35/ But someone may say, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come back?
36/ You fool! What you sow is not brought to life unless it dies.
37/ And what you sow is not the body that is to be but a bare kernel of wheat, perhaps, or of some other kind;
38/ but God gives it a body as he chooses, and to each of the seeds its own body.
39/ Not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for human beings, another kind of flesh for animals, another kind of flesh for birds, and another for fish.
40/ There are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the brightness of the heavenly is one kind and that of the earthly another.
41/ The brightness of the sun is one kind, the brightness of the moon another, and the brightness of the stars another. For star differs from star in brightness.
42/ So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown corruptible; it is raised incorruptible.
43/ It is sown dishonorable; it is raised glorious. It is sown weak; it is raised powerful.
44/ It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual one.
45/ So, too, it is written, "The first man, Adam, became a living being," the last Adam a life-giving spirit.
46/ But the spiritual was not first; rather the natural and then the spiritual.
47/ The first man was from the earth, earthly; the second man, from heaven.
48/ As was the earthly one, so also are the earthly, and as is the heavenly one, so also are the heavenly.
49/ Just as we have borne the image of the earthly one, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly one.
50/ This I declare, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption.
51/ Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed,
52/ in an instant, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53/ For that which is corruptible must clothe itself with incorruptibility, and that which is mortal must clothe itself with immortality.
54/ And when this which is corruptible clothes itself with incorruptibility and this which is mortal clothes itself with immortality, then the word that is written shall come about: "Death is swallowed up in victory.
55/ Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?
56/ "The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
57/ But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58/ Therefore, my beloved brothers, be firm, steadfast, always fully devoted to the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
The works of creation and providence daily teach us to be humble, as well as to admire the Creator's wisdom and goodness. There is a great variety among other bodies, as there is among plants. There is a variety of glory among heavenly bodies. The bodies of the dead, when they rise, will be fitted for the heavenly bodies. The bodies of the dead, when they rise, will be fitted for the heavenly state; and there will be a variety of glories among them. Burying the dead, is like committing seed to the earth, that it may spring out of it again. Nothing is more loathsome than a dead body. But believers shall at the resurrection have bodies, made fit to be for ever united with spirits made perfect.
To God all things are possible. He is the Author and Source of spiritual life and holiness, unto all his people, by the supply of his Holy Spirit to the soul; and he will also quicken and change the body by his Spirit. The dead in Christ shall not only rise, but shall rise thus gloriously changed. The bodies of the saints, when they rise again, will be changed. They will be then glorious and spiritual bodies, fitted to the heavenly world and state, where they are ever afterwards to dwell. The human body in its present form, and with its wants and weaknesses, cannot enter or enjoy the kingdom of God. Then let us not sow to the flesh, of which we can only reap corruption. And the body follows the state of the soul. He, therefore, who neglects the life of the soul, casts away his present good; he who refuses to live to God, squanders all he has.
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