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It’s too bad our bodies break down. I remember when I was much younger I could go and go and go and never get tired. Then when I became a parent, my kids could go all day and night and never stop and I was just dragging by the end of the day. I read a study once where they put a super in-shape athlete in a room and had them do all the things a little toddler did – move by move. By the end the toddler was just cruising along but the athlete was totally exhausted.
By the time you are in your early 20’s your body is already decaying – slowly but surely. You don’t have as much stamina, your hair turns grey, you get pains. One time a doctor told me “if all live long enough we’ll all eventually die of cancer.” Boy, was that comforting.
But what is comforting is the fact that despite what some Corinthians believed, after we die our bodies will be cast aside and the Lord Jesus will give us a new body – one that won’t decay, one that will have super powers. I saw an article the other day that Marvel Comics is coming out with a comic called “Live and Let Di” – that’s D – I for Princess Diana. They’ve got Diana coming back as a mutant crime fighter will all kinds of powers and stuff. Well, that’s fiction – the reality is we will have a super body.
Just look at the Lord Jesus – when He came back as the first fruits He could appear and disappear at will, walk through walls – yet still eat fish and bread.
Paul is in the middle of this argument about whether or not there even is a resurrection. Let’s back up one verse – to the conclusion that someone could make about life if they don’t believe there is an afterlife.
15:32 "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die."
It’s a very fatalistic view – might as well live it up now. This is not only foolish – it is sinful – because if we refuse to acknowledge the resurrection that Jesus Christ promises then we are going to lead others to conclude that that there is no use coming to Jesus.
33 Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character." 34 Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God-I say this to your shame.
This applies to the situation here but also to all of our lives. I’ve used this verse a lot. Do you ever find yourself running with the wrong crowd? You know the things they do and believe are repugnant to the Lord, but you do it anyway saying “Oh, I’ll change them, they won’t change me.” But the fact of the matter is, their corruption will wear off on you. You can’t just “hang” with people unless you want to become like them. Now that’s not to say that you should avoid unsaved people. No, Paul earlier in this letter encourages us to become like those around us so that we can save them. Just make sure of your purpose and motivation.
So now Paul launches into the thick of it:
35 But someone may ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?" 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.
Paul says to the Corinthians – you say there is resurrection, but just look around you – God resurrects things all the time. You plant a seed and it dies in order to grow a new plant.
39 All flesh is not the same: Men 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.
So Paul begins to differentiate between different types of life in order to point out the difference between the life here on earth, and the life given to us in the resurrection.
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.
When a plant grows from a seed it will mirror the seed – it’ll be the same type of life as the seed, and it will eventually die. But when God gives us new bodies after we lay down these old tired one – they do not mirror what we had. Our new bodies will be imperishable.
Not only that, but here in this body we suffer from great weakness – disease overcomes us, temptation overcomes us, death overcomes us. But these new bodies will be free from sin, free from disease, free from death – wow, I can’t wait.
So next Paul talks about the origins of these bodies:
If there is a natural body, there is also a 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 from heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.
So we got our earthly body from Adam – a body condemned because of Adam’s rebellion against God to die. Genesis 3:19 “… for dust you are and to dust you will return."
But I’m looking forward to bearing the likeness of the man from heaven! So why do we need a new body? Why can’t we, like on Sliders, just jump through a hoop and be in heaven as we are?
50 I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
Our bodies were designed for life here on earth. Our bodies were not designed for the dimension of heaven. If you were to stand before God now your body would not be able to take it – it would give up – it’s a different reality.
I think this is good too to share with pre-Christians. Unless Jesus gives you a new body that He has made for you through the sacrifice of His blood, you cannot stand before God.
So next Paul reveals something that hadn’t been known before about how all this is going to take place:
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. 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?"
What Paul’s talking about is the rapture. To understand it a little more, let’s turn to 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. 14 We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage each other with these words.
The word “caught up” in verse 17 is the Greek word harpazo which means to “snatch away violently.” Where we get “rapture” is from the Latin raptus “to carry off by force.”
Paul says that in the “twinkling of an eye” – which is a quarter of a blink ;-) we will be changed – our mortality will put on immortality. You’re not going to be able to prepare for it. You’ll close your eyes and when you open them you will be different.
Many believe – and I am among them – that this event will signal the beginning of the Great Tribulation period, and the 7 year countdown to the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ.
Then death and the slow decaying of our bodies will have no more hold on us. Living in the corruption of this world with its sin and temptations will also no longer have a hold on us – yippee!
So now we move on into Chapter 16, which is mostly housekeeping.
16:1 Now about the collection for God’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. 2 On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. 3 Then, when I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem. 4 If it seems advisable for me to go also, they will accompany me.
Paul here is referring to a major enterprise that he launched on his third missionary journey. The collection was destined for Jewish Christians in Jerusalem who had become impoverished. He didn’t want the hat to be passed while he was there, he wanted the Corinthians to put aside the money beforehand.
5 After I go through Macedonia, I will come to you-for I will be going through Macedonia. 6 Perhaps I will stay with you awhile, or even spend the winter, so that you can help me on my journey, wherever I go. 7 I do not want to see you now and make only a passing visit; I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. 8 But I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost, 9 because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me.
This paragraph is great because it shows that Paul didn’t have every minute of every day planned out. He left things up to “if the Lord permits.” James echoes this in his book:
James 4:13-15 Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that."
Although planning is good, we always need to let the Lord have control of the ultimate plan of our time.
Proverbs 16:9 In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.
10 If Timothy comes, see to it that he has nothing to fear while he is with you, for he is carrying on the work of the Lord, just as I am. 11 No one, then, should refuse to accept him. Send him on his way in peace so that he may return to me. I am expecting him along with the brothers.
Timothy was the young man who Paul discipled. Some people gave Timothy a hard time because he was young.
1 Timothy 4:12-13 Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.
So Paul tells Timothy not to let others stop him because of his age, and he tells the Corinthians not to give him a hard time for the same reason.
12 Now about our brother Apollos: I strongly urged him to go to you with the brothers. He was quite unwilling to go now, but he will go when he has the opportunity.
Apollos, if you remember, was one of the guys the Corinthians rallied behind. I’m sure Paul wanted to heal those rifts – but perhaps Apollos didn’t want to stir up more trouble by coming – we don’t know.
13 Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. 14 Do everything in love.
Paul slips in a little exhortation here – it’s another good one to put on the refrigerator.
15 You know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints. I urge you, brothers, 16 to submit to such as these and to everyone who joins in the work, and labors at it. 17 I was glad when Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus arrived, because they have supplied what was lacking from you. 18 For they refreshed my spirit and yours also. Such men deserve recognition.
19 The churches in the province of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Priscilla greet you warmly in the Lord, and so does the church that meets at their house. 20 All the brothers here send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss.
21 I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand.
Paul stops dictating and takes the pen to sort of sign the letter. Paul’s eyesight reportedly was terrible, so I’m sure it was with big scrawling letters that he wrote.
22 If anyone does not love the Lord-a curse be on him. Come, O Lord!
And a curse is indeed on anyone who does not love the Lord Jesus – the curse of death by being born into sin. And I agree with Paul – “come, Lord Jesus!”
Conclusion
• The goal is a changed life – so begin the transformation now!
We’re going to get new bodies – but our spirits and souls will be occupying them. If you don’t start letting the Holy Spirit rid you of things in you that aren’t God, you won’t have much to put in that new body.
• Because we are going to be “caught up” to heaven we shouldn’t get “caught up” in petty squabbles on earth.
Ask yourself next time you get into an argument with someone – is this still going to be worth discussing if in the next instant I see Jesus. Will I want Him to hear the things I’ve been speaking if the conversation continues in His presence?
The bottom line of Corinthians:
1. We belong to Christ, not ourselves
2. Christ has placed us all in a body to do His work
3. We need to work together, all equally contributing to that work
4. We can only do that work as the Holy Spirit flows through us
5. Love is the only real motivating force behind that work
6. Seek the benefit of others over self
7. Let the work speak for itself
