews, specifically the Sadducees who didn't believe in a resurrection.  Paul said all this evil company they had kept had corrupted them

This statement, "Evil Company corrupts good habits" is fascinating.  You can see in your bible that it's a quote.  But it's not from the Old Testament Scriptures as many of Paul's quotes.  This quote is from an ancient comedy play called Thais, written by Menander.  This guy wrote plays and comedies but he also wrote these moral maxims.  These sayings were collected and put in a book that became like a moral text book for teaching.  It was called Meanders One Verse Maxims.

This is some of what he wrote. 

• "He who labors diligently need never despair, for all things are accomplished by diligence and labor."

• "The chief beginning of evil is goodness in excess."
• "I call a fig a fig, a spade a spade."
• "Riches cover a multitude of woes."
• "Let the die be cast", this was quoted by Julius Cesar when he went to war. 
• And then he wrote "Evil Company corrupts good habits" which was a line he also used in a play.

Paul saw truth in what Menander said and it may well have been a truth they recognized within their culture.  Paul saw no problem applying that truth to make his case that they were letting the teaching of the world pollute their good habits. Paul was giving them another blunt exhortation.  It's an apostolic kick in the seat.  Wake up, stop sinning, there are many people out there who don't know God.  There's a lot of people teaching and believing a lot of stuff.  You can't let those things corrupt your beliefs or faith.  I think it's ironic that Paul uses this secular quote to set up the point he was making about letting secular ideas infect your beliefs.  It was like he was saying, "You can use a secular truth to support your belief, but don't use a secular belief to form your faith.

 

How are the dead raised?

Ancient Judaism taught the resurrection of the body and not just the soul.  Paul takes this belief and refines it by teaching that the nature of the resurrected body is different.  We all have questions about our faith, especially around the details of life after death?  How does this work?  What will our body look like?  Will I be overweight still?  Will I have hair?  Will I still have blue eyes?  Paul brings back his curious, imaginary believer who asked lots of questions.  This rhetorical style of writing or arguing a point was common at the time. 

It is foolish to think of the resurrection body in terms of how we think of our bodies now.  To those who deny the resurrection and ask questions to prove they are right, Paul referred to as fools.  They were like the fools of the Old Testament who said in their heart there is no God.  We are surrounded with this progressive mindset; that our generation is smarter than anyone has ever been.  Therefore, if we can't explain it, it can't possibly be real.  This thinking has always existed in some fashion and this was what Paul faced with these Greeks and their philosophy blended with their faith. 

Paul uses simple analogies to make his point.  Our resurrected bodies will be different than our current bodies.  That's good news.  The resurrection isn't just a remake of what you are now.  It's something completely different. 

1. Paul uses an analogy of sowing a seed of grain.  The seed has to die before it can grow and create life.  New life can come from death.  You don't sow the plant you want to grow; you merely sow a small dead grain and something greater and alive grows from it. 
   1. Like a dead grain of wheat can be watered and come to life and grow, so will we, from our dead earthly bodies God will bring forth an eternal, resurrected body.
   2. It is God who matched the seed to the plant; each seed to its own body.  Likewise with man, He's designed a resurrection body for our physical, earthly body.
   3. There is no comparison between a small, gray, lifeless sunflower seed that is planted in the ground and the sunflower that grows in life, color and glory.

 

1 Corinthians 15:39-45

2. Paul's second analogy is a comparison of flesh.  Not all flesh is the same today, in this life.  There is the flesh of men, that of animals, fish and birds.
   1. If God can make different kinds of flesh to cloth different creatures, we shouldn't be worried about what he will cloth us with in the resurrection. 
   2. Why then would we then find it hard to believe that in the next life we would be clothed in a different body? 
3. For his third analogy Paul looks to the heavens.  Heavenly beings had a 'glory' about them that was different from the glory of earthly beings.  This 'glory' is a word that means 'radiance of light'. 
   1. Paul said there are bodies made for earth and there are bodies made for heaven.  Just like the planets and the stars shine a God given glory, each one of us will be made in the resurrection to shine with the glory of the Lord. 
   2. Why should it be hard to believe we would have a different glory when resurrected?

 

Paul's three examples then lead to the main point which is displayed with several contrasts from which we can see how different this resurrected body will be.  And in that we also see the purpose and meaning.  The body of a believer is sown in corruption;

• From the corruption of our mortal bodies sown in the grave will rise an incorruptible body.
  • We live in a body of flesh damaged by sin and a fallen nature.  It is corrupted, damaged and subject to death and decay.  It will return to dust from which it was made. 
• It is sown in dishonor (disgrace, shame, without dignity); but then raised in glory.

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹ who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself. [NKJV (Philippians 3:20–21). (1982). Thomas Nelson.]

• It is sown in the weakness (strength, vitality, diseased and infirm); a body afflicted by the effects of sin, incapable of overcoming sin and its effects.  The power is only to persevere for a time before the body lays down.  Soon after, though, it is raised in power.  This is the power of Jesus Christ; attained by the work on the cross and overcoming the grave.

Paul introduced Jesus in Romans as "… our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, ⁴ and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead."  

[NKJV (Romans 1:3–4). (1982). Thomas Nelson.]

• The body is sown as a natural body.  Paul pictures a weak, corrupt, sin-fallen flesh that is home to a regenerated spirit being sown in the grave like a grain of wheat is sown in the ground.  From what is sown in the natural is then raised a spiritual body. 
  • The spiritual body is not subject to cancer, infection, aging, sickness, arthritis, tendonitis, viral infection, depression, mental illness, dementia, Alzheimer's, ALS or the myriad of other things we battle and eventually succumb to.

When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

[NKJV (Col 3:4). (1982). Thomas Nelson].

• Paul's final contrast is the vast difference between the first Adam and the last Adam.  Paul quotes Genesis 2:7 in saying that Adam became a living being.  When He willfully rebelled against God, He subjected all of mankind to death.  As Adam broke the relationship with the Father, it is restored in Jesus Christ.  Paul calls Him the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 
  • We were borne in the likeness of Adam; and then born again in the likeness of Jesus.  What we inherited from Adam made us resemble him.  What will inherit from Jesus will restore us to a resemblance to our maker. 
    • People see the family resemblance between myself and my boys and even grandsons.  In our resurrection bodies, we'll have the family resemblance with Jesus Christ.

²¹ For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. [NKJV (John 5:21). (1982). Thomas Nelson.]

 

Why are they raised?

We can see in our resurrected bodies, we will still be ourself, distinct and individual, the person God created.  As Christ was recognizable, even bearing His scars, we will retain our identity.  However, this body will be perfect for the eternal Kingdom of God.  The body suited for a restored relationship to the Father. 

Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. [NKJV (1 John 3:2). (1982). Thomas Nelson.]

Our hope is found in Jesus – giving us the assurance that one day we will be resurrected as Jesus was.  We don't really understand the specifics; and even if He told us we probably wouldn't understand.  We can't look at our body now and imagine what our resurrected body will be like.  Our future, resurrected body cannot be compared with our tent today. 

Right now, our life is marked with the imprint of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is a marker declaring a righteousness that was imputed to you.  His presence marks you.  The Holy Spirit is a down payment, He is assurance to you of the blessed promise.  Our resurrection bodies will be fully Christlike.  Our resurrection body is the remaining payment of that which the Holy Spirit was the down payment.  That body will be the delivery of that sure hope and quenching of our inconsolable longing. 

What does this mean to be Christlike in our resurrection bodies?  We can expect to have a similar body as Christ had at the resurrection.  The resurrected body is material, yet, Jesus vanished right before the eyes of the disciples on the road to Emmaus.  This body apparently won't be bound by the natural laws.  Yet, the resurrected body of Jesus was physical.  He invited his followers to touch him and feel him.  Jesus even asked the disciples if they had anything to eat as they marveled over his resurrected state.  It appears he will even eat and have a physical or material being yet not be bound by the natural laws we understand today.

 

1 Corinthians 15:50-554a
In answering the questions of Paul's imaginary and curious Christian disciple, he made the earlier point:

1. There is no salvation without resurrection.  It is by resurrection of Jesus we can have the assurance of life after death. 
2. Our resurrection body will be Christlike, not like our current Adam-like flesh.
3. The resurrection is a complete and final act of the utter rescue mission of Christ.  Our attachment to sin, flesh, corruption of the world will all be replaced with a new body for a new life.
   • There were teachings in that day that we would retain this body as we go into eternity.  This worried those who had loved ones with maimed bodies or who had died in a way that destroyed this body.  As such, it concerns people today when they consider cremation. 

 

And finally, when are they raised?

We await our final transformation.  We long for our deliverance.  That longing grows with out faith and as we mature and understand the contrast of this life to what is coming.  Paul's 'Behold!" is a call to pay attention; it is a heralding or call to take heed.  He's about to speak of a truth that has always been, but only previously known by God.  It's not a new truth but the revealing of an old one. 

It will happen in a moment – the word is 'atomos'; meaning a span of time so short it is no longer divisible into a smaller unit.  This moment is likened to the twinkling of the eye.  Paul said it will be at the last trumpet.  Trumpets were used to signal many things in that time; this is the idea of the final assembly, the calling together of God's people.  Paul is likely referring to Jesus' comments:

And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

[NKJV (Matthew 24:31). (1982). Thomas Nelson.]

It will be as if the old, dead, corruptible seed of the flesh will spring forth into new life.  It will be as though we stepped out of an old filthy garment and put on a new one that can't get dirty.  That old mortal tent will be replaced with one that is immortal.  Paul wrote of this mystery to the Thessalonian church:

 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.

[NKJV (1 Thessalonians 4:15–17). (1982). Thomas Nelson.]

I believe the scripture speaks of what we call the rapture.  There are many debates on this and it often causes division in the church.  Remain open minded and look at both sides of the argument, decide for yourself.  I believe the Lord will remove His church prior to the 7-year tribulation.  This is why He meets us in the air.   Regardless of where your beliefs settle out, enjoy the assurance we have of the resurrection.  The theological arguments are all about timing; don't let that harm your assurance, the anticipation and longing for that day.

 

1 Corinthians 15:54b-58

Paul said at the beginning of this chapter that Jesus was the firstfruits of the grave.  He overcame sin and death.  The victory has been won on our behalf.  We can celebrate that now in anticipation; we'll celebrate then in the presence of our Lord, forever.

"For the Christian, death is not the end of adventure but a doorway from a world where dreams and adventures shrink, to a world where dreams and adventures forever expand."

— Randy Alcorn

 

In the resurrection, we will be changed and death will be swallowed up in this final victory.  It will fulfill the prophecy:

In the resurrection, we will be changed and it will fulfill the prophecy:

⁸           He will swallow up death forever,

And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces;

The rebuke of His people

He will take away from all the earth;

For the Lord has spoken. [NKJV (Isaiah 25:8). (1982). Thomas Nelson.]

 

Paul then taunts death by quoting the prophet Hosea.  Then entire verse looks like this:

¹⁴"I will ransom them from the power of the grave;

I will redeem them from death.

O Death, I will be your plagues!

O Grave, I will be your destruction!

Pity is hidden from My eyes. [NKJV (Hosea 13:14). (1982). Thomas Nelson.]

Sin is the sting of death; its power to rule, cause fear, to destroy.  The picture is a stinger being pressed into our flesh and infecting us with sin leading to death.  That sting of sin is revealed by the law.  God's law said that the penalty of sin is death.  The law strengthens sin; confirms it, establishing right and wrong, righteous and unrighteous.  The perfect standard revealed this sting; this infection of sin.  Suddenly, this little sting looked huge and deadly because sin is sown for what it is. 

But Christ, in God's perfect justice, fulfilled the law.  He paid our debt of death for us, then overcame death.  With our debt paid, we can now liven eternally.  Not only that, but we are restored to our maker, Lord and King because we were given the righteousness of Christ.  He gave us the victory over sin and death. 

The picture now that Paul taunts death with is a little bumble bee with no stinger.  It's pathetic and powerless over those who are in Christ.  O Death, where is your sting?  O Hades, where is your victory?

 

1 Corinthians 15:58
The 'therefore' of verse 58 is a summary of the chapter; a wrapping up of answering the questions they had, strengthening their understanding and the importance of the resurrection. 

Since we know that we have victory over death, what should we be afraid of? 

We can stand strong in the Lord and know the victory is already won.  Why stand here with aches and pains and fret over the inevitable death that is coming.  We can find comfort knowing death is a step into eternity.  We can be abounding in the work of the Lord without wavering or worrying because the worse that can happen is our work here will end.   The Greek word translated to abounding implies a ridiculous amount of work, beyond anything normal or expected.  Our labor in the Lord is not in vain.  We labor because the days of laboring are few.  Time is short, the resurrection is near.

 

©2006, 2010, 2016, 2022 Doug Ford, Calvary Chapel Sweetwater