Greetings! Welcome back to our study of the Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Dead. This is the fifth post in our study on the Resurrection of the Dead. In the last two posts, we have been looking at what the apostle Paul had to say about the Resurrection of the Dead. This post is the continuation of the apostle Paul’s teaching on the subject.

THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD

Fifth in a Five-Part Series
By Karen Thompson

PAUL’S TEACHING ON THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD

Erroneous Ritual: Baptized for the Dead

29 Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them?

Paul continued preaching about the resurrection of the dead. He asked the Corinthian believers, “If there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them?” If you’re scratching your head right now, wondering why someone would be baptized for the dead, you’re not alone. From this verse, we get a glimpse of how even the early church had to deal with erroneous teaching. It appears the Corinthian believers participated in a ritual where they would be baptized for someone who had already died.

Paul casually mentions this ritual, using it as a teaching tool. Commentaries agree that the ritual of “being baptized for the dead” is simply one of the erroneous doctrines practiced by the Corinthian believers. There is no other place in Scripture that mentions this ritual. Commentators agree that Paul being aware of this practice was simply using it to make a point, not to endorse a false ritual.

Baptism in water is an important Christian ritual. We are told the purpose of water baptism in Colossians 2:12: “Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.” The act of being baptized in water symbolizes our new life in Christ. Being immersed in water symbolizes our being buried with Him. Being raised out of the water symbolizes our being raised together with Him. Water baptism is one of the first ways we testify of our new life in Christ. It’s our testimony of faith in Him. It’s personal, something only you can do. Nobody can be baptized for you. That’s why people being baptized for the dead makes no sense. But Paul didn’t bring it up to correct them. He was trying to point out that being baptized is a symbol for being resurrected from the dead. If they didn’t believe in the resurrection of the dead, why were they participating in this ritual? It made no sense as it was contradictory: they said they didn’t believe in the resurrection, yet they were participating in a ritual that symbolized the resurrection!

If There Is No Resurrection, Why Are We Doing This?

30 And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? 31 I face death every day—yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord. 32 If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” 33 Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” 34 Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame. (1 Cor. 15:30–34 NIV)

Paul made his final pitch to the Corinthian believers about how pointless it was to preach the Gospel if there is no promise of the resurrection of the dead. In verses 30–32, he pointed out that preaching the Gospel has put his life in danger “every hour,” and that he faces death daily. What would be the point of putting his life in danger fighting the wild beasts in Ephesus if there is no resurrection of the dead?

Indeed, Paul was not exaggerating when he said he put his life on the line daily. In 2^nd Corinthians, Paul listed all the hardships he’s faced in preaching the Gospel. He’d been whipped, put in prison, beaten with rods, stoned, shipwrecked, faced dangers in the water, faced robbers, went without sleep, was often thirsty, hungry, and cold. He’s had to deal with both angry Gentiles and angry countrymen. On top of all that, he’s had to deal with false brethren. He wasn’t safe in the cities or in the wilderness. (2 Cor. 11:22–29) Paul endured all this to preach the Gospel. If the dead are not raised, said Paul, then our attitude should be “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” Or in other words, “Let’s party!” If there is no resurrection, what would be the point?

His final exhortation to them was for them to come back to their senses and stop being ignorant about God. He ended it with, “I say this to your shame.”

How God Designed His Creation to Reproduce

35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” 36 How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38 But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. (1 Cor. 15:35–38 NIV)

In the next portion of scripture, Paul continued his discussion about the resurrection of the dead. He posed a hypothetical question: “But someone will ask, ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?’” (v. 35). Which is to say, “What kind of bodies will the dead have in the resurrection?” Paul’s rebuke was strong: “How foolish!” He called the question foolish because the answer to the question was all around, displayed in nature. He used nature to illustrate the concept of resurrection. Referring to a grain of wheat, he said, “What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body” (vv. 36–38).

If you want a crop of wheat, you don’t plant in the soil an actual wheat plant. You plant the seed. But the wheat seed will not come to life unless it first dies. This is the way it is with all seeds.

Paul said, “God gives it a body as he has determined” (v. 38). What exactly did God “determine”? His determination, or solution, was to design a creation that recreates itself! You’ve heard the age-old question: What came first, the chicken or the egg? According to the Word here in 1^st Corinthians, the chicken came first. God created within the chicken the ability to reproduce itself. It’s genius! His design was that every created thing, be it plant, animal, or human, would reproduce itself. Plants, animals, and humans all have seeds with which to reproduce themselves.

Remember, Paul was answering their question: “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” They wanted to know what kind of bodies they will have in the resurrection. God made it so that the seed will determine what kind of plant will grow. If the seed came from a wheat plant, a wheat plant will grow from it. If the seed came from an apple tree, an apple tree will grow from it. It’s that way with every seed, every time it’s planted. People would think you’re crazy if you planted a wheat seed but expected it to produce corn. What Paul was saying is that your human body will come back as a human body. Your resurrected body will have two legs, two arms, a torso, a face, hair, eyes like you have now.

In the same way you would not expect corn to grow when you planted a seed of wheat, the dead will not come back as an animal, a reptile, a bird, or even an insect. In the resurrection of the dead, all human beings will be resurrected as a human being. This is how God designed the world in which we live.

Guess what else we can conclude from this? We can conclude there is no such thing as reincarnation—the belief that upon death, your soul comes back to earth in the form of another body or form. There are those in the world that believe when a person dies, that the part of you that is a non-physical essence is reborn as something different. How well you lived your life determines whether you come back as an insect, an animal, or another human. But from this portion of scripture, we can determine that, that is not how God designed His creation to operate.

The Splendor of Earthly and Heavenly Bodies

39 Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. 40 There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. 41 The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor. 42 So will it be with the Resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man. 50 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. (1 Cor. 15:39–50 NIV)

In the next portion of scripture, Paul began to talk about the difference between natural and heavenly bodies. He began by comparing natural fleshly bodies: “Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another” (v. 39). He made an obvious statement: there are different kinds of bodies in God’s creation. He names all the categories of earthly bodies: humans, animals, birds, and fish. They all have a different kind of body of flesh, different in appearance.

Then Paul talked about the different kinds of heavenly bodies compared to earthly bodies: “There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor” (vv. 39–41). Then Paul pointed out that heavenly bodies have a different splendor than earthly bodies. The heavenly bodies he described as the sun, moon, and stars. He says the splendor, or appearance, of the heavenly bodies is different compared to the splendor, or appearance, of earthly bodies.

Paul used the comparison between the appearance of the heavenly bodies and the appearance of the earthly bodies with regard to the resurrection of the dead. He said, “So will it be with the resurrection of the dead” (v. 42). In the resurrection of the dead, the earthly body is sown but it is raised up a heavenly body. Then he listed the differences between the earthly body before resurrection and the heavenly body after resurrection. It is sown perishable, but it is raised up imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, but it is raised up in glory. It is sown in weakness, but it is raised up in power. It is sown a natural body, but it is raised up a spiritual body.

In verse 50, Paul explained the difference between a natural body versus a spiritual body: “I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.” Our earthly flesh- and-blood bodies cannot inherit the kingdom of God, because our earthly flesh- and-blood bodies are perishable. But in the resurrection of the dead, the dead will be raised up with bodies that are imperishable!

In Philippians 3:20–21, Paul talked about our new bodies in the kingdom of God: “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.” What makes us able to become actual citizens in heaven is that our natural, earthly bodies will be transformed into bodies like His, a glorious body.

After His resurrection, Jesus described to His followers His new resurrected body: “Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have” (Luke 24:39 NKJV). Jesus explained that He wasn’t just a spirit. He had a body they could touch, a body made of flesh and bones. He told them to “handle Me.” If He was simply a spirit, they would not have been able to touch Him. That’s the kind of body we will receive in the resurrection of the dead.

Also, in verse 50, we see an important difference between our natural earthly bodies and our heavenly resurrected bodies. Paul described our natural, earthly bodies as being “flesh and blood.” But Jesus described His new heavenly body as “flesh and bone,” not flesh and blood. Jesus could do many astonishing things in His resurrected body that He could not do in His earthly body.

A Mystery: We Shall Not All Sleep…

51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. (1 Cor. 15:51–53 NIV)

Then Paul told them a mystery—a mind-blowing secret! Up to this point, Paul had been talking about what will happen to believers who had died, how they will be raised up with bodies that will not perish. Now he’s about to blow their minds. He tells them, “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed” (v. 51). He said “We will not all sleep,” meaning we will not all die, but “we will all be changed.” He’s saying that at the appointed time when the resurrection of the dead takes place, those believers that are still alive will not be left out of this event. The believers still alive will be physically changed, and just like the dead, they too will receive bodies that will not perish!

He told them this change would happen very quickly: “in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed” (v. 52). On the appointed day of the resurrection of the dead, what happens to the bodies of the dead will also happen to those that are still living. In verse 53, Paul explained in plain English what he meant when he said “we will all be changed”: “For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.” Their once mortal, perishable bodies will be instantly transformed into bodies that are immortal, that will never perish! And in case you need clarification, the word imperishable means “not subject to decay, indestructible, enduring.” ²

This is shocking. Immortal bodies? For all of mankind’s history, death has been part of our existence. We expect it. It’s inevitable. We say it’s a natural part of life. And to hear that we will one day have a body that is immortal sounds like a fantasy. It sounds like a sci-fi movie. But that was the Father’s original plan for mankind—before the fall. And that is what Paul meant when he said, “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”

Death Has Been Swallowed Up in Victory

54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” 55 “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. (1 Cor. 15:54–58 NIV)

At the end of his teaching, Paul gave a victory shout. The shout of victory is due to the end to death. In verses 54–55, Paul declared what will happen once the resurrection of the dead takes place: “When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’”

Verse 56 says, “The sting of death is sin.” Indeed, Adam’s sin brought forth the sting of death. Not just to himself but for all of mankind. The sting of death wouldn’t end until Jesus Christ, the last Adam, would end it with the sacrifice of His own life on the cross. That’s why Paul ended the chapter by saying, “But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”

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