[RESURRECTION REALITIES SERIES]
1 CORINTHIANS 15: 35-42
THE RESURRECTION BODY IS A TRANSFORMED BODY
[John 12: 23-28]
After having established that the resurrection of Christ is the pledge of the raising again of the believer’s body, Paul answers the question: "What kind of body will the raised dead have?" The atheist can only mock for he wants it all to end. The philosopher can only speculate, for his wisdom stops on the burial side of the grave. It is beyond scientific evidence to observe what is yet to happen. Divine revelation, however, understands the resurrection of the dead. God tells us that it is the resurrection of new body that will then carries us on into the eternal ages to come.
This section also corrects some common errors concerning the nature of the resurrection body. First, it is not the same body that was laid in the grave, simply reconstituted; and second the new body is related to the original one. Here the Scriptures explains that it will be the body God has chosen or designated (v. 38), it will be related to the original (v. 36), yet it will be different (vv. 39-41).
I. RAISED TO A NEW DIMENSION, 35-37.
II. RAISED TO A NEW DESIGN, 38 .
III. RAISED TO A NEW DISTINCTION/ DIFFERENCE, 39-42a.
One objection to belief in anyone’s resurrection might be its incomprehensibility. This bewilderment was the point of the two questions "How?" and "What?" that are asked in verse 35. Someone will say, "How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?"
The questions, ‘How are the dead raised?’ and ‘With what kind of body?’ most likely come from those who are doubting or denying the resurrection of the body. One objection to the idea of resurrection was, and still is, its seeming impossibility. How can a corrupted and dissolved body be restored to life. How is it possible for new life to come out of death. Paul refused to even answer the idea that resurrection is impossible. Why would anyone who acknowledges a Creator God think His restoring bodies, in whatever way, would be any more difficult for Him than making them in the first place? To Paul the first requires no reply. It is obvious. God will raise the dead by His irresistible creative power.
The second question, "What kind of body?’ is echoed by many today. Some, simply cannot imagine a ‘dead man walking’, that is, a re–animated corpse. Paul anticipates that question by insisting that resurrection means transformation. It is this question that verses 36-42 will answer.
Paul did not consider these questions or doubts the sort a wise person would raise, as is obvious from his response in verse 36. You fool! That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies;
How foolish! ("how senseless or thoughtless") it is to assume that our future bodies will consist of flesh and blood, be sustained by air, food and sleep as are those we have now. The answer to the question is a constant fact or occurrence in nature. Belief in the Resurrection was like belief in seedtime and harvest. Neither could be completely understood but both are real.
To help us understand this unexplainable miracle Paul uses three analogies. The first is an illustration from the farm. In an agricultural age, when everyone depended on sowing and reaping, two things were obvious. First, the seed sown in the ground dies before it sprouts with new life. It must cease to exist in its original form, actually decomposing as a seed before it can come to life in its final form as a plant. Seeds placed in the ground don’t grow unless they "die" first. [Before Christ could bear the fruit of salvation for us, He had to die.] Just as with growing crops, there had to be an end to the old before there could be a beginning of the new. In the case of men, one body will die to give life to another.
Second, the plant that rises from the soil has a different ‘body’ from the ‘naked’ seed that was sown. The plant that grows looks very different from the seed because God gives it anew "body." The self–same seed that ‘dies’ in the ground is ‘raised’ in a transformed ‘body’.
The same is true of the resurrection of the dead. As a plant which sprouted from a seed was directly linked to it but remarkably different from it, so too was the relationship of a natural and a resurrected body. Believers who die will be raised alive, but changed into a different form.
What happens to a body that is placed in the grave? It goes back to dust. Grain or seeds sown into the ground seems to decay, but the farmer knows that it will bud and bring forth an even more abundant yield of the same kind of grain. Likewise, a wonderful transformation has been prearranged by God for His children. To transform our body in the resurrection seems impossible to our finite minds. But God has established the fact of resurrection to new life into the very fabric of nature. [Faith does not set reason aside; faith supplements reason.]
[Our Lord said, "The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head" (Mark 4:26-28). [Since there is order in nature, we may expect order in the resurrection of the body].
Verse 37 continues the principle of sowing and reaping. and that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else.
The resurrection is not a reconstruction. It is the continuation our body existence, but it is not the same body we sow in the earth that has turned to dust. Both in the growing of crops and in the resurrection of bodies there is a difference between the original sow and the final form. The seed you sow whether it is wheat or something else, looks nothing like the mature plant, the body which is to become. Only after it is planted in the ground and discomposes does it transform into the mature plant. [MacArthur, 433]
Jesus’ resurrection body was far different from the one which died. It was not longer limited by time, space, and material substance. During His appearances, Jesus went from one place to another without traveling in any physical way, including into the presence of the Father. He appeared and disappeared at will, and entered rooms without opening a door (Luke 24:15, 31, 36; John 20:19).
Resurrection changed Jesus’ body in marvelous and radical ways, and at His return all resurrection bodies will be changed marvelously and radically. [MacArthur, 434]
HUMAN ASHES have been sprinkled into the sky from airplanes and spread over the ocean from ships. But according to the Associated Press, Brian Kelly had something more glorious in mind.
In July 1994 Kelly, who lived in suburban Detroit, suffered complications from surgery on his intestines. Knowing he was soon to die, Kelly told his family what he wanted done with his remains. His request was unusual, but his family granted it.
Kelly’s boss, Mary McCavit, at Independence Professional Fireworks shop in Osseo, Michigan, rolled up Kelly’s ashes in a twelve inch-round fireworks shell. On Friday, August 12, at a convention of fireworks technicians near Pittsburgh, they shot that shell into the sky. It trailed two silvery comet tails as it ascended into the night sky, and then it exploded into red and green stars. If you want to go out in a glorious display, you have to admit, that is pretty spectacular.
But that’s nothing compared to the glory that God intends for the bodies of those who believe in Jesus Christ. The glory of our resurrection bodies will far surpass that four-second arc of light and color. Instead of a cannon report, there will be the awesome blare of the trumpet of God and the majestic voice of Jesus calling our bodies from the graves. In glorious resurrection bodies like that of Jesus Christ himself, we will ascend into the clouds and meet the King of Kings whose brightness is like the lightning shining from east to west. For ever and ever, Jesus said, we will "shine like the sun in the kingdom" of our Father.
In 100 Meditations on Hope Wayne A. Lamb writes: In the midst of a storm, a little bird was clinging to the limb of a tree, seemingly calm and unafraid. As the wind tore at the limbs of the tree, the bird continued to look the storm in the face as if to say, "Shake me off I still have wings."
Because of Christ’s resurrection, each Christian can look the experience of death in the face and confidently say, "Shake me off I still have wings. I’ll live anyway."
II. RAISED TO A NEW DESIGN, 38 .
Despite a different type or dimension of body verse 38 indicates there is a close connection between the old and the new. But God gives it a body just as He wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own.
There is continuity, meaning it is the continuation our body existence, and it is based on the same body we have sow on earth. The seed changes radically, but it is a continuation the same life. It is the result of, or form out of, the life we have sown on earth. What we become is a direct result of the seed we sow. A wheat seed does not become barley, and a flax seed does not become corn. God has given each type of seed a body of its own, it cannot change is type. It is an expansion or extension of what is sown whose identity continues into the grown plant.
[Dr. Wernher von Braun, well-known for his part in the U.S. space program, says he has "essentially scientific" reasons for believing in life after death. He explained: "Science has found that nothing can disappear without a trace. Nature does not know extinction. All it knows is transformation. If God applies the fundamental principle to the most minute and insignificant parts of the universe, doesn’t it make sense to assume that He applies it to the masterpiece of His creation-the human soul? I think it does."]
Apparently there will be variety in the outcome of the new body based on what is sown. As variety in Creation reflects the will of the Maker (Gen. 1:1-26), so it will in the new creation.
There also will be individuality and improvement (vv. 38-44). Every seed, though it looks like the others, has its own individuality or genetic make-up. Every believer will retain his own individual identity in the resurrection, yet there will great distinction as there is in our earthly human existence. Our resurrection bodies will differ substantially. Paul made this clear in four couplets that follow verse 38.
III. RAISED TO A NEW DISTINCTION/ DIFFERENCE, 39-42a.
These verses expand on the point that our resurrection bodies will differ. The difference between the seed and the plant are illustrated by sets of contrasts, between various kinds of ‘flesh’ in verse 39 and then between ‘earthly’ and ‘heavenly’ ‘bodies’. All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fish.
All flesh is not the same flesh indicates the amazing variety of earthly bodies God has made. Just look around you and see the virtually infinite assortment of created beings and things. There are dazzling differences in the animated or biological (breathing) creation of men, animals, birds and fish. There are different kinds of bodies among people, animals, fish, birds.
There are some six hundred octodecillion different combinations of amino acids. An octodecillion is 10108, or 1 followed by 108 zeros. Amino acids are the building blocks of all life. Not only does each type of plant and animal life have a distinct pattern of amino acids, but each individual plant, animal, and human being has its own unique grouping of them. No two flowers, snowflakes, seeds, blades of grass, or human beings—even identical twins—are exactly alike. Yet each is completely identified with its own species or kind. [MacArthur, 435]
Our resurrected bodies will be incredibly varied and distinct, not only from our earthly bodies, but from other resurrected bodies. Our heavenly bodies will differ in significant ways from one another even as the angels in heaven have bodies that are different in beauty and glory.
Not only is distinction and wonder true in the biological world it is also evidenced in the inorganic creation as verse 40 indicates. There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another.
The differences in inanimate creation (sun, moon, stars) give expression to the splendor of God and bring Him praise (Ps. 148:13). The differences in splendor between the earthly bodies and the heavenly bodies suggested the differences between a natural and a spiritual body.
The basic point is that stars generate their own light, while the planets and moons only reflect light produced by the stars. In that way the two types of heavenly bodies are greatly different in glory, that is, in character and manifestation. [From astronomy we know that many of what normally are called stars actually are planets, and therefore similar to the earth and moon, and that true stars are themselves suns. But Paul was speaking from the perspective of normal human observation, not from the perspective of science. [MacArthur, 435]
Verse 41 parallel the variety of glories of the stars with the variety of glories of the transformed resurrected bodies. 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) So also is the resurrection of the dead.
The sun and moon obviously differ in splendor or glory. Even star differs from star in glory. Though the stars have great resemblance in substance and form, they have observable difference between each other also. Donald Peattie has written, "Like flowers, the stars have their own colors. At your first upward glance all gleam white as frost crystals, but single out this one and that for observation and you will find a subtle spectrum in the stars. The quality of their lights is determined by their temperatures. In the December sky you will see Aldebaran as pale rose, Rigel as bluish white and Betelgeuse orange to topaz yellow."
Every star is different, just as every plant is different, every animal is different, and every human being is different. God has infinite creative capacity, including the capacity to make infinite variety. Why would anyone think it hard for Him to re-create and resurrect human bodies, no matter what the form might be?
So also is the resurrection of the dead. Resurrection bodies will differ from earthly bodies just as radically as heavenly bodies differ from earthly. Resurrection body will be as individual and unique as are all the other forms of God’s creation. But not only unique, the glory of each resurrected body will be different also. Just as the stars shine forth with different brightness or glory so will individual glorified bodies. The prophet Daniel also proclaim this in Daniel 12:3 where resurrected saints were compared to stars. (also Mt. 13:43).
[Paul raises ideas which he will develop later. To prepare for the promise that the resurrection body is ‘raised in glory’ (v. 43), he contrasts the ‘glory’ of ‘earthly bodies’ with the ‘heavenly bodies’, the sun, moon and stars, which have ‘different glory’ (verses 40–41). Furthermore, ‘earthly bodies’ and ‘heavenly bodies’ anticipates ‘the man from the earth’ and the ‘man from heaven’ (v. 47).]
CONCLUSION
So our text begins the revelation about what our resurrected bodies will be like. If you could select your own body, what kind would you choose-strong, athletic, beautiful? Paul explains that we will be recognized in our resurrected bodies, yet they will be better than we can imagine, for they will be made to live forever. We will still have our own personalities and individualities, but these will be perfected through Christ’s work. The Bible does not reveal everything that our resurrected bodies will be able to do, but we know they will be perfect, without sickness or disease (see Philippians 3:21). They will not wear out through out all eternity.
What do we know about the germination of seeds? Keep a grain of wheat in your pocket all your life and it will never change. But place it in a congenial environment, a furrow of earth, and it will sprout into a living sheaf of grain.
A professor of biology made it his custom to stand before his students holding up a little seed between his thumb and forefinger. When he bowed before the seed, his students were mystified. This university professor had spent his whole life studying the beginning of life, and he acknowledged to his students that it was still a mystery to him. He said: "I know exactly what this seed consists of in the exact proportions of water, carbon, and other elements. I can mix these individual elements and make a seed that will look exactly like this one. If I plant the seed that I have compounded, it will rot. The various elements I have put together will be absorbed by the ground. However, if I sow the seed that God made, it will spring up into a plant, because it contains that mysterious element we call life."
The physical resurrection of Christ is just as much a mystery. In fact, the life you now possess which causes your body to function and renew itself continually, and not collapse .into a putrefying mass, is also a mystery. He, therefore, who in the beginning created our present corruptible bodies, will also create a new body without having to collect the various elements of our old ones from the earth. Every kind of life requires its particular corresponding environment in order to achieve its full potential.
