The Resurrection
Our Lives, Our Hope, Our Victory
As a chapter, 1 Corinthians 15 is about the resurrection of the dead. The chapter begins with a reminder that Jesus Christ died on the cross, was buried, and was raised from the dead on the third day, afterwards appearing to more than five hundred people. The resurrection of Jesus is not just important because our faith would be futile without it, but also because his resurrection is the firstfruits of the resurrection of the dead. In other words, the resurrection of the dead has begun in Jesus and therefore we, who belong to the Lord, are assured that we too will be raised from the dead.
Without question, the resurrection of the dead is good news. It means there’s hope. But that doesn’t mean that all of 1 Corinthians 15 is easy to read. With language such as “perishable” and “imperishable” as well as “natural body” and “spiritual body,” people find the text somewhat difficult to understand. One thing that should be clear is that the text refers to the resurrection of the body—our own bodies.1 We each have a body, and when the resurrection of the dead is brought to completion, we will not be raised as bodiless entities but with resurrection bodies.2
So, what is the resurrection body? Well, that’s a big question. God raised Jesus Christ from the dead as the firstfruits of the resurrection of the dead, so we can be sure that we will be raised from the dead too.
However, one of the questions this text raises concerns the nature of the resurrection body. Paul says that “If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body” (v. 44).3 The question is whether there is continuity or discontinuity between the natural body and the spiritual body. In other words, are we raised with the same bodies we die with or are we raised with different bodies?
Though I once took the view of discontinuity, I now believe there is continuity between the natural body and the spiritual body that we’ll have when we are raised from the dead. I believe that the distinction between the natural body and the spiritual body is one of status and quality rather than essence and entity.4 Now, the reason I believe there is continuity between the natural body and the spiritual body is right in the text. Paul writes, “And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man” (v. 49).
The text points back to Jesus Christ, who has already been raised from the dead as the firstfruits of the resurrection of the dead (cf. 1 Cor 15:20, 23). So Jesus is the prototype of the resurrection of the dead. When Jesus was raised from the dead, he appeared to over five hundred people (cf. 1 Cor 15:5-8), who recognized him as Jesus of Nazareth. According to the Gospel of John, the disciples were able to see and touch the wounds that Jesus had sustained during his crucifixion. So clearly, Jesus has the same body. Yet there’s something different, which I believe has to do with the status and quality.
“The physical bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ is the promise of hope that we, with our bodies transformed as imperishable and immortal, will be raised from the dead too.”
Elsewhere, in scripture, Jesus is described as “the firstborn from among the dead” (Col 1:18). That is, Jesus is the first to be raised unto eternal life. The sting of sin that brought about death, and therefore brought about the death of Jesus on the cross, no longer has any power. Jesus was raised with his natural body, so there’s continuity between the body of the crucified Jesus and the resurrected Jesus. However, the difference between the crucified body of Jesus and the resurrected body of Jesus is that the resurrected Jesus has overcome the power of sin and death.
Paul writes, “I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable” (v. 50). The phrase “flesh and blood” is a Jewish idiom that refers to physical life and its perishable quality.5 So there’s a transformation that must happen to our lives, which includes the transformation of our bodies in terms of status and quality from the perishable and mortal to the imperishable and immortal. However, as the text says, “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’” (vv. 54-56). So just as Jesus, who is the firstfruits of the resurrection of the dead, has overcome death by being physically raised in his body, we will overcome death too.
Knowing that there is continuity between our natural bodies and spiritual bodies raises other questions for which we don't always have answers. If we are raised with the same but transformed bodies, will we be recognizable to each other? I think so, since we know that Jesus was recognizable. Then what will our bodies look like? Do we get the 20-year-old body that was full of youthful strength and appearance, or do we get the body that is 50-plus years in age, which gravity has not favored? I don’t know. But this is where it gets personal because I wonder what my son Kenny will look like, what it will be like to see him again, and I don’t know what that will be like.
What I know is based on what I read in 1 Corinthians 15. There’s a resurrection of the dead, which began with the physical bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. The physical bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ is the promise of hope that we, with our bodies transformed as imperishable and immortal, will be raised from the dead too. This promise of hope ought to change everything about our disposition in life. Though we grieve the loss of life, we don’t succumb to despair but remain steadfast in faith, with full assurance of the victory that we have in Jesus Christ.
Such hope, a resurrection hope rooted in faith, is possible because even though “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law,” there’s also a “but” and it’s a big but… “But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 57). The bodily resurrection of the crucified Jesus Christ is the promise of our bodily resurrection. It’s our life, our victory, thanks be to God!
Ben Witherington III, Conflict & Community in Corinth: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on 1 and 2 Corinthians (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995), 307, notes that the resurrected body in mind is individual rather than corporate, and Paul illustrates this point in verses 39-41.
Of note, the word “body” (sōma) refers to a physical existence and occurs nine times in 1 Corinthians 15:35-44. So the resurrection body, whatever that might be, matters. See also Robert Sloan, “Resurrection in 1 Corinthians,” Southwestern Journal of Theology 26 (Fall 1983): 82; George Eldon Ladd, A Theology of the New Testament, rev. ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993), 506-509; James D.G. Dunn, The Theology of Paul the Apostle (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 55-61.
All scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
E. Earle Ellis, “Sōma in First Corinthians,” Interpretation 44 (April 1990): 142, “When [Paul] contrasts the ‘soulish body’ of Adam with the ‘spiritual body’ of the resurrected Christ, he is not speaking of the substance of the respective bodies but of the powers that characterize and enliven them, the mortal animation of the present creation and the immortal and immediate Holy Spirit animation of the resurrection creation.”
Roy E. Clampa and Brian S. Rosner, The First Letter to the Corinthians, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010), 828.