The Resurrected Body
But someone may ask, “How will the dead be raised? What kind of bodies will they have?” What a foolish question! When you put a seed into the ground, it doesn’t grow into a plant unless it dies first. And what you put in the ground is not the plant that will grow, but only a bare seed of wheat or whatever you are planting. Then God gives it the new body he wants it to have. A different plant grows from each kind of seed. Similarly there are different kinds of flesh—one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.
There are also bodies in the heavens and bodies on the earth. The glory of the heavenly bodies is different from the glory of the earthly bodies. The sun has one kind of glory, while the moon and stars each have another kind. And even the stars differ from each other in their glory. It is the same way with the resurrection of the dead. Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever. Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in power. They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies.
Notes on the Scripture
It is easy to imagine just how many different ideas and problems people could come up with, about what our bodies will be like when we are resurrected. Paul is clearly responding to such questions or discussion in the church at Corinth.
His response is elegant and sensible. Our spiritual bodies are not necessarily identical to our earthly bodies. The perishable body we have during our earthly life is compared to a seed; it is planted, and God gives the resulting plant a body "as He has determined". The one thing we can be sure of is that our resurrected bodies will be something greater than our earthly bodies. They will be imperishable, for one thing, and raised in glory and power, something better than the sinful and weak form that God has given us for our earthly journey. In the Bible it says in the beginning that we are made in His image and later it says, ‘’’And we shall be like Him’’’. But again no one can really say what we will be like until we get there!! That should be are focus, running the race with our eyes focused on the finish line. So let us dream and share with others about the resurrection and differences of our bodies now and when we arrive. However let us not quarrel and fight about how our bodies will look like in heaven.
Just have fun sharing because each one of us as our own ideals.
Amen
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