Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Corinthians 15:43
It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
43. it is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory ] The dishonour is, of course, corruption, with its revolting accompaniments. What the glory will be we may learn, to a certain extent, from the Transfiguration of our Lord, and from the account of the majesty and splendour of His Resurrection-Body in Rev 1:13-16. Cyril of Jerusalem, after citing Dan 12:3 and St Mat 13:43, goes on to say that “God, foreseeing the unbelief of man, gave to the smallest of worms to emit beams of light, that thereby might be inferred what was to be looked for in the world to come.”
it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power ] For power see note on ch. 1Co 1:18. What the weakness is, we scarcely need to inquire. Decay of strength and vitality, ending in the absolute powerlessness of death, is the destiny of the body which is to be laid in the grave. But when it is raised, not only can it never be subject to the same weakness again, but it will be endowed with new faculties, as superior to those of the former body as those of the plant are to those of the seed.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
It is sown in dishonour – In the grave, where it is shut out from human view; hurried away from the sight of friends; loathsome and offensive as a mass turning to decay. There is, moreover, a kind of disgrace and ignominy attending it here, as under the curse of God, and, on account of sin, sentenced to the offensiveness of the grave.
It is raised in glory – In honor; in beauty; honored by God by the removal of the curse, and in a form and manner that shall be glorious. This refers to the fact that everything like dishonor, vileness, ignominy, which attends it here shall be removed there, and that the body shall bear a resemblance to the glorified body of Jesus Christ, Eph 3:21. It shall be adapted to a world of glory; and everything which here rendered it vile, valueless, cumbersome, offensive, or degraded, shall be there removed. Of course, every idea which we can get from this is chiefly negative, and consists in denying that the body will have there the qualities which here render it vile or loathsome. The word glory ( doxa) means dignity, splendor, honor, excellence, perfection; and is used here as denoting the combination of all those things which shall rescue it from ignominy and disgrace.
It is sown in weakness – Weak, feeble, liable to decay. Here disease prostrates the strength, takes away its power, consigns it to the dust. It denotes the many weaknesses, frailties, and liabilities to sickness, to which we are here exposed, Its feeble powers are soon prostrate; its vital functions soon cease in death.
It is raised in power – This does not denote power like that of God, nor like the angels. It does not affirm that it shall be endued with remarkable and enormous physical strength, or that it shall have the power of performing what would now be regarded as miraculous. It is to be regarded as the opposite of the word weakness, and means that it shall be no longer liable to disease; no more overcome by the attacks of sickness; no more subject to the infirmities and weaknesses which it here experiences. It shall not be prostrate by sickness, nor overcome by fatigue. It shall be capable of the service of God without weariness and languor; it shall need no rest as it does here (see Rev 7:15; compare Rev 22:5); but it shall be in a world where there shall be no fatigue, lassitude, disease; but where there shall be ample power to engage in the service of God forever. There is, however, no improbability in supposing that the physical powers of man, as well as his intellectual, may be greatly augmented in heaven. But on this point there is no revelation.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 43. It is sown in dishonour] Being now stripped of all the glory it had as a machine, fearfully and wonderfully made by the hands of God; and also consigned to death and destruction because of sin. This is the most dishonourable circumstance.
It is raised in glory] It is raised a glorious body, because immortal, and for ever redeemed from the empire of death.
It is sown in weakness] The principles of dissolution, corruption, and decay, have prevailed over it; disease undermined it; and death made it his prey.
It is raised in power] To be no more liable to weakness, through labour; decay, by age; wasting, by disease; and dissolution, by death.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: there is nothing more uncomely, unlovely, and loathsome than a dead body; but it will not be so when it shall be raised again, then it shall be a beautiful, comely body. We shall rise in a full and perfect age, (as is generally thought), and without those defects and deformities which may here make our bodies appear unlovely. Daniel says, Dan 12:3, the righteous shall shine as the stars: Christ saith, Mat 13:43, they shall shine like the sun: the apostle saith, Phi 3:21, we shall be made like unto his glorious body. Three things make the body beautiful, a perfection of parts, the well putting them together and proportioning them one to another, and a well-tempered, cheerly spirit; all these will concur in the bodies of saints in the resurrection. The schoolmen determine, that much of the beauty of the saints bodies in the resurrection, will flow from their perfect sight of God, and the reflection of God upon them.
It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: when it dieth it is a frail, weak body, unable to resist injuries; but it shall rise a strong body, with quick senses, and subject to no more weaknesses.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
43. in dishonouranswering to”our vile body” (Php3:21); literally, “our body of humiliation”: liable tovarious humiliations of disease, injury, and decay at last.
in glorythe garment ofincorruption (1Co 15:42; 1Co 15:43)like His glorious body (Php 4:21),which we shall put on (1Co 15:49;1Co 15:53; 2Co 5:2-4).
in weaknessliable toinfirmities (2Co 13:4).
in poweranswering to a”spiritual body” (1Co15:44; compare Lu 1:17,”Spirit and power”). Not liable to the weaknesses of ourpresent frail bodies (Isa 33:24;Rev 21:4).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
It is sown in dishonour,…. Its original is dishonourable, it comes, as the Jews often say w, , “from a filthy drop”; its generated brought forth in a manner we are ashamed of; it is conceived in sin, and shapen in iniquity; it is unclean, and born of the flesh: and when born, is in such a condition, as is to the loathing of it; some of its members are less honourable; and so uncomely as always to need a covering; it is subject to various blemishes, defects, and imperfections, and few bodies are without one or another; and liable to many injuries and affronts, as the body of our Lord himself was, who gave his back to the smiters, his cheek to them that plucked off the hair, and hid not his face from shame and spitting; and in death, it is nauseous, filthy, and very dishonourable, so that the nearest relation and friend cannot take pleasure in it, but desires to bury it out of sight; and amidst the greatest funereal pomp and splendour, it is laid in the grave in dishonour, to be the companion of corruption and worms: but in the resurrection,
it is raised in glory; in perfect beauty and comeliness, without the least blemish, defect, or imperfection; nor will there be any part of it that will occasion shame; it will be metamorphosed, and fashioned like to the glorious body of Christ; it will shine as the sun, and be as the brightness of the firmament: and so the Jews understand the passage in Da 12:3 they say x that
“God will beautify the bodies of the righteous in time to come, as the body of the first man when he entered into the garden of Eden; and that the soul, whilst it is in its dignity, is sustained by the superior light, and is clothed with it; and when it enters into the body in time to come, it enters with the light; and then will the body shine as the brightness of the firmament, according to
Da 12:3.”
It is sown in weakness; it comes into the world in great weakness; what is weaker than the body of a new born babe? it cannot move, nor help itself in any respect; and how weak and defenceless is the body of man, when adult; as he is subject to various diseases and disorders, which weaken his strength in the way, and is surrounded with natural infirmities, arising from hunger, thirst, nakedness, labour, c. so he is not armed, as many other creatures are, for defence and offence nor can he resist and overcome many things which do him hurt, much less can he resist death, or retain his spirit then; and through weakness at last dies, and is devoid of all strength, and as such is laid in the grave, where there is no work that he can do: but
it is raised in power; it is raised by the power of God, and with great power in itself; being able to subsist without food, and of moving itself from place to place, with great agility; and capable of the highest services before God and the Lamb, without weariness; nor will it be ever more liable to weakness or death; death shall have no more power over it; nor shall it be encompassed or attended with any infirmity whatever.
w Pirke Abot, c. 3. sect. 1. x Zohar in Gen. fol. 69. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
In weakness ( ). Lack of strength as shown in the victory of death.
In power ( ). Death can never conquer this new body, “conformed to the body of His glory” (Php 3:21).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Weakness. Compare Homer : “The feeble hands of the dead” (” Odyssey, “5, 21); and the shade of Agamemnon stretching out his hands to Ulysses,” for no firm force or vigor was in him ” (Id., 11, 393). See Isa 14:10.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “It is sown in dishonour;” (speiretai en atimia) Rejected, unwanted by men, in its decaying state, as a perishable body, a body of dishonor, it is cast into the earth.
2) “It is raised in glory:” (egiretai en dokse) In the purpose, plan, and decrees of God the dead corpse is raised up, exalted in glory — as if the act had already occurred. 2Co 10:17.
3) “It is sown in weakness;” (speiretai en astheneia) “Like seed, it-is sown in sickness, Weakness, or anemic appearance.” Gen 3:19.
4) “It is raised in power:” (egeiretai en dunamei)
It is brought forth, exalted in dynamic power.” That the glory may be of God and to God, the new body is raised in power, 2Co 9:7; Luk 20:34-38.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
43. It is sown in corruption That there may be no doubt remaining, Paul explains himself, by unfolding the difference between their present condition, and that which will be after the resurrection. What connection, then, would there be in his discourse, if he had intended in the first instance (107) to distinguish between the different degrees of future glory among the saints? There can, therefore, be no doubt, that he has been, up to this point, following out one subject. He now returns to the first similitude that he had made use of, but applies it more closely to his design. Or, if you prefer it, keeping up that similitude, he figuratively compares the time of the present life to the seed-time, and the resurrection to the harvest; and he says, that our body is now, indeed, subject to mortality and ignominy, but will then be glorious and incorruptible. He says the same thing in other words in Phi 3:21
Christ will change our vile body, that he may make it like to his own glorious body.
(107) “ Au propos precedent;” — “In the foregoing statement.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
43. Dishonour Both in life and in death the mortal body has parts, conditions, operations, and failures that render it a disgust to the contemplation. In death, decay and putrefaction render it unendurable to its fellows. “When the soul departs,” says Xenophon, “men carry out the body of the dearest friend in the quickest way, and put it out of sight.”
Glory Phenomenal properties that attract the wonder and admiration of the beholder.
Weakness With strength of body to effect little; liable to sickness and debility, requiring to be carried by machinery for rapid locomotion.
Power Vigour of body to accomplish the boldest determinations of the will, exemption from fatigue, and ability to pass through space with the rapidity of thought. Grotius adds, “Endowed with a variety of new senses;” which, however true, is not so clearly said.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
Ver. 43. It is raised in power ] The resurrection will cure all infirmities. At Stratford-le-Bow were burned in Queen Mary’s days, at one stake, a lame man and a blind man. The lame man after he was chained, casting away his crutch, bade the blind man be of good comfort, for death would heal them both; and so they patiently suffered.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
43. , ] in dishonour ( ; Chrys. Hom. xli. p. 390. Cf. Xen. Mem. i. 2. 53, ,. , in glory : regarding, as throughout this argument (see on 1Co 15:23 ), only the resurrection of the just : see Phi 3:21 .
] in weakness , the characteristic of the lifeless body, which is relaxed and powerless. Chrys. understands . of its inability to resist corruption : De Wette would refer it to the previous state of pain and disease: but it seems better to understand it of the powerlessness of the corpse, contrasted with ., in vigour, viz. the fresh and eternal energy of the new body free from disease and pain. “That which Grot. adds: ‘cum sensibus multis, quos nunc non intelligimus,’ is very likely in itself true , but is not implied in .” Meyer.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
power. App-172.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
43. , ] in dishonour ( ; Chrys. Hom. xli. p. 390. Cf. Xen. Mem. i. 2. 53,- ,. ,-in glory: regarding, as throughout this argument (see on 1Co 15:23), only the resurrection of the just: see Php 3:21.
] in weakness,-the characteristic of the lifeless body, which is relaxed and powerless. Chrys. understands . of its inability to resist corruption: De Wette would refer it to the previous state of pain and disease: but it seems better to understand it of the powerlessness of the corpse, contrasted with ., in vigour, viz. the fresh and eternal energy of the new body free from disease and pain. That which Grot. adds: cum sensibus multis, quos nunc non intelligimus, is very likely in itself true, but is not implied in . Meyer.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Co 15:43. , in dishonour) in nakedness, 1Co 15:37, to which is opposed glory, which is as it were a garment put on, 1Co 15:53; 1Co 15:49.- , is sown in weakness. The figure is continued; but in the reality itself, a transition is made, that similitude being now finished, to a new part of the answer, of which this is the proposition [the statement to be elucidated]: There is a natural and there is a spiritual body. The expressions, in power, 1Co 15:43, and a spiritual body, 1Co 15:44, are akin to one another, Luk 1:17 : just as incorruption and glory, 1Co 15:42-43.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
1Co 15:43
1Co 15:43
it is sown in dishonor;-The body here is dishonored with sin, with weakness, with suffering; it goes down to the grave because of its weak, perishing, and sinful state. [A dead body becomes so repulsive that one would say, with Abraham, of the dearest object of this life, that I should bury my dead out of my sight. (Gen 23:8).]
it is raised in glory:-The Lord said that those who attain to this glory are equal unto the angels; and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. (Luk 20:36). Paul said: For our citizenship is in heaven; whence also we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of his glory. (Php 3:20-21). And Daniel said: They that are wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. (Dan 12:3).
it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:-Weakness is the characteristic of the lifeless body, which is relaxed and powerless. [The resurrection body is ever fresh and fair and strong. Not only can it never be subject to the same weakness again, but it will be endowed with new facilities superior to the former body.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
in dishonour: Dan 12:1, Mat 13:43, Phi 3:20, Phi 3:21
weakness: Job 14:10, *marg. Psa 102:23, 2Co 13:4
in power: 1Co 6:14, Mat 22:29, Mat 22:30, Mar 12:24, Mar 12:25, 2Co 13:14, Phi 3:10
Reciprocal: Psa 49:17 – his Ecc 8:8 – power Joh 11:25 – I am Col 3:4 – ye
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Co 15:43. Dishonor is not used in any moral sense, for the same kind of body was possessed by Jesus that Paul is writing about here. It means the state that would be subject to decomposition, which the body of Jesus had which was the reason he must not have remained dead more than three days and nights. Raised in glory means more than an existence that is never to end (the wicked will have that; Mar 9:44 Mar 9:46 Mar 9:48). but a state in which the body will be given the same glorious form as that of Jesus in his present condition (Php 3:21; 1Jn 3:2). Weakness and power are used for the same purpose as the preceding terms because they are opposites.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
1Co 15:43. it is sown in dishonour becoming so repulsive that one is fain to say with Abraham, of the dearest object in life, Bury my dead out of my sight,it is raised in gloryresplendent and ravishing to behold (compare Mat 28:3; Luk 9:29-31; 1Jn 3:2), it is sown in weaknessthe lifeless corpse absolutely powerless,it is raised in power-endued with inexhaustible energy.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
it is sown in dishonor [buried because it is repulsive and will become offensive– Joh 11:39]; it is raised in glory [Phi 3:21]: it is sown in weakness [devoid of all ability]; it is raised in power [Rev 3:21]:
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
15:43 It is sown in {t} dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in {u} power:
(t) Void of honour, void of glory and beauty.
(u) Freed from the former weakness, in which it is subject to such alteration and change, that it cannot maintain itself without food and drink and such other like helps.