1 Corinthians ~ Part 29

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As I emphasized in my previous post, we are delving into the profound significance of Sha’ul’s Letters to the Corinthians, a crucial cornerstone of our faith.

Regarding the Resurrection ~ Part 3

New Bodies in the Resurrection

We pick up where we left off in our last post.

Having proved the necessity of resurrection, Sha’ul can discuss his readers’ concerns about the practical details.

³⁵ But someone will ask, “In what manner are the dead raised? What sort of body do they have?” ³⁶ Stupid! When you sow a seed, it doesn’t come alive unless it first dies. ³⁷ Also, what you sow is not the body that will be, but a bare seed of, say, wheat or something else; ³⁸ but God gives it the body he intended for it, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body.

An imaginary someone can safely be called stupid; this is part of the style of Greek diatribes. Yeshua at Yochanan 12:24 used the same seed-sowing analogy. Sha’ul compares human resurrection to the life-death-life cycle from agriculture. The seed body that dies gives rise to a different plant body, yet there is a retention of identity. So, it is with our present bodies and our future resurrection bodies.

³⁹ Not all living matter is the same living matter; on the contrary, there is one kind for human beings, another kind of living matter for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. ⁴⁰ Further, there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the beauty of heavenly bodies is one thing, while the beauty of earthly bodies is something else. ⁴¹ The sun has one kind of beauty, the moon another, and the stars yet another; indeed, each star has its own individual kind of beauty.

Sha’ul said that in agriculture, a wheat seed produces wheat (1 Corinthians 15:37–38). Now, he draws his parallel to the issue of resurrection. Just as there are different sorts of seeds, there are also different sorts of flesh. Sha’ul points out that just as there are different kinds of seeds (15:37–38) and flesh (15:39), the resurrection body, or heavenly body, will have a different degree of glory from the earthly body. Sha’ul adds another illustration to support the idea of different degrees of glory: nature again illustrates the sun, moon, and stars. These are prominent examples of differing degrees of glory.

Bodies to Be Spiritual

Imagine a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly. In the same way, our perishable bodies will be transformed into imperishable ones, just as 1 Corinthians 15:42-44 explains.

⁴² So it is with the resurrection of the dead. When the body is “sown,” it decays; when it is raised, it cannot decay. ⁴³ When sown, it is without dignity; when raised, it will be beautiful. When sown, it is weak; when raised, it will be strong. ⁴⁴ When sown, it is an ordinary human body; when raised, it will be a body controlled by the Spirit. If there is an ordinary human body, there is also a body controlled by the Spirit. ⁴⁵ In fact, the Tanakh says so: Adam, the first man, became a living human being, but the last “Adam” has become a life-giving Spirit.

Adam“became a living human being”(or: “a living soul”) after God “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” (the word for “breath” in Hebrew is ruach), which can also be translated as “spirit” or even “Spirit”, as in the Ruach HaKodesh (the Holy Spirit). Thus, his life depended on God, which is why God could make death a penalty for sin (Genesis 2:17).

⁴⁶ Note, however, that the body from the Spirit did not come first, but the ordinary human one; the one from the Spirit comes afterwards.

Sha’ul points out that Adam came first and then Yeshua—the natural and spiritual man.

⁴⁷ The first man is from the earth, made of dust; the second man is from heaven.

Sha’ul states that Adam had his origins from the earth; he was made from the ground (Genesis 2:7) and did not exist previously, while Yeshua had a preexistence in Heaven, from which He came to earth (compare Philippians 2:6; Yochanan 16:28).

⁴⁸ People born of dust are like the man of dust, and people born from heaven are like the man from heaven; ⁴⁹ and just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, so also we will bear the image of the man from heaven. ⁵⁰ Let me say this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot share in the Kingdom of God, nor can something that decays share in what does not decay. ^[1]

Sha’ul returns to the principle from 15:22 about identifying individuals as part of a group; Adam and Yeshua have extensive influence on those “in” them. Those in Adam bear Adam’s image (see Genesis 5:2–3; Romans 5:19). Those in Yeshua bear Yeshua’s image (see Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:10; 2 Corinthians 3:18). Sha’ul speaks of Adam and Yeshua as spheres of influence, or overarching representatives, who shed their influence on those in them. All people are subsumed either in Adam as their representative head or Yeshua as their head. All those who are “in Adam” die. Adam sinned and brought guilt, condemnation, and death to his descendants (see Romans 5:17–19). On the other hand, Yeshua brings righteousness, justification, and life to all who are in Him, that is, to all Believers in Yeshua. This profound influence of the two Adams explains ultimately how there is a natural body, which is ruled by Adam’s nature, and a spiritual body, which is ruled by God’s spirit. Believers have begun to share in Yeshua’s image to greater and greater degrees (2 Corinthians 3:18), and this image will be completed at glorification when they receive their resurrection bodies.

In our next post, we will eagerly explore Sha’ul’s Letters to the Corinthians, starting with 1 Corinthians 15:51 and delving deeper into our topic of Regarding The Resurrection. Stay tuned for more insights and revelations.

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^[1] 1 Corinthians 15:35–50.