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Let us turn to the Lord in prayer as we now begin our time of considering his word. Lord, we thank you for this weekly chance that you give to us to come into your presence, to hear your word proclaimed, to respond with praise. I pray that you would give me wisdom as I teach, that your spirit would be at work, that your word would be full of power to encourage, and transform us this day. And we pray this in Jesus’ name, amen. Today’s sermon is on 1 Corinthians 15, verses 35 through 49. So I’ll begin by simply reading the passage for us.

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 stars differ from star in glory.

So it is 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, then 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.

What is the ultimate hope of the Christian? For many, I think the instinctive answer is going to heaven after we die. We imagine a future consisting of spirits in the presence of God. The body is often given little to no consideration in our imagining of this future.

Of course, the promise of heaven is a true and great one. Scripture does promise that we will be at home with the Lord upon death. The thief on the cross was told that today he would be with Jesus in paradise. The promise of heaven after death is a very great hope that should not be dismissed or neglected.

However, if spiritual life in heaven is all that we discuss, we are giving an incomplete picture of our hope as Christians. Our ultimate destiny is resurrection into fullness of life and communion with God on the new heavens and the new earth. There are many aspects to this promise.

Today we will simply be looking at one of them, the nature of the resurrection body. What is this resurrection body like? And we will be using first Corinthians 15 to help us understand this matter. In particular, we will spend some time considering what it means that we will have a spiritual body instead of a natural one. This language might initially suggest that our future life is one of ethereal spirit, but we will see that Paul envisions a concrete resurrection body that is empowered by the Holy Spirit and mirrors Christ’s heavenly life.

The passage we are considering today follows immediately after Paul’s famous argument that if Christ has not been raised, Our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. This statement is, of course, a resounding statement of the centrality of Christ’s resurrection to the Christian faith. And yet we may not always remember that the context for this statement is one in which Paul is arguing for the resurrection of the body of all believers. Christ is the first fruits and the basis of our resurrection. That truth is worth a sermon in and of itself, and yet today I want us to turn to the verses that follow. After making the argument that our resurrection follows after Christ’s resurrection, Paul turns to the nature of the resurrection body.

He imagines someone objecting with the question, how are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come? The clear implication of this question is that Paul’s position is ridiculous. What could it even mean for a body to be resurrected? The verses we are considering today thus serve as Paul’s extended answer to this question and his refutation of that implied objection. The resurrection body is a real body. This is not a ridiculous idea, and in fact, it is the great hope of the Christian.

Paul’s answer can be summarized in three points. First, Paul is affirming bodily resurrection against those who deny that we will be raised with real bodies. Second, Paul teaches that the resurrected body is a glorious body that was, that is invigorated by the Holy Spirit. Third, the life of the resurrection is anchored in Christ’s heavenly life. Let us turn to a greater reflection upon the first point, the resurrection body is in fact a real body. As already noted, Paul calls the questioner who denies the reality of the resurrection body a fool.

The resurrection is necessary for the Christian faith to be meaningful. Death is only truly defeated if our bodies are truly raid. In verses 35 through 31, Paul casts about for illustrations from creation to make a related point. The human body will be changed in the resurrection, but it will not cease to be a body in creation. We see instances of great transformation that still have a connection to what comes before, even through death. Paul first uses the illustration of a seed.

A seed is for all intents and purposes dead. does not act, it does not move, it is inert. It does not do anything at all until it is buried and the conditions for its growth are met. Only then does it come to vibrant life. The life of the seed is different from the life of the plant, and yet there is a clear continuity between them. The plant comes from the seed. Both the seed and the plant are physical. Nonetheless, with the plant being a rather larger and more robust body than the apparently dead seed. Bodies can transform, Paul suggests, even within creation without ceasing to be bodies. Paul then draws a further analogy from the variety that we see in creation.

There are different types of body or flesh in creation. Within living creatures, there are different types of bodily configurations. Humans, animals, birds, and fish all look strikingly different from each other, and yet all have bodies. The differences between humans and fish does not make one more embodied than the other. Furthermore, The bodies of all these creatures are fitted to their environment and purpose.

If we were to turn back to the Genesis creation account, we would see that God creates realms and then creates creatures for those realms. A bird can soar through the sky. A fish can glide through the water. The implication, our resurrection bodies will be bodies fitted to the needs and purposes of the resurrection life, a life that will be inaugurated in the final victory of God.

Paul extends this argument to a comparison of heavenly and earthly bodies. Heavenly bodies, by which Paul means stars and planets, have a greater glory than earthly bodies, such as humans and animals. They blaze forth across the sky, lighting up the heavens. Even among the stars, some stars are brighter and others are dimmer.

All of them, however, have bodies in Paul’s language. To use something a little closer to how we would talk of these things, all of these things are physical. The stars, the planets, ourselves, physical, material realities. But they are not uniform. Our Creator has made a world in which physical things have breathtaking variety.

After demonstrating the transformations and variety that exist in the natural world, Paul turns to a direct consideration of the differences between our current bodies and the resurrection body. In verses 42-44, Paul offers a series of contrasts, and it’s worth repeating them word for word. So Paul says, so it is 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. Paul offers three contrasts before the term natural and spiritual body. perishable versus imperishable, dishonor versus glory, and weakness versus power. We’ll return to these three contrasts in a minute, but let us note for now that none of these words imply a lack of physical. An imperishable, glorious, powerful body still sounds material. In fact, it sounds like a better body than we have now, not a body that has faded away into a ghostly form. But what of Paul’s ultimate descriptions? A natural body versus a spiritual body. The term spiritual body sounds suspiciously non-physical. Has Paul been hiding the ball this entire time? Is the resurrection body not really much of a body after all? If we consider Paul’s overall argument and also look at the Greek terms here, we find that Paul does in fact affirm that the resurrection body is material.

The Greek for spiritual is straightforward, pretty much exactly what the English translation suggests, so I’m going to pass over that. But the term for natural is a bit more interesting. It is a translation of the word psychokon, which is derived from the Greek word for soul, psuche, from which we get terms like psychology. You can sort of hear the sound resemblance between the words. The term translated as natural could be literally translated as soulish.

Our soul is, of course, the immaterial source of life. This means that both natural and spiritual are terms that refer to the immaterial side of human life. Yet our present soulish bodies are certainly physical. We can conclude from this that natural and spiritual must refer to the quality of life rather than what bodies are made of. Therefore, Paul is not suggesting that the resurrection body is a ghostly body. This point becomes clearer when we look at the broader context. Perishable and imperishable, dishonor and glory, weakness and power are all less about what the body is made of and more about the life the body lives.

The language of natural and spiritual continues this trend. In our current life, we live under natural power. In the life to come, we will live under spiritual power. The rest of the sermon will impact positively what this resurrection life will look like, but I want to take a moment to consider what it means to affirm that our resurrection bodies will be real bodies.

This implies at least two things. First, it suggests that our bodies are not add-ons to our human experience. Instead, they are central to what it means to be human. God created humans with souls and bodies. The life to come is human life as it is meant to be, full communion with God. And it is significant that we only enter fully into that life in the resurrection.

As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5, 2-4, We long to put on our heavenly dwelling, not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Our future hope is glorified bodies, not naked spirit. Second, the reality of the resurrection body suggests that our bodies matter here and now. Not only are our bodies presently the temple of the Holy Spirit, they will be raised in glory. We ought not treat our bodies like disposable dishes, to be used and then discarded. Instead, our bodies are like an heirloom clock, to be used, honored, and in the future to be repaired and restored. This analogy is imperfect, as our bodies will be glorified and not just restored, but I think it conveys the core idea.

We are to use our bodies to glorify God now in part because we’ll use our bodies to glorify God in the life to come. Let’s now turn to the question of what this physical resurrection body is like. We’ve seen that Paul contrasts the body now with the future resurrection body.

Right now we live under the curse brought about by sin. the suffering caused by Adam’s fatal choice. Our bodies break and ache. Our brains fail, turning on us and losing precious memories. We live in a world marked by corruption and frailty. The resurrection life promises the reversal of all of this suffering. We will live in glory and power incorruptible, a life freed from sin and its effects. But how is such a life possible? Paul provides two interrelated answers to this question. The first is provided by this description of the resurrection body as a spiritual body. What does this mean? Paul provides a clue earlier in the book.

In 1 Corinthians 1, verses 14 through 15, Paul says, the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him. And he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. The Greek terms for natural and spiritual here are the same as they are in our passage. The natural man in 1 Corinthians 4 is the one who is relying on his innate ability and power. And the spiritual man is the one who relies on and is illuminated by the Spirit of God.

I believe that Paul intends a similar meaning in 1 Corinthians 15. Our current bodies are of a peace with the current fallen world and rely on their own faltering strength. Our resurrection bodies will be fitted to the new heavens and new earth and empowered and invigorated by the Spirit. The reformer John Calvin’s commentary on 1 Corinthians 15 sums up this passage beautifully.

The name natural is given to that which is determined by the soul. The name spiritual to that which is determined by the spirit. For it is the soul which gives life to the body and prevents it from becoming a corpse. And so it is only right that it should be described in terms of the soul.

But after the resurrection, that life-giving power which it receives from the Spirit will be more predominant. Our life will be characterized by a fullness of the Spirit and a reliance upon God far beyond our present experience. And as a necessary consequence of such reliance, we will be perfected and glorified. An illustration might help make this point. I grew up out in the country.

My family owned a small gas-powered generator for when the power went out. It was a pain to start and limited in its effect. It could keep the essentials running, but only for a short time, and we were severely limited in what we could run in the house. When power was restored to our house, the difference was immediate and noticeable.

Everything hummed along as we benefited from a seemingly inexhaustible supply of power. This is a meager example of the great transformation wrought by the Spirit. Now we sputter along on limited energy. In the life to come, we will be supplied with the inexhaustible illumination and power of the Spirit of God.

Such a promise is of great worth to us in a world where God’s power is not always so obvious to us. As Paul says previously, it is the hope of the resurrection that makes our current trials and struggles worthwhile. Our bodies break and fail us, but in the life to come, we will be made new and perfect. And that life will not be one of mere physical perfection, but one of true communion with God. We can look forward to living as we were created to live, free of pain and death and in fellowship with God.

And yet this truth of the Spirit-empowered resurrection body is not one that only looks towards the future. We receive a foretaste of this now. As with much of God’s salvific work, we exist in both the already and the not yet. We’ve already mentioned the description of the spiritual person who is guided by the Spirit to understand the things of God.

Romans 8.11 makes a similar connection.

If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you. The spirit who will invigorate our resurrection bodies dwells within us even now. We can hope in this life that the spirit will sustain and guide us and trust that in the life to come, the spirit will give us fullness of life without limit. We’ve seen then that the resurrection body is a real body that is empowered by the spirit.

Paul offers one further description of the resurrection body, a description that connects back to his earlier argument that the resurrection of Christ is deeply connected to our own resurrection. Paul observes that there is an order to God’s work of redemption. The movement from the natural body to the spiritual body mirrors the order of redemption from Adam to Christ.

Paul engages in a fairly dense argument in verses 44-49 that tease out the connection and contrast between Adam and Christ. Adam is a living being, but Christ is life-giving. Adam is the man of dust, while Christ is the man of heaven. We naturally exist in the pattern of Adam, but will be remade in the image of Christ.

Paul weaves together a few ideas in these verses. His description of Adam as a living being is actually continuing the language used for the natural body. To translate more wittily, Adam is a living soul that is the pattern for the soulish body. Similarly, Christ is a life-giving spirit the pattern for and source of the spiritual body. Adam, the soulish man, comes first. Christ, the spiritual man, comes after.

We begin by bearing Adam’s image, but will be remade in the image of Christ. Paul explicitly says that Christ is the life giver, but his description of Adam implies that Adam is a death bringer. Adam is described as a man of dust. Genesis 2 and 3 are certainly in the background here, especially 3, verse 19. You are dust, and to dust you shall return, the proclamation of the curse for sin. Humanity is bound to this present earth and faces the finality of death. In Adam’s death, we are condemned to death. In his corruption, we are corrupted. In his fall, we fall.

Christ, by contrast, brings life to those who trust in him. He comes from heaven as the word made flesh, the son of God who enters into our helpless state. And not only has the Son of God descended to us, he has undergone the death that Adam’s sin required of the human race. He paid the penalty that was due our sins and destroyed the power of death through the power of his own indestructible life. Furthermore, Christ has ascended bodily into heaven, as we heard earlier, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. Christ has secured heavenly life for those who trust in Him. He is the first fruits of our resurrection, the guarantee that we will be transformed and live in God’s presence for eternity. In short, we will be made like Christ.

Christ securing heavenly life for us fits with Paul’s discussion of the various types of bodies in the previous verse. We noted that different bodies in the earth are suited to different environments. Paul here suggests that Jesus, the spiritual man, transforms bodies into something that is suited to live a heavenly life. Adam’s fallen body is only suited for the earth and our fallen life. Jesus’ resurrection body, the basis for our own resurrection bodies, is currently in heaven where he intercedes for us and makes possible heavenly life, a life that will be a rather literal heaven on earth, albeit a new and renewed earth. We will be given bodies appropriate to a life of full communion with God in a renewed creation. To pick up on a metaphor Paul uses elsewhere of putting on the new man, one might think of this new life as putting on new equipment.

The unclad human cannot venture into space, but the astronaut can. He has been given equipment that makes it possible for him to enter into a place that would once have meant certain death to him. Our transformation is, of course, much deeper than this. We are not simply given a new outward set of tools or garments. Yet in our transformation, we are given what we need to dwell in the presence of God. We move from a world in which no one can see the face of God and live to a world in which we will see God face to face.

Christ’s resurrection gives us a pattern for our resurrection and allows us to live the sort of lives we need to live. Christ’s role as the life-giving basis for our resurrection calls us to look to Christ in three ways. First, we ought to look to Christ as our model. Christ is more than merely an example for us, but he is not less than that. Philippians 2 makes quite clear that we should observe and then imitate Christ’s humility, for example. If we are to be remade in Christ’s image, we should aim to bear that image Now, second, in looking to Christ as our model, we should remember that we do not imitate him in our own strength. Christ himself makes it possible for us to imitate Christ. Christ is the life-giving spirit. Even now, we are made capable of honoring him and imitating him by being united to him.

Finally, we can rest in the hope and security offered by Christ’s own resurrection. Christ is our pattern, and he received bodily resurrection and retains his body as he dwells in heaven after the ascension. His resurrection and the power of his heavenly life secures the future of our own lives. There is nothing that can take away Christ’s heavenly life, and therefore, there is nothing that can prevent our promised resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15 offers us a profound defense of the resurrection and an awe-inspiring glimpse of resurrection life.

Our ultimate hope is to exist as embodied creatures. Yet our bodies will be different from what they are now. They will be transformed from corrupt and perishable bodies to perfect and imperishable bodies. We will live in the very power of the Spirit and we will be reshaped into the image of Christ.

This is a very great hope and comfort for us as we face suffering and pain in our present lives. We have also had occasion to see how we now receive a taste, a glimpse of these resurrection realities. We are already indwelt by the Holy Spirit. We are already called to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and told that we have the mind of Christ. The resurrection life will be far more glorious than our present reality. It will be perfect. We will no longer struggle with sin. Yet we receive a glimpse of that reality now as we live in this tension between the already and the not yet.

How then might we respond to these great truths? I conclude by jumping ahead a few verses to Paul’s closing exhortation to the Corinthians at the end of chapter 15. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. We are called to lives of perseverance and trust in God.

We don’t do this because we’re making a good bet that we hope will turn out the way we think it will. We don’t do this because we need to make sure that we earn that resurrection of our bodies. We trust and persevere because the work is already done. Our future hope is already secured.

All who have faith in the gospel will receive the future blessing that is promised. As we enter our week, then, let us live like those who have a future. Glorify God with your bodies, knowing that your bodies matter and will be raised. Serve your fellow Christians, especially when our all-too-corruptible bodies bring suffering and hardship into our lives. Christ suffered for us, anticipating the promised glory. Let us imitate Him. And above all, live in the Spirit in reliance on Christ, knowing that you are receiving the first taste of the blessed life to come.

Let us turn to the Lord in prayer. Lord, we thank you for this promise that you have given to us, that this life is not the end. that you will raise us in glorious bodies at the returning of your son. We pray that we would help us to trust in you, that we would keep this promise close to our hearts, and that it would transform how we live and how we act with one another. We pray that we would put our bodies to your service, that we would honor you in what we do, and we pray that you would help us as we go out this week to have confidence in this great hope, in the work of your son, Jesus Christ, that is given to us by the work of the Holy Spirit. We pray this in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.