Sown in Weakness, Raised in Power: 1 Corinthians 15:35-58

But someone will ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?"

The objection anticipated. How? The mechanism. With what kind of body? The nature. The skeptics demanded explanation before belief.

How foolish!

Aphron. Fool. Senseless. The question wasn't humble inquiry. It was dismissive skepticism.

What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.

The agricultural answer. The seed must die. Fall into the ground. Decompose. Then—life. Death preceded life. Burial preceded growth.

When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else.

The continuity and discontinuity. You do not plant the body that will be. The wheat plant looked nothing like the seed. But the seed became the plant. Same organism. Different form.

But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body.

God gives. Divine action. As he has determined. Ethelēsen—as he willed. To each kind of seed—its own body. Variety. Diversity. God's design.

Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another.

Different kinds of flesh. Sarx. Human flesh, animal flesh, bird flesh, fish flesh. Same word—different realities. Why couldn't resurrection bodies be similarly different?

There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another.

Heavenly bodies. Epourania. Sun, moon, stars. Earthly bodies. Epigeia. Terrestrial things. Different splendor. Doxa. Different glory.

The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.

Even among heavenly bodies—variety. Sun glory. Moon glory. Star glory. Each star different. Diversity within the category.

So will it be with the resurrection of the dead.

So will it be. Houtos kai. The analogy applied. The resurrection body would be different from the present body. Same person. Different glory.

The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable.

Four contrasts. First: perishable / imperishable. Phthora / aphtharsia. The body that decays will be raised incorruptible.

It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory.

Second: dishonor / glory. Atimia / doxa. The corpse was shameful—decaying, stinking, repulsive. The resurrection body would be glorious.

It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.

Third: weakness / power. Astheneia / dunamis. The dead body was helpless, powerless. The resurrection body would be powerful.

It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

Fourth: natural / spiritual. Psuchikon / pneumatikon. The natural body was animated by soul—psyche. The spiritual body would be animated by Spirit—pneuma.

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

The logic. If the one exists—and it does—the other exists too.

So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.

Genesis 2:7 quoted and extended. The first man Adam. Prōtos Adam. Became a living being. Eis psuchēn zōsan. Soul-animated.

The last Adam. Eschatos Adam. Christ. Became a life-giving spirit. Eis pneuma zōopoioun. Spirit-animating. He gave life to others.

The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual.

The order. Natural first. Adam first. The earthly body first. Spiritual second. Christ second. The heavenly body second.

The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven.

First man—dust. Choikos. Earthy. From the ground. Second man—heaven. Ex ouranou. From above.

As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven.

The pattern applied. Adam's pattern repeated in his descendants. Christ's pattern repeated in his people.

And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.

We have borne the image of Adam. Eikon. Adam's likeness. Mortal, weak, perishable.

So shall we bear the image of Christ. The heavenly man. Glorious, powerful, imperishable. The transformation coming.

I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

Flesh and blood. The present constitution. Cannot inherit. Not suited for the kingdom. Perishable cannot enter imperishable. Transformation was necessary.

Listen, I tell you a mystery:

Mystery. Mustērion. Something now revealed.

We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—

Not all die. Some would be alive at Christ's return. But we will all be changed. Allagēsometha. Transformed. Living or dead—all changed.

In a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.

Speed. En atomō. In an atom of time. Indivisible instant. In the twinkling of an eye. En ripē ophthalmou. Blink of an eye.

At the last trumpet. The eschatological signal. The final summons.

For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

The sequence. Trumpet sounds. Dead raised imperishable. Living changed. All transformed.

For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.

Dei. Necessity. Must clothe itself. Endusasthai. Put on like a garment. Perishable putting on imperishable. Mortal putting on immortality.

When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."

Then. Tote. At that moment. Death has been swallowed up. Katepothē. Isaiah 25:8. Death defeated. Consumed. Victory. Nikos.

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

The taunt. Hosea 13:14. Where, O death? The rhetorical question. Death's victory—gone. Death's sting—removed.

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

The analysis. Death stung through sin. Sin had power through law. The chain of defeat.

But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Charis to theo. Thanks to God. Victory given. Through our Lord Jesus Christ. The defeat of death through the one who defeated it.

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Therefore. The conclusion. The application.

Stand firm. Hedraioi ginesthe. Become immovable.

Let nothing move you. Ametakinētoi. Unshakable.

Always give yourselves fully. Perisseuontes en to ergō. Abounding in the work.

Of the Lord. For his purposes.

Because you know. Because resurrection is true.

Your labor in the Lord is not in vain. Ouk estin kenos. Not empty. Not useless.

The resurrection guaranteed it.

Death would be swallowed up.

The perishable would put on imperishable.

The mortal would become immortal.

And every labor for the Lord would matter.

Forever.

Stand firm.

Your labor is not in vain.