I CORINTHIANS 15:35-58 -- THE RESURRECTION

In this epistle, Paul deals with a number of specific questions with which the church there was wrestling. Padilla explains, “The Corinthians had developed problematic thinking about this gospel, which they had previously received as a word of salvation. In chapters 1-4, Paul corrected their view of the crucifixion of Jesus. And in chapter 15, he corrected their view of his resurrection. First, some were making the claim that resurrection was not possible (15:12-19). Paul contradicted this claim by reminding them that Christ himself had been raised from the dead! This was what the Scripture had promised and what the apostles (Paul included) and many others had witnessed.”

Thus, the first 34 verses of the chapter deal with the reality of the resurrection. But there was a second, related issue to deal with – the exact nature of a believer's resurrected body. It is this issue which forms the background for the second half of I Corinthians 15. We might have expected Paul to have based this discussion on the nature of Jesus' resurrected body, but there is perhaps a good reason why he didn't. It is the same reason why it is naïve to think that we can simply model our earthly life on Jesus' earthly life and constantly ask ourselves, “What would Jesus do?” We can't, and shouldn't ask that question since we do not have the same divine nature He did even while on earth. Without His divine power and omniscience, we are bound to fail in our attempt to copy Jesus. However, the above is certainly not to deny that there is a sort of identification between the believer and Jesus.

“A leading motif [in the Epistles] is the linking of the believer' experience with Christ's resurrection, which is viewed as the model and source of the believer's future resurrection from the dead...In a sense baptism becomes the prime epistolary image for the believer's link with Christ, with imagery of dying with Christ and rising with him linked with the physical act of baptism.” (Dictionary of Biblical Imagery)

I can sympathize with Paul at this point since this whole theological subject is somewhat of a mystery to all of us believers. That no doubt includes Paul himself even if he was granted unique access to certain wonders in heaven. In attempting to explain the nature of the resurrected body, Paul falls back on a series of comparisons with earthly phenomena to which his audience can relate.

“Paul is in no mood for foolish questions, yet...he turns them to the world in which they live, to things that they can see and understand.” (Marsh)

I Corinthians 15:35-38 – First he compares the resurrected body to the growth of a seed into a plant.

“To help the Corinthians overcome their unbelief, Paul gave them an analogy: When seed goes into the ground, it looks like one thing. Then, after going through putrefaction, it comes out looking different. It is a different body. In a similar way, Paul said, the human body goes through corruption and putrefaction but then – by the power of God – is raised in a new material, glorious body of a nature we do not understand.” (Padilla)

That concept should be even easier for us to understand today since we know that the DNA of the seed carries through to that of the plant. We thus see both a continuity and a differentiation between our old existence and our resurrected one. The Christian view of the afterlife is totally different from teachings in Eastern religions where after death a person is either melded together with all others into a mega-soul or is reborn as an entirely different earthly creation with nothing at all in common with its previous existence.

As Marsh says, “while in appearance different, it is in essence the same, for wheat yields wheat – to each kind of seed he gives its own body – suggesting continuity of essential character or identity.”

Regarding the phrase “God gives” in v. 38, Hillyer says, “The new life is not automatic but dependent upon the predetermined will and the creative act of God.”

I Corinthians 15:39 – This is followed by a look at the animal kingdom with its myriad of different living creatures.

Fee points out in respect to the four kinds of animal life mentioned in this verse: “These are the four specifically mentioned, in reverse order, as being created on the fifth and sixth days of creation.” This practice of quoting earlier passages in reverse order is actually quite common throughout the biblical writings.

I Corinthians 15:40-41 – Next comes a consideration of the skies where he differentiates between the heavenly bodies and earthly ones.

Lowery points to “Dan 12:3 where resurrected saints were compared to stars; also Matt. 13:43.”

There is a sort of symmetry to verses 39-41 as can be seen in Figure I, adapted from Gordon Fee's analysis:

                                             Figure 1: Structure of I Corinthians 15:39-41

    A. Not all earthly bodies are the same (39a)

            B. People have one kind (39b)

                Animals another (39c)

                Birds another (39d)

                Fish another (39e)

                        C. There are heavenly bodies (40a)

                                D. There are earthly bodies (40b)

                        C'. Heavenly bodies have one kind of glory (40c)

                                D'. Earthly bodies have another kind of glory (40d)

            B'. The sun has one kind of glory (41a)

                 The moon has another kind of glory (41b)

                 The stars have another kind of glory (41c)

    A'. Not all stars are the same (41d)

Paul's argument so far might be summarized as Marsh puts it: “If therefore in the present universe these personal characteristics are evident within the various categories of creation, God is well able at Christ's coming to invest each individual believer with a new resurrection body which will be in perfect harmony with his own essential being.”

And Fee adds that “the long debate over whether the stress lies on continuity or discontinuity is a bit misguided. Paul's concern obviously lies with both.”

I Corinthians 15:42-44 – In these verses Paul revisits the seed analogy.

“Paul...summarizes this discussion with two adjectives which are difficult to translate concisely and have often been misunderstood (v. 42). The contrast is not between physical/material and disembodied/ immaterial, but between different bodies, the present one psychikon, i.e. animated by soul, the future one pneumatikon, i.e. animated by spirit.” (P.S. Johnston)

“In 15:44a Paul introduces the principle that 'an opposite presupposes its counterpart: If there is a natural body, then there is also a spiritual one.” (Ciampa and Rosner)

I Corinthians 15:45-49 – The argument here centers on a contrast between the first Adam (the man of dust) and the last Adam (the man of heaven). Their respective origins are going to also be their final destinations.

Horsley “suggests that he is borrowing and reversing a Corinthian interpretation of Gen. 1.26-27 as the origin of the prototype (or perhaps 'image') of the 'spiritual' person and Gen. 2.7 as the origin of the 'physical / soul-like' person.”

“Paul picks up on the Adam-Christ analogy from vv. 21-22. Just as believers have shared the earthly body of the first man, so also will they bear the heavenly body of the second man. This of course is the key to everything.” (Fee)

I Corinthians 15:50-58 – The end of the chapter concludes with a description of the time of the Second Coming when the perishable bodies of those alive at the time will be instantly transformed into imperishable ones.

Lowery says concerning v. 58, “Paul's doctrinal declarations led to practical directives and his chapter's conclusion was no exception. The Corinthians were urged to stand firm in the apostle's teaching (v. 2) unmoved by the denials of false teachers (cf. Eph. 4:14). This certainty, especially concerning the Resurrection, provided an impetus to faithful service (cf. 1 Cor. 3:8; Gal. 6:9), since labor in the resurrected Lord is not futile (kenos, 'empty'; cf. 1 Cor. 15:10,14,17,30-32).”