Bethel Baptist Church of Tillamook, OR
March 15, 2026
  • Christus Victor (Amen)
  • Resurrection Hymn
  • The Power Of The Cross

  • Introduction

    1. Two Questions re: the resurrection body, 15:35.

    There is in the first of two questions beginning with a word in Greek that was used to call an assumption into question or rejects that assumption altogether. Some in Corinth had accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection. However they were not sure of their own. Jesus was the unique God -man, but we are not.
    Maybe they felt He belong in a completely different category than you and I. Perhaps some viewed Christ’s resurrection not as an actual redemption and perfection of His human body, but as a “rising” of His spirit from the earth to heaven. Or perhaps they redefined the nature of Christ’s resurrection body to make it far more spiritual than physical.
    What they were doing is essentially denying and downplaying the reality of the resurrection for believers. This was creating confusion as some followed their ideas about the resurrection. So Paul addresses them to answer two of their nagging questions.
    How are the dead raised? How is that possible?
    Using the rhetoric of exclamation, if they are raised, what kind of body do they show up in? Their physical body?

    2. Sowing of a seed illustrates the answer to the questions, 15:36-44.

    The first question is dismissed by Paul with a sharp rebuke: “You fool!” If this is your question, you are without sense.
    When it comes to the miracle of the resurrection of the dead, asking how God is able to do something reveals either a lack of understanding or a complete absence of faith in God’s omnipotence God can do what He pleases. Jesus agrees,
    Matthew 19:26 NASB95
    And looking at them Jesus said to them, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
    The second question is more reasonable. We would want to know about the nature of our resurrected body. To help put the Corinthians (and our) questions to rest, Paul will use analogies and contrasts to help provide sufficient details, so we can look ahead with faith and hope as we believers look toward our own resurrected bodies.

    A. Three Analogies, vss. 36-41.

    1)Seed.
    Verses 36-38 presents the first word picture of what our future bodies will be like, using seeds. Paul does not deny a relationship between the corpse that has been buried and the body that will be raised. but it is not simply a reconstitution of the dead parts of the decomposed body, or mortal light resuscitated. The continuity between the mortal body and the resurrected body is real, just as the relationship between a seed and the plant that sprouts from the ground is real. Yet the plant does not appear until the body of the seed dies. This is the only place in Scripture where plant life is described as having a body; Paul deliberately uses this to make his illustration intelligible.
    The plant does not grow unless the seed dies first. The picture provides an analogy for a person’s body in its death and resurrection.
    The plant comes from the seed, yet the plant is different from the seed.
    The seed of a watermelon will not produce wheat. Watermelon seeds keep their identity and will produce watermelons.
    In the resurrection, you will still be you and I will still be me, only a better you and a better me. Christ Himself was buried on Friday and stepped forth from the tomb on Sunday morning. Was His resurrection body the same as the body that was buried? Yes and no. He was the same in personal identity, but completely different in physical quality. Jesus rose in His body, not in someone else’s. Jesus’ body that was buried was transformed into the body that was raised, not destroyed and replaced.
    2) Flesh.
    Verse 39 brings us Paul’s second analogy, flesh and its distinctiveness. In the observable world, we recognize a difference between men, beasts, birds, and fish even as we recognize distinctives within each category.
    There is also a distinction between bodies fit for earthly existence and those for heavenly existence
    3) Celestial Bodies.
    Verses 40-41 give us Paul’s third analogy, celestial bodies. Here Paul emphasizes the diversity of our future bodies just as there is differences in glory among heavenly bodies—the sun, moon, and the stars—and their difference from earthly bodies. just so, our future bodies will be different than our present earthly bodies. And in the same way no two stars shine with the same brightness, so each one of us will have a distinct “glory” of our own. Being glorified in our “heavenly” bodies means experiencing a quality and condition of life far superior to what we experienced in our earthly bodies.

    B. The Application, 15:42-44.

    Paul now ties this together.
    Sown = Buried Resurrected=Raised
    Perishable Imperishable
    Dishonor Glory
    Weakness Power
    Natural Spiritual
    If the natural body is sown, then it is a spiritual body which is resurrected.

    2. Comparing Adam and Christ, 15:45-49

    A. Adam was from earth; Christ was from heaven, vss. 45-47.

    Scripture agrees: Gen 2:7
    Genesis 2:7 NASB95
    Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
    The first Adam became a living Soul. The last Adam, Jesus Christ, became a life-giving spirit.
    The first Adam was created by God; the Last Adam is Christ, the Son of God.
    The first Adam was fit for the earth; the last Adam is fit for eternity.

    B. Christians, presently in Adam’s earthly image, will bear Jesus’ heavenly image when raised, vss. 48-49.

    (1) there is a distinction
    (2) the earthy is the natural, fleshly man. That’s what we are, yet redeemed by the blood of God’s Lamb, Jesus Christ.
    (3) but in the future, we will be heavenly, in the image of Jesus Christ, with a body fit for eternity.

      • Matthew 19:26NASB95

      • Genesis 2:7NASB95

  • On That Day
Bethel Baptist Church of Tillamook, OR
revrlcasper@gmail.com
(503) 842-5598
https://bbc-tillamook.faithlifesites.com
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