E. The Definition of Resurrection
1. The Body of Resurrection
1. Incorruption over Corruption
1. The Body of Resurrection
- But someone will say, How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?
- Foolish man, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies;
- And what you sow, you do not sow the body that will be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of some other of the rest.
- But God gives it a body even as He willed, and to each of the seeds its own body.
- All flesh is not the same flesh, but one is of men, and another flesh is of cattle, and another is of birds, and another is of fish.
- There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies; but the glory of the heavenly is one thing, and that of the earthly is another.
- There is another glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.
- So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption;
- It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;
- It is sown a soulish body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a soulish body, there is also a spiritual one.
- So also it is written, The first man, Adam, became a living soul; the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.
- But the spiritual is not first but the soulish, then the spiritual:
- The first man is out of the earth, earthy; the second man is out of heaven.
- As the earthy is, such are they also that are earthy; and as the heavenly is, such are they also that are heavenly.
- And even as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.
1. Incorruption over Corruption
- Now this I say, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither does corruption inherit incorruption.
- Behold, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,
- In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.
- For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
- And when this corruptible will put on incorruption and this mortal will put on immortality, then the word which is written will come to pass, Death has been swallowed up unto victory.
- Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?
- The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
- But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
- Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.