Resurrection and the Body

In Ancient Rome, when a victorious general was being paraded through the streets when he returned home, a servant was tasked to stand behind him and recite those two words.

Memento mori! Remember that you will die! Don’t get too puffed up, general. You are a man and you will die. Memento mori.

We don’t like to talk about death. Though we are mortal creatures, we don’t like being that very much. We can see it in all the euphemisms we use for death: He’s passed away. She’s moved on. He’s been called home. She’s in a better place. All designed to hide the gruff reality that we dwell in a mortal body that will one day it will cease to function, we will be put into a casket, and placed in the ground or burned.

We’ve been unable to avoid the conversation of death, especially over the past 2 years as a pandemic has ravaged the globe and our nation. 932K Americans have died with COVID, that’s more than all of the deaths in America’s armed conflicts combined. In Mississippi, we’ve seen nearly 12K dead: that’s the entire city of Grenada, gone. It seems impossible to forget death, but we do.

And there is great danger in forgetting it. Maybe death has not visited your family for a while. I am happy for that, but that might make you think that you are immune to it, that you will never come to the grave…death might affect others, but you’ve got plenty of time.

Memento mori. Remember that you will die.

But, if you are in Christ, that is not the end of the story. Memento mori, yes. But, Christian, after remembering that you will die, you can shout in victory: resurgam! — I shall rise again. Death is not the end for the disciple of Jesus.

If you have your Bibles, you can turn to 1 Corinthians 15. We’re finishing a 3-part series on the resurrection today. 1 Corinthians 15 starts on page 653 of the white pew Bible.

Remember our big idea for this chapter of Scripture:

The resurrection is a fundamental part of the gospel, our hope for the future, and our endurance in this life, so we must hold firmly to it!

The resurrection of Jesus is a fundamental part of the gospel, our hope for the future, and our endurance in this life, so we must hold firmly to it!

Today, we will look closely at the final clause of that theme: The resurrection is a fundamental part of our endurance in this life. Today, I want to answer 3 questions from the text:

What is the nature of the resurrection of our bodies? What does it look like?

What is accomplished in the resurrection?

How does the resurrection of our bodies, which lies in the future, help us today?

What is the nature of the resurrection?

What is accomplished by the resurrection?

How does the future resurrection help us today?

Let me read the first portion of our text, starting in verse 35:

1 Corinthians 15:35–38 CSB

But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? What kind of body will they have when they come?” You fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And as for what you sow—you are not sowing the body that will be, but only a seed, perhaps of wheat or another grain. But God gives it a body as he wants, and to each of the seeds its own body.

Skip to verse 42:

1 Corinthians 15:42–50 CSB

So it is with the resurrection of the dead: Sown in corruption, raised in incorruption; sown in dishonor, raised in glory; sown in weakness, raised in power; sown a natural body, raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written, The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. Like the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; like the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven. What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor can corruption inherit incorruption.

PRAY

Paul has been instructing the Corinthian church about a doctrine that some of them had abandoned. Some members of the church at Corinth had decided that there was no such thing as the resurrection. And Paul writes to say, “No, we must hold firm to the doctrine of the resurrection!”

The resurrection is essential to the gospel: If Christ was not raised from the dead, then his atoning sacrifice was not accepted and we are still in our sins. If we are still in our sins, then our faith is in vain. But, he says, Christ was raised and therefore we will also be raised since we are in union with Christ. That’s verses 1-34 in 10 seconds.

And now in verse 35, Paul turns to the practical. He anticipates the question: “Well, what’s it going to look like when we are raised? If we are going to be resurrected one day, how’s that going to shake out, exactly?”

That’s our first question to answer today:

What is the Nature of the Resurrection?

Paul uses the metaphor of a seed being sown, placed in the ground for a time, and then growing and raising into something with new life. And he gives 4 contrasts, starting in verse 42:

Sown in corruption, raised in incorruption

sown in dishonor, raised in glory

sown in weakness, raised in power

and sown a natural body, raised a spiritual one

So, he’s doing two things here. With the general metaphor of the planting of the seed and it growing into a plant, he’s emphasizing the continuity between the old and the new.

Here’s what I mean. When you plant a corn kernel in the ground, what grows up? Corn, of course. Bigger, better, fuller, more useful, but corn nonetheless.

When you plant a wheat kernel into the ground, what grows up? Wheat. The same seed, but more glorious and more what a wheat ought to be.

When you plant, then, and Eric into the ground, what ought to grow up? Right, an Eric that is better, fuller, and more glorious, but definitely an Eric.

That’s what Paul is getting at with the seed metaphor. What is planted is what grows. When are bodies are planted, so to speak, what grows up in eternity is ourselves in identity.

Our physical body here is a shriveled seed. When planted in the grave like wheat that is sown, it decays. And from that decay, on the last day, will rise the fuller, better, more glorious, more human, body. Entirely different, and yet precisely the same. When we are raised from the dead on the last day, we will see in our bodies what it means to truly be human, the way we were designed to be from the beginning. We receive the incorruptible body that Adam should have attained in the Garden.

And in that similarity lies the difference, the contrasts that Paul gives. We will have the same identity — which I believe means we will clearly recognize people whom we already knew — the same identity and yet as different as we could possibly be.

Our now bodies are corruptible, our then bodies incorruptible. No more decay, no more aging, no more back pain, no more cavities. Incorruptible. But, even that doesn’t go far enough, I believe with the word Paul is using here. Aphtharsia I believe extends not just to no decay, but decay’s reversal! When Paul says we are raised in incorruption, I believe he is saying that, essentially, every day is better for us. Each day for eternity, there is a progressive and purposeful flourishing in the fulness of life and humanness. Every day better than before. What a day of rejoicing that shall be.

He goes on: sown in dishonor, raised in glory: he’s talking about the final and complete removal of sin and its effects and the fulness of our transformation into Christlikeness. The last tattered rags of sin thrown aside and being fully clothed in the righteousness of Christ for eternity.

Sown in weakness, raised in power: Do you feel weaker with every passing day? Are you finding that, mentally you feel like you did 10 or 20 years ago but physically, your stamina just isn’t there anymore? Look forward to a reversal of that weakness.

Last contrast, sown a natural body, raised a spiritual body. Many in the past have used this to make some pretty outlandish claims. I’ve heard pastors speak about our spiritual bodies being ethereal, no physicality to it, like the ghosts you see in the movies. I’ve heard some even more…let’s say “creative” interpretations of this passage, like us being able to move by thinking, like teleportation or something I guess. I even heard one guy give us some pretty radical things like the ability to hear colors.

That’s not what Paul is talking about here when he contrasts the natural and the spiritual bodies. Turn back a few pages to chapter 2 of 1 Corinthians. What he’s actually doing is recalling something he wrote earlier in the letter. Since we didn’t preach all the way through this letter, I want us to read it together now, verse 14 and 15:

1 Corinthians 2:14–15 CSB

14 But the person without the Spirit does not receive what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually. 15 The spiritual person, however, can evaluate everything, and yet he himself cannot be evaluated by anyone.

Here Paul is contrasting the person without the Spirit, the natural man, as it were, and the spiritual person. The natural person cannot discern the things of God, the spiritual person can.

And what did he say back in chapter 12 when he was talking about spiritual gifts? The Corinthians, acting like natural people, were lording their gifts over one another. But, Paul says, the spiritual person knows how to use their gifts for the good of everyone else.

So here, back in chapter 15, Paul is bringing this contrast back. Every last vestige of our inability to hear God’s voice and love him fully will be removed and we will become perfectly spiritual people.

Question 4: How can you glorify God? By loving him and keeping his commandments. And when our bodies are resurrected, that’s exactly what we’ll do without fail. Raised a spiritual body.

So, succinctly, what is the nature of the resurrection? We will become fully human, fully fulfilling our intended purpose to love God and love others. We will become, by God’s power, what we always ought to have been.

Our second question:

What is Accomplished at the Resurrection?

Let’s read again, verse 51:

1 Corinthians 15:51–57 CSB

51 Listen, I am telling you a mystery: We will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. 53 For this corruptible body must be clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body must be clothed with immortality. 54 When this corruptible body is clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body is clothed with immortality, then the saying that is written will take place: Death has been swallowed up in victory. 55 Where, death, is your victory? Where, death, is your sting? 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

Two things are accomplished at the resurrection.

First,

Our Nature is Fully Changed

To some degree, Paul is repeating himself here. What I just wrote about the nature of the resurrection must happen and will happen. We will be changed. The corruptible is clothed with incorruptibility. The mortal is clothed with immortality.

For time’s sake I won’t elaborate on that any more, because I want us to linger in the glory of the second thing accomplished:

Christ’s Victory is Fully Seen

When that change happens, when we see the blossom of our nature give way to the full fruit at harvest, then, Paul says the truth of Isaiah 25 will be confirmed, and the questions from Hosea 13 will be answered. He’s quoting 2 places in the Old Testament:

Isaiah 25:8 CSB

8 When he has swallowed up death once and for all, the Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face and remove his people’s disgrace from the whole earth, for the Lord has spoken.

Hosea 13:14 CSB

14 I will ransom them from the power of Sheol. I will redeem them from death. Death, where are your barbs? Sheol, where is your sting? Compassion is hidden from my eyes.

At the final resurrection, Christ’s victory will be fully seen when all disgrace is removed and death gets the full brunt of God’s wrath. On that day, we will have a triumphant answer to those questions:

Where, death, is your victory? Where, death, is your sting?

Here and now, Death might have a ready answer! Where is my victory?! Where is my sting?! Look around you, it’s on every person!

Doesn’t it sting you to know that when I take you you are going to leave behind everyone you know? Doesn’t it sting to know that when I take you everything you’ve worked hard for on this earth, you house, you land, your savings, all of it will be given to someone else? Doesn’t it sting to know that when I take your eyes will be denied seeing another sunrise or sunset? Doesn’t it sting to know that when I take you your ears will not hear the beauty of music? Doesn’t it sting to know that when I take you your loved ones will mourn you after you are gone? Is their heartache not enough sting?

Where is my victory? Ask the widow who longs for her husband’s embrace. Ask the expectant mother who feels the cramp of miscarriage.

Where is my victory? Ask the soldier on the battlefield as he cradles the body of his best friend, lost so that someone else can have a little bit more land. Ask the parent who watches their child die before them. Where is my victory? My victory is in their tears.

BUT

Isaiah 25:8 CSB

8 When he has swallowed up death once and for all, the Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face and remove his people’s disgrace from the whole earth, for the Lord has spoken.

Christ’s resurrection has swallowed up death once and for all.

1 Corinthians 15:56 CSB

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

Paul says.

The sting of death is sin. Sin is forgiven in Jesus the Christ.

The power of sin is the law. The law has been fulfilled in Jesus and the penalties of it have ceased for those in him.

Where, death, is your sting? Christ has taken it into his own body on the cross.

Where, death, is your victory? Christ has snatched it from your cold grasp and now holds it in power over all creation.

So now, we who are in Christ say with Paul in verse 58, Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

Death has no sting for the believer. Death has no victory over the believer. Once, death was the penalty for sin, but it has been forgiven. Now, the disciple of Jesus does not die as punishment, but they die so that they are prepared to live for all eternity.

With Christ, the grave is a comfortable place, for it is there that our corruption and mortality are cast off, and Christ’s victory over death is seen in full.

But listen, without Christ, the grave is a terror. To those who have not believed, death does have a sting. To you, death does stand in victory because when you breathe your last, it will devour you. When you wake from your final slumber it will not be to newness of life. It will not be in the image of the second Adam, but in the image of the first Adam and into all of the decay and death that he brought in sin.

Today is the day to wake from the temporal sleep of sin and wake to the Savior. Are you ready to meet God? The writer of Hebrews writes that it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Are you ready for the judgment of your life against the perfect standard of the Holy, Holy, Holy?

The path to life is easy, and it is open. God does not will for the death of any, but that all will turn to Him and live. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Right now, this instant, where you are, don’t wait for a song, I could not care one whit less if you walk down this aisle, confess that Jesus is Lord and be saved today. Be relieved from the sting of death. Be delivered from its victory. Come to Christ and be joined to him and his victory.

And so now, we turn to our final question:

How Does the Future Resurrection Help us Today?

Here’s what Paul says in verse 58, I love how he ties that great truth to our lives right this moment:

1 Corinthians 15:58 CSB

58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

In light of the truth that Death holds no victory over us in Christ. In light of the truth that Death’s sting has been taken from us, we can be — right now — steadfast, immoveable, and excel in the Lord’s work

because

we know that our labor in the Lord is not in vain. The work we do here for God’s glory will not fade. The treasure we store up in heaven will not be stolen or eaten by moths.

One of my favorite theologians, R.C. Sproul, said it this way:

Right now counts forever.

Listen folks, if all that right now counts for is right now, then we are hopeless. Why? Because right now is already gone. Right now is now then. If all right now counts for is right now, then, like Paul wrote as we looked last week, we should be pitied most of all.

But, right now counts forever. Why? Because there is a forever.

And because there is a forever, every pain that we experience, every tear that we shed, every good deed that we do, every trial through which we endure, every gospel conversation that we have, every sermon that we listen to, every song of praise that we sing, every prayer that we utter no matter how frail, counts forever — because Christ is risen and because Christ is Lord.