The Daily Word of Righteousness

First Corinthians, Fifteen, #18

And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain: (I Corinthians 15:37)

If this verse meant that our present body is not going to be raised from the dead, then it would be denying all Paul had said previously.

When a seed is sown, that which germinates and grows is not separate from the seed. It comes from the seed. The seed does not remain in the ground but is part of the stalk that comes to maturity.

Perhaps the greatest miracle of nature is the seed. How a great oak tree can come from a tiny seed passes human comprehension. How a human being can come from a seed is an even greater miracle. The mature organism is a revelation of what was present in the seed.

Our present body is to be sown to the death of the cross. When it comes forth from the grave it will reveal what was present in the seed. If our body has been sown in righteousness, then mature righteousness will result. If our body was sown in the works of the flesh, then corruption will result. We shall reap what we sow.

Our body will not be left in the ground. It will be contained in the mature stalk.

Our inner spiritual nature was born of the Divine Seed. It has the potential for bringing forth a creation in the image of the Father, but it must be tended properly.

The Ark of the Covenant was covered within and without with refined gold. So it is true that our personality must have the gold of Divinity on the inside and the outside.

And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about. (Exodus 25:11)

In the present hour our body is dead, cut off from the Life of God because of the sin that resides in it. Our physical body will be adopted by the Lord. It will be made alive by the Holy Spirit who is dwelling in us provided we permit the Spirit to govern our conduct. Our resurrected personality, including our body, will reflect the manner in which we have permitted the Life of God to dominate our thinking, attitudes, motivations, words, and actions.

This is why we do not "eat, drink, and be merry." This is why we endure every hardship, ignoring the pain as we look steadfastly toward the day when Christ and we are revealed in glory.

But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body. All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. (I Corinthians 15:38-41)

It would appear from what Paul is teaching here that the resurrected human body, clothing as it will a resurrected inner spiritual nature, will have a different kind of "glory" than is true of the present mortal physical body.

Paul seems to be implying also that there will be variety among the resurrected bodies.

To be continued.