As we begin this morning I want to draw you attention to verse 51 this morning. This is a very powerful and significant verse. In fact, this verse was seen, quoted, hanging on the wall of a church nursery:
We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed.
Paul completes his argument on the subject of the Resurrection in our passage this morning.Remember, we saw last week: Paul believes that this is the most important doctrine to believe. If you don’t believe in the miracle of the resurrection, then what is the point in believing the rest of the Gospel and even further, if you cannot believe in other biblical miracles, then what is the point in believing in the resurrection
which is the most astounding of all.
It appears that some in the Corinthian church were having difficulty believing in the resurrection most likely because they were experientialists. They hadn’t seen a resurrection, or experienced it for themselves so it was fantasy. But Paul told us last week – this is no fantasy. If you cannot believe in this, the resurrection, Your faith is dead, and has no future.
This week he concentrates on bodily resurrection. Let me remind you that whenever Scripture, both OT and NT speaks of resurrection, it means bodily resurrection. No exceptions. Not allegorical. Not illustrative. Not theoretical. Not, perhaps it might, possibly be...
Scripture only means bodily resurrection.
Tombstone or an Urn?
Question that has come up over the years. Should I be buried or cremated? Some insist on bodily burial – so they can be bodily resurrected. If you believe that, then take heed of my advice
stay clear of cannibals. Believing you have to be buried to be resurrected is absurd. The miracle of resurrection is so….beyond any other miracle - Look, if Jesus Christ can raise the dead, the details of bones or ashes, or otherwise are pretty insignificant.
I can assure you that if I was completely eaten and digested by a great white shark (not a pleasant way to go) that would in no way impeded God’s ability to resurrect me.
So we see Paul almost exasperated by their wacky thinking
In your open bible, place your finger right there on verse 35 and 36.
1Cor. 15:35 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.
The Corinthians were expecting to be simply spiritual in the after life
So when presented with resurrection they assume it is reanimation,
making exactly what they have, they body they have now, Alive again – in its same form. But Paul says no. It is a spiritual body. That is an oxymoron, contradiction in their eyes. How can you have a spiritual body? Remember they had been influenced by pagan beliefs - Material things bad. Spiritual things good.The two cannot ever meet. But they have met, very powerfully in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus –fully God, fully man, takes the ultimately spiritual – God himself and merges it with the material – humanity.
Communion.
Today we have communion – the Lord’s supper. Some would say – when we say it is the body and blood of Christ, it actually physically is – literally the body and blood of Christ - Roman Catholics view it this way. Some would say, no the bread is bread, and the wine is wine (well grape juice for the Baptist) It is only symbolic and that it that this tends to be a Baptist view. Others would say, the spiritual and the material, are not always opposite, that like us having a spiritual body – After our resurrection, after Jesus’ resurrection, the physical and the spiritual can come together. Yes the bread and the cup are symbolic, as they were part of the Passover meal, where everything is symbolic, but there is the powerful presence of Christ with us and the physical is more than just a representation.
So Paul throws out this Oxymoron – spiritual body. To the Corinthian mind he spirit is far superior to the body so the point in this Christianity appeared to be - Get to the point where you rid yourself of this body so you can focus on your life in the spirit. Just when they thought they could be rid of this body it comes right back at them. Sort of.
Paul is not speaking of any kind of reincarnation. Or as in an example last week, Life between life experiences, Scripture does not speak of reincarnation -It speaks of bodily resurrection. Reincarnation and resurrection are philosophically different and cannot be merged.
Reincarnation is about moving up the food chain to then at some point be released from a body. Resurrection is about getting your body back,
sort of.
I say sort of, because the body we will have is like what we have, but different.
By the way….in regards to reincarnation. I always love the here celebrities talk abut their past lives. You’ll se them on a talk show
They are so serious, so convinced. They were always a princess, or a warrior, a Viking king. They were never an accountant, the were never a duck. Because at their past lives therapy session, if the guy says you were an accountant, worked in a toothpaste factory or were a parakeet,
that is not exciting, and they are never coming back. So a king you are!
So what kind of body will we have? Paul uses two types of examples to describes what he means. First gardening – something they were all familiar with. So we see in verse 37 – he speaks about a seed. Simply: a seed is one kind of body, but when it grows it is another kind of body, yet the same body. He likens it to resurrection. The seed must die, it is planted – in a sense it is resurrected. Not a parallel example, but an analogy.
Second body type. He runs through this litany from 38 to 41. Paul is not trying to parallel these bodies with a resurrected body. He is showing quite simply, God makes a variety of bodies for each his own purposes and so our resurrected body is of its own kind for God’s own purpose.
But then he starts to give us clues to the spiritual body
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.
Then he ends with this statement of fact: If there is a natural body,
there is also a spiritual body. Paul does not mince words
Bottom line: we will have a body like Jesus did. I’m hoping to be a little taller, maybe have a little more weight.No….that’s crazy talk. Our spiritual body will be so different….49 And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.
Exactly what Paul means isn’t completely clear. But we know this:
Our material bodies will be made spiritual bodies and it must be this way, for 50 I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
Jesus did it, and he promises us the same.
Folks are always trying to parallel different religions with Christianity
Islam is just like Christianity. Hinduism is just like Christianity...They believe the same thing…Wrong! Only the Judeo Christian believes in bodily resurrection. It is completely foreign to any other philosophy or religion.
This is wild stuff isn’t it?
I love this verse 53: 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.
That makes it a little clearer to me. God in his ultimate power will do the ultimate miracle – resurrection, even if sharks or cannibals get me.
But my immortal self, our immortal selves – will become immortal by the power of the resurrected Christ and we along with all believers will be with him in glory for ever.
And so Paul ends this chapter with those immortal words, “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” 55 “Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”
For the last thing for Jesus to conquer will be death and when death is vanquished - Only life remains.
May God’s blessing be upon us all - amen.
