Dr. Allen Mabra. Sunday, June 25th, 2017.
Spiritual BodySpiritual Body
1 Cor. 15:45-58
I. How are the dead raised
II. What kind of body will they have?
1Co 15:1Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand,1Co 15:2by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.1Co 15:3For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,1Co 15:5and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.1Co 15:6After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep.
1Co 15:7After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.1Co 15:8Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.
1Co 15:13But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen.1Co 15:14And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.1Co 15:15Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise.
1Co 15:16For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen.1Co 15:17And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!1Co 15:18Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.1Co 15:19If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.
1Co 15:30And why do we stand in jeopardy every hour?1Co 15:31I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.1Co 15:32If, in the manner of men, I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantage is it to me? If the dead do not rise, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”
Phl 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.Phl 1:22 But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell.Phl 1:23 For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.Phl 1:24 Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you.
Phl 3:7But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.Phl 3:8Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ
Heb 11:9By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise;Heb 11:10for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
Heb 11:24 By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,Heb 11:25 choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin,Heb 11:26 esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.
Heb 11:36 Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. Heb 11:37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted,were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented—Heb 11:38 of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.
Apostles
COMPARING BODIES AND SEEDS
35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?”
This of course raised questions such as: can God really reassemble the ashes of those cremated and scattered to the wind or sea and how can God resurrect a body that was partially eaten by animals? Since numerous resurrection theories were common in the Greco-Roman world, it is even possible that his debate partner is none other than the church of Corinth who might have been confused as to which theory was indeed correct, if any!
36 How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38 But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body.
To those who view resurrection as an impossibility, Paul finds the skepticism of such questioning to be from “fools” and without merit. “Fool” echoes Psalms 14:1 with the implication that the skeptics of resurrection have failed to consider the power of God to form a body as He chooses.
Psa 14:1To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
The fool has said in his heart,“There is no God.”They are corrupt,They have done abominable works,There is none who does good.
39 Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. 40 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. 41 The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.
The first analogy focuses on the various kinds of flesh as found in the sixth, fifth and fourth day of creation. Can there be any doubt that the body or flesh of people, animals, birds and fish differ radically from one another in both composition and splendor?
The second analogy that Paul uses is heavenly bodies. As earthly bodies have their own kind of splendor so do heavenly bodies who emit light. Are not the bodies of the sun, moon and various stars different from that of people, animals and plants?
42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised 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.
To finish answering question number two of the skeptic, “what kind of body will we get upon resurrection?,” Paul uses a series of couplets in antithetical parallelism to accentuate how radically different the resurrected body will be from that of our current ones.
When Paul says “the body that is sown is perishable” he is not only referring to the dead corpse in the ground but also to the qualities of the body prior to death such as perishability, dishonor, weakness and the animated power of the human soul. “Perishability” is a reference to the death of the physical body as a result of the Fall (Genesis 3:19).
Gen 3:19In the sweat of your face you shall eat breadTill you return to the ground,For out of it you were taken;For dust you are,And to dust you shall return.”
Dishonor” for Paul could either mean how poorly the world treats Christians (1 Corinthians 4:10-13) or the dishonor sin has brought to humanity.
Weakness” is most likely a reference to physical or moral shortcomings (2 Corinthians 11:30; 12:5) of our natural bodies. 2Co 12:5Of such a one I will boast; yet of myself I will not boast, except in my infirmities.
(2 Corinthians 1:22; 5:5, Ephesians 1:14) the Holy Spirit, will be fully manifested in and through us as it is in Christ Himself! The resurrection body then is to be seen as a “glorious body, just as far surpassing the present body as the beautiful plant surpasses the seed from which it sprang.”
SUPERIORITY OF THE SPIRITUAL BODY
45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. 48 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. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man
Paul who had personally met Christ who was the first to have received this new resurrected body (1 Corinthians 15:20), testifies that the new body will be powerful, glorious and wholly spiritual. Even though they have a deposit guaranteeing this new life, Paul reminds the church of Corinth that their current earthly bodies count for nothing (John 6:63)
John 6:63“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
VICTORY OVER DEATH
50 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
The restoration of the land to an Edenic condition “now finds its ultimate consummation in the resurrection of the dead and the complete renewal of creation that accompanies it.” The resurrection of the dead into new spiritual bodies is necessary for it is the vehicle in which God choses to transform His children back into His likeness so that they might be able to dwell in His kingdom.
51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—52 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.
The moment Christ returns with the “voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God” (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17) the moment that the mortal with be clothed with immortality and those sown in dishonor and weakness will be clothed in the glory and power of God Almighty!
1Th 4:13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.1Th 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.1Th 4:15 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.
1Th 4:16 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.1Th 4:17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.1Th 4:18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 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. 55 Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
APPLICATION
58 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.
If the physical body is not transformed from perishable to imperishable, mortal into immortal, weak into powerful, dishonorable into the glory of God; then death still has the victory and building one another up in the faith is futile. Praise be to God labor in His kingdom is never done in vain for His truly is the kingdom, power and glory; forever and ever Amen!
Commentaries used:Leon Morris, 1 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 7, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1985).C. K. Barrett, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, Black’s New Testament Commentary (London: Continuum, 1968).Roy E. Ciampa and Brian S. Rosner, The First Letter to the Corinthians, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2010).Marion L. Soards, 1 Corinthians, Understanding the Bible Commentary Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2011).Douglas J. Moo, “The Letters and Revelation,” in NIV Zondervan Study Bible: Built on the Truth of Scripture and Centered on the Gospel Message, ed. D. A. Carson