“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” That’s from Isaiah 29:14. And if you remember from chapter 1 of our study through 1 Corinthians (which was several sermons ago, so you’re forgiven if you don’t), that’s the text Paul quoted to say that what we preach will be heard as foolishness to the unbeliever. Apart from the Spirit opening someone’s eyes to see and minds to understand and hearts to delight in the truth of the gospel, it will just be seen as a message of foolishness. And that was God’s purpose according to 1 Corinthians 1:18-25. The redeeming work of Christ and the gospel message were designed by God to appear foolish to the unbeliever because God’s design was, in the words of Isaiah, to destroy the wisdom of the wise and thwart the discernment of the discerning. The Lord’s work and message of salvation was never meant to be a platform for human boasting, especially boasting of our wisdom. Therefore, the Lord devised a saving means through Christ and a saving message of the gospel that simply could not appear more foolish to someone who doesn’t believe.
And if that’s true, then today is no doubt the pinnacle of what the world would see as our foolishness. Let me lay it out for you. Today we gather to remember and celebrate that God the Son, who is of the same substance as God the Father and God the Holy Spirit and who created the world and all therein, took on a fully human nature so that he was born into the world through a virgin as the God-man. He was fully God and fully man. Then, he lived a perfectly obedient life to his father, never sinning, only to die on the cross to pay for our sins. Then, to top it off, this God-man, Jesus of Nazareth, who really did die, then rose from the dead on the third day, never to die again so that even today this God-man, Jesus Christ, is alive and reigning over the earth from the Father’s right hand. That is the glorious truth. That is what we celebrate as we gather as Christians. That truth has been summed up and celebrated for centuries. It’s precisely what the Scripture itself celebrates when Paul writes to Timothy what we heard earlier as our call to worship, namely, “He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit [a reference to the resurrection], seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory” (1 Timothy 3:16).
We hear that and say, “Amen,” don’t we? But if we’re honest, maybe there are times when the constant refrain from the world around us that this is foolish can begin to creep into our own thinking. Maybe there are times when we think to ourselves, “Is my ultimate hope that even my body will be raised from the dead to live forever with the Lord in a new glorious creation foolish?” I mean, if the resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead sounds foolish to the world, think about the claim that you and I are going to be raised like him when he returns. That can seem crazy as well.
Well, if you feel the pressure from the culture who sees the gospel and the Christian hope of resurrection from the dead as foolish, just know that you are not the first to struggle with this. As we saw last week, the Corinthians were wanting to hold to the gospel, but some of them had begun to deny the resurrection of the dead. Now, Paul showed them that if they want to deny the resurrection of the dead, they have to throw out the gospel altogether, since a necessary element of the gospel is that Jesus rose bodily from the grave. This week, in verses 35-49, we’ll see that Paul actually takes the very issue of their struggle head on.
You see, it seems that one reason they were denying the resurrection of the dead is because it didn’t make logical sense to them. And one reason it didn’t make logical sense is because they had been rightly taught that our eternal hope is to dwell with Christ in a new creation where there is no weakness, pain, decay, or death. Yet, they looked at their own bodies and thought, “I have all of those things. My body feels weak at times, it hurts, it’ll die, and then it’ll decay, turning to dust. So, how can we profess that the dead will be raised and live in a glorious eternity when I know that my present body is utterly unfit for a glorious eternity?” That is, if I’m getting this body, then there’s simply no way that eternity could be one without weakness and pain. After all, all we have to do is slip one time and something on our body hurts – for the rest of our lives!
So Paul takes this argument on head on. He simply walks through the logic to show that the resurrection of the dead is not only foolish, but it is glorious. And if indeed you and I have begun to struggle with a temptation to doubt the resurrection, perhaps because it just seems a bit too magical, then this text is a great aid to us on this day as we gather, remembering the resurrection of our Lord himself from the grave. So, let’s look at Paul’s logic.
First, Paul starts with the question he’s going to answer. He writes in verse 35, “But someone will ask, ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?’” You see, as I noted, they’re asking, “How can this really work with my weak and feeble body that I know is going to die and decay?” So, Paul begins his answer first by showing that:
That is, first Paul wants them to see that this principle of transformation from death that they think sounds so foolish is actually already taking place right now, in this world. Well, I guess he first calls them a “foolish person,” but recognize that this isn’t Paul just saying, “Well, aren’t you stupid?!” Paul means “foolish” in the sense of saying, “You’re a fool in that you don’t recognize the work of God in this world.” Then, he shows them that we see this principle all around us. He illustrates this with a seed.
He writes, “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” (vv. 36-38).
Now, think about this miracle that we see all around us and perhaps take for granted. I mean, we just know this is how the world works. You take a seed of corn, which is tiny, and you can say to your family, this seed, if I put it in the ground and it dies can feed our whole family. I mean, imagine saying that to your children. The seed is tiny, but if it dies, the Lord gives it a whole different body: a stalk and ears full of kernels of corn that can be eaten.
At the corner of my sidewalk, I have a peach tree that produces a great number of peaches every year. And every year as one of these tiny peaches falls to the ground and dies, it will sprout up another peach tree that I pluck up. But one seed dies and is raised to be an entire tree with branches full of peaches.
We already see that all the time, don’t we? And it seems that one reason God ordered our world to work in this way that you put seeds in the ground, they die, and then are raised to something entirely more amazing is because he’s giving us an object lesson for how the resurrection works. What some call foolish or so seemingly magical that it can’t be true, we see every day, don’t we? And the reason we do is because that is God’s design. He simply decided what kind of new body, if you will, he would give a seed after it dies and he raises it from the soil. So, first, Paul notes that God has already shown us his ability to bring bodily transformation to something that dies in this world itself.
That’s an impressive note to start the argument, but Paul doesn’t stop there. In verses 39-41, he also reminds us that:
Now, keep in mind what may have been argued. How can I say that this body will be raised when I know that this body isn’t fit for a world without pain, weakness, death, and decay? After having argued then that God already shows the transformation of bodies of things after they die, he now notes that God has already shown us his ability to design bodies for things that are fitting for their domain and glory.
He writes first of all that there are all different kinds of bodies for man and animals. He writes in verse 39, “For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.”
Now, think about this for a second. Before we think that God can’t transform our physical bodies into something that would be fitting for a glorious eternity with pain, weakness, and death, just note what he’s already done in this world. My body and a goose’s body are a lot different, aren’t they? We could go into a number of differences, but I just want to note one. It’s one difference that stands out in my mind because of a recent visit to my parents’ house.
My parents live in an area where the wind blows like crazy, and they have a large pond in their back yard with several geese that stay there. Well, the last time I went to visit them, it was freezing. The wind was blowing so hard that just to step outside I had to bundle up with all kinds of clothing, and even then I was cold. Yet, I would look outside the kitchen window, in the back yard, and watch those geese walk along the snow, waddle out over the frozen pond, find one area that wasn’t frozen, and jump into it. They’re even immerse themselves into the water for a bit and come back up so that they might sit there in the water, drenched, with freezing cold winds blowing them in the face.
So I asked my dad how they could survive that, and he went on to say something about goose feathers or oils in their skin or something. I can’t remember. But the point is, God made their bodies fit for their domain. And if you take a fish and pull him out of the water, he couldn’t live on land any more than your dog could live under water. God makes bodies fit for their domain, in amazing ways, if we think about it.
And not only does God make different bodies fit for different domains, but he also makes bodies with varying degrees of glory, doesn’t he? Paul writes in verses 40-41, “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 star differs from star in glory.”
That is, the Lord not only makes bodies fit for the heavens, like the sun, moon, and stars, but he is even make them different degrees of glory. We need the sun to warm us and provide us light, so the Lord made it a greater glory than the moon.
So, Paul is showing us, before we claim that the Lord couldn’t take my weak, hurting, dying, and ultimately decaying body and raise it from the dead to inhabit a glorious new creation without pain, weakness, death, or decay, then you need to take a look around at what he has already done and is doing in our world. Already he shows his ability to transform the body of something that dies into something amazingly different. Already he shows us in this world his ability to make two bodies so utterly different and yet both perfectly fit for their domain. And already he has shown us his ability to make something perfectly glorious for what it needs to be and do.
All of these things are object lessons concerning the resurrection. We should all recognize this in the creation itself. And this then brings us to Paul’s main point, then, where in verses 42-44a, he notes that just as God transforms bodies, makes them fitting for their domain, and makes them the appropriate degree of glory,
He straightforwardly notes, in light of what he has already argued in verses 36-41, “So it is with the resurrection of the dead” (v. 42a). That is, these principles of how God works in this world come into play when he raises dead bodies from the dead. Paul continues, “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” (vv. 42b-44a).
My body or your body isn’t the precise makeup of the body that we will have in eternity. This body dies and is obviously perishable, dishonorable, weak, and pertaining to this natural world of corruption. However, just as he pictures before us continually in this world, one day our bodies will show themselves to be like seeds planted in the ground, and God will summon our bodies to life, raising them as an imperishable body, a glorious body, a powerful body, and a body that is given life and animated by the Spirit of God himself (which is what I think Paul means by “a spiritual body.” He doesn’t mean less than physical).
It is true that when we die, our souls go to be with the Lord if our faith in this life is in the crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ. We are absent from the body and present with the Lord. However, that is not the ultimate hope for the Christian. The ultimate hope is in that day when Jesus, who was himself bodily raised, will return and call our bodies to raise from the dust they have become to be transformed into glorious, powerful, imperishable bodies, given life by the Spirit of God to dwell with God in a glorious new creation where there will be no more Satan, no more sin, and no more death. That is our hope. And is it certain for those whose faith is in Christ. But why is that glorious day of resurrection certain to happen? Paul answers that in verses 44b-49.
Now, we saw this last week when we looked at verses 20-28 and were reminded that salvation is seen in the Scripture as those blessings that we receive by being united with Christ by faith so that what is true of him is true of us as well. So, we noted that we all were condemned and subject to the reign of death through our union with Adam, but because of our union with Christ by faith, we will be raised. Well, Paul here simply continues the logic of that reality all the way to the point of saying that we’ll have a body fit for a world characterized by the Spirit and glory just like the resurrected Christ has.
He writes, “If there is a natural body, there is a spiritual body” (v. 44b). That is, if God made a natural body fit for this world, he’ll make a spiritual body (again, one given life by the Spirit) fit for the next world. Then he continues, “Thus it is written, ‘The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit’” (v. 45).
Now, what does this mean? Well, let’s take it in parts. First, he’s quoting Genesis 2:7 where God breathed into Adam and made him a living being (or creature), as the text says. And consequently, through the process of procreation, the rest of us who come from Adam have life and bodies fit for this world. Those united with Adam have life and are fit for this world. That makes sense. But what about Jesus becoming a life-giving spirit?
Well, let’s take it in parts as well. First, the Spirit is continually referenced as giving resurrection life in the Scripture. We saw earlier in 1 Timothy 3:16 that when the text speaks of Christ’s resurrection by referring to his vindication it was done “by the Spirit.” Similarly, Romans 1:4 says that Jesus “was declared to be the son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead.” So, note again how the Spirit is involved in giving resurrection life. And Paul says explicitly in Romans 8:11, “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.” It is the Spirit who gives life.
Now, what happened when Jesus was raised from the dead is that the Spirit gave life to his human nature, bringing life to his body when it had died. That is, Jesus, via his human nature, was the first to be sown perishable and weak and raised imperishable and powerful. The Spirit gave resurrection life to his human nature. And now, as the God-man whose human nature is given life by the Spirit, he is so identified with the Holy Spirit in his work that the Spirit is often referred to as the “Spirit of Christ.” We even see that in Romans 8:9 where Paul says, “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.”
Therefore, when the text says that Christ became a life-giving Spirit, Paul isn’t saying that Jesus was something less than physical after his resurrection. We know better. They touched him, felt his scars, and he ate. What Paul is saying is that Christ, by his resurrection, now possesses the Spirit, which gave life to his dead body, in his human nature so perfectly that the two can be spoken of as one. The work of the Spirit is the work of the risen Christ.
But don’t get so caught up in the details of thinking through that that you miss the main point. Just as Adam was the head of this world order so that we all bear his image in that our bodies are like his, etc., so Christ, being raised from the dead by the working of the Spirit, is the first and head of a new world order that is characterized by Spirit life and glory, and we’ll bear his image as well.
That’s why Paul concludes, “But it is not the spiritual man that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual [that is, don’t think you’ll experience your resurrection body until the resurrection; we must have this weak and dying (natural) body first]. 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.”
We’re all like the first man, Adam, in that we, like him, were made to life in this world where we’re ultimately able to experience pain, weakness, death, and decay. But because our faith is in Christ who was raised so that he might be the first man in a glorious new work, we’ll all be like him as well, made fit with glorious resurrection bodies for the new creation to come.
That is to say, the reason we rejoice so much on this day, remembering that our Lord Jesus Christ who died to pay for our sins was also raised from the dead is because his resurrection means something for us. It means that death doesn’t have the last word for us either. It means that weakness, pain, and decay won’t characterize our life forever. He’s the first and the head of a glorious new world to come. One where we’ll be raised to imperishability and glory. That’s certain because we’ve been united with the crucified and risen Lord by faith. And he reminds us of this glorious day of resurrection all the time, even as we see in this world him picturing for us his transforming glorious work of raising life from death all around us. Therefore, let us celebrate and give him thanks as we come to the table now. Amen.