Useful Bible Studies > 1 Corinthians Commentary > chapter 15
Death is the clearest evidence that we have of the complete weakness of all people. All the money, possessions and power in the world cannot, in the end, rescue even one person from death. We all must die, and there is no remedy.
However, God has promised that his people will live again. At their funerals, people do not need to feel hopeless. Their deaths showed only the weakness of their bodies. When God causes them to live again, he will change their bodies completely.
Paul compares those funerals to the action when someone sows a seed. People place the body, like the seed, into the ground. There it must wait, perhaps for a long time, until God gives it new life. Then it will rise again with a new kind of life. The quality and nature of that life will be completely different from what it had previously. A living plant is completely different from a dry, hard seed.
So, when God causes dead Christians to live again, he will change their nature completely. Instead of an old body that is certain to die, their new body will be certain to live always. Instead of shame, they will have honour. Instead of weakness, they will rise in God’s power.
This has already happened to Christ himself. He died and men buried him in shame and weakness. But on the third day, God caused his body to become alive again. It was still the same body, but God had changed its nature. Christ could never die again. Now he could receive the power and honour that God the Father was giving to him (Philippians 2:9-11).
Next part: Spiritual people (1 Corinthians 15:44)
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© 2014, Keith Simons.