Resurrection Glory – 1 Corinthians 15:29-49

One of the most important premises of Christianity, and Judaism for that matter, is that humans are body/spirit creatures.  Unlike angels, who are all spirit, humans are a combination of earth and wind, body and spirit.  We are not whole unless we are embodied.  At death our spirits separate from our bodies and we are in what Paul calls a “naked” state in heaven (2 Corinthians 5:1-10).  But resurrection is coming, when our bodies are raised, transformed into an immortal state and rejoined to our spirits.  Then we are clothed and whole again.

Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? Why are we in danger every hour? I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day! What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.

But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. 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.

So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is 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. Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.  (1 Corinthians 15:29-49 ESV)

Paul now gives some logical answers for the resurrection.  First, if there is no resurrection, there is no answer for death.  Baptizing for the dead (a practice that perhaps only the Corinthians engaged in and which has no explanation anywhere else in Scripture and no endorsement) is meaningless.  Serving the Lord with the danger of dying, in fact, dying itself, has no ultimate reward if there is no resurrection from the dead.  And this has led the Corinthians already into morally questionable behavior like Paul has already dealt with in this letter.  Their lack of knowledge (theological knowledge) has led them into sinning.

Second, just because we don’t understand how resurrection occurs doesn’t make it impossible for God. He has illustrated it Himself with seeds that are planted one way and grow another.  God is able to give our dead, even decayed, bodies a new, imperishable life.  It is a miracle.

Third, resurrection is the logical conclusion of graduating from being in Adam, as all humans are until saved, to being in Christ.  We start a natural body, like Adam, and end up a spiritual body, like Christ.  This does not mean an immaterial body, but rather, like Christ, a body which can eat and be touched but is yet fashioned for heaven and the kingdom.  As we bore Adam’s image so we must bear Christ’s image.