Spiritual Bodies - 1 Corinthians 15:35-49

Our human brains are limited in their ability to understand spiritual matters and the amazing work and power of God.
The Corinthians struggled to see how, as Christians, our bodies will also be raised from the dead.
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1 Corinthians 15:35-49

³⁵ But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” ³⁶ You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. ³⁷ And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. ³⁸ But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. ³⁹ For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. ⁴⁰ There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. ⁴¹ There 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.

⁴² So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is 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 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. ⁴⁶ But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. ⁴⁷ The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. ⁴⁸ As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. ⁴⁹ Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
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In this section, Paul addresses the Corinthians' questions about the resurrection of the dead. He begins by asking, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?" Paul then goes on to explain that the resurrection body will be different from our earthly body. Paul isn’t saying that the current bodies lying in cemeteries will be reconstructed together. But what about those that have been cremated or whose physical bodies have been destroyed or maimed? No, Pauls tells us that our bodies will be a spiritual body when resurrected, not a physical body. It will be imperishable, glorious, powerful, and heavenly. We will no longer have a physical body that is subject to decay, pain, loss, and suffering.
 
Paul's teaching on the resurrection is important because it gives us hope for the future. It assures us that even though we will die, we will not be destroyed. Because of Jesus Christ, we will be raised again into a new life. This hope should motivate us to live holy lives in the present

When we face difficult times, we can remember that our hope is not in this world, but in the world to come. We can look forward to the day when we will be raised to a new life in Christ.  This is why it is said that faith is a gift from God. Faith is the ability to believe in something that we cannot see or understand. It is the ability to trust in God even when we don't have all the answers. Let us be encouraged by the hope that we have in Christ Jesus. Allow the Holy Spirit to fill you and use your physical body for the glory of God while here on this earth.