It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
The mortal body laid in the grave in corruption, dishonor and weakness is raised a glorified, incorruptible, powerful and immortal spiritual body, wholly distinct from the poor mortal frame that was sown. The risen person keeps the same identity and remains recognizable so that friends know one another, yet without the same particles of matter, for God gives a new creation of much finer material, with every deformity, disease and defect healed into perfect health and symmetry in the image of Christ, of whom Jesus' own recognizable resurrection is the sample. As a planted kernel decays to bring forth a new kernel, so the decayed natural substance is not raised as before but new life is given by God's power. There is no conscious reward at death, for the whole being sleeps unconscious until the resurrection, and this raising of the moldering dead is the Christian hope that comforts mourners with meeting their loved ones again clothed in immortal splendor for endless happiness on the earth made new. The change is bodily and not moral, since death and resurrection alter no trait of character, so fitness for immortal life must be gained now by partaking of Christ's Spirit dwelling within and overcoming every defect to form a symmetrical character ready for companionship with angels.
Nature of the Resurrection Body
The natural body sown in death in corruption, dishonor and weakness is raised a spiritual body in incorruption, glory and power. That raised body is glorified, incorruptible, powerful and immortal, fit for immortal life. It is distinct from the mortal body that dies and is not merely the poor mortal body that went into the grave. At the morning of the resurrection the Life-giver comes and calls the dead forth from their prison houses, and at the last trump He calls up His purchased possession in the first resurrection to eternal victory.
The mortal bodies of all who have believed are quickened by His Spirit dwelling in them, and the vitalizing power of the Spirit of Christ dwelling in the mortal body binds every believing soul to Jesus Christ so that He claims them as His own. Those who believe are sacred to His heart with life hid with Christ in God, and until the triumphant hour every sleeping saint is kept in safety and guarded as a precious jewel known by God by name. Because the Saviour's power dwelt in them while living and because they were partakers of the divine nature, they are brought forth from the dead. Those followed mourning to their last home in this world will come forth from their graves clothed with immortal splendor.
The raised person keeps the same identity and organization without keeping the same particles of matter. Identity with the mortal person does not depend on retaining the same material, and the matter of the mortal body does not enter into the immortal being. God preserves character, form and features and in His own time calls forth the dead with the breath of life, giving the righteous dead a body that pleases Him. That body is made of much finer material as a new creation and a new birth, free from disease and every defect.
Those raised keep individual identity and remain recognizable, and friend will recognize friend and loved ones will know one another. Jesus' resurrection is the sample of the final resurrection of all who sleep in Him. As He was known by familiar appearance, deportment, accents of speech, manner and voice, so the redeemed rise with recognizable features. Their faces are radiant with the light shining from the face of Jesus and reflect His light, transformed into His glorious image without destroying personal image and likeness, fitted for glorious companionship with heavenly angels, so that every saint joined by family relationship on earth will meet loved ones and know each other in heaven.
Even those deformed, diseased or disfigured in mortal life remain identifiable and are raised in perfect health and symmetry. The divine Restorer removes every deformity and heals all defects, and in the great day of God all who are faithful and true receive His healing touch and eternal life. Deformity, disease and disfigurement in mortal life do not prevent recognition, for the risen bear recognizable features in faces radiant with Christ's light.
As a planted kernel of grain decays and brings forth a new kernel, so the decayed natural substance is never raised as before but new life comes by God's power. The body hidden in the tomb is like a seed that will spring up in bloom to deathless life, and as seeds watered and shined upon by God spring up blade then ear then full corn, and as flowers die only to spring forth again and bloom again in the Eden above, so the dead will rise to new life. The human agent plants the seed and God waters it and causes His sun to shine upon it and brings up the tiny blade, and spiritual things are to be learned from this earthly development. That growth teaches both the resurrection of the body and the renewing of the heart, for seeds of truth sown in the soil of the heart are not lost but spring up into new life by the same divine word that created the seed and the earth and commanded the earth to bring forth grass, herb and fruit for the service of man.
The resurrection is a mystery too deep for the human mind to explain or even fully to comprehend, standing with the entrance of sin into the world, the incarnation of Christ and regeneration. The difficulty lies solely in the weakness and narrowness of the human mind, and such incomprehensibility in the spiritual world should cause no surprise because the natural world is constantly full of unfathomable mysteries, with even the humblest forms of life baffling the wisest philosophers. Inability to understand gives no reason to doubt, because God has given in the Scriptures sufficient evidence of their divine character, presenting mysteries that finite beings can never fully comprehend like the character of its divine Author.
Doctrine, Hope, and Preparation
The chapter's teaching on the resurrection is a central, glorious Christian doctrine, repeatedly stressed to encourage diligence, obedience, and cheerfulness. Scripture dwells so much on the raising of the moldering body from the grave because the entire being sleeps unconscious in death until the resurrection and the judgment to come. The natural body sown and the spiritual body raised concern the body's change at that bodily raising.
There is no immediate reward or punishment of a conscious soul at death, for if the soul went at once to eternal happiness or misery there would be no need for the body to be raised. The hope held out is the dead being raised, not the righteous receiving their full blessedness at death.
Believers are bound to Christ by the vitalizing power of His Spirit dwelling in the mortal body, and by that power dwelling in them while living and because they are partakers of the divine nature they are brought forth from the dead. Their life is hid with Christ in God, and until the triumphant hour every sleeping saint is kept in safety and guarded as a precious jewel known by name. At the last trump the Life-giver will call up His purchased possession in the first resurrection to eternal victory.
The verse gives comfort under bereavement and courage in death, for mourners do not sorrow as those who have no hope but look forward to meeting their dead again. At the morning of the resurrection the Life-giver will come and call the dead forth from their prison houses, and the body raised will not be the poor body that went into the grave but an immortal, glorious body clothed with immortal splendor. Those who love and fear God are supported as they enter the dark valley of the shadow of death and then come forth from their graves crowned with glory, honor, and immortality, with joy beaming from every face, to rejoice in endless unalloyed happiness in the unfading glories of the earth made new. Because Christ died and was raised, believers will come forth from the tomb with a spiritual body fitted for glorious companionship with heavenly angels, transformed into Christ's glorious image without destroying personal image and likeness so that faces remain recognizable and loved ones joined by family relationship on earth will meet and know each other. Looking at these unseen things brings blessing and encouragement under great loss.
The change promised is bodily, not moral, for the resurrection changes the corruptible body into an incorruptible, spiritual body fit for immortal life, while moral fitness for the next life is obtained in this life by redemption from sin's condemnation and practice. Neither death nor the resurrection alters traits of character, and the disposition manifested in the home and in society is the same disposition with which a person comes up from the grave, for Jesus does not change character at His coming. Therefore the work of transformation must be done now in probationary time, with defects of character repented of and overcome through grace and a symmetrical character formed in daily life, since daily life determines destiny and only one who is a saint on earth will be fitted for the mansions above.
The mortal body laid in the grave in corruption, dishonor and weakness is raised a glorified, incorruptible, powerful and immortal spiritual body, wholly distinct from the poor mortal frame that was sown. The risen person keeps the same identity and remains recognizable so that friends know one another, yet without the same particles of matter, for God gives a new creation of much finer material, with every deformity, disease and defect healed into perfect health and symmetry in the image of Christ, of whom Jesus' own recognizable resurrection is the sample. As a planted kernel decays to bring forth a new kernel, so the decayed natural substance is not raised as before but new life is given by God's power. There is no conscious reward at death, for the whole being sleeps unconscious until the resurrection, and this raising of the moldering dead is the Christian hope that comforts mourners with meeting their loved ones again clothed in immortal splendor for endless happiness on the earth made new. The change is bodily and not moral, since death and resurrection alter no trait of character, so fitness for immortal life must be gained now by partaking of Christ's Spirit dwelling within and overcoming every defect to form a symmetrical character ready for companionship with angels.
Nature of the Resurrection Body
The natural body sown in death in corruption, dishonor and weakness is raised a spiritual body in incorruption, glory and power. That raised body is glorified, incorruptible, powerful and immortal, fit for immortal life. It is distinct from the mortal body that dies and is not merely the poor mortal body that went into the grave. At the morning of the resurrection the Life-giver comes and calls the dead forth from their prison houses, and at the last trump He calls up His purchased possession in the first resurrection to eternal victory.
The mortal bodies of all who have believed are quickened by His Spirit dwelling in them, and the vitalizing power of the Spirit of Christ dwelling in the mortal body binds every believing soul to Jesus Christ so that He claims them as His own. Those who believe are sacred to His heart with life hid with Christ in God, and until the triumphant hour every sleeping saint is kept in safety and guarded as a precious jewel known by God by name. Because the Saviour's power dwelt in them while living and because they were partakers of the divine nature, they are brought forth from the dead. Those followed mourning to their last home in this world will come forth from their graves clothed with immortal splendor.
The raised person keeps the same identity and organization without keeping the same particles of matter. Identity with the mortal person does not depend on retaining the same material, and the matter of the mortal body does not enter into the immortal being. God preserves character, form and features and in His own time calls forth the dead with the breath of life, giving the righteous dead a body that pleases Him. That body is made of much finer material as a new creation and a new birth, free from disease and every defect.
Those raised keep individual identity and remain recognizable, and friend will recognize friend and loved ones will know one another. Jesus' resurrection is the sample of the final resurrection of all who sleep in Him. As He was known by familiar appearance, deportment, accents of speech, manner and voice, so the redeemed rise with recognizable features. Their faces are radiant with the light shining from the face of Jesus and reflect His light, transformed into His glorious image without destroying personal image and likeness, fitted for glorious companionship with heavenly angels, so that every saint joined by family relationship on earth will meet loved ones and know each other in heaven.
Even those deformed, diseased or disfigured in mortal life remain identifiable and are raised in perfect health and symmetry. The divine Restorer removes every deformity and heals all defects, and in the great day of God all who are faithful and true receive His healing touch and eternal life. Deformity, disease and disfigurement in mortal life do not prevent recognition, for the risen bear recognizable features in faces radiant with Christ's light.
As a planted kernel of grain decays and brings forth a new kernel, so the decayed natural substance is never raised as before but new life comes by God's power. The body hidden in the tomb is like a seed that will spring up in bloom to deathless life, and as seeds watered and shined upon by God spring up blade then ear then full corn, and as flowers die only to spring forth again and bloom again in the Eden above, so the dead will rise to new life. The human agent plants the seed and God waters it and causes His sun to shine upon it and brings up the tiny blade, and spiritual things are to be learned from this earthly development. That growth teaches both the resurrection of the body and the renewing of the heart, for seeds of truth sown in the soil of the heart are not lost but spring up into new life by the same divine word that created the seed and the earth and commanded the earth to bring forth grass, herb and fruit for the service of man.
The resurrection is a mystery too deep for the human mind to explain or even fully to comprehend, standing with the entrance of sin into the world, the incarnation of Christ and regeneration. The difficulty lies solely in the weakness and narrowness of the human mind, and such incomprehensibility in the spiritual world should cause no surprise because the natural world is constantly full of unfathomable mysteries, with even the humblest forms of life baffling the wisest philosophers. Inability to understand gives no reason to doubt, because God has given in the Scriptures sufficient evidence of their divine character, presenting mysteries that finite beings can never fully comprehend like the character of its divine Author.
Doctrine, Hope, and Preparation
The chapter's teaching on the resurrection is a central, glorious Christian doctrine, repeatedly stressed to encourage diligence, obedience, and cheerfulness. Scripture dwells so much on the raising of the moldering body from the grave because the entire being sleeps unconscious in death until the resurrection and the judgment to come. The natural body sown and the spiritual body raised concern the body's change at that bodily raising.
There is no immediate reward or punishment of a conscious soul at death, for if the soul went at once to eternal happiness or misery there would be no need for the body to be raised. The hope held out is the dead being raised, not the righteous receiving their full blessedness at death.
Believers are bound to Christ by the vitalizing power of His Spirit dwelling in the mortal body, and by that power dwelling in them while living and because they are partakers of the divine nature they are brought forth from the dead. Their life is hid with Christ in God, and until the triumphant hour every sleeping saint is kept in safety and guarded as a precious jewel known by name. At the last trump the Life-giver will call up His purchased possession in the first resurrection to eternal victory.
The verse gives comfort under bereavement and courage in death, for mourners do not sorrow as those who have no hope but look forward to meeting their dead again. At the morning of the resurrection the Life-giver will come and call the dead forth from their prison houses, and the body raised will not be the poor body that went into the grave but an immortal, glorious body clothed with immortal splendor. Those who love and fear God are supported as they enter the dark valley of the shadow of death and then come forth from their graves crowned with glory, honor, and immortality, with joy beaming from every face, to rejoice in endless unalloyed happiness in the unfading glories of the earth made new. Because Christ died and was raised, believers will come forth from the tomb with a spiritual body fitted for glorious companionship with heavenly angels, transformed into Christ's glorious image without destroying personal image and likeness so that faces remain recognizable and loved ones joined by family relationship on earth will meet and know each other. Looking at these unseen things brings blessing and encouragement under great loss.
The change promised is bodily, not moral, for the resurrection changes the corruptible body into an incorruptible, spiritual body fit for immortal life, while moral fitness for the next life is obtained in this life by redemption from sin's condemnation and practice. Neither death nor the resurrection alters traits of character, and the disposition manifested in the home and in society is the same disposition with which a person comes up from the grave, for Jesus does not change character at His coming. Therefore the work of transformation must be done now in probationary time, with defects of character repented of and overcome through grace and a symmetrical character formed in daily life, since daily life determines destiny and only one who is a saint on earth will be fitted for the mansions above.