Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Corinthians 15:42
So also [is] the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
42. So also is the resurrection of the dead ] The fact is now plainly stated that all shall not possess the same degree of glory in heaven. ‘ So,’ i.e. as has been before stated. But St Paul goes on to deal less with the fact than with the manner in which the fact is accomplished.
It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption ] Cf. Rom 8:21; Col 2:22; 2Pe 1:4 for corruption (in the Greek). And for incorruption see Rom 2:7, Eph 6:24 (margin), 2Ti 1:10, and Tit 2:7. The English version in the first and third of these passages renders by immortality, in the second and fourth by sincerity. The rendering in the text is the more accurate.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
So also is the resurrection – In a manner similar to the grain that is sown, and to the different degrees of splendor and magnificence in the bodies in the sky and on the earth. The dead shall be raised in a manner analogous to the springing up of grain; and there shall be a difference between the body here and the body in the resurrection.
It is sown – In death. As we sow or plant the kernel in the earth.
In corruption – In the grave; in a place where it shall be corrupt; in a form tending to putrefaction, disorganization, and dust.
It is raised in incorruption – It will be so raised. In the previous verses 1Co 15:36-41 he had reasoned from analogy, and had demonstrated that it was possible that the dead should rise, or that there was no greater difficulty attending it than actually occurred in the events which were in fact constantly taking place. He here states positively what would be, and affirms that it was not only possible, but that such a resurrection would actually occur. They body would be raised in incorruption, uncorruptible 1Co 15:52; that is, no more liable to decay, sickness, disorganization, and putrefaction. This is one characteristic of the body that shall be raised, that it shall be no more liable, as here, to wasting sickness, to disease, and to the loathsome corruption of the grave. That God can form a body of that kind, no one can doubt; that he actually will, the apostle positively affirms. That such will be the bodies of the saints is one of the most cheering prospects that can be presented to those who are here wasted away by sickness, and who look with dread and horror on the loathsome putrefaction of the tomb.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
1Co 15:42-45
So also is the resurrection of the dead.
It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption.
The resurrection
I. Its essential character.
1. It is not the work of an age, but of a moment–not a gradual process, but an instantaneous act.
2. It is to be distinguished in its nature from–
(1) An awakening out of a soul sleep.
(2) A clothing of the unclothed spirit.
(3) A restoration of our flesh and bone in like form as before.
3. It is a work of perfect beauty.
II. Its certainty. A threefold voice testifies to it.
1. The voice of nature, which shadows it forth.
2. The testimony of the Scripture, which confirms it.
3. The testimony of the spirit within, which awakens the expectation of it.
III. Its glory.
1. The enemy which at this hour shall be annihilated.
2. The condition of happiness which begins now.
3. The kingdom of God which will now be completed. (Prof. Van Oosterzee.)
The resurrection body
I. Its substance.
1. Material and identical: that which is sown is raised, and not by any process but by the Word of God.
II. Its properties.
1. No longer corruptible, but undecaying, vigorous, and immortal.
2. No longer dishonoured by sin and defect, but; holy, beautiful, glorious.
3. No longer weak and frail, but endued with extraordinary capabilities and strength.
4. No longer a natural body subject to sense, passion, and the necessities of the earthly nature, but governed by the Spirit.
III. Its life. Not natural, but mysteriously sustained by the life-giving Spirit: for there is a natural and there is a spiritual body. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
The resurrection harvest
Look at those grassy mounds in the light of this truth; the eye of faith sees them change into a field sown with the seeds of immortality. Blessed field! what flowers shall spring there! What a harvest shall be gathered there! In the neighbouring fields, Whatsoever a man soweth, that he shall also reap. But here how great the difference between what is sown amid mourners tears, and what shall be reaped amid angels joys; between the poor body that we restore to the earth, and the noble form that shall spring from its ashes. Those who saw Lazarus putrid corpse, with health glowing on its cheek, saw nothing to match the change the grave shall work on these mouldering bones. (T. Guthrie.)
The resurrection of the dead
I. The doctrine teaches that the same body shall be raised in glory to a nobler life.
II. Its evidence.
1. The Word of God.
2. The resurrection of Christ.
3. The quickening Spirit within us.
III. Its use. It teaches us to take care of the soul first–then the body, not to enfeeble it by folly, pollute it with sin, neglect it in suffering, or mourn it when dead. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
The resurrection of the saint
I. The body is sown, not buried. No exact analogy with the seed; life is extinct. Yet it is sown in hope of a new life.
II. Will be gloriously transformed–from corruption to incorruption, etc.
III. Will be fashioned after the example of christ. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
The old house and the new
When we pluck down a house, with the intent to rebuild it, or repair the ruins of it, we warn the inhabitants out of it, lest they should be soiled with the dust and rubbish, or offended with the noise, and so for a time provide some other place for them; but, when we have newly trimmed and dressed up the house, then we bring them back to a better habitation. Thus God, when He overturneth this rotten room of our flesh, calleth out the soul for a little time, and lodgeth it with Himself in some corner of His kingdom, repaireth the imperfections of our bodies against the resurrection, and then, having made them beautiful–yea, glorious and incorruptible–He doth put our souls back again into their acquainted mansions. (Chrysostom.)
Life in heaven a spiritual life in a glorified body
I. The body will be a fit organ for the spirit.
1. A new body, incorruptible, glorious, vigorous, spiritual.
2. Yet substantially the same that was sown in the grave, therefore glorified by the power of God as the organ of the redeemed spirit.
II. The spirit will be developed in its full perfection.
1. Freed from ignorance and sin, from the control of the body, from the capability of suffering.
2. Yet retaining its peculiar properties.
(1) Knowledge, which must then be perfected in sight.
(2) Will, that shall then be clothed with power.
(3) Sensibility, that will be filled with enjoyment. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory.
Dishonour belongs to the corpse of even the richest and the noblest in the land. You may conceal that humiliation by a splendid coffin, a rich funeral pall, the pomp of lying in state, and a costly monument; but the corpse is a poor, poor thing, with all your elaborate attempt to conceal its shame. The loveliest, sweetest maiden that you know soon becomes ghastly in the coffin, and you long to put the body out of sight. It was the shock of such a sight that made Don Francis Borgia, one of the founders of the Jesuits, renounce the world and devote himself to a religious life. It was the custom in Spain not to bury any of the royal family until some grandee of the highest rank should look within the coffin and identify the body. Queen Isabella, to whom Francis had been much attached, was smitten down by death. Don Francis was chosen to look within the coffin and say whether or not it was the corpse of the queen, whose eyes, now closed in death, had always turned in kindness unto him; whose every facial lineament was perfectly familiar unto him. Amidst the half-uttered prayers which commended her soul to the Divine mercy and the low dirge of the organ, Francis advanced with streaming eyes and reverently raised the covering which concealed the secrets of the grave; but the horrible change which death had wrought upon the queens countenance was so loathsome and appalling that Francis turned aside to shudder and to pray, and from that day the courtier became a monk. Verily Queen isabellas body was sown in corruption and dishonour, in spite of all the funeral pomp and show! But the resurrection body of every Christian shall be incorruptible, spiritual powerful, and glorious. (F. W. Aveling, M.A.)
It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.
At Stratford-on-Bow, in the days of Queen Mary, there was once a stake erected for the burning of two martyrs, one of them a lame man, the other a blind man. Just when the fire was lit, the lame man hurled away his staff, and turning round said to the blind man, Courage, brother, this fire will cure us both. So can the righteous say of the grave, Courage, the grave will cure us all; we shall leave our infirmities behind us. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.—
The natural body and the spiritual body
At first the phrase a spiritual body seems a contradiction in terms. Body and spirit are not only distinct in our thoughts, but opposite.
I. St. Paul has in part prepared us to understand the phrase by his argument from the analogies of nature.
1. He has taught us that one life, one flesh, one glory, may take many forms; the same flesh: it clothes itself in many forms in man, in beasts, in fishes, in birds, modified by the external conditions in which it is placed. So, also, there is one glory of light; but it takes many and diverse forms in the suns, the moons, the stars. And that bodies answer to the quality of the inward life, and are adapted to it, and to the conditions in which it is to act. This is the law of the universe.
2. Let us illustrate this.
(1) Take the parable of the Grain of Wheat. The seed is cast into the ground. In the husk are whatever the vital germ needs for its sustenance; and these, by the process of fermentation, are reduced to the very state in which the germ can most easily assimilate them. Its roots strike downwards, the stem springs upward, and soon we get the blade, the ear, and the full corn in the ear. And this new body, no less than the old, has all that it needs for the nourishment of its life, and is no less exactly adapted to its conditions. But how vast the change! From an earthly, it has become an aerial body, which draws vigour and comeliness from the bountiful heavens.
(2) Take the Greek parable of the butterfly. Psyche, the butterfly, has two bodies. First, it is a worm, creeping slowly on the earth, ugly, liable to be crushed, destroying the leaves on which it feeds, and the fruit which they should shelter. Finding itself grow sick with age, it spins its own shroud, coffin, grave, all in one–to prepare for its resurrection. At length, when the appointed time has come, out of the body of the crawling worm there breaks a new body, all the old imperfections taken away. Instead of creeping on the earth, it flies; for ugliness, it is clothed in beauty; instead of destroying that on which it feeds, it now feeds on the delicate fragrant flowers, and fertilises them by carrying pollen from plant to plant: the lovely flowers paying a willing tribute to the yet higher loveliness of the flower angel.
(3) Once more; as I stood looking at my marine aquarium one hot summer day, I saw on the surface of the water a tiny creature–half fish, half snake–not an inch long, writhing as in a mortal agony. I was stretching out my hand to remove it, lest it should sink and die and pollute the clear waters; when lo, in the twinkling of an eye, its skin split from end to end, and there sprang out a delicate fly. Balancing itself for an instant on its discarded skin, it preened its gossamer wings, and then flew out of an open window. Afterward I saw the marvel repeated again and again, and thus I learned that on sea as on land God bears perpetual varied witness to the mystery of the resurrection.
3. Therefore we may fairly assume that this universal law holds good of man, that he too will pass into a new form, a form more heavenly and spiritual, as his capacities are spiritualised and he rises into more heavenly conditions.
II. If we look a little more closely into the word translated a natural body, Pauls meaning will grow upon us, and the argument become more cogent.
1. The Greeks called the soul psyche, as well as the butterfly. And as psyche stood for soul, of course psychical stood for soulish, or of the soul. So St. Paul speaks here of a soulish and of a spiritual body, just as elsewhere he speaks of a soulish and a spiritual man. He held, as Aristotle held before him, and as the ablest metaphysicians still hold, that man is composed of body, soul, and spirit. He meant–
(1) By the soul all of intelligence and emotion which we possess in common with other animals, though in higher degree.
(2) By the spirit, our moral nature; the higher reason and conscience. With him the psychical man is the man in whom the psyche rules; the man who is intelligent, but uses his intelligence for ends bounded by time and space; but the spiritual man is the man in whom the spirit rules; in whom conscience, faith, love, are supreme.
2. St. Paul holds that so long as we remain soulish men, we have the very body adapted to our present stage of life and to the conditions of our life. But he also holds that if we live in the spirit, and walk in the spirit, we thus develop capacities and graces to which the present body gives neither full scope nor adequate expression. Therefore it is that, like the seed which has the life of wheat in it, our bodies must be sown in the earth that they may spring up heavenly bodies. Therefore it is that, as the caterpillar, which has in it the germ of a nobler life, lies down in death that its life may pass into a new aerial body, so we must lie down in the grave that, shedding these earthly husks, we may be clothed upon with a spiritual body, incorrupt, immortal, strong, glorious.
3. Our present body only imperfectly expresses our spiritual life; it veils from us many of the things of the Spirit, it impedes us in the pursuit of spiritual excellence. When the spirit is willing, how often is the flesh weak! The more spiritual we are, so much the more do we feel that we are in bondage to the flesh, and crave that spiritual body which, instead of veiling and clogging, will further and express all that is highest in us and best. How bright and animating the hope, then, that one day we too shall have a body as quick and responsive to the spirit in us as the mortal body to the soul, a body whose organs will minister as delicately and perfectly to our spiritual capacities, energies, virtues, graces, as the senses now minister to the energies and passions of the soul! (S. Cox, D.D.)
A spiritual body
is a bodily organism adapted to the life of the spirit, and controlled thereby. In it the soul has taken its proper position of subordination: mans spirit now holds the administrative power, and, ruled by Gods Spirit, rules the body through the executive medium of the willing soul. Man is at last what God originally intended him to be, a creature in whom the spirit is the personifying principle and the seat of government: his proper self down from his own spirit, as from a throne, reigns supreme over the soul, and through that over the body, in a threefold harmony: the harmony of the parts is the harmony of the whole: for the body is now reconstituted meet for the new government: it is pneumatic, no longer psychical. In the hour of Adams probation, as his spirit was to him the vehicle of fellowship with the Holy Spirit and his body the channel of communication with the sensible world, so his soul or self-living nature had to decide between two attractions, a higher and a lower, whether it would consent in accordance with the Divine intention to be determined by the spirit and thereby continue in fellowship with God, or would conclude against God and choose a life of selfish independence. By the fall of Adam his fellowship with God was dissolved, and the Divine life of his spirit was quenched, although its Divine substance remained, but not unimpaired. (Canon Evans.)
The relation between resurrection and immortality
The doctrines of immortality and resurrection stand somewhat in the same relation as a block of marble to a finished statue. The Christian doctrine of resurrection is the natural fact of immortality wrought into shape. We may know there is a statue in the marble, but how beautiful it may be, in what grace of posture it may stand, what emblems may hang upon its neck or crown its head, what spirit may breathe from its features, we do not know till the inspired sculptor has uncovered his ideal and brought it to light. The analogy may go farther. As an artist works a mass of marble into a statue, putting mental conceptions and meanings into it that are no part of the marble, so Christ has given a Divine shape to immortality and filled it with beautiful suggestions and gracious meaning. We see in the statue the mind of the sculptor as well as the marble; so in the doctrine of the resurrection we see the mind and purpose of Christ as well as the bare fact of future existence.
Our spiritual bodies
Our spiritual bodies will doubtless have new powers, and new glories, as much beyond those we now have as the flower in the sunshine, beautiful and fragrant, is beyond the seed under ground. May it not be that the wonderful development of our national powers by the inventions of Christian civilisation are but hints and glimpses and foretastes of the enlarged powers of our spiritual bodies? In the microscope, in the telescope, in the telegraph and telephone, in our facilities of travel, in the connection of mind with mind hinted at in some of the facts of mesmerism, all which a few years ago were but wildest dreams, but have more than realised the fables of the Arabian Nights, may we not have gleams of the dawning rays of our spiritual bodies when the resurrection morn shall have come? A curious illustration of the possibilities of our spiritual bodies was given not long ago in the American Popular Science Monthly. Sound is the vibration produced on us when the vibrations of the air strike on the drum of our ear. When they are few, the sound is deep; as they increase in number, it becomes shriller and shriller; but when they reach forty thousand in a second they cease to be audible. Light is the effect produced on us when waves of light strike on the eye. When four hundred millions of millions of vibrations of ether strike the retina in a second, they produce red, and as the number increases the colour passes into orange, then yellow, then green, blue, and violet. But between forty thousand vibrations in a second and four hundred millions of millions we have no organ of sense capable of receiving the impression. Yet between these limits any number of sensations may exist. We have five senses, and sometimes fancy that no other is possible. But it is obvious that we cannot measure the infinite by our own narrow limitations. (Christian Age.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 42. So also is the resurrection of the dead.] That is, the bodies of the dead, though all immortal, shall possess different degrees of splendour and glory, according to the state of holiness in which their respective souls were found. The rabbins have some crude notions concerning different degrees of glory, which the righteous shall possess in the kingdom of heaven. They make out seven degrees:-
“The first of which is possessed by tsaddi kim, the just, who observe the covenant of the holy, blessed God, and subjugate all evil affections.”
“The second is possessed by those who are yesharim, the upright; whose delight it is to walk in the ways of God and please him.”
“The third is for temimim, the perfect: those who, with integrity, walk in the ways of God, and do not curiously pry into his dispensations.”
“The fourth is for kedoshim, the holy ones; those who are the excellent of the earth, in whom is all God’s delight.” Ps 16:3.
“The fifth is for baaley teshubah, the chief of the penitents; who have broken through the brazen doors, and returned to the Lord.”
“The sixth is for tinukoth shel beith raban, the scholars and tender ones; who have not transgressed.”
“The seventh is for chasidim, the godly: and this is the innermost of all the departments.” These seven degrees require a comment by themselves.
There is a saying among the rabbins very like that of the apostle in this and the preceding verse Siphri, in Yalcut Simeoni, page 2, fol. 10: “The faces of the righteous shall be, in the world to come, like suns, moons, the heaven, stars, lightnings: and like the lilies and candlesticks of the temple.”
It is sown in corruption] The body is buried in a state of degradation, decay, and corruption. The apostle uses the word sown to intimate that the body shall rise again, as a seed springs up that has been sown in the earth.
It is raised in incorruption] Being no more subject to corruption, dissolution, and death.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
So also is the resurrection of the dead; that is, so shall it be, as to the bodies of the saints, in the resurrection. The same bodies of the saints shall rise, though with qualities, and in a condition, much different from what they were when they fell; as the same grain of wheat shooteth up, though with another body: and as there is a difference between celestial and terrestrial bodies, and between celestial bodies themselves; so there will be a difference between the bodies of the saints, now that they are only of the earth, earthy, from what they shall be in the resurrection; which difference he openeth in several particulars.
It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption: it is sown that is, it dieth and is buried in such a state, that it is subject to putrefaction; but when it shall be again raised from the dead, it shall be subject to no putrefaction or corruption: so 1Co 15:52; The dead shall be raised incorruptible.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
42. sownFollowing up theimage of seed. A delightful word instead of burial.
in corruptionliableto corruption: corruptible: not merely a prey when dead tocorruption; as the contrast shows, “raised in incorruption,”that is, not liable to corruption: incorruptible.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
So also is the resurrection of the dead,…. This will be the case and condition of risen bodies, they will be as different from what they now are, though they will be the same in substance, as a stalk of wheat in its blade and ear, and full corn in the ear, is from the naked grain, when cast into the earth; or as the flesh of men is from the flesh of beasts, fishes, and birds; or as celestial bodies from terrestrial ones; or as the glory of the sun differs from the glory of the moon and stars; or as one star differs from another star in glory; that this is the apostle’s sense is clear from the induction of particulars following, by which he explains in clear terms what he before signified by similitudes:
it is sown in corruption; it should be observed, that the word sown, in this and the following verses, does not merely relate to the interment of the body, but also to its generation; and includes its state, condition, and character, during life; as well as points out what it is at death, and its sepulture in the earth: it is from first to last a corruptible body; it is born frail and mortal, and liable to corruption and death; it is corrupted with sin, and so a vile body; there is a world of iniquity in one of its members, the tongue, and what then must there be in all its parts? but besides this moral corruption, in which it is during the present state, it is liable to a natural one; from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot, it may be covered with wounds, bruises, and putrefying sores; a right arm may be dried up and withered away, and a leg may corrupt and mortify, and so any other part; the whole is supported by corruptible things, by meat that perisheth; and which if it did not corrupt and perish, would not be nourishing; and as meats are for the belly, and the belly for meats, in a short time God will destroy both it and them; the whole frame and texture of the body will be dissolved by death, and be brought to worms, corruption, and dust; and in this case will lie in the grave till the resurrection morn:
it is raised in incorruption: the very same body that was sown, generated, lived, and died, shall be raised again, but different from what it was; it will be incorruptible; its parts will be no more subject to corruption; it will not be supported by corruptible things; it will be immortal, and never die more, and will be clear of all its moral corruption; it will no more be a vile body, but fashioned like to the holy and glorious body of Christ.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
So is the resurrection of the dead ( ). Paul now applies his illustrations to his argument to prove the kind of body we shall have after the resurrection. He does it by a series of marvellous contrasts that gather all his points. The earthly and the risen beings differ in duration, value, power (Wendt).
It is sown (). In death, like the seed (37).
In incorruption ( ). Late word from privative and , to corrupt. In LXX, Plutarch, Philo, late papyrus of a Gnostic gospel, and quotation from Epicurus. Vulgate incorruptio. The resurrection body has undergone a complete change as compared with the body of flesh like the plant from the seed. It is related to it, but it is a different body of glory.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
So also. Having argued that newness of organization is no argument against its possibility, Paul now shows that the substantial diversity of organism between the earthly and the new man is founded in a diversity of the whole nature in the state before and in the state after the resurrection. Earthly beings are distinguished from the risen as to duration, value, power, and a natural as distinguished from a spiritual body. 130 It is sown. Referring to the interment of the body, as is clear from vers. 36, 37. 131
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “It is sown in corruption “ (speiretai) “It (the physical body) is sown (like seed) (in phthora) in a corrupt state,” state of death, to perish like seed, except planted.
2) “It is raised in incorruption:” (egeiretai en aphtharsin) “It is raised up in an incorrupt state or condition.” As the seed produces a growing new body of life continued or new life restored, so also in the resurrection where each seed, soul of life, will have his own body with physical and personal traits of identity, Mat 19:1-4.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
1) “So also is the resurrection of the dead.” (houtos kai he anastasis ton nekron) “Just like this or
2) “It is raised a spiritual body.” (egeiretai soma pneumatikon) “It is raised up, brought forth, or exalted a spiritual body,” Rom 8:11.
3) “There is a natural body,” (ei estin soma puchikon) “There exists a natural, depraved, corrupt physical body, of the old nature of birth.” Sowing to the Spirit in the natural body will bring reaping to the Spirit in the spiritual body, Gal 6:7-8.
4) “And there is a spiritual body.” (estin kai pneumatikon) “There exists also a spiritual body, to be.” 2Co 5:1-7. This body decreed for resurrection glory is likened to the glory-body of Jesus Christ. Believers look for, await it in full assurance of faith, Php_3:20-21; 1Jn 3:2.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(42) So also is the resurrection of the dead.Here follows the application of these analogies to the subject in hand. As there is in the vegetable growth, in the varieties of animal life, and in the diversities of form assumed by inorganic matter, an identity preserved amid ever-varying form or variety of body, so a change in the form or glory of our organism which we call our body is compatible with the preservation of personal identity. The it, the personality, remains the samenow in corruption, then in incorruption; now in dishonour, then in glory; now in weakness, then in power.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. With these differences in various bodies, the differences between the buried and risen bodies correspond, 1Co 15:42-50.
42. So also Similar to the difference in these contrasted classes of objects in nature is the difference between the buried and the resurrection body.
The words thrice produced sown, sown, sown can mean nothing but buried, buried, buried in the grave. And raised, raised, raised, can mean nothing but raised from the grave. And what is or can be raised but the material corpse there buried? And what can be “resurrected,” or immortalized, but that same material which is raised from the grave? And if the corpse is raised from the grave by the resurrection, what need of any other material? Obviously, indeed, both Jesus and Paul select the case of the buried only as the ordinary fact. But that ordinary fact is selected to declare the resurrection of the actually dead body. For what has any substituted body to do with the grave at all?
It it The it is not expressed in the Greek, but necessarily implied. For as the subject of both verbs, sown and raised, is the same, so the same subject is buried and “resurrected.” But what is the grammatical antecedent of it? What is it that is sown? None is here expressed, but 1Co 15:44 shows that body is implied.
If Jesus, instead of reanimating the putrid corpse of Lazarus by restoring to it its soul, had enshrined his soul in a new body, it would have been, so far as the soul was concerned, a transmigration, and not a resurrection. And so far as the body is concerned, a substitution and not a resurrection. The resurrection, to be a resurrection, must be of the same body; and it must be the same body by being the same substance, particle for particle. But it destroys not the resurrection to endow the body with new properties, and arrange its molecules to a new model.
There are three qualities assigned to the present body corruption, dishonour, and weakness; and three to the resurrection body incorruption, honour, and power. Corruption is the quality that arises from the instability of the material particles, by which displacement, decay, and disintegration take place. Incorruption implies that the body, however flexible to every volition, suffers no displacement, disarrangement, or dissolution. Every part and particle retains its place with perfect indissolubleness, health, and durability. Flexible as gossamer, it is unyielding as adamant.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.’
‘It’ must in context refer to ‘the body’. So the resurrection body, while connected with the old in some way, is totally new and unlike anything else we know. The dying and disposal of the old body is like the sowing and dying of a seed. The body is sown as a corrupt and decaying body. But what is raised is incorruptible and undecaying. It is sown in its humble earthly state, but what is raised is honourable and glorious. It is sown in a state of weakness, as a weak and frail body, but it is raised in power, as strong and vibrant and whole. It dies a natural (soulish) body, connected with the earthly creation, it is raised a spiritual body, connected with the spiritual world. Yet this must not just be seen as its spirit existing on. It has some kind of relationship with the previous body. Through Christ death results in new life for the body. But while emphasising that, he also emphasises the clear distinction between the two bodies. We must not expect to rise again as we are now. Our new form will be not liable to corruption, it will be honourable and glorious, powerful and spiritual. There will be no more disfigurements, no more disabilities, no more frailty, all will be perfected.
This might be seen as important with relation to the make-up of man. It suggests that the ‘physical body’ contains a spiritual element which is outside the range of science to discover, and is yet an integral part of the man’s ‘body’, brought to life by his new birth in Christ by the Spirit, for it is that part which will form the basis of the new resurrection body.
We know a little of Jesus’ resurrection body, but it would be dangerous to argue from Jesus’ resurrection body to our own. Certainly His was not an ordinary body. He could come and go instantaneously. But it was necessary that it be recognisable and that the nail prints and spear wound could be seen, and that He be able to eat earthly food. Nothing of that will be necessary for the resurrection body of God’s people.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
A contrast between the present and the future states:
v. 42. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption;
v. 43. it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;
v. 44. it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
v. 45. And so it is written, The first man, Adam, was made a living, soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
v. 46. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
v. 47. The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven.
v. 48. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
v. 49. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. As the apostle develops this beautiful contrast, he retains the imagery of the pictures used in the previous section and thus makes his presentation concrete, easily understood, in a fine, symmetrical pattern. As with the seed, so it is with the human body, specifically that of the believers: It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. The dead body is laid into its last resting-place, the grave. We sow it as a seed in God’s acre, knowing that it will spring up into imperishable life. Decay may take hold of the lifeless hull, putrefaction may result in the total decomposition of the body, yet the omnipotent power of the Lord will raise it up to a glorious, heavenly condition. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. The earthly body, due to the action of sin and its effects, is unseemly, vile, Php_3:21 , and at the time of its burial the little attractiveness and loveliness which it may have possessed is gone; it must be covered from the sight of men. But when God calls it forth from the grave, it will rise in glory, renewed once more to the brightness of His image that created it, fashioned like unto the glorious body of Christ Himself. “Transparent as crystal, the body of the resurrection will radiate the glory which the Spirit of Christ imparts to it; the flesh, no longer a dull covering, will be a lamp of spiritual light, according to the manner in which Christ was transfigured on the holy mount. ” It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. The body which we commit to the grave is about to return to the dust from which it was made; what little physical and intellectual strength lived in that unlovely frame has fled; it is an inert, helpless mass of decaying flesh. But when the trumpet-call of the Lord assembles the bones, then that same body will be clothed with power from on high, its nature will partake of that of Christ’s body. And all these facts are summarized by Paul: There is sown a natural, a fleshly body, the body being controlled in all its actions by the soul, but yet subject to corruption, dishonor, and weakness. And there is raised a spiritual body, one that partakes of the qualities of a spirit, with incorruption, glory, and power. For if there is a natural body, one in which the soul is the agency of natural life, then there is no reason for assuming that there is not also a spiritual body, one which is possessed, spiritualized, by the spirit, through the power of God. So the comparison holds true: The body of the resurrection is indeed not the same weak, corrupt body that was laid in the grave, and yet there are not two different bodies, the natural body being annihilated, and the spiritual body being filled with the soul of the former human being. The spiritual body, rather, the Christian body of resurrection, is the outgrowth of the new man that was planted in the Christian as the germ of the future glorified body, through the Word and Sacraments.
The apostle substantiates this doctrine by a Scripture quotation: The first man, Adam, became a living soul, Gen 2:7. That was the natural state of Adam, as the representative and the forefather of the entire human race; he was created to be a bodily being animated with a living soul, and as such he existed during his earthly life. In contrast to this Paul says that the last Adam, the progenitor of the new spiritual humanity, became a life-giving spirit, for Christ is the antitype of Adam. From Adam, as a forefather, the human race received only soul, earthly, natural life; but from Christ, the Forefather of the spiritual race of mankind, the believers receive the true spiritual life, which extends beyond the grave and makes us possessors of the divine glory: He is the Source of the heavenly and eternal life.
In case someone should now object by asking why God did not immediately create every human being so as to make the body spiritual at once, to give to soul, body, and spirit the eternal, heavenly life, Paul answers: However, not is first the spiritual, but the psychic, the natural, then the spiritual. Even the body of Adam, the first man, was not spiritual, but natural, God’s intention being that the spiritualized condition was to be realized by man’s remaining in permanent communion with the Lord, for which Adam had received strength. Through the. Fall, of course, the intention of God was thwarted, and now, more than ever, the body of sin is a natural body, truly born of the flesh. Only by the power of the Spirit in the means of grace is the spiritual life planted in us, and only by the application of the same power will He raise us up as spiritual bodies. It follows, then, that the first man is of the earth, earthy, his body partaking of the nature of the dust out of which he was formed. The second man, Christ, had no such origin, even though He assumed human nature in the body of the Virgin Mary. From the very moment of His conception He was the Lord from heaven, the Son of Man which is in heaven, Joh 3:13. And so He succeeded and displaced the first father of mankind; He is of heaven, the God-man. As the earthy, such they also that are earthy; all those that have descended from Adam are, like him, of an earthy nature. Adam, instead of rising to a spiritual state, fell into sin; and we, who are his bodily descendants, fell in his fall, and bear his mere natural, earthy life. And as the heavenly, such they also that are heavenly; as the exalted Christ, the First-born of many brethren, partakes of the fullness of the heavenly glory in His spiritual body, so Christ’s risen followers, their bodies made like unto His own glorious body, shall share in this glory. And just as we have borne the image of the earthy, the outward, bodily form of our progenitor, Adam, so let us bear also the image of the Heavenly One. We drag around this body of sin with us, homesick throughout our earthly life for the true life above; but we look forward to the happy day of our final deliverance, when we shall be restored to His image and once more, according to soul and body, enter the ranks of the children of God, 1Jn 3:2; Col 3:4. “The wearing of Christ’s moral likeness here carries with it the wearing of His bodily likeness hereafter.”
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
1Co 15:42-44. It is sown in corruption. “The body which has now in it such manifest principles of mortality and corruption, which consists now of such brittle and tender parts, that the least disease disturbs, and unfits them for their operations; which is now subject to so many casualties, and has its continuance depending upon the fit disposition of so many little and easily-disordered parts, that it is a greater wonder how we continue to live a day, than why we die after so few years’ space;this body shall, at the resurrection, be perfectly refined and purged from all the seeds of mortality and corruption. In a word, in respect to the faithful saints of God, this corruptible body shall spring up into an incorruptible and immortal substance, which shall be fitted to endure in perfect glory, as long as the soul to which it is united, even to all eternity. Further, that body which at death seems so base and abject, so vile and contemptible, shall at the resurrection be transformed into a bright, a beautiful, and glorious body;which, in comparison of the animal frame, may with sufficient propriety be called a spiritual body, as being an infinitely more pure and refined vehicle for the soul.” The phrase , 1Co 15:44, which we render a natural body, should be rendered, more suitably to the Greek, and more conformably to the Apostle’s meaning, an animal body; for St. Paul is shewing here, that as we have animal bodies now, which we derive from Adam, endowed with an animal life, which, unless supported by a constant supply of food and air, will fail and perish; and at last, do what we can, will dissolve and come to an end: so at the resurrection, we shall have from Christ, the second Adam, spiritual bodies, which shall have an essential and naturallyinseparablelifeinthem,continuingandsubsistingperpetuallyofitself,without the help of meat, or drink, or air, or any such foreign support; without decay, or any tendency to a dissolution. Of which our Saviour speaking, says, That they who shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, cannot die any more, for they are equal to the angels: and surely in this view, there can be no impropriety or absurdity, as some have urged, in the Apostle’s calling this future nature and constitution, whatever it may be, a spiritual body, or a spiritualized frame.
Mr. Locke justly observes, that the time of man’s being in this world is his being sown, and not when, being dead, he is put into the grave; because dead things are not sown; seeds are sown being alive, and die not till after they are sown: and this, I apprehend, best agrees with the Apostle’s calling the body a natural or animal body, 1Co 15:44. But yet, as laying and burying the body in the earth, bears some resemblance to the sowing of seed; and as the body is much more remarkable for its corruption, weakness, and dishonour, after, than before it dies, I would not exclude a consideration of its state and condition when it dies and is laid in the grave.
See commentary on 1Co 15:41
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
1Co 15:42-44 . Application of the passage from 1Co 15:36 ( ) on to 1Co 15:41 .
. .] sc. . So does it hold also with the resurrection of the dead , in so far, namely, as the resurrection-body will be quite otherwise constituted than the present body. [76]
It is sown in corruption , etc. What is sown and raised up, is self-evident, and is also distinctly said in 1Co 15:44 , on occasion being given by the adjectival form of expression, into which the discourse there passes.
On , the remark of Grotius is sufficient: “cum posset dicere sepelitur , maluit dicere seritur , ut magis insisteret similitudini supra sumtae de grano.” The apostle falls back on the image of the matter already familiar to the readers, because it must have by this time become clear to them in general from this image, that a reproduction of the present body at the resurrection was not to be thought of. The fact, again, that the image of sowing had already gone before in this sense, in the sense of interment , excludes as contrary to the text, not only van Hengel’s interpretation, according to which is held to apply to generation and man is to be conceived as the subject, but also Hofmann’s view, that the sowing is the giving up of the body to death , without reference to the point whether it be laid in the earth or not. The sowing is man’s act, but the God’s act, quite corresponding to the antithesis cf , 1Co 15:36 , and , 1Co 15:38 .
] in corruption , i.e. in the condition of decay , is the body when it is buried. [77] Of a wholly different nature, however, will be the new body which raises itself at the resurrection-summons (1Co 15:52 f.) out of the buried one (as the plant out of the seed-corn); it is raised in the condition of incorruptibility . Comp. 1Co 15:50 ; 1Co 15:52 .
] in the condition of dishonour . Chrysostom ( ;), Theodoret, Theophylact, Oecumenius, Beza, Grotius, al. , including Billroth, have rightly understood this of the foeditas cadaveris ; for represents the act of burial . Erasmus, Calvin, Vorstius, Estius, Rosenmller, al. , including Flatt (comp. Rckert), hold that it refers to the “ ante mortem miseriis et foeditatibus obnoxium esse,” Estius. So also de Wette (comp. Osiander and Hofmann) in reference to all the three points, which, according to these expositors, are meant to designate the nature of the living body as regards its organization, or at least to include it (comp. Maier) in their scope. But this mode of conception, according to which the definition of state characterizes the earthly body generally according to its nature , not specially according to the condition in which it is at its interment , comes in only at the fourth point with in virtue of the change in the form of expression which is adopted on that very account. From the way in which Paul has expressed the first three points, he desires to state in what condition that which is being sown is at its sowing; in what condition, therefore, the body to be buried is, when it is being buried . This, too, in opposition to Ewald’s view: “even the best Christians move now in corruption, in outward dishonour before the world ,” et.
] refers to the state of outward glory , which will be peculiar to the resurrection-bodies; 1Co 15:40 . It is the , Phi 3:21 .
] not: “variis morbis et periculis obnoxium,” Rosenmller and others, comp. Rckert (weakliness); for it refers to the already dead body ( ), but: in the condition of powerlessness , inasmuch as all ability, all (Soph. Oed. Col . 616), all of the limbs (Pindar, Nem. v. 72, x. 90) has vanished from the dead body. Chrysostom, Oecumenius, Theodoret, Theophylact, al. , narrow the reference too much in an arbitrary way, applying it simply to the inability to withstand corruption. . is not a superfluous (de Wette), but a characteristic mark which specifically distinguishes the dead from the living bod.
] in the condition, of strength : the resurrection body will be endowed with fulness of strength for life and activity. What Grotius adds: “cum sensibus multis, quos nunc non intelligimus,” is perhaps true in itself, but is not conveyed in .
Instead of adducing one by one further qualities of the body as buried, with their opposites in the resurrection-body, Paul sums up by naming in addition that which conditions those other qualities, the specific fundamental nature of the present body which is buried, and of the future one which is raised: , . . , i.e. there is sown a psychical body , etc. This is not opposed to the identity of the body, but the one which rises is quite differently qualified ; there is buried a , there rises a . That is the new in which the risen man comes (1Co 15:35 ); but the expression, which sets forth the difference as two subjects, is stronger and more significant than if we should take it with Hofmann: it is sown as a psychical body , etc.
The body which is buried is , inasmuch as the , this power of the sensuous and perishable life (comp. on 1Co 2:14 ), was its life-principle and the determining element of its whole nature (consisting of flesh and blood, 1Co 15:50 ). The had in it, as Oecumenius and Theophylact say, . . The resurrection-body, however, will be , i.e. not an ethereal body (Origen, comp. Chrysostom), [78] which the antithesis of forbids; but a spiritual body , inasmuch as the , the power of the supersensuous, eternal life (the true, imperishable ), in which the Holy Spirit carries on the work of regeneration and sanctification (Rom 8:16-17 ), will be its life-principle and the determining element of its whole nature. In the earthly body the , not the , is that which conditions its constitution and its qualities, so that it is framed as the organ of the ; [79] in the resurrection-body the reverse is the case; the , for whose life-activity it is the adequate organ, conditions its nature, and the has ceased to be, as formerly, the ruling and determining element. We are not, however, on this account to assume, with Rckert, that Paul conceived the soul as not continuing to subsist for ever, a conception which would do away with the essential completeness and thereby with the identity of the human being. On the contrary, he has conceived of the in the risen bodies as the absolutely dominant element, to which the psychical powers and activities shall be completely subordinated. The whole predicates of the resurrection-body, contrasted with the properties of the present body, are united in the likeness to the angels , which Jesus affirms of the risen, Mat 22:30 , Luk 20:36 , and in their being fashioned like unto the glorified body of Christ, as is promised by Paul, 1Co 15:48-49 ; Phi 3:21 . How far the doctrine of Paul is exalted above the assertion by the Rabbins of the (quite crass) identity of the resurrection-body with the present one, may be seen from the citations in Wetstein on 1Co 15:36 , and in Eisenmenger, entdeckt. Judenth. II. p. 938 f.
., . . .] logical confirmation of the . just mentioned. It is to be shown, namely, that it is not an air-drawn fancy to speak of the future existence of a : If it is true that there is a psychical body, then there is also a spiritual body , then such a body cannot be a non-ens according to the mutually conditioning relations of the antitheses. The emphasis lies on the twice-prefixed , existit (comp. the Rabbinical in Schoettgen, Hor. p. 670). The logical correctness of the sentence, again, depends upon the presupposition (1Co 15:42 f.) that the present and the future body stand in the relation of counterparts to each other. If, therefore, there exists a psychical body (and that is the present one), then a pneumatic body also must be no mere idea, but really existent (and that is the resurrection-body).
[76] It is to be observed that Paul, in his whole discussion regarding the nature of the future bodies, has in view only those of the first resurrection (see on ver. 23), leaving quite out of account the bodies of those who shall belong to the second resurrection, and consequently to the , ver. 24. He has in fact to do with believers , with future sharers in the resurrection of the righteous (comp. on Phi 3:11 ), whose resurrection-hope was being assailed.
[77] Not as Hofmann would have it, in connection with his inappropriate interpretation of : up to the point, when it is given over to death .
[78] Or as Zeller in the theol. Jahrb . 1852, p. 297, would have it: “ a body composed of spirit ,” the being conceived as material. Comp. Holsten, zum Ev. d. Paul. u. Petr . p. 72: “out of heavenly light-material .”
[79] Luther’s gloss is: “which eats, drinks, sleeps, digests, grows larger and smaller, begets children, etc. Spiritual , which may do none of these things, and nevertheless is a true body alive from the spirit.”
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
Ver. 42. So also is the resurrection ] Whether there are degrees of glory, as it seems probable, so we shall certainly know, when we come to heaven. Three glimpses of the body’s glory were seen, in Moses’ face, in Christ’s transfiguration, and in Stephen’s countenance.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
42 44 a.] Application of these analogies to the doctrine of the Resurrection .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
42. ] , thus , viz. in the entire diversity of that which is raised again from the former body.
] “Cum posset dicere sepelitur , maluit dicere seritur , ut magis insisteret similitudini supra sumt de grano.” Grot.
, ] in a state of corruption, in a state of incorruptibility.
1Co 15:42 a sums up what has been advanced in 1Co 15:36-41 , and presents it in six words: , “So indeed is the resurrection of the dead”. It is as possible as that plants of wholly diff [2522] form should shoot from the seed sown by your own hand; and the form of each risen body will be determined by God, who finds a suitable organism for every type of earthly life, and can do so equally for every type and grade of heavenly life, in a region where, as sun, moon, and stars nightly show, the universal splendour is graduated and varied infinitely.
[2522] difference, different, differently.
1Co 15:42-43 . : “The sowing is in corruption (perishableness) in dishonour in weakness”. It is better, with Cv [2523] , Wr [2524] (p. 656), and Hn [2525] , to regard and as impersonal , since no subject is supplied; the vbs., thrice repeated with emphasis, are contrasted in idea; the antithesis lies between two opp [2526] stages of being ( cf. , for the mode of expression, Luk 12:48 ). recalls, and applies in the most general way, the and of 1Co 15:36 ff. To interpret this vb [2527] as figuring the act of burial (“verbum amnissimum pro sepultura,” Bg [2528] ; so Cm [2529] , Gr [2530] , Mr [2531] , Bt [2532] , El [2533] , and many others) confuses the analogy (the “sowing” is expressly distinguished from the “dying” of the seed, 1Co 15:36 ), and jars with (a sick man, not a corpse, is called weak ), and with in 1Co 15:44 ; cf. also 1Co 15:50-54 , where , , are identified with the living . Our present life is the seed-time (Gal 6:7 ff.), and our “mortal bodies” (Rom 8:10 f.) are in the germinal state, concluding with death (1Co 15:36 ), out of which a wholly diff [2534] organism will spring. The attributes ( cf. . , Rom 8:21 ), ( cf. Phi 3:21 ), ( cf. 2Co 13:4 ) summed up in the of Rom 8:11 and of Phi 2:7 are those that P. is wont to ascribe to man’s actual physique, in contrast with the , , of the post-resurrection state: see 2Co 4:7 ; 2Co 4:10 ; 2Co 4:16 ; 2Co 5:1 ; 2Co 5:4 , Rom 1:4 ; Rom 8:18-23 . Thus, with variety in detail, Est. (“moritur corpus multis ante mortem miseriis et fditatibus obnoxium, suscitabitur idem corpus omni ex parte gloriosum”), Cv [2535] , Hf [2536] , Hn [2537] , Ed [2538] Gd [2539] refers the threefold to the three moments of burial, mortal life , and birth respectively; van Hengel identifies it with procreation , quite unsuitably.
[2523] Calvin’s In Nov. Testamentum Commentarii .
[2524] Winer-Moulton’s Grammar of N.T. Greek (8th ed., 1877).
[2525] C. F. G. Heinrici’s Erklrung der Korintherbriefe (1880), or 1 Korinther in Meyer’s krit.-exegetisches Kommentar (1896).
[2526] opposite, opposition.
[2527] verb
[2528] Bengel’s Gnomon Novi Testamenti.
[2529] [2530] Greek, or Grotius’ Annotationes in N.T.
[2531] [2532] J. A. Beet’s St. Paul’s Epp. to the Corinthians (1882).
[2533] C. J. Ellicott’s St. Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians .
[2534] difference, different, differently.
[2535] Calvin’s In Nov. Testamentum Commentarii .
[2536] J. C. K. von Hofmann’s Die heilige Schrift N.T. untersucht , ii. 2 (2te Auflage, 1874).
[2537] C. F. G. Heinrici’s Erklrung der Korintherbriefe (1880), or 1 Korinther in Meyer’s krit.-exegetisches Kommentar (1896).
[2538] T. C. Edwards’ Commentary on the First Ep. to the Corinthians . 2
[2539] F. Godet’s Commentaire sur la prem. p. aux Corinthiens (Eng. Trans.).
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 1Co 15:42-49
42So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; 43it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. 47The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. 48As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. 49Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.
1Co 15:42-49 The Bible does not specifically or fully reveal the things related to the afterlife. Probably because we are not able in our fallen, temporal, earthly state to comprehend them. This paragraph discusses the resurrection body by comparing it to the earthly body. Yet, still it is not precise. All that can be said is that our new bodies will be perfectly prepared for life, fellowship, worship, and service of our God in the new age. In light of this, the exact form is irrelevant (cf. Php 3:21; 1Jn 3:2).
1Co 15:42
NASB, NRSV,
NJB”perishable. . .imperishable”
NKJV”corruptible. . .incorruptible
TEV”mortal. . .immortal”
Often this term is used in the same context as its negated opposite (cf. Rom 1:23; 1Co 9:25; 1Co 15:50; 1Co 15:53). Notice the parallel contrasts between our earthly physical bodies and our heavenly eternal bodies.
1. corruptible vs. incorruptible, 1Co 15:42; 1Co 15:50
2. dishonor vs. glory, 1Co 15:43
3. weakness vs. power, 1Co 15:43
4. natural body vs. spiritual body, 1Co 15:44
5. first Adam vs. last Adam, 1Co 15:45
6. image of the earthly vs. image of the heavenly, 1Co 15:49
SPECIAL TOPIC: DESTROY, RUIN, CORRUPT (PHTHEIR)
1Co 15:43 “weakness” See SPECIAL TOPIC: WEAKNESS at 2Co 12:9.
1Co 15:44 “if” The United Bible Societies’ Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians says this is not a first class conditional sentence, but a statement of fact (cf. p. 361). However, A. T. Robertson in Word Pictures in the New Testament asserts that it is a first class conditional (cf. p. 197). Grammar is not a science.
1Co 15:45 “The first man, Adam” This is a quote from Gen 2:7. Jesus’ mentioning of Adam (cf. Mat 19:4; Mar 10:6; Luk 3:38) denotes his historicity. Jesus assumed the corruption of an initial pair named Adam and Eve. Paul’s use of Adam-Christ typology, both here and in Rom 5:17-21, demands a special creation of Adam and Eve. This may be a later creation (see my commentary on Genesis 1-11 (online at www.freebiblecommentary.org ) , where I assert an old earth, but a relatively recent creation of Eden), but it seems to me it must be a special creation.
“the last Adam became a life-giving spirit” This must refer to the resurrection of Jesus. It is not meant to deny a physical aspect to Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances, but to contrast the first Adam, whose actions caused death, with the last Adam, whose actions caused life, eternal life, resurrection life! This is an example of the Adam-Christ typology (cf. Rom 5:12-21; 1Co 15:21-22; 1Co 15:45-49; Php 2:6-8).
“a life-giving spirit” This is a good example of the difficulty in some contexts of knowing if “spirit” should be a small “s” (cf. Rom 8:9; 2Co 3:3; Gal 4:6; 1Pe 1:11). The Bible uses the term pneuma in several different verses. See Special Topic: Pneuma at 1Co 12:1.
1Co 15:46 This is not an ontological statement, but a temporal statement relating to the first Adam and the second Adam (cf. 1Co 15:47). Physical human life precedes spiritual life!
1Co 15:47 “the second man is from heaven” There are several additions to this phrase in the Greek manuscripts. Most of them are an attempt to accentuate that Jesus is human like Adam, but more than human. Bart D. Ehrman, The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture, pp. 94-95, thinks these changes were a result of the doctrinal controversies within the church during the period when these manuscripts were being copied. He suggests the additions were purposeful, theological clarifications on the part of orthodox scribes.
1Co 15:49 “Just as we have borne the image of the earthly” This text occurs in early Greek manuscripts P46, , A, C, D (i.e., aorist active subjunctive). The context seems to demand the text of the early Alexandrian manuscript B, which was, “We shall bear…” (i.e., Future active indicative). Both of these Greek words were pronounced similarly. The early manuscripts were often copied at one time by one man reading the text aloud and several men making written copies. Theologically the future indicative is preferable. The other verbs in context are future. It is a descriptive context, not hortatory (i.e., exhortation to action).
also, &c. = is the resurrection of the dead also, i.e. with a different body.
corruption. Greek. phthora. See Rom 8:21. The four contrasts in verses: 1Co 15:42-44 give the Figure of speech Symploke. App-6.
incorruption. Greek. aphtharsia. See Rom 2:7.
42-44 a.] Application of these analogies to the doctrine of the Resurrection.
1Co 15:42. , thus) This word relates to the protasis already begun at 1Co 15:36.-, is sown) a very delightful word instead of burial.- , in corruption) The condition not only of the dead body but of the mortal body is denoted.
1Co 15:42
1Co 15:42
So also is the resurrection of the dead.-He applies the truths illustrated in verses 36-38, where the seed is sown to die, and is laid in the earth, in order that it may spring up a plant wholly different in form and beauty from the seed sown, to the resurrection.
It is sown in corruption;-It is now a corruptible body, constantly tending to decay, subject to disease and death, and destined to entire dissolution. Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. (Gen 3:19).
it is raised in incorruption:-The resurrection body will not be subjected to earthly conditions; it will be imperishable, free from all impurity, and incapable of decay.
Victory over Sin and Death
1Co 15:42-58
Life on the other side will be as real and as earnest as here. We shall not dissolve into thin mist or flit as bodiless ghosts. We shall each be provided with a body like that which our Lord had after, He arose from the dead. It will be a spiritual body, able to go and come at a wish or a thought; a body that will be perfectly adapted to its spiritual world environment. The last Adam, our Lord, will effect this for us. But we must in the meanwhile be content to make the best use of the discipline of mortality, keeping our body pure and sweet as the temple and vehicle of the Holy Spirit until we are born into the next stage of existence. Always the physical before the psychical and the psychical before the spiritual.
What triumph rings through those last four verses! As generations of Christians have stood around the mortal remains of their beloved, they have uttered these words of immortal hope. The trumpets notes will call those who have died and the saints that are still alive on the earth, into one mighty host of transfigured and redeemed humanity. Oh, happy day! Then we shall be manifested, rewarded, and glorified with Christ. All mysteries solved, all questions answered! Till then let us abound always in the work of the Lord.
is: 1Co 15:50-54, Dan 12:3, Mat 13:43, Phi 3:20, Phi 3:21
in corruption: Gen 3:19, Job 17:14, Psa 16:10, Psa 49:9, Psa 49:14, Isa 38:17, Act 2:27, Act 2:31, Act 13:34-37, Rom 1:23, Rom 8:21
it is: 1Co 15:52-54, Luk 20:35, Luk 20:36, 1Pe 1:4
Reciprocal: Job 14:14 – shall he live Mar 12:25 – but Luk 19:19 – Be Joh 5:28 – for Act 13:36 – and saw
1Co 15:42. God’s ability to create and change and otherwise manage all of His works has been shown by the preceding verses. The apostle now comes directly to the subject under discussion, the possibility and character of the resurrection. The dead is the antecedent of the pronoun it, which certainly proves beyond all question that it is the body that is to be resurrected, since it is the only part of man that ever dies literally. Corruption means to be subject to decay, and incorruption means the opposite.
Here the apostle gives a fourfold instance of the body’s different qualities in the resurrection: It is sown in corruption; that is, it is here a frail mortal body, subject to putrefaction; but when raised shall be incorruptible, that is, never more subject to death or dissolution. It is here a vile body, subject to deformity and dishonour, and when sown or laid in the grave, is loathsome and unlovely; but shall be raised in glory, a bright and beautiful body, shining like the sun in the firmament of the heavens. It is thought we shall rise in a full and perfect age, in full strength, activity, and vigour: and whereas our bodies now move heavily, they shall then ascend and descend like angels.
Again, It is sown in weakness; that is, it is subject to weakness by labour, to decays by age, to impotency and wastings by diseases; and when it dies, it appears in impotent piece of clay. But it shall be raised in power by God’s power; it shall be raised a powerful body; no more impotent, weak, or feeble, but strong and active, vigorous and nimble; never subject more either to weariness or weakness.
Lastly, It is sown a natural body, an animal body, a body suited to this lower sensible state, in which we live at present; and when it dies, it is sown in the grave, like the body of a beast. But it shall be raised a spiritual body.
Mark, he doth not say it shall be changed into a spirit, but into a spiritual body; a body it shall remain still, but spiritualized. It is probable that our bodies will then be aerial, and thin, and light, more suited to the nature of the soul, as active as fire, as fine and thin as the air.
More particularly note here, that the raised body will be a spiritual body in a threefold respect.
1. As it shall always be subject and serviceable to the spirit. Here the soul is subject to the body; the soul must go the body’s pace; but at the resurrection the body shall be everlastingly subject to the soul or spirit, and for that reason is called a spiritual body.
2. It may be called a spiritual body, in regard of the great strength and activity with which the body shall be then endowed; spirits are strong, and so is every thing that is spiritual. The devil is called a spiritual enemy, because he is a powerful enemy. Thus our spiritual bodies will be strong bodies; and strong had they need to be, that they may be able to bear that exceeding weight of glory, as the apostle calls it, 2Co 4:17, which would crush our bodies under it, were they not made strong to bear it.
3. It is called spiritual, because it will then need no natural helps to support it, as meat, drink, sleep, and clothing. We shall want these no more than the angels want them, being immediately supported by the power of God, as they are.
Thus it is sown a natural body, but raised a spiritual body; not attenuated into a spirit, but still a body; a real, but spiritual body. The body, after the resurrection, shall be true flesh, but spiritualized, rarefied, and refined; it shall not lose any perfections which it had, but gain many perfections which it had not.
Hail, happy day, when soul and body shall be re-united, and the happiness of both completed! How will the soul then bless God for that body which was here its instrument and assistant in the service of God; and how will the body then bless God for such a soul, which was so careful to secure an interest in that happiness which it was created for, and made capable of! Then will full glory be poured into the soul: and when it is a second time married to the body, it shall have a greater degree of glory than ever it had.
The Glorified Body
The resurrection will be just like what occurs in farmers’ fields all over the world. A seed, or body, that will die ( Gen 3:19 ) is planted, or buried, and is raised with a new specially designed body that will not decay. In a sense, it is still human flesh composing a body, but it is much better than before. It (the body) is buried because it will decay. It can also be described as being in dishonor and weak because it is a body of sin. When raised, it will not rot and those in heaven will not sin ( 1Co 15:42-43 ).
Just like this physical body is suited to a physical man living in a physical world, so will our spiritual body be specially suited to a spiritual world. Adam, as the head of the human race, was made a physical man suited to the physical world in which he would live. Christ was a spirit and as the head of a new race gives spiritual life. The physical body comes first to all, then the spiritual ( 1Co 15:44-46 ).
Our first body, like Adam’s, will be suited to his earth. Our second body, like Christ’s after the resurrection, will be suited to the spiritual world. Remember, each seed takes on a body best suited to its surroundings. All earthly bodies decay, while all heavenly bodies will be immortal, as Christ is immortal. Just as we all now bear the image of Adam, so shall all the just bear Christ’s image after the resurrection ( 1Co 15:47-49 ; 1Jn 3:2 ).
1Co 15:42-44. So also is the resurrection of the dead So great is the difference between the body which fell and that which rises. It is to be observed, that in this and the following verses, the apostle is giving an account of the righteous only. It is sown A beautiful word; committed as seed to the ground: and the apostle thus expresses the burial of the body, because he had illustrated the possibility of its resurrection, notwithstanding it rots in the grave, or is otherwise destroyed, by the example of grain sown in the earth, which after it rots produces grain of the same kind with itself; a comparison intended to illustrate only the possibility of the resurrection, but not the manner of its being effected. For certainly the body to be raised will not be produced by any virtue in the body buried, as plants are produced by a virtue latent in the seeds that are sown. For we are carefully taught in the Scriptures, that the resurrection of our bodies will be effected merely by the extraordinary and miraculous power of God, and not at all as either plants or animals are produced, in a natural way, from their seeds. In corruption Just ready to putrefy, and by various degrees of corruption and decay, to return to the dust from whence it came. It is raised in incorruption Utterly incapable of either dissolution or decay. It is sown in dishonour Shocking to those who loved it best: human nature in disgrace! It is raised in glory Clothed with robes of light, fit for those whom the King of heaven delights to honour. See on Mat 13:23; Php 3:21. It is sown in weakness Deprived even of that feeble strength which it once enjoyed: it is raised in power Endued with vigour, strength, and activity, such as we cannot now conceive. It is sown in this world a natural body Or rather, an animal body, as more properly signifies, supported by food, sleep, and air, as the bodies of all animals are: it is raised a spiritual body Of a more refined contexture, needing none of those animal refreshments, and endued with qualities of a spiritual nature like the angels of God. These alterations to be produced in the contexture of the bodies of the righteous are indeed great and wonderful, but far from being impossible. For, as Dr. Macknight justly observes, to illustrate great things by small, we have an example of a similar, though very inferior transformation, in the bodies of caterpillars, which in their first state are ugly, weak, and easily crushed, but in their second state become beautifully winged animals, full of life and activity. This shows what God can do in greater instances.
It may not be improper to add here, what is justly observed by the same author, that, notwithstanding this great difference between the bodies raised, and the bodies committed to the ground, those raised will, in a sound sense, be the same with the bodies that were buried; inasmuch as they will consist of members and organs of sensation in form and use similar to the members and organs of the present body: that is, as far as their new state will admit; a limitation this, absolutely necessary to be made, because the Scripture itself mentions two particulars, and reason suggests others, in which the bodies raised will essentially differ from those which died. 1st, We are told (1Co 6:13) that God will destroy both the belly, (including both the stomach and bowels,) or the use of that member, and meats. 2d, Our Lord assures us, that they who shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they are equal to the angels. From these texts it follows, that none of the members necessary to eating, and drinking, and marriage, will make part of the glorified bodies of the saints; and that none of the appetites and passions which are gratified by these members, will have any existence in their minds: consequently, the joys of the heavenly country, though in part they are to arise from bodily senses, will have no affinity with the pleasures of a Mohammedan paradise. 3d, Reason directs us to believe, that to the similarity or sameness of the body which is raised, with the body that was buried, it is by no means necessary that the imperfections in the members of the buried body, should take place in the raised body. On the contrary, the restoration of all the members to their proper form, place, and office in the body, instead of making it a different body, will render it more perfectly the same. 4th, Besides the differences mentioned, there may be other differences likewise in the glorified bodies of the saints, suited to the difference of their state, of which at present we can form no conception. For if the raised body is to be endowed with new powers of action, and new senses, these may require additional members; and notwithstanding the addition, the raised body may, on account of its general similarity to the body that was buried, be still considered as the same. To conclude, the Scripture speaks consistently when, in describing the state of the righteous after the resurrection, it represents them as having their mortal bodies refashioned like to the glorious body of Christ, and informs us, that after their whole persons are thus completed, they shall be carried to a heavenly country, where every object being suited to the nature of their glorified bodies, they shall live unspeakably happy to all eternity.
Vv. 42, 43. So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: 43. it is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.
Here, strictly speaking, is the answer to the second question of 1Co 15:35 : With what body? Answer: with a body which, far from being the reappearance of the former, will have characteristics of an absolutely opposite kind. The verb , it is sown, is generally applied, in accordance with the term sow in 1Co 15:36-37, to the interment of the body. This meaning may no doubt suit the first member of the first antithesis: sown in corruption. But it is impossible to carry out this application in the first members of the three following antitheses. The term weakness is not suitable to the state of the dead body, whatever Meyer may say; and in any case, it would form a singular stage beyond the preceding term, dissolution. Finally, it is still more impossible to apply the term psychical, moved by a soul, in 1Co 15:44, to the body which is laid in the tomb. No doubt it may be said that the point in question here is not the state of the body at that time, but its nature during life. But it is still very forced to apply the term animated to the body when deprived of the breath of life. For this reason, several commentators, such as Erasmus, Calvin, Heinrici, have been led to apply the term sow to the fact of birth. This meaning may suit the second and fourth epithets (weak, psychical); but hardly the other two (in dishonour, dissolution). How could Paul thus characterize the life of the child, full of freshness, at the moment when it begins to unfold its powers? Hofmann has been driven by these two impossibilities to understand by the word sow the giving up of the body, not specially to interment, but to the power of death, which works in it all through the duration of its earthly existence. This explanation comes near to what seems to me to be the true meaning of the four antitheses; but it is insufficient, inasmuch as it does not clearly account for their gradation. Their order is in a manner retrograde; and the meaning of the word sow is modified and widened as we pass from one antithesis to another. In the first, it relates to interment, as is required by the word , dissolution. In the second (the state of dishonour), the thought, taking a first retrograde step, embraces in the term sow all the miseries of this earthly life, which precede and go to produce the dissolution of the body, all the humiliating conditions to which our body is now subjected; comp. the expression: the body of our humiliation (Php 3:21). In the third antithesis, the term weakness brings us to the moment of birth, to that state of entire powerlessness which belongs to the infant at its entrance into life. Finally, the term psychical body, in 1Co 15:44, carries us further back still, to that moment when the breath of life, , is communicated to the physical germ which is about to begin its development in order to serve the as its organ. The word sow thus embraces all the phases of the body’s existence, which, beginning with the first dawn of being, terminates in committal to the earth. It is in this sense that the earthly life is so frequently compared to the time of sowing, and eternity to the time of harvest. The three first corresponding terms: incorruptibility, glory, and power, are easily understood. The first represents the body to come as exempt from the touch of sickness, decline, and death; the second, as free from the daily infirmities of the present body, and all radiant with the brightness of perfect life; the third, as endowed with unlimited power of action.
But these three opposite characteristics distinguishing between the present and the resurrection body are all three effects; they rest on a fourth contrast which touches the very essence of the two bodies, and which the apostle indicates in the first proposition of 1Co 15:44 by the antithesis between a psychical and a spiritual body. It is this last contrast which is developed in the following passage, 1Co 15:44-49.
So also is the resurrection of the dead. [Here the apostle answers the second question of 1Co 15:35 . If a man rises from the dead changed as the grain of wheat is changed, will he not have a different body, and so lose his identity? Will he not cease to be man? Paul gives a threefold answer to this question. He shows that there may be diversity, and yet a common ground of identity. There are diverse forms of flesh, yet all these forms are flesh; there may be different forms of bodies having different glories, yet are they all bodies; yea, even the glories may differ in luster and yet may have common identity as glory. Thus also is the resurrection of the dead. The flesh is changed, and yet it is in a sense flesh–humanity; there may be modifications in the form, and yet it will be the same body. There may be great changes in the glory, yet the glory will still be glory, and not essentially different. Thus man may still be man, and yet be vastly improved. In this part of the argument Paul is correcting a cardinal error in Greek thought. They stumbled at the doctrine of a resurrection, because they regarded the body as a clog to the soul; and so the body might indeed be, if God could form but one kind of body. But he can form celestial as well as terrestrial bodies, and spiritual bodies adapted to the needs of the spirit, which will not hinder it as does this earthly tabernacle which it now inhabits–bodies which will not only prove no disadvantage, but of infinite assistance, because answering every requirement. This truth is now further exemplified.] It is sown in corruption [Ecc 12:7]; it is raised in incorruption [Luk 20:35-36]:
15:42 {23} So also [is] the resurrection of the dead. It is {s} sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
(23) He makes three manner of qualities of the bodies being raised: first, incorruption, that is, because they will be sound and altogether of a nature that can not be corrupt. Second, glory, because they will be adorned with beauty and honour. Third, power, because they will continue everlasting, without food, drink, and all other helps, without which this frail life cannot keep itself from corruption.
(s) Is buried, and man is hid as seed in the ground.
The human body goes into the ground perishable, as a seed. However, God raises it imperishable, as grain. It goes into the ground in a lowly condition (in "dishonor"), but it arises with honor ("glory"). It is weak when it dies, but it is powerful when it arises.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)