Perspectives

1 Corinthians 15:35-42 … 35) But someone may ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” 36) How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37) When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38) But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. (NIV1984)

This month we will celebrate Easter, the death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Before we begin to try to interpret this section of Scripture, we would do well to remember one thing. All through this text, the Holy Spirit is directing the apostle Paul to talk about things that no one really knows much about. None of us here have died and come back to tell everyone else what it was like on the other side; therefore, we must remember that he is not talking about verifiable matters of fact, but about matters of faith. Paul is trying to communicate the inexpressible and to explain the indescribable, and he is using human ideas, words and things that we are all familiar with.

Part of living is managing pain. In fact, very early in life we find pain is not a thing we want to experience very often. We do not like pain, and who can blame us. I do not know anybody who has ever told me that they are just crazy about pain and enjoy every moment of it.

Another indication or sign is that all of us are growing older; we are changing physically. It is the natural process of aging. (We know we look better than anyone else) We are really not very passionate about the aging process. However, we are wise enough and smart enough to face the fact that we are growing older and we look old no matter how many surgeries we have had. We will eventually pass-on. For some that passing is a little worrisome. We can express sympathy and we do.

For the Christian, however, there is good news. The good news is that although we cannot do anything about the fact that we are growing old and one day we will pass away, we also believe and know that one day we will be raised from the dead. The Bible teaches that we will receive resurrection bodies. In our own resurrection, we will receive a body different from our current one, yet will still reflect who we are. It will be made for the eternal kingdom. It will be a glorious, powerful spiritual body. This changes everything. This gives us hope.

The apostle Paul uses the metaphor or image of a seed. He says that the seed is put in the ground and dies, but in due time it rises again and does so with a very different kind of body from that which was sown. Paul is showing us that at the end of the earthly life, we enter a new/different life. The seed is dissolved. When it rises, again there is a huge difference in its body. The seed that you and I plant in the ground breaks down, but it does not take long for a new plant to poke its way to the surface. Despite the change and the difference, it produces the same kind of seed that we had planted. So likewise, our earthly bodies will dissolve; they will rise again in very different form, but it is the same person who rises. Dissolved by death, changed by the resurrection, it is still we who exist.

What Paul is saying is that in the world, even as we know it, there is not one kind of body; each separate part of creation has its own. God gives to each created thing a body suitable for its part in creation. If that were so, it is only reasonable to expect that He will give us a body suited for the resurrection life. It is true that we have a physical body to begin with, but it is also true that one day we shall have a spiritual body. This can never happen here, and the Spirit will truly use us, as is never possible now. Then we will be able to render the perfect reverence, the ultimate service, the perfect love; that now can only be a vision and a dream.

Would you pray this prayer with me … “Lord Jesus, come into my heart. Forgive my sins. I want my life to change. My thoughts and my attitude need to change. I do not have the peace in my heart that I yearn for. I really want that peace, joy and happiness that will fulfill my heart’s desire. Please let the Holy Spirit help me be the kind of Christian that will honour Your Name.” Amen