The Apostle does not explain them as redundant.mattrose wrote:I think that whole chapter is quite clearly referring to physical/bodily resurrection (again, I hesitate to even use the words 'physical/body' and 'resurrection' consecutively since it is somewhat redundant.
No argument here.mattrose wrote:15:1-11
Paul begins the chapter by saying that Christ was buried (obviously referring to his physical body). He then says Christ was raised 3 days later (again, obviously bodily). He appeared (obviously physically) to more than 500 people.
In verses 12-17mattrose wrote:15:12-34
Paul argues that the fact of Jesus (bodily) resurrection points to the future (bodily) resurrection of the dead (those who have fallen asleep). Since Adam, we all die physically. But through Christ, we may be raised in like manner. Christ's physical resurrection was that of a firstfruits, implying that our resurrection will be in like manner. This future resurrection will occur only after 'death' has been finally defeated.
Paul's argument is simple: If Christ was raised from, or out of (Greek, ek), the dead (as was preached and they believed), then how could some of them say that there is no resurrection of the dead ones? In other words, if there is no resurrection of the dead ones, then not even Christ has been raised, because He was a dead one. Therefore, the opposite thought to this is that if Christ, being a dead one, was raised, which they believed He was, then the dead ones can be raised.
If there is no resurrection of the dead ones, then logic follows that Christ, being a dead one, was also not raised. If this were the case, then their preaching was in vain, their faith was in vain, and they were still in their sins.
But the fact remains that they did believe that Christ was raised from the dead ones, so Paul's argument is strong. The questions that arise are, who are the dead ones that the Corinthians didn't believe would be raised and why did they not believe that they would be raised?
Since the context of Christ's resurrection is within the range of Paul's thought, it is necessary to recognize that the dead ones refers to Old Covenant saints, prior to the resurrection of Christ. There is no New Covenant dead ones prior to the resurrection of Christ. With the resurrection of Jesus Christ came the establishment of the New Covenant. Thus, any saints after the resurrection of Christ would be New Covenant saints. So the problem that the Corinthians had was with the resurrection of the Old Covenant dead ones. Christ, of course, died under the terms of the Old Covenant, and was raised in order to establish the New Covenant.
What was the issue regarding the Old Covenant saints that the Corinthians were struggling with? Paul was teaching the Law-free Gospel. The Corinthians understood this. The problem had to do with the mixing of the Law with the Gospel. If the Old Covenant saints lived by the Law, then how could they be resurrected in Christ? But Paul taught that apart from Israel, there is no resurrection. The Law-free Gospel was preached to Israel and many of them believed. The problem was not with trying to obey the Law, for that was commanded by God. The problem was with placing their hopes in the Law. In fact, if those who obeyed the Law, but lived by the Gospel could not be resurrected, then neither could Gentiles be resurrected because Christ came to redeem the house of Israel. The Gospel is to the Jew first, and then to the Gentile.
After explaining to the Corinthians that if the dead are not raised, then they are still in their sins, he goes on to comment about those that had fallen asleep in Christ.
18Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
19If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.
20But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.
21For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead.
22For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
23But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming,
Christ was the first fruits of those who were asleep. In Colossians 1:18, Paul puts it like this:
18He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.
Christ Jesus was not the first person to rise from the visible earthly grave. He was, however, the first to be raised out of the dead ones. This goes to show that the resurrection that Paul is concerned with is not the resurrection of the biological corpse. It is the invisible body/soul that Paul is concerned with.
But didn't Christ rise from the grave in His biological corpse? Yes He did. That was made clear in the first part of 1 Corinthians 15. If Paul is concerned here with the invisible body/soul and not with the biological corpse, then why did Christ resurrect biologically?
The answer rests with another question: How else would Jesus demonstrate to people in the visible earthly realm that He did what He said He would do, namely, rise from the dead ones? The only biological body that the Bible promises would not see decay was Christ's. Peter says of David, he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh suffer decay (Acts 2:31).
Jesus himself said to the pharisees' that no sign would be given except the sign of the prophet Jonah (Matthew 12:39-40). His resurrection of His body served as a sign of His resurrection from the dead.
Continuing on, in verse 18, the firstfruits that Paul talks about here is rooted in one of the feasts of Israel. The first crop of the barley harvest that was planted in the winter would begin to ripen in the spring. The firstfruits of the harvest is cut and in a carefully prescribed ceremony it is presented to the Lord. It consecrates the harvest.
Firstfruits represents the choicest of the choice. Once the first crop was ripe and was cut and presented to the LOrd, the rest would follow soon after. The rest of the barley or wheat did not take thousands of years to rise to ripeness. And in the next few verses Paul uses this feast to demonstrate the nearness of the end.
The Apostle Paul begins his explanation with the seed analogy. A seed does not come to life into the body that it is designed to become unless it dies. There is a process of simultaneous dying and rising of a seed before it reaches its full potential. The seed does not die first and then immediately become full blown wheat. While it is dying the wheat is rising. It isn't until the seed has died completely that the wheat has risen completely. This is the way the seed works.mattrose wrote:15:35-58
Paul clarifies the nature of the resurrection. He says specifically that there will be a transformation of the body. A perishable body will become an imperishable body. And so on and so forth. A body dominated by the flesh will become a body dominated by the Spirit. It could be no other way... corrupted humanity can't inherit the kingdom of God. There has to be transformation. Through Christ death will be once and for all defeated (never to occur again). Because of this future hope in (bodily) resurrection, our labor is not in vain.
Now each type of seed has its own body. If you have a bag of seeds of the same type, those seeds have one collective body type. Paul is using the singular collective to show that each seed type has a different body, and that each of the individual seeds has the body of its collective type.
Paul goes on in the next couple of verses to demonstrate that everything in the visible realm has its own type of body. In the seed analogy, he shows that one seed has a certain body, another seed has a different body. But each seed type has a unique body into which all the seeds of that type are raised. It is the same with different types of flesh:
39All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fish.
40There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another.
41There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.
Each type of flesh is unique. The collective flesh of man is different than the collective flesh of beasts, which is also different than the collective flesh of birds and so on. But men have only one type of flesh while beasts, birds, and fish also have one type of flesh resectively.
Likewise, there are different bodies on earth than there are in space, which is what Paul means by heavenly bodies; he does not mean the invisible realm. This is clear from the fact that verse 40 is placed between verses 39 and 41 where Paul is distinguishing between types of bodies on earth and types of bodies in space. He is simply continuing his reasoning that even bodies in space have unique bodies and are different than the bodies on earth. And the glory of the bodies on earth are different than the glory of the bodies in space. They are not the same. But the glory of the heavenly is one type and the glory of the earthly is of another type. And even the bodies in space differ from one another in glory. Each body has its own unique glory. The glory of the sun is different than the glory of the moon. And each of the stars, much like each of the seeds, has its own type of glory.
In each of these illustrations, Paul demonstrates that while there are different types of seeds, flesh, and bodies, each individual seed, flesh or heavenly body has the same type or glory as its collective whole. So it is with the resurrection of the dead. They share in the same body as those who die in Christ, namely, the body of Adam. There is only one body type for mankind. Man is a body, and each individual is in the same collective body as the first man, Adam. Thus, just as Adam was a body of sin, so all who are in Adam have the same body of sin. Therefore, the dead must be raised into the same body of Christ. If we take everything Paul has said here, at the beginning of his explanation of the resurrection, as one unit, we can understand his following dying and rising motif of one body of Adam of verses 42-49:
42So also is the resurrection of the dead It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body;
43it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;
44it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
45So also it is written, "The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A LIVING SOUL " The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
46However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual.
47The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven.
48As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly.
49Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.
