WE SHALL BE LIKE JESUS!

1 Corinthians 15:35-49 / Keywords 15:49

And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.

 

The Resurrection Body

15:35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” 36 How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38 But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. 39 Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. 40 There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. 41 The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.

42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised 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 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”[f]; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we[g] bear the image of the heavenly man.

Footnotes

f. 1 Corinthians 15:45 Gen. 2:7

g. 1 Corinthians 15:49 Some early manuscripts so let us

1. Paul knew that some people imagined resurrected people would look like zombies! Paul explained that just as we cannot imagine a plant from its seed, we cannot fathom the resurrected body from this earthly body. Earthly splendor, like a muscle man or a beauty queen, is quite different from heavenly glory. Even the glory of the sun, moon and stars cannot compare with God’s glory.

2. Our earthly bodies are perishable, dishonorable, weak and natural. But our resurrection bodies will be imperishable, glorious, powerful, and spiritual.

3. Adam came from the dust and returned to the dust, just as we will one day (unless Jesus comes back first). Jesus came from heaven, born of a virgin, as a life-giving spirit. We inherited our mortal bodies from Adam. But we Christians have inherited a new life from Jesus. We are born again and “of heaven.” We look like Adam now. But we are being conformed to the likeness of Jesus. When we see Jesus, we shall be like him!

Prayer Father in heaven, I am a child of Adam, a sinner, who will die one day. But I am also a child of God through faith and trust in Jesus Christ. According to your promise, we Christians are being made more and more into the image of Christ. One day we shall all be like him. This is my joyful hope.

One Word We shall be like Jesus!