a A "Spiritual Body"	3Back to Home

4 Navigation --------------- Homepage St. Matthew St. Matthew 2 St. Mark St. Luke St. Luke 2 St. John St. John 2 Acts of Apostles Acts of Apostles 2 --------------- The Letters --- Romans --- 1. Corinthias --- 2. Corinthias --- Galatians --- Ephesians --- Philippians --- Colossians --- 1. Thessalonians --- 2. Thessalonians --- 1. Timothy --- 2. Timothy --- Titus --- Philemon --- Hebrews --- James --- 1. Peter --- 2. Peter --- 1. John --- 2. John --- 3. John --- Jude --------------- The Apocalypse

Just what Paul means by a "spiritual body" is not easy to determine. It is clear that by the term "body" he means our total personality. He does not talk about "immortality of the soul" as though only part of us were significant to God. He talks about "resurrection of the body," suggesting that our bodies are important in God's sight. I am not a total personality without my body. Neither are you. The body is a part of what makes me me, and you you. We shall not have, Paul avers, our weak earthly bodies, but we shall have new bodies, fashioned by God. There will be continuity between us now and us then (even though we shall be changed by God) just as there is continuity between the grain of wheat sown in the earth and the full-grown wheat a few months later. We get a clear picture of this sense of transformation and continuity in another letter, where Paul describes the meaning of a spiritual body: But our commonwealth is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power which enables him even to subject all things to himself ( Phil. 3: 20, 21, italics added). This is the clue: the body of "humiliation" will be refashioned, remodeled, by the power of God. There will be continuity in spite of transformation.: my body will be refashioned, but it will still be my body, still myself. God is concerned with the whole of the created order, the physical as well as everything else. It is not junked by God as unimportant and worthless; it is transformed by him for his own purposes, so that it may be a more worthy vehicle for the doing of his will. The analogy of the grain of wheat is about as far as Paul can "spell out" the idea of the resurrection body. In the last analysis it is something about which one can only offer an inspired guess. The matter remains beyond full human comprehension: "Lol I tell you a mystery" ( I Cor. 15: 51). The main fact for Paul is not the chemical composition of a spiritual body; the main fact is that God, in his own way and fashion, will remold and reshape us, so that we may continue to live in constant fellowship with him, doing his will and offering him praise. At the end of the chapter, giving up the attempt to give detailed answers to questions no man can answer, Paul puts the ultimate Christian assertion very clearly: "Death is swallowed up in victory." "O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ ( I Cor. 15: 55-57). God conquers death God gives us the power to conquer The Only Real "Answer" A Question You Can't Avoid Some Current Answers -- a Dime a Dozen The First Part of the Biblical Answer What Is the "Image of God"? Some Consequences The Second Part of the Biblical Answer What Sin Is Supplying Some Documentation What Sin Is Not Getting Straightened Out How Can I Be Changed? The Third Part of the Biblical Answer The First Step After the First Step The Heart of the Matter Not Once and for All Some Hints for Growing -- Tried and Tested A Final Warning Why Isn't "Individual Religion" Enough? The Case Against the Church -a Bagful of Objections When Did the Church Get Started? Just What Is a "Covenant"? The "New Covenant" Becomes a Possibility Those Words of Jesus to Peter Those "Upsetters of the World" A Rebuttal of the Case Against the Church Why the Church? Last Judgment? Second Coming? What Do They Mean? The Inescapability of Eschatology The Point of Biblical Eschatology: History Is Going Somewhere The Dangers of Literalism Exploring New Testament Eschatology The Kingdom of God A Few Bits of Help The Gift of God Schatology and "What I Do Today" What Happens When I Die? Sheol -- Where God Is Not Present The Community of the Resurrection Paul's Attempt to Describe the Christian Fact A "Spiritual Body" The Facts of the Case I Try to Live a Good Life. Why Isn't That Enough? The "Micah" Variation The "Worship and Action" Variation The "Therefore" Variation The Biblical faith that God is the Creator