The Apostle's Creed Series #9

"I Believe in the Resurrection of the Body"
1 Corinthians 15:35-44, 50-55

Last Sunday we looked at what may well be both the most important and the most difficult phrase in the entire Apostle’s Creed: I believe in the forgiveness of sins. I think many of us came to realize that there is always a context for that belief, and that we must face those situations honestly and faithfully if we are ever to move on from our past.

Today I want to move on to the next phrase, one that begins the process of moving us on to the future, to our life beyond death. There have always been many different notions about what happens to a person when they die, ranging from "nothing" to "reincarnation." Into this area of confusion, the Apostles’ Creed boldly proclaims that we as Christians firmly believe in the resurrection of the body.

I had one church member catch me after church last Sunday evening to say that he has been looking forward to this sermon for some time now, because he has always had questions about this belief. What in the world do we mean by "the resurrection of the body?" Let’s do a little poll: As you assess your own body right now, how many of you are thinking, "Uh, Bro. Jim, I was kind of hoping for a little more than to have to live with this body forever!" I hope that in the next few moments I can give you some comfort and confidence, and perhaps a little clarity about what we believe.

Earlier in the Apostle’s Creed we proclaim the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and now we affirm the hope that all believers will one day share in that resurrection. The promise is that one day we shall have bodies like that of the resurrected Lord. Phil.3:20-21 says, "We eagerly await a savior from heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body."

Friends, God has created us for immortality! God has done more than just promise us a cure for disease; he has guaranteed us a cure for death. The Bible is clear that when God created you, he did not do it with the intention that someday you would die and decay in the ground and that would be the end of you. Instead, God created you to live forever, both soul and body.

This morning let’s look closely at perhaps the clearest statement about the nature of resurrection, 1 Corinthians 15:35-58, and see what truths we can glean from it. The first truth is this: The body we will receive, though different, has continuity with our earthly body. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:35-38 "But someone may ask, ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?’ How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body."

Paul compares the resurrection of the body to the growth of a plant from a seed. The plant that results is definitely much better than the seed, just as our resurrection bodies will be better than those we have now. There is also a continuity between the seed and the plant, for they are the same organism. The same seed that was sown becomes the plant that grows. Likewise, the same body we have now becomes our resurrected body. However, just as the plant is a result of the seed being transformed into something with better capacities and qualities, so also our resurrected bodies will be the transformation of our current bodies into a body with better qualities and capacities. The resurrected body, then, will have continuity with the earthly body, but will not be the same.

In 1 Corinthians 15:39-41, Paul begins to give some thought as to what this resurrected body will be like. He points out that our resurrected body will not be the same as the body that is laid in the grave (I know that is a relief to many of you!). "All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor." We are not talking about resuscitation, but resurrection. Just as the human body is ideally suited to our life in this world, the body we will receive in the resurrection after this life will be ideally suited for heaven.

In vs.42-44, Paul indicates that our bodies will be transformed by resurrection: "So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, 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." Now our bodies are mortal, but someday they will be immortal. Now our bodies are subject to disease, but someday they will not be. Here our bodies are weak, but in the resurrection state they will be powerful, not subject to stress or fatigue or weakness. Now our bodies are natural, but then they will be spiritual; that is, they will be fully oriented to and filled with the Holy Spirit.

Paul goes on to reveal the wonderful promise that our resurrected bodies will be like Christ’s. Vs.49 states, "And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven." Christ's resurrection body is the pattern of our resurrection body. We know that Christ was raised in a physical body because the disciples ate with him after the resurrection and touched him. Jesus himself declared that his resurrection body was physical when he said, "See my hands and my feet; it is I myself; touch me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have" (Luke 24:39). If Christ had a physical resurrected body, it follows that ours will be as well.

What, then, about vs.50? "I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable." Paul is simply reaffirming what he’s already said: that our bodies in their present mode of existence - sinful and subject to decay - must first be changed into a form that is not subject to decay and sin before they can enter the kingdom of God. He clarifies this in vs.53: "For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality."

Perhaps the most important thing we need to embrace about bodily resurrection is that this is what proves that death has indeed been defeated. Vs.54-57 says, "When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

If there is no resurrection of the body, then there is no complete defeat of death. The redemption which Christ provides for us is redemption not only from sin but also from all its penalties. Death is the wages of sin. 1 Cor.15:26 says that the last enemy to be destroyed will be death, although that has not yet happened. It has not yet been swallowed up in victory. For God to have the final victory, death itself will have to be destroyed. Christ must raise believers from the dead if he is to fully claim the victory he won over death at his resurrection, and if he is to fully deliver us from the penalty of our sins. We would not have full salvation if our bodies were not raised from the dead.

Paul ends this section with one practical application. "Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain" (vs.58). Our belief in the resurrection of the body is no hollow statement of hope, but rather a conviction of the mind and heart that this world is not all that there is to this life. It is a statement of faith that encourages us not to fear death, for death does not have the final word. Let us stand firm in our faith, for we have a glorious future with God.

Thank God for his wonderful gift of resurrection to all his children!