Real, Eternal Resurrected Bodies Await Believers

We're looking at the Apostle Paul's defense and proclamation of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. What amazes him is that he was chosen to participate in this wondrous activity.

Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed. - 1 Cor 15:8-11 ESV

As we've noted numerous times before, becoming a Christian is not an accomplishment. It is not a choice made after careful deliberation. To underline this Paul speaks of himself as "one untimely born" (Gk. ektrōma). In the Greek OT that word is used to speak about stillborn children.

Or why was I not as a hidden stillborn child, as infants who never see the light? - Job 3:16 ESV

Paul thus says that he shouldn't be alive, but he is! By the grace of God he is what he is! And beyond that, he has been called to be an apostle, sent to the Gentiles to publicly proclaim the Gospel of the Risen Christ. Of course, if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And it follows that if Christ has not been raised—literally returned physically from the dead—then your faith, and mine as well, is worthless, devoid of truth, of no value. There is no hope. All who have "fallen asleep in Christ," all who have committed themselves to him in death have perished. They have lost their lives. They are destroyed, gone forever.

Not so! proclaims Paul. Christ is risen and so shall be all who have "fallen asleep in Christ" (1 Cor 15:20-28).

But what kind of body will the dead in Christ have? There is no need to speculate on exactly what our resurrection bodies will look like. Paul does emphasize that they will differ from our present bodies in some radical way. To illustrate he compares

• the grain that sprouts to a bare kernel of wheat
• the flesh of a human to that of an animal, bird or fish
• the glory of the sun to the brightness of the moon or stars

Moreover our new bodies will be imperishable, immortal. No longer will we ever, ever have to consider corruption, sickness, decay, "getting old", wearing out and dying. Our bodies will not die. They will be filled forever with life, the life of Christ, the second and last Adam who is a life-giving spirit. His image, the image of the Man of heaven, will be completed in us. We will be transformed. In every way we will reflect him, in body, mind and spirit (Rom 8:29; 2 Cor. 3:18). The Apostle John puts it this way: 

Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. - 1 John 3:2 ESV

And note that our new bodies will be a real bodies in every way, part of the renewed creation Paul speaks about in his letter to the Romans. 

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. ... For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. - Rom 8:11, 19-21 ESV

And so just as Jesus' body was real, touched by and seen by hundreds of his disciples, so Paul says Jesus "will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body" —Phil. 3:21. 

This joyous news sustains and fills us with hope and anticipation. In Paul’s words: "When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality," at the appearing of Christ, "then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory’" (1 Cor 15:54). Then Isaiah's long-awaited prophecy will be fulfilled. 

He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken. It will be said on that day, "Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation." - Isa 25:8-9 ESV