1 Corinthians 15:35-49

Paul now meets the objection, How are the dead raised? in what kind of a body do they come back from the tomb? Only a fool (in the Hebrew rather than the Greek sense), he tartly says, would ask such an unbelieving question. The objector's own experience (thou thyself is very emphatic) shows him that the seed must die when sown or it will not be quickened. It is not identical with the body that is to be, it is a naked grain of wheat or whatever it may be, and God gives it a body corresponding to the particular species. It is not clear how far Paul would have pressed the metaphor to imply an organic connexion between the old and the new. The old body perishes and God provides a new one, and the new is very unlike the old. The universe shows the same principle of variety, the flesh of men, beasts, birds, and fish; heavenly and earthly bodies; sun, moon, and stars. So the resourcefulness of God is seen in the resurrection, where the new body differs so astonishingly from the old. The dead body is placed in the ground like the seed, and as the seed dies (1 Corinthians 15:36) the body decomposes; it is sown in corruption, it rises incorruptible. Dishonoured and powerless, it is raised in glory and strength; sown a natural body, it comes forth a spiritual body. The natural body is one fitted to be the organ of the personality in its natural earthly condition; the spiritual body is such a body as corresponds to man's future condition as spirit. That both types of body exist Paul proves by Scripture (Genesis 2:7). Only 1 Corinthians 15:45 a is actually a quotation, but Paul possibly means to represent 1 Corinthians 15:45 b as also from Scripture; much greater freedom is taken in the Targums. If so, he may argue, like Philo, from the double account of man's creation (Genesis 1:26 f; Genesis 2:7) to two distinct creations, and in 1 Corinthians 15:46 be opposing the view that the spiritual preceded the natural in historical manifestation. The first man is of earthly origin and made of dust, the second man is from heaven. Many scholars find here the doctrine of a pre-existent Heavenly Man, with slender justification. Each class follows its prototype. We successively belong to both; in this life we bear the image of the earthy, in the resurrection life we shall bear that of the heavenly.