1 CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 15
Of the Resurrection of the Dead. 1 Corinthians 15, 1–58
A contrast between the present and the future states: V. 42. So also is the resurrection from the dead. 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.
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, Phil. 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." 79)
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.