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Putting On Immortality: Part 3

Putting On Immortality is the name of our Resurrection Series. In it, we are exploring Paul’s description of the resurrection body. Our Memory and Meditation Verses for celebrating the Resurrection together over the next 6 weeks are 1 Corinthians 15:35–49. The series aims to improve and guide our Christian meditation together. Today, in Putting on Immortality: Part 3, we will examine 1 Corinthians 15:40–41.

Catching Up On the Series

In case you missed the first two installments in the series and would like to read them before moving on, then here are Putting On Immortality Part 1 & Part 2.

Seeds, Substance, and Resurrection

So, in response to the question, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” Paul turned to the natural world to show the foolishness of this kind of question. First, before seeds germinate, they must first die and be buried. Then, when they rise, they have a body of the same substance, yet that is also much more. God gives it a body as He has chosen. Each seed has its own body, but the body that is sown is not the body that will be.

A Hierarchy of Created Flesh

We shouldn’t be surprised at this news if we look deeper into the natural order; we see that God has already created differing kinds of flesh–a hierarchy of being. “For Paul writes, ‘not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish (1 Corinthians 15:39).” Do you see the descending order of beings? Humans, animals, birds, and fish. Each of those species has a different kind of body and intelligence.

The Same, Yet More

We can clearly see then that:

• God plants, and what He grows is the same, yet more than what was sown. In death, God gives seeds a “new” body, one that He chooses.
• God created differing flesh. Paul means qualitatively differing beings–some higher and some lower. Why do we struggle with the idea that God has reserved for Man a higher form of being? One that is the same, yet more?

Eternity in the Heart

We shouldn’t. Deep within us, God has put the knowledge that we are supposed to be more than we are. Theologians call that knowledge the “seed of religion.” Solomon tells us that “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end (Ecclesiastes 3:11).”

Greeks and Natural Law

The reason Paul is using a natural law form of argument is that the Greeks already believed in a future state of perfection for those who please the gods. Plato, mentioned above, is one of their people. Paul tells the Athenians, and us by consequence, that God created them to “seek” Him, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. (Acts 17:27). Heaven is one of the universal truths Man discovered while groping in the darkness awaiting the Light of Life. 

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Bodies and Glories

However, if we press still further into God’s Created Order, we find another principle at work, too. Seeds grow differing bodies, there is a hierarchy of creatures with qualitatively different types of beings, and each created thing has its own distinct beauty associated with its use. That is what Paul means when he uses the word “glory.”

Earthly and Heavenly Bodies

“There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another (1 Corinthians 15:40).” Seeds and animals are earthly bodies, but if we look up, there are planets and stars. These are heavenly bodies. On Earth, each created thing has its use and individual beauty. In the created heavens, it is the same.

Unique Glory and Function

“There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory (1 Corinthians 15:41).”

In Genesis, the “Sun is the great Light to rule by day (Genesis 1:16). In prophecy, the sun usually represents the religion of a people. Why? Because religious light is the light of God, the Great Light. Special Revelation. In His “Light we see Light (Psalm 36:9).” The more we know Him, the clearer everything else becomes.

Reflected Glory of the Moon and Stars

The moon is the lesser light (Genesis 1:16). In prophecy, that usually reflects the government and culture of a people. Why? Because they reflect their understanding of the great light, no more, no less. Culture is that which arises from “the cult,” the religious beliefs of a people. All culture is reflective, and government is a part of culture.

The stars are for times and seasons. Ursa Major, also known as the Great Bear, appears to march across the sky due to the Earth’s rotation. His place in his yearly procession tells of the approaching season. Polaris, shining brightly, always in the North, provides direction for traveling the highways or high seas.

Each with Its Own Glory

The Great Day Star–and the Moon and stars each have a beauty and glory that is fit for their function. In size, the sun is always larger. The Moon is never as bright but occasionally nearly as large, if only for a moment before receding into the night as we rotate away from it. It is important, but it only draws its light from the Sun. The stars, never seen by day because of the Sun, and small next to the Moon, yet some are brighter and more important than others. The most important ones, God made to stand out, like Ursa Major and Polaris. They have more glory than others.

Resurrection Confirmed by Creation

How can we doubt God’s ability to raise the dead? Christ rose from the dead by the power of God. Christ raised people from the dead by the power of God. Scattered throughout Creation are clues that affirm the future resurrection and glory.

Universal Truths in Creation

The Greeks and most other world religions, especially those termed “great,” had already discovered many of the universal truths. Good, evil, sin, innocence, guilt, punishment, reward, etc., all these are present in the Greco-Roman World.

Paul Confronts Their Reasoning

When Paul answers their question, “With what kind of body do they come?” with “You foolish person.” It is because he was about to confront them with the sort of reasoning they would recognize in the primary teachings of their own philosophers. I said primary teachings, meaning the first things. Pagans didn’t have the prophets like Israel. The only book of revelation they had was Creation. They had stared at it too, and divined some things from it.

Even Greek Children Know

Importantly, a reward of future perfection in glory was one of those discoveries. Even their children knew: 

Our new bodies would possess a glory fit to their greater beauty and use.

Death preceded life, and what you planted was not, in form, what grew.

Meditating On Our Future Glory

In the future, we will have qualitatively higher bodies because there is no death in heaven.

How often do you contemplate the resurrection? What will our future bodies and lives be like? 

If God did not want you to meditate on the subject, He would not have supplied the descriptions and promises of our future glory. Theology–a living Christianity–requires meditation and even speculation. How can we apply what we have not considered? Connecting the dots requires thinking between them.

Discipleship Exercise

Take a few minutes and ask, “What will our future bodies and lives be like?” Philippians 3:20-21 says we will have transformed bodies like Jesus’ resurrection body. Get on your knees if you can (I sit on the floor these days), open your Bible, and read the end of the Gospels. What was Jesus’ resurrection body like? What did it enable Him to do ultimately?Think on these things. Don’t rush. Don’t learn and leave. Meditation is not memorization. One is water (memorizing), and the other is drinking (meditating). Many are thirsty with full cups of water. They know the Word and yet do not KNOW it. 

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself (Philippians 3:20-21).

Putting on Immortality Part 4

Finally, thanks for reading Putting on Immortality Part 3. Read Putting on Immortality Part 4 based on 1 Corinthians 15:42-44.

Go in peace to love and serve the Lord!

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Additionally, if you enjoyed Putting On Immortality Part 3 you may also enjoy some of our other series’.

Christ, His Church, & Marriage (February 2025)

Forsaken For Us (March-April 2025)