Can you identify what type of plant will come from any specific seed, just by looking at the seed? Not being a gardener, for the most part I wouldn’t be able to. There are a few that I am able to identify. I know a watermelon seed, and I know that an oak tree will grow from an acorn. I know a small handful of others, but not many. That is because seeds do not look at all like the plant that will grow from them. And you cannot plant one type of seed and expect a different plant to come forth. If I want some broccoli plants, I better make sure I have that type of seed, or I may end up with a patch of some type of flower! The Apostle Paul uses this analogy, along with a few others to answer the somewhat sarcastic or cynical questions that the doubters of the resurrection asked him. Let’s continue our look into the resurrection chapter of I Corinthians.
The church in Corinth was one of the major churches that the Apostle Paul had started. Within a few years some heretical teachings had managed to creep in, along with some problems between various members. The apostle wrote this letter to the church in Corinth to address these various issues, including doubts about the resurrection that some were having. In this particular passage of Scripture from chapter 15, Paul responded to their questions and misunderstandings about the nature of the resurrected body. Some of these doubters had asked, possibly in a scoffing and cynical way, what these so-called resurrected bodies would look like? (vs. 35).
Paul first uses the analogy of planting a seed, comparing that to the resurrection. We plant a seed into the ground, and then wait for a specific plant to grow. Paul compares this process with the dying and burial of a physical body. A seed is seemingly “dead”. It lies there lifeless until it is buried in the ground, and only then will it bring forth a living plant. Each different seed will bring forth a different plant. Likewise God will give each person a unique resurrection body (vs. 36-38).
The apostle continues with the analogy by comparing other things in creation, how not all living creatures are the same, nor different heavenly bodies (vs. 39-41). Paul explained that just as there are different types of living animals (fish, birds, mammals, etc.), and different types of heavenly bodies (stars, planets, moons), the resurrection body will differ from the earthly body.
Paul contrasts our natural, physical body with that of the resurrected body (vs. 42-44). Our physical body is perishable, as it will only last a certain number of years. It becomes weaker as we get older, and for many it gains faults and disabilities over the years. However, the resurrected body will be imperishable, glorious, powerful, and spiritual, something that is suitable for eternal life. Paul then continues by contrasting the first man created, Adam, with that of the Lord Jesus (vs. 45-49). Our earthly, physical bodies are like that of Adam, but the resurrected body we will receive will be like that of the Lord Jesus’ heavenly body.
Our Scripture concludes by Paul stating that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (vs. 50). Our current bodies are not fit for eternal life, but at the resurrection the Lord will transform our bodies into heavenly bodies that are made for heaven and eternal life.
As we all grow older day by day, many of us see how our bodies are slowly, or not so slowly, falling apart. We cannot do the things that we did in our youth. Sickness and disabilities further wear us down physically. With all of this, we long for the new body we will have in heaven, where there will be no more sickness, weakness, or disabilities for ourselves and our loved ones.
The apostle wrote this chapter about the resurrection to encourage believers to have faith in our coming, future resurrection and the transformative power of God. We will shed our faulty, weak, physical bodies and be given a future body like Jesus’. Paul assures us that we can know that death is not the end, but a transition to a glorious new existence.
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