Twin City church of Christ Blog
“May 20, 2024 - A New Body”
Categories: 2024 Reading DevotionalsA New Body
Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:35-49
Having established the need for a resurrection, Paul now answers some questions from the skeptics about how precisely the resurrection will work. “But someone will ask, ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?’”(1 Cor 15:35). First, he explains that resurrection is not outside human experience. “What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body”(1 Cor 15:36-38). When we sow seeds, they “die,” yet emerge more impressive, more glorious, and with a different body. This is a kind of resurrection, along with a God-given body equipped for new life.
Paul wants us to embrace this contrast in anticipation of the resurrection. “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 natural body; it is raised a spiritual body”(1 Cor 15:42-44). Death is not to be feared; it is the gateway to resurrection and greater glory. Our present existence is marred by the curse of sin and its accompanying death, dishonor, and weakness. The resurrection will see us emerge with far more glory in a different type of body. In another place, Paul explains that Jesus “will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself”(Phil 3:21). We will be raised and given a new body.
Of course we long for details about that new body. Will we look like we do now? Will we need to eat or sleep? We only have experience in this body and it is hard to imagine a new body. While Paul does not answer all of our questions, he gives essential encouragement: I may die, but I will live again. And because of Jesus’ resurrection, that new life will far surpass what I now know.
-----------
One Thing to Think About: Why do we find the idea of a new body appealing?
One Thing to Pray For: Confidence in Jesus’ power, even though I don’t fully understand
