Our Resurrected Bodies

The Corinthians found it hard to believe that all Christians would be raised in a resurrected body. Just because Christ was raised in a resurrected body doesn’t mean we will be. They thought perhaps the soul lived on indefinitely, but death was the end for the body. Some of them believed the soul was pure while the body was sinful. Death was the moment they could get rid of the filthy body so the soul could experience purity. Many today believe this. The soul ascends to some other world where individuals can finally be free. This is Eastern Religion, pure and simple. Paul confronted this misunderstanding about the body with the foundational understanding of the resurrected body in 1 Corinthians 15:1-58.

Paul uses the example of a seed that sprouts into something that looks completely different than it originally did. The seed undergoes a burial and is later transformed. The seed’s DNA is built inside the seed but is not visible; later, there is an alternate change. This transformation process is out of our control. The seed is buried and left to forces outside of its control. If it has good soil, water, and sunlight, it will grow because God is the one who makes the seed grow and transform. How amazing this is every spring! Likewise, we, as believers, are buried at death like a seed. Still, God will accomplish the transformation of our bodies at the resurrection.

Paul is saying that just because individuals cannot imagine a body that is different from the one they have now does not mean it isn’t possible. God has created all kinds of bodies. Each is made for its own environment: animals for the land, birds for the air, and fish for the sea. God is the  Creator God. He has demonstrated that different bodies can thrive in a particular environment. These illustrations of the natural world help us to understand the resurrection.

We all long for the imperishable; that is evident in the incessant attempts to turn back the clock. No one has been able to make perishable life imperishable. However, individuals will try anything to lengthen their lives on this earth.  However, we can’t understand how something could go from perishable to imperishable, dishonorable to glorious, weak to strong. Paul sets forth that in the resurrection, Christians’ bodies will be raised, and their bodies will be transformed from the perishable to the imperishable, from dishonor to glory, and from weakness to power. Christianity acknowledges the longing to overcome death, disease, sickness, and even decay is natural. Still, it will only be overcome by transforming the body in the resurrection! (1 Corinthian 15:42-56).

Jesus’ resurrection body is the closest thing Christians have to an encounter with a resurrected body. Jesus was human; his disciples recognized him; he had scars and ate fish. But he was also supernatural, allowing him to walk through walls and defy the laws of gravity as he ascended.

We will have new bodies that can see, taste, hear, touch, and smell what we could never have imagined. The discoveries of heaven will be incredible because we will have a resurrected body to experience them.