How Are The Dead Raised Up? – 1 Corinthians 15

I Corinthians 15 is a discussion by the apostle Paul concerning various aspects of the resurrection.

After opening with the argument that the resurrection of Christ establishes the validity of the gospel (vs. 1-19), he goes on to make several additional points concerning the resurrection. Vs. 20-22 indicate the resurrection of ecclesial members is as certain as Christ’s. V. 23 states there is an appropriate order of resur­rection – Christ first, ecclesial members later. Then he comes to the point we feel we often misread.

“But some will say” v.35

Some were asking the question, “How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?” In other words, what nature does the body possess when it comes from the grave?

To the apostle, that was a foolish question which reflected spiritual immaturity. “Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die.” Is Paul saying that the foolishness was in not realizing that before a body is to be given life it must die? That can hardly be the case because those faithful who are alive when Christ comes will never die – “we shall not all sleep” v.51.

Doesn’t it seem more likely that the apostle is saying there is a more important issue than the nature of the raised body. The more important matter concerns the process by which one is transformed from a natural, dying condition to that of being “born of the spirit” which culminates in immortality?

He later states the point clearly: unregenerated human beings (“flesh and blood” v.50) cannot be associated with the glory of an incorruptible God in the kingdom age. True, a great physical change will take place when mortality will be clothed with immortality, when death and the grave will no longer be victorious. This will be the ultimate victory accomplished through Jesus Christ, but how will it have been won?

“Except it die” v.36

The answer is to be found in the analogy of the seed that is placed into the ground. Nature tells us that the emergence of new life can only come about after the original has passed away. When raising a crop of grain, one does not harvest the seed that was planted, for it has produced a plant and no longer exists.

This same need for a change exists prior to one’s attaining incorrup­tion, “So also is the resurrection of the dead” (v.42). Of what then does the change consist? Is Paul speaking only of the physical change that is involved with the granting of immor­tality or is he speaking of the change in character that is a prerequisite to the physical change?

The Greek for “resurrection” is anastasis and literally means “a resurrection from death” (Strong’s). But when used in a figurative sense, the word indicates “a (moral) recovery” (Strong’s). In this context, Paul is certainly using figures of speech to convey his point. We thus need to carefully consider the possibility that the apostle not only has in mind the physical aspects of resurrection but also the recovery, the standing up, the moral change in those who at one time had been “dead in trespasses and sins.” Taken in this way, “the resurrection of the dead” is seen to be a process, not a one-time act.

The renewing of the inner man, being raised or elevated from a state of trespass and certain death, of being without hope, is a process that commences when one steps from the waters of baptism. The process of regeneration will be completed when, at the return of Christ, we shall be elevated to a state of immortality.

The Greek word used for “raised” in vs. 35,42,43,44 and 52 is egeiro and alludes to a long-term process in such passages as Luke 1:69;21:10; Acts 13:22,23, etc. Note particularly Luke 1:69 where Christ is “raised up a horn of salvation.” This was a process that took some 33 years on the part of Christ – a lifetime. So, too, with us: we have spent lifetimes suppressing the natural and endeavoring to elevate the spiritual. This process will be completed when, by God’s grace, we are clothed with immortality.

“Sown in corruption…” vs.42-44

The process of spiritual regeneration is here described in more detail.

Note that the apostle is not using “corruption” here of the ground in which a seed is sown. He is using it to describe the condition of the seed at the beginning of its developmental process. Thus he is not speaking here of a dead body placed into the ground that emerges in an immortal state at the return of Christ. Instead, he is saying that the “natural body” with its corruption, with its fleshly thinking and natural tendencies, is the starting point in the regeneration process.

This can more easily be seen when one examines the contrasting conditions outlined by Paul: the seed starts off in a condition described as, “corruption…dishonor…weakness…a natural body.” It ends up in a condition described as, “incorruption… glory…power…a spiritual body.” The initial state of the believer – corruption, dishonor, weakness – must die. Unless this old man is put off, there can be no regeneration to incorruption, no partaking of the power and glory of the Father, no attaining to the spiritual condition shared by the Father and His Son.

In summary, Paul puts aside the question of the physical problems of resurrection by pointing to the power and diversity of God (vs. 39-41) but concentrates on the bigger issue facing the brethren. Before we can experience any change in our physical nature, there has to be a change in our moral condition. No physical change will come to those who are content to pursue the ways of the natural body. It will only come to those who pursue the things of the spirit. The spiritual regeneration involves putting to death the old man. Only if there is some moral transformation or recovery in a person can he hope, by God’s grace, to be clothed with incorruptibility and glory.

It is more important, says Paul, to understand this process than to be concerned with the state of the body when it comes forth from the grave. Thus the apostle turns a technical discourse on the mechanics of the resurrection (which we could not comprehend anyway) into a powerful exhortation to “be stedfast, un­moveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.”