How Do We Understand Our Soul and Body in the Resurrection?
1 Corinthians 15: 1-4, 42-57
by Rev. Carson Overstreet
Van Wyck Presbyterian Church
July 8, 2018
Now I should remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, 2through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain.
3 For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, 4and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures,
42 So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. 43It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. 44It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body.
45Thus it is written, ‘The first man, Adam, became a living being’; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the physical, and then the spiritual. 47The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. 49Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.
50 What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, 52in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled:
‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’
55 ‘Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?’
56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. - 1 Corinthians 15: 1-4, 42-57
Every time we recite the Apostles’ Creed we reaffirm our faith with the words, “I believe in the resurrection of the body.” And so, our question today asks what does that actually mean? How do we understand the immortality of the soul and our mortal bodies in light of the resurrection?
The Rev. Dr. Tom Long shares the story of a radio talk show who picked up some hot news that Costco has gotten into the discount casket business (Yes, it’s true but only valid in 37 states!):
“Geez, can you imagine,” said the dj. “You go into Costco and say, “I think I’ll buy 48 rolls of toilet paper and, hey, while I’m at it, I’ll pick up a casket!”
“Right!” said the other. ‘Can’t you see yourself wheeling that thing out to the parking lot on the buggy?”
The first dj replied, “Really, I think this is great. It’s American free enterprise, competition in the marketplace, bringing prices down…When I’m gone, if you need to cut a corner, cut it out on the casket. I don’t need it. This body is just a shell. The real me will be gone somewhere else….”[1]
Long commented, “It really was just a silly exchange tucked between the traffic report the weather and sports, but in some ways, it was a snapshot of contemporary cultural attitudes about death… The “real me” had nothing to do with the dead body.”[1]
The concept of an immortal soul and a body as two separate things is not new. It actually goes all the way back to the Greek philosopher Plato, who lived from 428-347 B.C.. “Plato affirmed life beyond physical death. He believed in the immortality of the soul.”[2]
This philosophy has long held that bodies are cheap imitations of the soul, they are technically not real and could be considered as evil. The soul, then, is imprisoned by the body and longs to be set free by means of death, whereby it is then joined to the True–the Forms, a non-physical reality.[3]
The Apostle Paul was a Pharisee in the Jewish tradition, an interpreter of God’s word and a well-trained debater. He was a fine-tuned orator and was quite knowledgeable of the Greek philosophy of the day. When Jesus Christ turned Paul’s world inside out, Paul was sent to proclaim Jesus Christ and to reinterpret the culture through the lens of our crucified and Risen Lord.
He says in the beginning of his first letter to the church in Corinth, “Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” (1 Cor 1:20).
Paul specifically addresses the pinnacle of Christian hope in our text today. Our ultimate hope does not lie in the immortality of the soul but in God’s promise of the resurrection, revealed in Jesus Christ.
When Paul writes “the perishable body must put on imperishability,” he is reinterpreting Plato through the Christian hope of resurrection (1 Cor 15:53).
Paul knows because humanity is created by God. But God did not stop there; Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. This proclaims that our Maker desires to redeem all of our humanity and make us new. His word for “body” always points to the problem of the human condition of sin which touches all of humanity. It is Christ’s dying and being raised to new life that frees us from sin and death.
Paul begins preaching and teaching of the resurrection from Jesus’ own death and being raised by God. “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised then our proclamation and our faith has been in vain” (1 Cor 15:13-14).
Jesus’ resurrection is not something we can fully explain or understand.
What Paul understands about resurrection is through the Jewish perspective and the Christian prespective. “The Hebrews accepted death as a limit ordained by God as told in Genesis 3:19. The notion of immortality is a Greek Helenist idea. “The Jewish teachings regarded the “soul” as the unity of the human person. The Hebrews were living bodies, they did not have bodies.[4]
And Paul understands resurrection through the Christian perspective. He goes back to the Creation story in Genesis when God created the heaven and earth (Gen 1: 1, 14-19). God created humankind in God’s image; God created us from the dust and breathed the breath of life into us (Genesis 1:26; 2:7). Paul understands we are created by “the physical first and then the spiritual,” but they are united (1 Corinthians 15:46).
Paul knows “From dust we were created and to dust we shall return” (Genesis 3:19). And yet by the Creator’s hands, the Redeemer’s sacrificial love, and the life-giving breath of Holy Spirit these dried up bones shall live (Ezekiel 37).
Even in the gospel accounts of Matthew, Luke, and John, it is revealed that Jesus was fully resurrected physically and spiritually. Our Risen Lord was touched by human hands. He ate with the disciples. He was seen in his newly glorified body.
Paul says, “Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust [Adam], we will also bear the image of the man of heaven [Jesus Christ]” (1 Cor 15:49). “For if we have been united in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Romans 6:5).
One of the most comforting Scriptures of Jesus’ promise of resurrection is that merciful and hope-filled conversation which Jesus had with the criminal who was nailed to the cross beside him. The criminal said, “Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And Jesus replies, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me I paradise” (Luke 23: 42-43). We read Scripture and interpret Jesus’ own words to be true.
Therefore, resurrection is understood as both individual and communal. Our Reformed Confessions strive to articulate what we believe and how we interpret God’s Word. And our confessions strive to put words around the mystery of death and resurrection in ways that we might understand.
The Shorter Catechism of the Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) was written to instruct our younger disciples in a question and answer format. It says:
What benefits do believers receive from Christ at death?
The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness and do immediately pass into glory; and their bodies, being still united to Christ, do rest in their graves till the resurrection.[5]
The Larger Catechism of the Westminster Confession of faith was written for adults, saying:
What are we to believe concerning the resurrection?
We are to believe that, at the last day, there shall be a general resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust; when they that are found alive shall in a moment be changed; and the self-same bodies of the dead which are lain in the grace, being then again united to their souls forever, shall be raised up by the power of Christ….immediately after the resurrection shall follow the general and final judgment of angels and men, the day and hour whereof no one knows.[6]
Notice that as the confessional statements strive to keep a unity regarding the physical and spiritual within body and soul; these confessions interpret the Scriptures regarding a general resurrection in the last day.
“…With the sound of God’s trumpet, the Lord will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore, encourage one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4: 16-18).
God’s resurrection promise is surrounded by mystery. For now, we see in a mirror dimly, but one day we will know fully (1 Cor 13:12) We do not grieve as others do who have no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13). We stand on the promises of God.
The greatest truth is that God’s promise of resurrection not only embraces us in the hope of God’s future eternal presence. The resurrection power of Jesus Christ also completely changes our lives today as the eyes of our hearts are enlightened.
May each of know the hope of our calling in heaven and here on earth too (Ephesians 1:18).
In the name of the God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Sources Referenced:
Abstract Artwork, "Resurrection," by Philippin Inge.
[1] Thomas G. Long, “Accompany Them with Singing: The Christian Funeral” (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), p. 22.
[2] Justo Gonzalez, “The Story of Christianity Volume 1 (New York: Harper Collins, 1984), pp. 16, 54-56.
[3] “Plato versus The Apostle Paul,” February 11, 2016 https://platovschristianity.wordpress.com/2016/02/11/plato-vs-the-apostle-paul/
[4] Paul Achtemeier, “Bible Dictionary” (New York: Harper Collins, 1996, "soul" definition.
[5] The Book of Confessions Study Edition (Part 1 of the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1996), p. 232, question and answer 36 and 37.
[6] The Book of Confessions, The Larger Catechism, p. 262 questions and answers 87-88.
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