In these verses, the apostle contrasts a physical body with a spiritual body. One is subject to the forces of nature; the other is subject only to the Spirit, no longer subject to the power of sin and death (v. 44).
We know all too well what it is like to live in a physical body. The unfolding mystery is what it is like to live in a spiritual body. Paul compares this uncertainty to what happens when we plant a seed (v. 37). The seed is planted, but we have only conjecture on what the plant will be like. The physical body goes away, and there is question about the resurrected body (v. 40).
The spiritual body is indeed a body, not just a ghost. That implies relationships; we already claim the joy of renewed and restored relationships and new relationships. A teenager once asked me, “Will I get to talk with John Wesley in heaven?”
Physical bodies perish. Spiritual bodies do not perish. (1 Corinthians 15:53-54). Paul starts the celebration by teasing those powers that thought they controlled us: “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55). Those powers (sin and law—v. 56) no longer shape us in the spiritual body.
Paul offers a caution. When we hear all this good news about the spiritual life, we are tempted to claim there is no value or meaning when we live in the physical body. Not so! Even now in the physical body we are to be “steadfast, immovable, excelling in the work of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58). Because we know how the story ends, we know that our good work is not in vain (v. 58).
No one has to be left out of the gift of a spiritual body. Some Corinthians must have said, “I’m not dead yet, so how can I have a spiritual body?” Paul assures them that no one- the living or the dead—is left out. When the last trumpet is sounded, the victory is available to all. (1 Corinthians 15:52). Thanks be to God!
Thanks be to God indeed!
