But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?
The questions about how the dead are raised up and with what body they come are the voice of an objector expressing doubt about a literal resurrection. They belong to a discussion that makes the resurrection a central Christian hope. That hope is bodily, for the dead will be raised bodily in a literal resurrection.
The need for resurrection rests on the fact that the whole person sleeps in the grave until then, not a conscious soul separated from the body. Because the dead await resurrection rather than entering their final blessedness, reward, or punishment at death, the resurrection of the flesh is not needless but a meaningful future hope. It would be needless only if reward or punishment had already begun at death apart from the body.
The objection includes the claim that the very same particles of matter must compose the resurrected person. The grain illustration that follows answers that the matter composing the mortal body does not have to enter into the immortal body, since personal identity rests in organization rather than in retaining the same matter. How the dead are raised and with what body they come is taught by planting a seed in the earth: the human agent plants the seed, God waters it and causes His sun to shine upon it, and up springs the tiny blade. In the same way God raises the body and renews the heart, with the development of earthly things given to teach this spiritual truth about resurrection.
The questions about how the dead are raised up and with what body they come are the voice of an objector expressing doubt about a literal resurrection. They belong to a discussion that makes the resurrection a central Christian hope. That hope is bodily, for the dead will be raised bodily in a literal resurrection.
The need for resurrection rests on the fact that the whole person sleeps in the grave until then, not a conscious soul separated from the body. Because the dead await resurrection rather than entering their final blessedness, reward, or punishment at death, the resurrection of the flesh is not needless but a meaningful future hope. It would be needless only if reward or punishment had already begun at death apart from the body.
The objection includes the claim that the very same particles of matter must compose the resurrected person. The grain illustration that follows answers that the matter composing the mortal body does not have to enter into the immortal body, since personal identity rests in organization rather than in retaining the same matter. How the dead are raised and with what body they come is taught by planting a seed in the earth: the human agent plants the seed, God waters it and causes His sun to shine upon it, and up springs the tiny blade. In the same way God raises the body and renews the heart, with the development of earthly things given to teach this spiritual truth about resurrection.