Daily Devotional | Resurrection Bodies

When I was a professor, I sometimes assured my students that there were no stupid questions. I did find, however, that there are other kinds. Some questions are annoying. Others are disingenuous. Many are ill-informed. In verse 35, Paul raises two questions posed by some of the Corinthians that he calls foolish: “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” To modern readers, these questions seem reasonable. Why would Paul call them foolish?

Paul deemed such questions to be foolish because they cast doubt on God’s power and ability. The evidence for what God can do is found in what God has already done. In verses 38–44, the apostle focuses on several analogies that point to creation for evidence that bodily resurrection is possible. How are the dead raised? They are raised by God’s power. Just as the first bodies were God’s creation, the resurrected body will be a new creation. What kind of body will it be? The resurrection body will be incorruptible. The form of the plant is unlike the seed from which it springs (v. 37). God designed animals, birds, and fish, each with a body “as he has determined” (vv. 38–39; compare with Gen. 1:21). He also made the heavenly bodies different from one another. A star differs from a planet, and a comet from a star. Even those celestial bodies that are similar do not all shine with the same splendor (vv. 40–41).

Those who are in Christ will have what Paul describes as “a spiritual body” (v. 44). He does not mean that it is immaterial. Instead, it will be a body created after the fashion of “the last Adam, a life-giving spirit” (v. 45). We do not need to have all our questions answered. It is enough to know that the believer’s destiny is to be like Christ (1 John 3:2).