Resurrection: Continuity and Transformation

I Corinthians 15:35-58
Introduction
The Question: How are the Dead Raised?
A skeptic raised a very interesting question with the following story. It seems that Henry died and was buried in the local cemetery. His widow planted an apple tree over the grave. After many years the roots reached down into Henry’s body and began to draw nutrients from the now decomposed body. So, in essence, Henry became part of the apple tree. Robert used to walk through the cemetery and discovered the apple tree and found that the apples were delicious. Over a period of a few years, he ate many apples from that tree. So, in essence, Henry became a part of Robert. Years later Robert also died and was buried in the same cemetery. Now, at the resurrection, what will happen to Henry and Peter? How will they be separated?
Paul quotes a skeptic in I Corinthians 15:35 when he says, “…someone may ask, ‘how are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?’” As you may remember from last week, there were some false teachers in Corinth, who questioned the resurrection. They believed that it couldn’t happen. They believed that the physical body had become an irrelevancy in Christ and was to be discarded, not resurrected. Gordon Fee explains their perspective when he says, “The Corinthians are convinced that by the gift of the Spirit, and especially the manifestation of tongues, they have already entered into the spiritual, ‘heavenly’ existence that is to be. Only the body, to be sloughed off at death, lies between them and their ultimate spirituality. Thus they have denied the body in the present, and have no use for it in the future.” Paul has already begun to answer their doubts about the resurrection in the early part of this chapter and now goes on to deal with some of these more practical questions about how it can actually happen.
We ask similar questions. We wonder how it is possible for that which has decomposed to actually rise from the dead. We wonder about those who have been cremated or buried at sea. We wonder if it is even necessary and whether a spiritual resurrection is perhaps really all we can hope for. John Piper says, “…we tend to assume that the condition that the departed saints are in NOW without their bodies is the way it will always be. And we have encouraged ourselves so much with how good it is for them now, we tend to forget that it is an imperfect state and not the way it will be, nor the way Paul wanted it to be for himself.” We wonder if we will be recognizable. Will my resurrection body be like how I am now? Will I recognize my father in the resurrection? We wonder what happens to people when they die and we wonder whether resurrection will really add anything.” We wonder if we will still have temptations in heaven.
It Is Possible! 35-41
Paul is pretty direct in his answer to the skeptic. NIV softens it too much and if you have a different translation you will see how it is in Greek. Paul says, “You fool.” Why such harsh language? Because anyone who thinks with the heart of a skeptic does not take God into account.
Illustration of a Seed
If you have ever dug up a potato plant you know very well that the potato which you put into the ground back in spring is not really usable. I wouldn’t want to clean and cook and eat it. It is rotten, it has died. But out of that dead plant, a new potato plant has produced many potatoes that look quite similar to the way the rotten one used to look, but are good to dig up and clean and cook and eat.
Paul points out that even within nature; we find an illustration of resurrection. He speaks of a seed, which is planted, perhaps of wheat or some other seed. By being planted, it dies, but by being planted, it grows up to become a plant which produces more seeds. Therefore, the miracle of resurrection should not surprise us that much. We already have an illustration of how it is possible in nature. The point in 36, 37 is not that death is necessary, but that a new kind of body comes out of death.
God Created, God Can Recreate!
In the verses which follow, the text points to God’s great power in creation. I watched a show on TV the other day on the animals living in Africa. In one area, there are many different species of antelope. I think they said that 90% of the world’s antelope species live in that area. Some are very small and others quite large. I love seeing what is living in the ocean when I go snorkeling. The creatures under the sea are so different from the creatures living on land, those creatures which I am used to seeing. But even there we see an incredible variety of wildlife from the little mouse to the mighty moose. When Paul speaks of the difference between the flesh of men and animals and birds and the difference in splendor of the earthly bodies and the heavenly bodies, he is reminding us that the God who created all of these certainly would have no trouble putting together a resurrection body – even if Henry is within Peter or if Sally has been cremated. To deny the resurrection because it doesn’t fit with our scientific or logical categories is to deny the power of the God who has created the whole world.
In other words, a careful look at what exists and at the God who created it should tell us that resurrection is no problem for God.
Our Bodies Will Be Transformed 42-49
But we continue to wonder, how will it happen? One of the key points of this passage is that in the resurrection there will be, as Gordon Fee puts it, both continuity and transformation in the resurrection body.
Continuity
When the text uses the imagery of the seed, part of what we are to understand is that there is continuity between the seed and the plant. You don’t plant a wheat seed and harvest barley. The wheat seed becomes the wheat plant. We are meant to understand that there is also continuity between our present physical body and the resurrection body that we will receive.
Throughout the text Paul is also using the word body. As we have mentioned, the false teachers believed that the physical body was evil and garbage and to be discarded. They were looking forward to a spiritual after life with no connection to their physical body. But when Paul constantly uses the term body to refer to what will happen in the resurrection, we are meant to understand that there is continuity between who we are now and who we will be in the resurrection. In other words, just like Jesus was recognized by the disciples because of the scars in his hands and the hole in his side, which had happened when he was crucified, so we also will be recognizable as us because there will be continuity between us now and the resurrection body we will receive.
This is important and the importance of it arises right out of creation. Because God created us in His image, with a physical body and pronounced it good, we know that the body is intended to be eternal. It is only sin that has marred that image and brought death into the picture. Therefore, there must be continuity between us now and our resurrection body.
Transformation
But there is also transformation. It is very important to understand that transformation is what is intended. It is not continuity and discontinuity, it is not the same, but different. It is the same, but transformed. God will take our body and transform it and the details of how we will be transformed are clarified in verses 42-44.
The body which is buried is perishable, subject to malfunction, injury and aging; but the body that will be raised will not be perishable, it will not die ever again. It will be a body which will live eternally.
The body which is buried is sown in dishonor. Even though we are in the image of God, sin hides that image and we bring dishonor to God. The body which is raised will be raised in glory. It will always display the greatness and splendor of who God is.
The body which is sown is sown in weakness. We have both physical and spiritual limitations. We are limited by what we can do. We are subject to sin. The body which is raised is raised in power. Even though the disciples recognized Jesus’ body as his own, he was able to enter rooms that were locked. Our resurrected body will not be subject to the power of sin, but will have power over sin.
The body which is buried is a natural body, suited for life on this earth. The body which will be raised will be a spiritual body, suited for life in heaven, suited to live in the presence of God. Gordon Fee says, “The transformed body, therefore, is not composed of ‘spirit’; it is a body adapted to the eschatological existence that is under the ultimate domination of the Spirit.”
Through Jesus
In order to affirm continuity and transformation and to help us understand how it happens, Paul goes on to say in vs. 44b, “If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.”
The natural body comes from Adam. He was the first one created by God and is our ancestor in the physical sense. It is from him that we get our physical DNA. We were first created as physical, living beings by God, out of the dust of the earth. Every person on earth has a physical body. Since the physical body was created by God, in God’s image, and declared good, it is important to recognize that we share in something that is good and that God intends for us and that we will keep that physical body for all eternity.
But there is also a spiritual body. Our spiritual body comes from Christ. He was created by God, not only as a living being, but as a “life giving Spirit.” Christ has come into the world from heaven and has come in order to transform us into spiritual beings. It is from Christ that we receive our spiritual DNA. When we put our faith in Christ, we become one with Him and will therefore share in a transformed spiritual body. It is in Christ that we will be raised to eternal life in a transformed spiritual body. We do not receive that new life entirely now, but must wait for its completion when Christ returns.
The physical life we all share has come to us in Adam. The spiritual life we have received comes to us in Christ. John Piper says, “body-type is determined by descent. In order to have an earthy body, you must become a descendant of the first one to have one—Adam. In order to get a new body, you must become a descendant of the first one to have a new body—Jesus.”
This morning we are talking about the hope of the resurrection and this is an important point. If you want to experience the transformed, eternal life with God in heaven for all eternity, there is only one way for that to happen. It must happen through Jesus Christ. If you have not asked Jesus to come into your life and transform it, today would be a good time to make sure that you will also receive a resurrection body.
We Will Be Changed 50-53
In a passage which is so often read at funerals to give us great comfort, Paul goes on to help us understand how it will happen. He speaks of a mystery, by which he does not mean that it is something we can’t figure out, but something which was not known, but now has been made known to us.
We Must Be Changed
First of all, the text declares that a change must take place. In our present state, we cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Now we are flesh and blood and in order to go to heaven, we must first of all be transformed to become a spiritual body. Now we are perishable and that which is perishable cannot be in heaven. It is impossible for us in our present condition to be in heaven. The word “cannot” in this section is very powerful. There cannot only be continuity, there must also be transformation. Both verse 50 and 53 declare the absolute necessity of this transformation.
We Will All Be Changed
This transformation must happen to every person who will inherit eternal life. Those who have died will already have taken the first step towards transformation. Death has claimed them, and resurrection will transform them so that they are fit for heaven. But what about those who are still alive at Christ’s coming, what will happen to them? Will they somehow go directly into heaven as they are? No! Because they are still flesh and blood and they are still perishable. Since change is necessary, change will happen to them as well. Paul says, “we will not all sleep,” that is die, “but we will all be changed…!”
Changed In a Moment
There has been a doctrine around among some Christian groups that when you die you enter into purgatory. At that time, depending on how you have lived your life, you will be changed gradually over time. Difficulties and trials will purge you of your evil self and slowly you will be transformed in order to be fit for heaven.
I Corinthians 15:52 destroys that thinking. The change which will happen, whether we have died or are still alive will be instantaneous. It will be “in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye.” Just as we are saved by the power of God, so we will be changed by the power of God. In one quick moment all those who are in Christ, will be transformed in order to be fit for eternity in the presence of God.
At the Last Trumpet
All of this will happen when Christ returns. The indicator will be a very clear and loud trumpet blast. Just as in I Thessalonians we notice that those who have died will be raised first and then those who are alive will be changed.
People, what a glorious day that will be! How we look forward to that day when all of us will be changed to perfection for all eternity! The change does not happen at death, but at the resurrection. Although people go to be with the Lord at death, there is something incomplete in that experience. Resurrection will bring it to completion.
Sin and Death Will Die 54-57
At that time, all that is broken will be fixed.
Death Swallowed Up
First of all, death is swallowed up in victory. The imagery of being swallowed up is wonderful. What kind of a picture comes into your mind when you think of death being swallowed up. Perhaps we could think of a big dog swallowing a doggie treat, whole. The big dog that swallows death is victory. That is so hard for us to imagine because death permeates everything in our life now. No matter how great life is, death is never far away. When it is swallowed up, we won’t see death any more.
When Paul quotes Hosea 13:14 in verse 55 it is in the tone of a taunt, as if he is saying, “where is your power now death?” Oh what a glorious day when that which we fear, which will come to all of us, which is never far from reality in life is gone for all the rest of eternity!
Sin Removed
The other thing that will be permanently removed is sin. The text says that “The sting of death is sin…” But the taunt is also applied to that reality when it says, “Where, O death, is your sting?” Death is caused by sin, and it too is swallowed up in victory. Without sin present, there is no longer any death and with death and sin both completely and finally removed, we can live in victory and hope. For now, sin has been conquered, but we still live with its effects and in its influence. Death is still a present reality. We will have to wait for that which has already become truth to become final reality. That is the hope in which we live. What hope! What glory! “Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!”
Therefore 58
So we are rejoicing! We are living in hope! But how are we living? Paul concludes this wonderful chapter with the word “therefore.”
Stand Firm
There are many things which cause us to forget this great victory. In the church in Corinth, false teachers were deceiving people to give up on the gospel tradition which Paul had preached. The daily grind takes our joy away. Trials remove our hope. God’s silence threatens our faith and before long we hang our heads and stand weakly clinging to a thread.
But with this reminder and this hope, Paul encourages us to "stand firm and let nothing move you." Satan is a roaring lion who deceives some by evil desires and some by wrong thinking, so I call us to remember the centrality of the resurrection to the gospel message and to stand firm in that gospel.
Piper puts it this way “‘Immovable’ means don’t get knocked over by sudden blows. Keep your balance.”
Give Yourselves to the Work of the Lord
If this dot is our life now, and if this line, which extends forever, is the rest of our life after resurrection, it puts into perspective who we really are and where we will be for most of our existence. This chapter helps us remember the reality of that perspective. It also invites us to live according to our eternal reality instead of our perishable reality. I Corinthians 15:58 goes on to say, “Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”
What is the work of God to which God has been calling you? Are you hesitating because it might interfere with your favorite TV show or your recreational pursuits? Give yourself fully to the work of the Lord!
Is there an opportunity you keep passing up because it will cost you something that you are unwilling to give up? “You know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” It will cost you something, but it will also return to you far more than it costs.
Gary Takahashi writes, “In proper proportion recreation and diversions can help restore our energy and increase our effectiveness. But they can also easily become ends in themselves, demanding more and more of our attention, concern, time, and energy. More than one believer has relaxed and hobbied himself completely out of the work of the Lord.”
Conclusion
Good news! This isn’t all there is – not the mortality of this body, nor the corruptibility of our soul, nor the life we now live. God has created us for eternity and in Christ will transform this broken body into an eternal, incorruptible body. Therefore rejoice!
Good news! The life of God has already taken up residence in this body through the Holy Spirit. Therefore live!