Sinners Made Saints: How Are the Dead Raised?

Text: I Corinthians 15:35-49

Theme: The coming resurrection is the hope and motivation of the church and of all believers. Whatever happens to our present bodies—whether they are healthy or unhealthy, beautiful or plain, short-lived or long-lived, or whether they are indulged or tortured—they are not our permanent bodies, and we should not hold them too dearly.

Date: 03/20/2022 File name: 1_Corinthinas_28.wpd ID Number:

There are few theological issues that have produced so many questions in people's minds, as this issue of the resurrection of the body. Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologica, the most famous theological work of the middle ages, goes on and on, page after page, dealing with questions about the resurrection body. Will the resurrection body have hair, nails, intestines, sex organs, sweat glands, blood and other fluids of the body? He wrestled with problems most of us never lose any sleep over. For example, if Adam rises with his full original body, will Eve have a part in the resurrection since she was made from Adam's rib. If he gets it back in the resurrection, there is nothing left for Eve to rise with.

Or consider the case of Peter Martyr Vermigli (Vayr-MEEL-yee). He became a 16th century Protestant Reformer, and was called the “Italian Calvin”. Like Martin Luther he went from being a loyal supporter of the Catholic Church to an opponent of much of what the Church taught. Also like Luther the Catholic Church hated him. To show contempt for Peter, Catholic authorities had the dead body of his wife exhumed and flung onto a dung hill. Protestants took the body and reduced it to ashes to protect it from further abuse. They then mixed her ashes with the ashes of a Catholic saint to prevented further desecration, since Catholics would not want to desecrate their own saint’s ashes. What happens to her at the resurrection? These issues must have been similar to the questions the resurrection-deniers at Corinth were peppering Paul with.

God must have a lot of good laughs at our perplexities. He hears us asking questions about the resurrection, and He just smiles, and reminds us that He can do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we can think or ask. Paul is writing this greatest of all chapters on the resurrection because of the questions of the Corinthians. Let’s consider what he says.

I. THE INFIRMITY OF THE RESURRECTION-DENIER’S ARGUMENT

“But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36 You foolish person! ... .” (1 Corinthians 15:35–36, ESV)

1. the Apostle Paul begins this section on the resurrection by responding to the question offered by those denying the resurrection in the church at Corinth — How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do the come?

2. there were many in the ancient world who could not fathom the idea of a physical resurrection of the human body

a. in Greek culture especially (remember Corinth is in Greece) the body of man was considered to be inherently evil and the spirit of man to be inherently good

1) for them, death liberated the soul from its imprisonment to evil and corruption

2) the idea of coming back to life in a reanimated body was particularly distasteful idea

ILLUS. Remember Paul’s visit to Athens in Acts 17. Paul finds a sport in the city’s main market place and begins teaching about Jesus and the Gospel. After a few days, a group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with the Apostle. They’ve never heard of this “new religion” and they’re curious, and so they invite Paul to speak before the Areopagus, the Athenian governing council. They politely and intently listen to his message on the life and ministry of Jesus until he gets to the resurrection. At that point he loses his audience. They sneered at him and most rejected his message.

A. THEIR ERROR

1. the error of resurrection-deniers at Corinth was in confusing resurrection with reanimation

a. they assumed that the believer’s resurrected body would be identical their earthly body, and that they would live forever in fleshly, diseased, aching bodies

b. we actually have a number of examples of reanimation in the bible — stories of miracles where the dead are brought back to life

1) in the Old Testament the Prophets Elijah and Elisha both restore life to the sons of widows (1 Kings 17:22, 2 Kings 4:32-35)

2) in the Gospels we witness Jesus reanimating Jairus’ young daughter (Luke 8:52-55), the son of a widow from the city of Nain (Luke 7:14-15, and of course, most famously, Lazarus (John 11:1-44)

3) in the Book of Acts Peter raises Dorcus (Acts 9:40-41), and Paul raises Eutychus when he falls asleep during a sermon, falls out a window and dies (Acts 20:9-11)

c. the similarity between resurrection and reanimation is that both are miraculous events

1) these people really, really died and a miracle had to take place to restore them to life

d. the difference between resurrection and reanimation is that they resumed life in the bodies they had, and all those individuals had to die again

B. PAUL’S RESPONSE

1. vs. 36 begins, You foolish person!

a. most modern translations have softened Paul’s answer — it’s actually a sharp retort

1) the King James offers the best translation ... Thou fool!

2) it’s a derisive word, and the fact that Paul uses it is an indication that those resistant to the doctrine of the resurrection are not honest inquirers, but are mocking the very idea

2. they are foolish because they are dismissing the ability of God to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think

3. many people continue to mock and dismiss the idea of resurrection

a. secular Jews dismiss the resurrection through bizarre conspiracy theories — the disciples stole the body, or the women went to the wrong tomb

b. materialists, who include agnostics and atheists and communists, dismiss the resurrection — they are the sober-minded rationalists of our day who would never stoop so low as to believe in deities or in miracles; to them the resurrection is a superstition

c. liberal intelligentsia dismiss the resurrection as metaphor or allegory — it’s not real, but it makes fools feel better about the future

d. fake Christians dismiss the resurrection — professing believers who like the ethics of Jesus, but who dismiss the supernatural as untenable in a modern, scientific world

ILLUS. Amazingly, the 21st century church — particularly in the West — is full of resurrection skeptics. In a 2017 BBC survey of British Christians, a quarter (25%) of all Christians in Great Britain said they did not believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Nor do they believe in their own bodily resurrection. A Rasmussen poll from 2013 (the most recent one we have asking the question) reveals that 19% of professing Christians in America reject the central doctrine of the Christian faith. What we’re discovering is that, every year, fewer and fewer professing Christians in Western culture believe in the bodily resurrection attested to in the Scriptures. What this means is that a growing number of Christians in the West are heretics!

4. Paul will now use the rest of the chapter to defend and describe the believer’s resurrection

II. OUR RESURRECTION IS ILLUSTRATED AS GERMINATION

“ ... What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.” (1 Corinthians 15:36, ESV)

1. the Apostle’s opening description of the resurrection uses an illustration virtually everyone both then and now understands even though there remains mystery behind it

a. the kernel of wheat that is sown into the ground is different from the plant that springs up, and yet there is a continuity to what is planted

1) God decreed this all the way back at the creation

“And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1:11–12, ESV)

b. in other words, if you plant a kernel of corn you get a stalk of corn and not a head of lettuce

1) in time that stalk of corn produces a fruit that is genetically identical to the kernel that was planted back in the Spring

2. this natural process, Paul says, helps us understand the spiritual process of resurrection

a. what we are now is not what we will be at the coming of Christ and consummation of his redemptive work

A. THE BELIEVERS IS ‘PLANTED’ AS ONE THING BUT IS ‘HARVESTED’ AS SOMETHING DIFFERENT

1 the seed planted in the soil corresponds to our perishable body that will die and, in time, disintegrate into dust

a. just as the kernel that is buried represents our fleshly decaying bodies, the new life that emerges from death represents our new resurrection body

“And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain.” (1 Corinthians 15:37, ESV)

2. because of the continuity between what is planted and what springs out of the ground we will know ourselves to be ourselves

a. others will recognize us and we will recognize them

III. OUR RESURRECTION IS INDIVIDUALIZED LIKE GOD’S CREATION

1. in trying to describe our resurrection bodies, Paul uses three analogies

a. in each one Paul says, “Look, when it comes to our resurrection bodies there will be similarities to our natural bodies, but there will also be wonderfully unique differences”

A. FIRST, he compares them to the variety of seeds in the world

“But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.” (1 Corinthians 15:38, ESV)

1. when you sow seed, you do not expect that seed to stay the same

a. it changes into something different that is glorious compared to what you buried

ILLUS. Few things are as ugly and gnarly as an Iris tubular yet they produce beautiful flowers.

b. Paul’s point is that the seed planted produces what it’s supposed to produce

c. our natural bodies are the seed that will produce our resurrection bodies

1) but remember, it’s not a natural process, but a supernatural event that God, Himself, will accomplish

“And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.” (1 Corinthians 6:14, ESV)

“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.” (Romans 8:11, ESV)

2. in the resurrection we will remain unique in our appearance and personality

a. just as no two bodies are the same now, no two bodies will be the same then

3. God is the one in charge of this diversity — But God gives it a body as he has chosen

a. God delights in uniqueness in the midst of similarity

1) God makes no two snowflakes alike ... God makes no two leaves on a plant exactly alike ... God makes no two sets of human fingerprints alike ... even identical twins are not identical on the genetic level

2) even though all those things have similarity and continuity to them each is absolutely unique

4. in the resurrection you will continue to be a unique individual — and to each kind of seed its own body

a. after the resurrection Jesus was recognizable

1) the disciples knew His face, they knew his voice, and they recognized His wounded side and His pierced hands

b. in a similar way, our resurrected bodies as believers will have a continuity with the bodies we have now

1) our bodies will die and, at the resurrection, they will change form, but they will still be our bodies

2) BUT ... Amen and Hallelujah, they will be glorified and eternal, and supernatural, but they will still be our bodies

3) in Luke 24:39, when the disciple see the resurrected Christ, they believe they are seeing a ghost, but Jesus says, Ghosts don’t have flesh and bone — go ahead touch me

B. SECOND, he compares them to different kinds of flesh

“For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.” (1 Corinthians 15:39, ESV)

1. Paul next turns to looking at the animal kingdom to help us understand both the similarity, but uniqueness of our resurrection bodies

a. there is human flesh ... there is animal flesh ... there is fish flesh ... there is bird flesh

b. just as vegetation produces after its own kind, so does the animal world

1) dogs produce puppies, birds produce chicks, bovines produce calves, and humans produce babies

2. Paul’s point it that there is also resurrection flesh

ILLUS. God, as Creator, is the authority on “flesh” and He has created a special flesh for resurrected believers — a glorious flesh.

a. just because our finite minds cannot fathom a flesh that does not die or decay, doesn’t mean such a flesh does not exist

b. Jesus had that kind of flesh, and so will we

C. THIRD, he compares them to the difference in celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies

“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.” (1 Corinthians 15:40, ESV)

1. finally, Paul turns to looking at the cosmos to help us understand both the similarity, but uniqueness of our resurrection bodies

a. planets — which are terrestrial bodies—have a different and significantly less glory than celestial bodies — which are stars

b. and even the stars differ in magnitude of brightness one from another

c. his point is that celestial bodies are far more glorious than terrestrial bodies

2. just as every star is similar, but different, just as every plant is similar, but different, just as every kind of animal is similar, but different, and even as every human being is similar, but different, our God has infinite creative capacity, including the capacity to take what we are and to re-create our natural bodies to be like that of His Son

“Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” (1 John 3:2–3, ESV)

3. Paul concludes his use of analogies by saying, So also is the resurrection of the dead

IV. OUR RESURRECTION IS INFUSED WITH PERFECTION

“So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.” (1 Corinthians 15:42–44, ESV)

1. in these verses Paul focuses more directly on the resurrection body

a. he mentions specific ways, given as four sets of contrasts, in which our glorified bodies will be different from our earthly bodies

A. FROM CORRUPTION TO INCORRUPTION

1. most modern translations translate the first contrast as sown as perishable; but what is raised is imperishable

a. but the actual words are corruptible and incorruptible

2. one of the tragic consequences of the Fall was that men’s bodies from that time on were irreversibly mortal, subject to death — without exception, every human is born with, a perishable body corrupted by sin

ILLUS. Scientists say that we start dying at around age 25. From our birth to about age 25 our cells regenerate instead of dying, but in our mid-twenties more of our cells begin to decay than to regenerate. When our cells are regenerated they are actually duplicated. It is estimated that on the average all the cells in our body die and are replaced by copies every 7 years. At age seventy the human body has undergone 10 cycles of copying and replacing which means there are 10 opportunities for our cells to make mistakes and lose information. Do you have gray hair. This is a visual manifestation that certain cells in the body are not replicating correctly. When the loss of information reaches the critical point where some vital body system no longer functions we die.

a. what’s the point? ... “corruption” is built into our bodily system

b. it wasn’t always that way

3. because of man’s sin and God’s subsequent curse our body — indeed the entire world — is in bondage of decay

“For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” (Romans 8:19–21, ESV)

a. I think one of the reasons you had resurrection-deniers in the Corinthian church, and the reason we have resurrection-deniers in the church today, is because the very idea of resurrection is so outside our understanding

b. flesh, corrupted by sin, and subsequent decay is all we know, and it’s hard to imagine anything different

4. in this life, the physical bodies of believers endure the ravages of corruption, but at the resurrection these bodies will be raised incorruptible

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,” (1 Peter 1:3–4, ESV)

ILLUS. James Moore was a Missionary Baptist minister in Georgia during the first half of the 20th century. He was also a hymn writer. At 26 years old, while a seminary student at Mercer University, Moore visited his hometown church to preach. His father, Charles Robert Moore, had led the singing there for years. During that trip he noticed that his father's voice, once powerful and clear, was failing him.

After returning to school, Moore wrote a hymn and dedicated it to his parents. He entitled it Never Grow Old. Listen to the first stanza and chorus ...

I have heard of a land

On the faraway strand,

’Tis a beautiful home of the soul;

Built by Jesus on high,

There we never shall die,

’Tis a land where we never grow old.

Refrain:

Never grow old,

Where we'll never grow old,

In a land where we’ll never grow old;

Never grow old,

Where we'll never grow old,

In a land where we’ll never grow old.

a. never grow old — that’s what it means to be raised incorruptible — our cells will no longer decay, and we will never die

B. FROM DISHONOR TO GLORY

1. because of the Fall not only did our body become corruptible, but our mind and spirit became distorted

a. Adam was made perfect, and in the very image of his Creator

1) he was made to manifest his Creator in all that he did

b. but through sin, that which was created to honor God became characterized instead by dishonor

1) we dishonor God by misusing and abusing the bodies through which He desires us to honor and serve Him

2) we dishonor God by misusing our minds when we allow hate, and prejudice, jealousy, resentment and bitterness to rule our thoughts

3) we dishonor God by misusing our spirit and setting up idols in our heart

4) even the most faithful believer dies with his body, mind and spirit in a state of dishonor, a state of imperfection and incompleteness

2. but we will be raised in glory

a. at the resurrection not only are our bodies fully renewed and glorified, but so are our minds and our spirit

b. everything about us will be perfected for pleasing, praising, and enjoying the Creator who made us and the Redeemer who restored us

C. FORM WEAKNESS TO POWER

1. the third contrast has to do with ability

a. our present bodies are characterized by weakness

ILLUS. It’s not been too many years ago when, if I needed to sharpen the blades on my riding lawnmower, I just picked up the front end and set the mower up. If I did that now, I’d be a hunchback for a week. I had to buy a mower life a couple of years ago. I can’t do physically what I did not very long ago.

b. we are weak not only in physical strength and endurance but also in resistance to disease and harm

2. despite the marvelous natural protective mechanisms of the human body, no one is immune from breaking a bone, cutting a leg, catching various infections, and eventually from dying

a. our earthly “temples” are inescapably temporary and fragile

3. but our resurrection bodies will be raised in power

a. 1st, I think Paul is referring to the power of God to do this

1) in Romans 10:9-10 the Apostle Paul gives us the earliest confession of the Church which includes the admission “ ... if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9, ESV)

2) it was the Father that infused life into the lifeless body of His Son, and God will do the same for all His children

b. 2nd, I think Paul is telling us that we will have physical capabilities then that we can’t now imagine

D. FROM NATURAL BODY TO SPIRITUAL BODY

1. our natural bodies are bound to the constraints of this world — that is time and space, and natural laws like gravity

a. in his humanity Jesus was bound by these things

b. true, he performed miracles including walking on water, but his physical body was subject to human weaknesses

1) he needed food, drink, and sleep

2) he suffered indescribable verbal and physical abuse

3) his body succumbed to death and was placed in a tomb

c. but when he was resurrected all that changed

1) when he arose from the grave, his body had changed and was no longer limited by the laws of time and space

2) locked doors did not prevent Jesus from entering the room where the disciples were staying in Jerusalem

2. our resurrection bodies will be spiritual — that is, every aspect of our personality, mind, will, emotions, and character will be totally and completely Holy Spirit-filled and Holy Spirit-governed

a. Adam and Jesus are our example in this

“The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 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.” (1 Corinthians 15:47–48, ESV)

b. as natural men we are patterned after Adam, but in the resurrection we will be patterned after Jesus

The coming resurrection is the hope and motivation of the church and of all believers. Whatever happens to our present bodies—whether they are healthy or unhealthy, beautiful or plain, short-lived or long-lived, or whether they are indulged or tortured—they are not our permanent bodies, and we should not hold them too dearly. Our blessed hope and assurance is that these created natural bodies one day will be recreated as spiritual bodies. Although we have only a glimpse of what those new bodies will be like, it should be enough to know that “we shall be like Him.”