If you have your Bibles with you, would you open them up to 1 Corinthians chapter 15?
We've been working through this chapter.
Paul has been talking about resurrection.
He's been talking about the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
He's been talking about the resurrection of those who belong to the Lord Jesus in the future,
the day when they will be raised from the dead.
Last Sunday, we heard about how some have been kind of challenging the idea of resurrection.
Well, how is that even possible?
What kind of body will we have at the resurrection?
And Paul has been giving his answer to those objections.
He has said very clearly that we will be given a new body at the resurrection.
The body that goes into the ground will not be the same as the body that comes out of the ground.
God will give each of us a body according to his good plan and design,
just as he has done at the beginning for us and for every creature that he has made.
We heard last Sunday about some of the big differences between the body that we have now
and the body that we will have at the resurrection.
The body that we have now is perishable.
But the body that we will be given to us at the resurrection will be imperishable.
The body that we have now is a body characterized by dishonor.
That we die is evidence and consequence of having lived a dishonorable life.
But the body that we will be given at the resurrection will be a glorious body.
The body that we have now is a body characterized by weakness, frailty.
But the body that we will receive from the Lord when he comes is a body that will be described with power.
And now today, this morning, we come to verse 44.
Paul says,
It is sown a natural body.
It is raised a spiritual body.
I'm going to read from 44 down to verse 50.
Paul says,
It is sown a natural body.
It is raised a spiritual body.
If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
So it is written,
The first man, Adam, became a living being.
The last, Adam, a life-giving spirit.
The spiritual did not come first, but the natural.
And after that, the spiritual.
The first man was of the dust of the earth.
The second man is of heaven.
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.
And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man,
so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.
I declare to you, brothers and sisters,
that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God,
nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
The question that we're going to be focused on today
is what does Paul mean when he says that it is sown a natural body,
it is raised a spiritual body.
What does that mean?
There's been a lot of discussion throughout the centuries
on these very words throughout church history.
And many have, some have come anyway to the reading
that natural versus spiritual
means essentially physical versus non-physical.
that our bodies will be, that we have now are material bodies,
but the bodies that we will have at the resurrection
will be immaterial.
Along with that idea,
many have kind of come to this line of thinking
that heaven is kind of this spiritual realm
where when we die,
our bodies, our souls, our spirits
will depart from our bodies
and we'll go to the spiritual realm of heaven
where we will kind of be
in kind of a cloud of spirits before the Lord
in a never-ending worship service
for the rest of eternity.
And I think part of the reason for that
is owing to this idea
that some have taken from this passage
that natural versus spiritual
is really pointing to physical versus non-physical.
And I think this is partly how we come to understand it
just simply because of the word spiritual.
The way that that word is commonly used in our culture today,
it's to refer to things that are non-tangible,
things that you can't detect or observe with your senses,
things that you can't detect with scientific instruments.
That's what we typically mean
when we use the word spiritual.
But I and others don't think
that that's what Paul is referring to here.
And I'm going to explain why in a moment here.
But there's some implications to this.
There was a whole,
throughout the centuries,
there have been philosophies
that have said things like,
our bodies are evil.
And the spirit or the soul inside of us
is what's pure.
Our bodies are the thing
that are holding us back from our full potential.
Our bodies, they're like a prison.
And when we die,
our soul, our spirit will be set free.
Our bodies are evil.
And they're actually the thing that causes us to sin.
These are some of the ideas
that have been expressed throughout the centuries
and are still held in some places today
about the human body.
And if we're not careful,
how we interpret this
can lead us towards that kind of a view
of who we are as people,
of the human body.
But we must ask the question,
if Paul is setting up a contrast
between the physical and the non-physical,
then why do we even need a new body
in the first place?
If our future existence in heaven
is just to be in a cloud of spirits
for all eternity,
worshiping before the Lord,
why do we need a new body?
I would like to suggest this morning
that perhaps we have misread this passage.
It is sown a natural body.
It is raised a spiritual body.
I think the first clue is that word natural.
The word that Paul has chosen there
is the Greek word for soul
or life or person.
And he actually uses this word again
in the next verse.
He says,
So it is written,
the first man, Adam,
became a living being or soul.
That word is the same word as natural.
Paul points us back to the creation story
where Adam was formed from the dust
and God breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life
and it says he became a living soul
or a person or being.
And so I think that's the first clue
that natural doesn't just refer to physical.
Adam, Paul's referring to him
becoming a person,
becoming a living being,
the whole person.
And so that word that he uses there
is not limited to just the physical.
But I think the more telling clue
comes earlier in Paul's letter
to the Corinthians.
He's already introduced this idea
of natural versus spiritual.
Back in chapter 2, verse 14,
he says,
The natural person does not accept
the things that come from the Spirit of God,
but considers them foolishness
and cannot understand them
because they are discerned
only through the Spirit.
The spiritual person
makes judgments about all things.
My Bible actually goes one step further
in this translation
to kind of clarify,
well, what does that mean,
the natural person?
What is the natural person?
My Bible translates it
as the person without the Spirit.
And so there's another clue
that we get that
when Paul says natural,
probably what he's referring to
is not the physical,
but just the ordinary human level.
In this case,
the ordinary human being
doesn't accept
the things that come from the Spirit.
And so when we come back
to chapter 15,
what is the natural body?
It's the ordinary human body
that we all have.
It is sewn into the ground,
an ordinary human body,
just like we all have.
And then we come to the word spiritual.
What does Paul mean by that?
Some have believed
that it refers to the composition
of the body,
that the body is not made
of physical, material,
flesh, kind of flesh and blood
kind of thing,
but that it's going to be composed
of spiritual stuff,
for lack of a better term.
But if we go back to chapter 2,
we see how Paul uses
that word spiritual.
In verse 15, he says,
the spiritual person
makes judgments about all things.
The spiritual person
is the person who does accept
the things that come
from the Spirit of God.
In chapter 3, verse 1,
he says,
I could not address you
as spiritual,
but as people
who are still worldly.
The idea here,
the way that Paul uses this word
is not so much to refer
to spirituality in general,
as in a spiritual person
as a person who's religious.
the way he uses it
is with specific
kind of orientation
to the Holy Spirit.
A spiritual person
is a person
whose thoughts
and discernment
is guided by the Holy Spirit,
a person who accepts
the teaching
of the Holy Spirit.
My Bible in chapter 3,
the translation I have,
says,
I could not address you
as people who live
by the Spirit.
That's what a spiritual person is,
the way Paul describes it.
And so when we bring that back
into 1 Corinthians 15,
I think that leads us
to conclude
that Paul is not talking about
how our new bodies
will be
like metaphysically different,
some kind of spiritual stuff
as opposed to physical bodies,
but that our bodies
themselves
will be
the life that is in them
when we are raised
from the dead.
The power of life
in us
will be
coming from
the Holy Spirit
of God himself.
He will be
the life force
that works
and causes us
to thrive
and live
in our new bodies.
It is sown
a natural body.
It is raised
a spiritual body.
Paul goes on
from there
to talk about
how there are two men.
Verse 45,
so it is written,
the first man,
Adam,
became a living being,
the last Adam,
a life-giving spirit.
he sets up a contrast
between Adam,
the first man,
and Christ,
which he refers to
as the last Adam,
but there is a big difference
between these two men.
The first Adam,
he became
a living being
when God
breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life,
but the last man,
the last Adam,
Christ,
is not someone
who became
a living being
but someone
who gives life.
He is a life-giving spirit.
And I think Paul
brings that in
to underscore
his point.
When Jesus
comes back
at the resurrection,
we will be raised
from the dead
by the life-giving
power of Christ
and his spirit
at work in us.
He goes on
to contrast
the first Adam
and Christ,
the last Adam
in verse 47.
He says,
the first man
was of the dust
of the earth.
The second man
is of heaven.
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.
And just as we have
borne the image
of the earthly man,
so shall we bear
the image
of the heavenly man.
We all
bear
the image
of the natural man,
our great ancestor,
Adam.
We have bodies
like his
because he sinned,
he died,
and so do we.
But there's a difference
between the first Adam
and the last Adam.
The first Adam
comes from
the dust
of the earth,
but the last Adam,
Christ,
he comes
from heaven
and from glory.
Adam
made a decision
that affected us
all in the garden.
He brought sin
and death
into this world
on behalf
of all of us.
But there is
another Adam
who has done
something
on behalf
of all of us,
the Lord Jesus,
and he is
representative
of all
who belong
to him.
He is the one
by his
life-giving power
who enables us
to,
as it says
in verse 49,
have a future
where we shall
bear the image
of the heavenly man.
Just as surely
as we have
borne the image
of the earthly man,
we have a body
like his,
so also,
says Paul,
we,
those of us
who belong to Christ,
shall bear the image
of the heavenly man.
In other words,
we will come
to have
a body
like his.
And just to confirm
that we're thinking
down the right track
with Paul,
let's remember
what he said
to the Philippians.
He said in
Philippians 3,
verse 20,
but our citizenship
is in heaven
from where
we eagerly
await a Savior,
the Lord Jesus,
who by his power
will transform
our lowly bodies
so that they
will be like
his glorious body.
That's the hope
that we have.
We,
this,
will be made
like Christ's
glorious body
at the resurrection.
That's the difference
between the natural body
and the spiritual body.
Verse 50,
Paul says this,
I declare to you,
brothers and sisters,
that flesh and blood
cannot inherit
the kingdom of God,
nor does the perishable
inherit
the imperishable.
Paul comes again
to this point.
There is
a kingdom
of God
that is coming.
Jesus,
he's already told us,
is going to bring
that kingdom
in its fullness
to this earth
and it's a forever kingdom.
And this
flesh and blood
that we have right now
is not fit
to participate
in that forever kingdom.
This body
that we have now
is perishable.
it's not fit
for the imperishable
kingdom of God.
We have to be careful
here too.
Some have seen
in these words
flesh and blood.
Flesh and blood
cannot inherit
the kingdom of God
and have taken that
to say,
well,
see,
we won't have
physical bodies.
We'll have
spiritual bodies
or we'll be like
the angels.
We'll be spirits.
But Paul
has used this phrase
in other places,
flesh and blood,
just to refer
to humanity
in general.
It's been used
in the Old Testament
to refer to
just the frailty
of humanity.
And so what I think
he's saying here
is simply this.
The kingdom
that's coming
is forever.
It's glorious.
It's perfect.
But this flesh
and blood
is perishable.
This body
that I have
is subject
to decay.
It breaks down.
It wears out.
It dies.
It's not fit
for the kingdom
that Christ
will bring.
And so
I need
a radical
transformation
of this.
And that's
exactly
what Christ
is going to do
when he returns.
for all those
who belong to him.
He's going to
transform this.
And we're going to
hear more about that
next week
as Paul goes on
to talk about
the resurrection
moment
and what will happen
in that moment.
But as we
draw to a
close this morning
I want to go to
one final passage.
Acts
sorry
Luke chapter 24
one thing
that has come
through clearly
from this passage
and from Philippians
is that
our bodies
will be like
Christ's
body.
Now I think
we have to be
careful here.
I don't think
we can press
this too far.
You know
we can look
at
what was
Jesus'
body like
after he was
raised from
the dead.
But I do
think we have
to be careful.
There are some
things that
Jesus did
after he was
raised from
the dead
that are
amazing.
Right here
in verse 36
it says
while he was
still
while they were
still talking
about this
he himself
stood among
them
and said
to them
peace be
with you.
He just
kind of
appeared
in the
room
it seems.
Some
have
even
thought
based on
that
that oh
in our
resurrection
bodies
maybe we'll
have the
ability to
teleport
or to
walk
through
walls.
I think
that that
kind of
thinking
is fit
for the
realm of
speculation
and imagination
and that we
need to be
careful to draw
lines of
connection like
that.
But one
thing that I
think we
can be
confident of
from this
passage is
that the
new body
that we
will receive
will be
a physical
body.
Let's
just read
this quickly
and see
if you
see that
here.
Verse
36
While
they were
still
talking
about
this
Jesus
himself
stood
among
them
and said
to them
peace
be with
you.
They
were
startled
and
frightened
thinking
they saw
a ghost.
He
said
to them
why
are you
troubled
and why
do
doubts
rise
in your
minds?
Look
at me
look
at my
hands
and my
feet
it is
I
myself
touch
me
and
see
a ghost
does not
have
flesh
and bones
as you
see
I
have.
When
he had
said
this
he
showed
them
his
hands
and
his
feet
and
while
they
still
did
not
believe
it
because
of
joy
and
amazement
he
asked
them
do you
have
anything
here
to
eat?
they
gave
him
a
piece
of
broiled
fish
and
he
took
it
and
ate
it
in
their
presence
he
said
to
them
this
is
what
I
told
you
while
I
was
still
with
you
verse
46
the
Messiah
will
suffer
and
rise
from
the
dead
on
the
third
day
Jesus
had
a
physical
body
and
he
seemed
to
take
great
pains
to
communicate
that
to
his
disciples
look
at
my
hands
look
at
my
feet
touch
me
and
see
we
can
embrace
one
another
you're
not
just
going
to
pass
right
through
me
I'm
not
a
ghost
I'm
not
a
spirit
the
word
is
the
same
word
for
spirit
as
for
ghost
in
the
original
language
a
ghost
doesn't
have
flesh
and
bones
as
you
see
I
have
what
you
see
in
front
of
you
and
with
you
this
is
what
I
told
you
was
going
to
happen
the
Messiah
will
suffer
and
rise
from
the
dead
this
is
the
resurrection
of the
dead
right
here
I'm
with
you
I
have
a
physical
body
and
if
there's
any
last
doubts
do
you
guys
have
anything
to
eat
I
got
teeth
that
can
chew
this
body
is
real
and
I
think
that
we
should
carry
what
Jesus
says
and
teaches
to
his
disciples
back
over
into
our
reading
of
what
Paul
says
in
Corinthians
it
is
sown
a
natural
body
it
is
raised
a
spiritual
body
it
doesn't
mean
that
we
won't
have
physical
bodies
we
will
heaven
is
not
just
going
to
be
those
of
us
who
belong
to
Christ
are
disembodied
spirits
floating
in a
spiritual
cloud
in a
never
ending
worship
service
God
when
he
made
us
at
the
beginning
he
gave
us
bodies
for
a
reason
they
were
part
of
his
good
and
perfect
design
and
even
though
there
are
some
who
have
pointed
to
the
bodies
and
said
they're
evil
they have
problems
God
said
when he
first
made us
that
it
was
good
even
before
sin
entered
the
world
to
have
a
body
is
part
of
what
it
means
to
be
human
Paul
talks
in
his
letter
to
the
Corinthians
his
second
letter
and
talks
about
how
to
not
have
a
body
to
be
in
that
temporary
state
where
after
we
die
and
go
to
heaven
we're
with
the
Lord
Jesus
before
the
resurrection
is like
being
naked
it's like
being
unclothed
and we
long to
get back
into
our
clothing
we were
created
to have
a body
right from
the beginning
to be a
beautiful
mixture
and unity
of
physical
flesh
and blood
and bone
but also
a spirit
and a soul
integrated
into one
and it's
amazing
how
connected
they
are
what we
think
up here
if we
get
too much
into
anxious
thoughts
affects
even
our
bodies
we have
physical
symptoms
of
anxiety
and what
we
experience
in the
world
that we
live
in
with
our
bodies
shapes
who
we
are
in
here
at
the
deepest
levels
in
our
soul
that's
the way
God
made us
as human
beings
a beautiful
unity
of
physical
and
spiritual
or soul
God
gave us
an amazing
body
he gave
us ears
with which
to hear
the beautiful
sounds
and music
he gave
us eyes
to see
the beautiful
sunsets
on the
prairies
he gave
us
these
little
hairs
on our
arms
so that
we could
feel
the breeze
he gave
us
noses
so that
we could
smell
sweet
fragrances
he gave
us
hands
so that
we could
touch
and feel
and take
in the
world
that he
created
us
to live
in
so that
we could
truly
know
things
and
people
that's
a part
of what
it means
to be
human
and the
resurrection
body
that we
will have
will be
this
perfected
it won't
be less
it will
be more
all of
those
senses
and capacities
and abilities
perfected
so that
we can
enjoy God
and enjoy
one another
and enjoy
the world
that he
is going
to create
a new
for us
forever
and all
to his
glory
I don't
want to say
too much
about this
this morning
this is a
whole nother
topic
but
if
God is
going to
give us
a new
and better
body
then
doesn't
it also
follow
that
we're
going to
need it
for
a new
earth
to walk
on
to take
in with
our
senses
a renewed
creation
Paul talks
about this
a little
bit in his
letter to
the Romans
how the
creation
waits in
eager
expectation
for the
children
of God
to be
revealed
because it
was subjected
in frustration
and it
waits for
the day
when it
will be
liberated
from its
bondage
to decay
and brought
into the
freedom
and glory
of the
children
of God
we're not
just looking
forward to
a new
body
but a
new
world
to live
in
heaven
is not
just
some
spiritual
realm
up there
that we're
hoping to
go into
and live
in
this
vapor
like
spiritual
cloud
the
message
of
Christ
the
message
of
the
apostles
is that
God
will
bring
heaven
to
earth
that's
what we
pray
may your
kingdom
come
where
on earth
as it
is in
heaven
as John
said in
revelation
and I
saw the
new
Jerusalem
coming
down
from
heaven
to
where
to
earth
to the
new
earth
that
God
will
make
new
and we
have
all of
this
to look
forward
to
a new
body
and a
new
world
a new
earth
to live
in
because
our
God
and
Savior
loves
us
dearly
and wants
to give
it to
us
as a
gift
as
undeserving
as we
are
isn't
that
amazing
let's
pray
Father
in
heaven
we
thank
you
for
your
word
we
thank
you
for
the
glorious
hope
that
we
have
we
long
for
the
day
when
these
bodies
which
are
winding
down
will
be
made
new
and
oh
will
we
praise
you
on
that
day
will
we
sing
on
that
day
when
we
come
out
of
our
graves
by
your
life
giving
power
Jesus
and
by
the
power
of
your
spirit
amen
turn