The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable. 1 Corinthians 15:42
In a widely shared video, an elegant elderly woman sits in a wheelchair. Once a famed ballet dancer, Marta González Saldaña now suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. But something magical happens when Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake is played to her. As the music builds, her frail hands slowly rise; and as the first trumpets blast, she starts performing from her chair. Though her mind and body are perishing, her talent is still there.
Reflecting on that video, my thoughts went to Paul’s teaching on resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15. Likening our bodies to a seed that is buried before it sprouts into a plant, he says that though our bodies may perish through age or illness, may be a source of dishonor, and may be wracked with weakness, the bodies of believers will be raised imperishable, full of glory and power (vv. 42–44). Just as there is an organic link between the seed and the plant, we will be “us” after our resurrection, our personalities and talents intact, but we will flourish like never before.
When the haunting melody of Swan Lake began to play, Marta at first looked downcast, perhaps mindful of what she once was and could no longer do. But then a man reached over and held her hand. And so it will be for us. Trumpets will blast (v. 52), a hand will reach out, and we’ll rise to dance like never before.
Read: 1 Corinthians 15:35-44 (NIV)
The Resurrection Body
35 But someone will ask,f “How are the dead raised?
With what kind of body will they come?”g
36 How foolish!h What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.i
37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be,
but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else.
38 But God gives it a body as he has determined,
and to each kind of seed he gives its own body.j
39 Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh,
animals have another, birds another and fish another.
40 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.
41 The sun has one kind of splendor,k
the moon another and the stars another;l
and star differs from star in splendor.
42 So will it bem with the resurrection of the dead.n
The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable;o
43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory;p
it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;
44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.q
If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
INSIGHT
- What do you look forward to being able to do after the resurrection?
- How can this give you hope for loved ones suffering the effects of age?
The Bible Knowledge Commentary elaborates on Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 15:35–37 about “how foolish it is” to ask about our resurrection bodies: “Belief in the Resurrection was like belief in seedtime and harvest. Neither could be completely understood but both were real. As a plant which sprouted from a seed was directly linked to it but remarkably different from it, so too was the relationship of a natural and a resurrected body.” Our resurrection body will be so much more than our natural body, which is weak, imperfect, and temporal. Elsewhere Paul states: “Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who . . . will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Philippians 3:20–21). We will be like Him!
PRAYER
I praise You, Jesus, that nothing will be lost, but only regained, in the future. In Your name, I pray. Amen!!
Read: 1 Corinthians 15:35-44 (NIV) | Bible in a Year: Joshua 4-6; Luke 1:1-20
