1 Corinthians 15:35-58, Called to Anticipate

Theological Proposition/Focus: God is the God of life and hence the God of the resurrection.

Homiletical Proposition/Application: We should live in anticipation of the resurrection. Even though we cannot fully comprehend resurrection we have confidence because our Savior has gone before us and has promised that we will be transformed and resurrection is just the beginning.

Body

Anticipating our resurrection requires that we accept a future we cannot fully comprehend (35-44).

The resurrection naturally leads many to a foolish question, "how?" (36).

Let me start by noting how important intonation is in a statement. Imagine I tell you that I am planning to go flying today. Some of you might not know that I have a pilot's license and respond in a scoffing manner "oh yeah, how are you going to do that?" Others who know that I like to fly airplane might respond in inquiry "oh yeah, how are you planning to do that?" In verses 35-36 Paul is employing rhetorical devices. He has just argued that the resurrection is real and matters so now he deals with the scoffers he expects. those who ask "oh yeah, if the resurrection is real then explain it to me, how in the world is my dead rotten relative going to come to life again, they have been gone for 2 years!" The fool is not the one who inquires about how God will do something, the fool is the one who uses how as a way to deny that God will do something.

More carefully, the fool is the one who fails to take God into account. In fact, our NIV translation has attempted to soften the blow a little by stating "how foolish" the Greek is ἄφρων σὺ, a vocative adjective followed by the second person pronoun. You fool! The word fool here probably has Old Testament connotations. In the Old Testament the fool was the one who failed to take into account the transcendent God of the universe. Think Psalm 14:1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” Similarly, Jesus called the rich man who failed to account for God a fool in Luke 12:16-21

16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’

20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

The simple answer is "God does it" but some analogies help to explain (37-41).

The picture of a seed reminds us that the old does matter, but the new is radically different.

Paul begins his refutation of the scoffers by reminding them that the world they know is full of examples of radical changes that take place. A seed often looks nothing like the plant but through a radical change, the seed grows into something extraordinary.

In fact, the analogy may be stronger because in a sense the seed does die in that it ceases to be a seed and is incapable of ever returning to being a seed.

A hard lifeless seed becomes a beautiful full plant. In fact, as Paul notes, when you plant you expect the final result to look nothing like what you planted while at the same time being completely distinguishable from another seed. How does this happen? You might answer genetics but then I could ask how does that happen. Eventually, we are stuck, the only reasonable answer is God does it. So, is it so hard to believe that God can give a resurrection body? `

The second analogy Paul uses is an analogy to argue that God creates different bodies for different purposes, wouldn't he create us a spiritual body for spiritual life?

Fish have different bodies than humans, birds have different bodies, various animals have different bodies.

In all cases God has equipped the creature for the life the create is supposed to live.

We cannot really understand but should accept that our resurrection body will be imperishable, glorious, powerful, and spiritual (42-44).

All together I am reminded of John 4:24, the resurrection will provide means of worshipping God beyond our comprehension.

"God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth .”

Image: The phrase you don't know what you don't know.

When I was in graduate school working on my PhD I remember one of my brother's friends upon finishing calculus his senior year of high school stating. something like "well that all made sense to me, I think I fully understand math, there really isn't anything else that I could learn." I just laughed. The reality is that you don't know what you don't know and I quickly realized that the more I learned the less I knew.

When it comes to resurrection we cannot comprehend because everything that we know or experience seems to have an expiration date. We are bound by the knowledge that we have gained in our experience and that experience is finite so we cannot fully comprehend resurrection.

Nevertheless, our future resurrection is not completely unknown because our Savior has gone before us (45-49).

In order to know anything about the resurrection I think we need to have a solid grasp of two realities, Adam and Christ.

Understanding our resurrection begins with understanding our origins (45-49).

The first man was created by God from the dust of the earth and life was breathed into this man. Genesis 2:7 states "Then the Lord God formed a man[c] from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being." This Adam was the first human and together with his wife Eve, who was created from one of his ribs, became the progenitor of all humanity. In 1 Corinthians 15:44 Paul wrote "If there is a natural body there is also a spiritual body." The If then statement here is a first-class condition which means we are to take it as true. Now Paul has told us what he means by a "natural body." Paul literally means a body formed through the natural process of procreation that began with Adam and Eve.

Adam and Eve fell before having any children. The result is that the natural body was affected by sin and that effect is passed down on to all generations.

Paul expands on this in Romans 5:12

12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—

We here today are alive in our natural bodies. Bodies that were created to inhabit this earth. Bodies that contain a genetic heritage passed onto each of us from Adam, bodies which bear a sin nature brought about by the sin of our original progenitor.

Understanding our resurrection requires understanding our Savior (45-49).

In contrast to the natural body which we each possess, Jesus poses the resurrection body. Paul is careful to lay out a lot of details that we should notice.

Ther spiritual body comes second

This is important because it reminds us that Jesus possessed a natural body. Jesus knows exactly what it is to live in a weak and decaying natural body.

The spiritual body is made for Heaven as opposed to made of dust.

We would do well to look carefully at Genesis 2:7. In Hebrew the text states אֶת־הָֽאָדָ֗ם עָפָר֙ מִן־הָ֣אֲדָמָ֔ה that is Man, (adam, אָדָ֗ם) is made from earth (adamah, אֲדָמָ֔ה). That is we are intimately connected with the Earth on which we dwell. In our current form we are not made to inhabit Heaven, we are made to inhabit Earth.

The spiritual body is in the image of Christ instead of the image of Adam

Remember, that God cerated Adam in his image. This does not mean that God made Adam look like God physically, that is nonsense. It means that God gave Adam responsibility for representing God to creation, but Adam failed! We continue in the image of Adam and hence are marred by that failure to represent God. However, our resurrection bodies do not suffer from that problem and we will truly be able to represent God.

Image: Sometimes confidence comes because you know someone who has done it before.

I know of someone who was at a government facility being considered for a job. Listen to this recounting of the story.

I arrived at the facility with my nerves on high alert. I really didn't know what to expect, I knew that I would be taking a polygraph test, a psych evaluation, and speaking with a lot of people. I had been flown in the night before and put up at a hotel. I was told not to give any significant identifying information to the hotel and that a vehicle would be by at 8:00 to pick me up. Promptly at 8:00 the vehicle picket me up, drove around a little in what sort of felt like circles, and eventually took me through gate and dropped me off at a door that led into a waiting room. Everything that happened felt like it was part of a spy movie. I sat in the waiting room and waited wondering what was going to happen next. As I sat in the waiting room my ears perked up. There behind me was a voice I recognized, what in the world, I thought. I turned and there at the desk was a young lady I recognized, a former student of mine. She immediately greeted me and said "hi, they thought it might be helpful for you to see a familiar face of someone you knew who had been through all of this before and so they gave me the day off to drive you around and be your escort." That greeting changed everything, if she had been through this then I was prepared to go through this too. I still didn't really know what to expect but I now had confidence everything would work out okay I knew someone who had done this before.

Remember, resurrection day is coming and all who follow Christ will be radically transformed (50-54).

The resurrection is a prerequisite for full participation in God's ultimate plan (50).

Paul states that "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." Flesh and blood is a reference to the human body as it is now. Our bodies are plagued by sin, disease, a state of being perishable. But the problem is deeper than just frailty. Paul, throughout his corpus of writing develops his use of the word flesh, σὰρξ, to denote man's sinful nature. However, here the phrase used is σὰρξ καὶ αἷμα a phrase that "is used as an equivalent for man, never the individual, but the genus homo...this phrase is used to denote the weakness of man; probably because this is his corruptible part." What we have is a reality. Our physical bodies are subject to corruption from sin. That corruption is not acceptable. The reality is that we need a body that is not only imperishable in the physical sense but that has been freed from sin and the corruption of sin.

The notion of inheriting the kingdom of God is further significant. There are all sorts of blessings that we receive and have received because of the cross. However, we have not received the full blessings that are promised. The idea of inheritance bears a reminder of promise of much more.

Philippians 3:20-21 is relevant

20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

Image: Football practice, full pads verse partial pads.

Growing up I enjoyed playing football. Many of you have played and know that everything changes when you go from helmets only practice to full pads. The game is fun with helmets only but with the right equipment everything changes. Life in our current bodies is helmets only life. Yes, life is fun but we are subject to significant injury because we are susceptible to sin. The day is coming when we will live life full speed and unlike football pads which only offer some protection our resurrection body will offer full protection.

So, who get's to play?

Christ followers, both living and dead, will participate in resurrection day (51-52).

Paul had revealed the same truth to the Thessalonians (1 Thes. 4:15–17). The Rapture of the church was a mystery (mystērion) in that it had not been known in the Old Testament but now was revealed.... The dead in Christ will first be raised, and then the living will be instantaneously transformed. The trumpet, as in the Old Testament, signaled the appearance of God (cf. Ex. 19:16). It is the last blast for the church because this appearance shall never end (cf. 1 Cor. 13:12).

a major point of emphasis Paul makes here is that the resurrection is valid for both the living and the dead. The reality is that even those who are no asleep are still inhabiting bodies which are subject to sin. While our physical body may be alive it is not truly alive and we each here today need resurrection.

Resurrection day will change everything while preserving who God made us (53-54).

We have already emphasized the need for resurrection but I want you to notice here the continuity between the old and the new. Our translation says "the imperishable" and "the mortal" the Greek does not contain the definite article but rather the demonstrative pronoun τοῦτο. That is "this perishable" and "this mortal." Moreover, the imagery is that of putting on clothing. Unlike the gods who come into existence as immortal, we are made immortal. I don't want to draw more deeply than I should from a. single text but I do want to state, I think that our resurrection body will be recognizable.

Ultimately, those who knew Jesus recognized him after his resurrection (John 20:16, 20; 21:12; 1 Corinthians 15:4–7), since our bodies will be made like his, it stands to reason that we also will be recognizable. The biggest challenge to this idea is the fact that Jesus was not recognized on the Emmaus road. However, the text tells us that "they were kept from recognizing him (Luke 24:16)." So, it seems that Jesus' glorified body preserved some of who he was on Earth. Likewise, it seems that while the resurrection does completely change our bodies we will still be who God made us.

Yes, the resurrection is coming, yes we will still be us, but we should be ready for life as we know it to be radically changed. Why, because death will be no more.

Therefore, live in anticipation of resurrection knowing that resurrection is just the beginning (55-58).

Our resurrection has no expiration (55).

Paul begins by reminding the Corinthians that the power of death will be broken. Quoting Hosea 13:14 Paul emphasizes that what once had power to inflict great pain and even death is now powerless. Indeed the future event described in verse 54 has a present reality. Death has no victory in the present, no sting in the present. Yes, death hurts but the pain has been sucked from the wound. The serpents venom has been rendered ineffective by the cross of the Savior. When we live in anticipation of the resurrection it is as if death does not exist because we know that death is just a temporary hiccup in the light of eternity.

Resurrection life is so radically different that it is hard to imagine (56-57).

"At first glance verse 56 seems to be anticlimactic . But nothing could be further from the truth. Verse 56 explains why resurrection life is so radically different why it is worth everything. Death is the result of sin, death is God's just and even merciful judgement on sin. What do I mean by merciful, sin has placed us in a state of separation from the author of life. In Genesis 3:21-23 after the fall God kicked Adam out of the garden because in God's mercy he recognized that living forever in a fallen state was not living. The sting of death is not death itself, the sting of death is sin. Moreover, the power of sin is the law. The law, as Paul would expound in Romans 7:7-13, showed us our depravity and reveals that we truly are sinful. But in the resurrection all of this becomes moot. I want us to understand a little just how radically different the resurrection will be.

Image: There are no rules against certain things because nobody would do that, I think this is sort of how the resurrection life will be, we don't need rules.

Growing up we had rules. We had a bedtime. We were required to do our homework first when we got home. We were not allowed to talk back etc. But there were some things that we didn't needs rules about because we would never think of doing it. I don't remember my mom ever telling me not to play with dead animals. I didn't need a rule about that, I had no desire to. Now I know that some parents might need rules like that but I didn't. I wonder if this is part of the idea of resurrection. The law points out sin but if there is no sin there is no need for law. Why, because we are simply going to do what is right by choice, because we couldn't fathom not doing right, because to do anything else would disgust us so that it is not even under consideration.

This is a way of life that is so radically different it is hard to imagine.

Anticipation of the resurrection is reason enough to live for Christ today (58).

Paul ends this section of teaching with a powerful exhortation. In light of the anticipation we all should have we should live differently today.

Conclude with Lord's Supper and 1 Cor. 11:23-26

When Paul wrote that Death has been swallowed up in victory perhaps he had Isaiah 25 in mind. As we proclaim the Lord's death till he comes let us anticipate the day in which death is swallowed up in victory.

Conclude the Lord's Supper with Isaiah 25:1-9

Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago. 2 You have made the city a heap of rubble, the fortified town a ruin, the foreigners’ stronghold a city no more; it will never be rebuilt. 3 Therefore strong peoples will honor you; cities of ruthless nations will revere you. 4 You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like a storm driving against a wall 5 and like the heat of the desert. You silence the uproar of foreigners; as heat is reduced by the shadow of a cloud, so the song of the ruthless is stilled. 6 On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine— the best of meats and the finest of wines. 7 On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; 8 he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth. The Lord has spoken. 9 In that day they will say,

“Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the Lord, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”