Body

We are making our way through a letter Paul wrote to Jesus followers in Corinth. Today, Paul addresses a question that has stood the test of time.


1 Corinthians 15
35 But someone may ask, “How will the dead be raised? What kind of bodies will they have?” 36 What a foolish question! When you put a seed into the ground, it doesn’t grow into a plant unless it dies first. 37 And what you put in the ground is not the plant that will grow, but only a bare seed of wheat or whatever you are planting. 38 Then God gives it the new body he wants it to have. A different plant grows from each kind of seed. 39 Similarly there are different kinds of flesh - one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40 There are also bodies in the heavens and bodies on the earth. The glory of the heavenly bodies is different from the glory of the earthly bodies. 41 The sun has one kind of glory, while the moon and stars each have another kind. And even the stars differ from each other in their glory. 42 It is the same way with the resurrection of the dead. Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever. 43 Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength. 44 They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies. 45 The Scriptures tell us, “The first man, Adam, became a living person.” But the last Adam - that is, Christ - is a life-giving Spirit. 46 What comes first is the natural body, then the spiritual body comes later. 47 Adam, the first man, was made from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven. 48 Earthly people are like the earthly man, and heavenly people are like the heavenly man. 49 Just as we are now like the earthly man, we will someday be like the heavenly man.


Body. As you can see, there have been questions about the “afterlife” for centuries. In this case, it is a question about our bodies in the afterlife. Paul provides some insights ... glorified, strong and spiritual as opposed to broken and weak; but he primarily focuses on the who part of the question as opposed to the what or how. I specifically love the phrase “God gives it the new body he wants it to have.” It is an element that we too often leave out of the conversations we have in our mind. We tend to focus on the what and the how ... what am I going to do to solve this problem ... how am I supposed to handle this situation. Instead, we should focus more on the who ... who can help me solve this problem ... who can help me handle this situation ... who can help me answer this question.