Weird Ideas: Descent to Hell, Then Raised From the DeadНамуна

Whew! Did you make it through the first half of 1 Corinthians 15 yesterday? It’s a lot. But great stuff! Today tackles the second half of this resurrection chapter.

After a quick (and fascinating) tangent in 15:29-34, verse 35 picks up on the objection of how a dead person could be raised to begin with. After all, dead people are dust or ash! Paul shows how new life is natural even in nature. He gives the example of a dead lifeless seed that is put into the ground (like a dead body), but comes out grander and new. Paul uses it to make an important point: there is both continuity and discontinuity between our current bodies and our resurrected bodies. Just like a seed becomes a plant, so our bodies will resurrect into something imperishable (15:42), glorious (14:43), and “spiritual,” meaning animated by God’s Spirit instead of our natural souls (15:43; cf. Romans 7:14-8:11). Be careful. “Spiritual” does not mean ghost-like or soul-only. Paul is arguing the exact opposite!

Jesus’s resurrection shows the same. Compare Luke 24:13-43 and John 20:11-21:19. Notice how Jesus is physical, yet can do extraordinary things. Notice the simultaneous ability of others to recognize him yet not realize him. Notice that he’s physical – he eats, has scars, can be touched and embraced… even though he can apparate in their presence. He is the pattern for our resurrection.

Greek geek corner: It’s interesting that in 1 Cor 15:44, the word often translated “natural” (or unfortunately “physical”) is psychikon. You can see the word “psychology” or “psychic” in it. In the NT, its root, psyche, is typically translated “soul.” Translations like “natural” vs “spiritual” should not be understood as physical vs spiritual. A wooden reading of 15:44 would actually be “soul-like” vs “Spirit-like.” The point Paul is making is not physical vs non-physical, but a drive/animation/life-force from our natural-born “soul” vs God’s “Spirit” (pneumatikon).

1 Cor 15:50-58 – When Paul says “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God,” he is not talking about physicality. He is talking about our current untransformed state. 2 Corinthians 5 gets into this, too, comparing our current physical state to being naked, waiting to be clothed with a glorious physical nature to come. The hope – the hope! – offered in Christ is that God is going to transform our present world, our bodies included, through resurrection. Eden will be restored in a new and glorious way. As Paul says in 15:58, the implications of this mean that life and this world matter now. The future is linked to today.

All this is implicit in the Apostles’ Creed's simple statement: “The third day he rose again from the dead.” At the core of all hope is Jesus’s resurrection from the dead. It may sound weird to some. But may the hope, joy, and victory of Jesus’s resurrection be yours today.

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