34-50, How resurrection happens

35 But someone will say, "How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?"

This is a question of unbelief. How in the world can dead things be raised up, some ask? We know that when bodies are put in the ground they deteriorate, so how can they come back up in that same body?

36 Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies.

He is mocking unbelief here, not so much ignorance. The Corinthians are making fun of the whole idea of resurrection, so he makes fun of them. They are saying, sure, sure, you die, you decay, you turn into dust, and then suddenly there you are again! Right!

But Paul says, not so fast with your mockery and criticism. Think about other living things. Look at the whole plant kingdom. You take a seed. There is a life force inside that seed that is nothing short of fantastic. Powerful. But you can put it on the table or hold it in your hand for 5 years and nothing is going to change. But put it in the ground. Let it decay. Let it die. Then watch it! Life!

37 And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain--perhaps wheat or some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body.

But wait. The seed you put in the ground, does not come back to life as a seed. You are not expecting a seed to come up through the soil, you are expecting the life that was inside that seed, a totally different body, but originating from the body that you planted. You are foolish to mock resurrection, when resurrection is taking place around you constantly.

39 All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds. 40 There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory.

These three verses are meant to prove another point. Namely, that there can be differences in life forms, or even heavenly bodies, without taking away their identity. We are not going to be raised with the same flesh body that we have now, but we will still have a body of some kind. The seed and the flower are 2 different kinds of bodies but they originate from the same plant form. Resurrection is not simply a corpse rising up out of the ground to have air pumped back into it. Through God's own processes we shall actually be changed into a totally different body, yet a body nonetheless. Somehow, we shall be like him. That much we know. Those who do not die, we are told, will be changed in an instant when Jesus returns.

42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. 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. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

Our bodies are decaying as we sit here. That process began when we first contacted this tainted atmosphere. The planet is under a curse. There is evil everywhere and we must walk so closely to Jesus to fight all the things the enemy would try to put on us. Corrupt is our middle name. But when we are planted in the ground and rise again, we receive bodies that never corrupt.

When we have to bury a man or woman or child it is because that being has succumbed to death. Oh we strut around, some of us proudly, showing our wonderful bodies to everyone, or trying to keep them in perfect shape, or painting them different colors to make them honorable. But in fact death teaches all of us that there is no honor except what comes from heaven. Not until we are sown in the ground with Christ and raised with Him on that day will we have an honorable body, worthy of glory because recreated in His very image.

Some of us can do amazing things with these bodies, but when all is said and done they are all so limited. So many things we cannot do. We cannot fly with the birds. We cannot swim underwater very long. Not as long as some creatures on top of the water. We cannot climb mountains like the goats or dig into the earth without some device, like other creatures do. We're very weak now. But oh, wait until we receive those new bodies. Power unimaginable. This is the promise of God.

Now we are governed by natural laws. Gravity. Inertia. Some day we will have bodies governed by spiritual laws. Laws we have yet to even know about.