SO SHALL WE BEAR HIS LIKENESS

Passage: 1 Corinthians 15:35-49

Key verse: 49

NIV

The Resurrection Body

35 But someone will ask,(A) “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?”(B) 36 How foolish!(C) What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.(D) 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.(E) 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,(F) the moon another and the stars another;(G) and star differs from star in splendor.

42 So will it be(H) with the resurrection of the dead.(I) The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable;(J) 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory;(K) it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.(L)

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”[a];(M) the last Adam,(N) a life-giving spirit.(O) 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual.(P) 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth;(Q) the second man is of heaven.(R) 48 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.(S) 49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man,(T) so shall we[b] bear the image of the heavenly man.(U)

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Footnotes
  1. 1 Corinthians 15:45 Gen. 2:7
  2. 1 Corinthians 15:49 Some early manuscripts so let us
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Source: BibleGateway

ESV

The Resurrection Body

35 But someone will ask, (A)“How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36 You foolish person! (B)What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. 39 For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40 There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.

42 (C)So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; (D)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. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 Thus it is written, (E)“The first man Adam became a living being”;[a] (F)the last Adam became a (G)life-giving spirit. 46 But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47 (H)The first man was from the earth, (I)a man of dust; (J)the second man is from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, (K)so also are those who are of heaven. 49 Just (L)as we have borne the image of the man of dust, (M)we shall[b] also bear the image of the man of heaven.

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Footnotes
  1. 1 Corinthians 15:45 Greek a living soul
  2. 1 Corinthians 15:49 Some manuscripts let us
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Source: BibleGateway

Paul explains the principle of resurrection by the analogy of the seed. When we garden, we don’t plant vegetables or flowers, but their seeds. When the seed dies in the ground, it rises to a new and more beautiful life. So our physical body is the seed of our spiritual body. Our old body is like a perishable seed, full of weakness and sin, but God will give each person a new resurrection body which is imperishable, glorious, and powerful. When we apply the resurrection principle to our life, we can bear fruit for God.

Our natural body is from Adam; we bear his nature and image. As Adam was dust, so are we. As he sinned and died, so do we. However, Jesus came to this world as the last Adam; a life giving spirit, and recovered first Adam’s failure through his perfect life of obedience and his atoning death on the cross for our sins. Through his resurrection, Jesus became the giver of eternal life to those who belong to him. On the resurrection day when what is mortal is swallowed up by life, he will give us a glorious resurrection body like his. We will be transformed into a glorious image of the risen Christ. There will be no more sin and death, but we will be as glorious, humble, and loving as Jesus Christ our Lord. This is our ultimate hope in Christ.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for the glorious hope of resurrection of our perishable body. Help me to live by the principle of resurrection with this hope.

One Word: We will be like the glorious risen Christ