  |
Paul's letters, the earliest Christian documents, record the same belief. In the very first of them to be preserved, he is at special pains to point out that those who have died are not cut off from participating in the coming victory of God over the powers of evil ( I Thess. 4: 13-18). But Paul's fullest discussion takes place in his answer to the Greeks, who thought the idea of the resurrection of the body was absurd. They wanted a "spiritual" salvation. All that the "body" stood for in their eyes was a limitation, a hindrance. It is to these people that Paul writes in I Cor., ch. 15.
The chapter is not easy reading, but Paul is not dealing with an easy subject. There is no "simple" answer to such questions as: "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?" ( I Cor. 15: 35). e's answer is an analogy from nature. He reminds his skeptical readers that when they sow grain, it must first "die" if it is to burst forth in newness of life. The "body" that the unplanted seed has is very different from the "body" that the full-grown wheat has, and yet there is continuity between them. The seed is "raised" in a transformed fashion. What is reaped is different from what is sown, and yet it comes from what is sown.
Now the same kind of thing is true, Paul goes on, with regard to the resurrection from the dead. We are "sown" a physical body, he says, but we are "raised" a spiritual body. He makes this clear in a series of contrasts:
What is sown is perishable, what is raised is 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 physical body, it is raised a spiritual body.
(I Cor. 15: 42-44)
 More Articles |
|
Sitemaps, RSS Feeds & Social Networks
|
|||||||
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
