1 Corinthians 15:30-45; The Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany; February 23, 2025;

Life in Christ Lutheran Church, Grand Marais, MN;

Why are we in danger every hour? I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day! What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame. But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.” (1 Corinthians 15:30–45, ESV)

Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Every sickness, every accident, every injury, every form of suffering leads to the question that Paul poses in this text. It was especially poignant for the Corinthians who had seen their brothers and sister die for the faith. And it is an important question considering the context he sets. In the first few sentences he contends that Christian suffering is only valuable if there is a resurrection. In fact, he says that if there is no resurrection we may as well be doing something else. We are moving our services to “Up Yonder”. If there is no resurrection, we may as well skip the service all together, order a stiff drink, and watch hockey. So, given that the resurrection validates Christian suffering, he states the obvious question,

How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?

In our language we might ask, “Will it be worth it?” Paul’s answer is straight forward and a little blunt.

You foolish person!

Of course it will. The resurrection of the body is the primary hope of all Christians. Without the resurrection there isn’t any hope at all.

Christianity is false, in fact, if Christ isn’t raised from the dead. If he is not, Paul says a few verses earlier in 1 Corinthians,

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. (1 Corinthians 15:17, ESV)

Paul says, if Jesus is not raised, then you are not to be raised, our preaching is in vain, our faith is futile, we are still in our sins, those who have gone before us have perished, and we are “most to be pitied”. It is a blunt answer, making Christianity dependent on the resurrection, and particularly Jesus’ resurrection. Christianity can, in fact, be proven false, if the body of Christ is produced. That’s how important the resurrection is to our faith.

Paul uses a metaphor, the seed. A seed can’t grow into a plant, it can’t bear the fruit intended if it isn’t planted in the ground. The seed can’t see the glory of the plant any more than a baby in the womb can understand the fullness of life outside the womb.

For you and me, he says, what is sown, that is planted in the ground in death, is perishable, dishonorable and weak, a natural body.

Our human body is perishable, sickness and injury are a part of our everyday life. Sore knees, hips, broken bones, cancer, bird flu, failing eyesight… the list goes on and on. Perishable means heading toward death. Food in the fridge doesn’t last forever. And that is the body we have. It is the consequence of sin. That’s what it means when the bible says,

For the wages of sin is death… (Romans 6:23, ESV)

We are perishable. But, Paul says, through the resurrection of the body, we will become imperishable. No more illness, no more injury, no more failing eyesight. The food in the fridge lasts forever.

What is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory.

What Paul is saying here is profound. Today and every day we breathe, we live in dishonor. We wear it on our sleeve. We do what we don’t want to do. We don’t do what we want to do.

For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. (Romans 7:15, ESV)

That’s the daily struggle against sin, that is so ingrained in us that we can’t stop sinning.

Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (Romans 7:24, ESV)

That is the dishonor. The dishonor of daily sin. And death is the result. A sinful body rotting sown in the ground.

But it is raised in glory. The promise of resurrection is the removal of dishonor. No passage of scripture describes this better than Romans 6:5-7.

For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His. We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. (Romans 6:5-7, ESV)

It is our death in Jesus that accomplishes it. Our old self, our sinful dishonor, was crucified with Christ. The body of sin, the dishonor, is brought to nothing. We have died, in Christ, and are set free from sin. The resurrection cannot be separated from the cross. Our sin is done away with there. Holy Baptism is the promise of the old self, the sinful dishonor, dead and buried. It is the promise of the resurrection where the dishonor is completely gone.

It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.

The weakness of what is sown is obvious. We get sick. The world rejoices in diseases that have been irradicated. But the truth is they are lurking below the surface, ready to strike our weak bodies. Work is hard. We are easily fatigued. It doesn’t matter how fit you are, you get tired. And our bodies break down with age.

“It was much more fun to live in the sixties, that to be sixty.” A quote from the internet.

And worst of all, we die. That is the culmination of our weakness, again death is in the picture.

Raised in power is the answer. All our weakness is gone. No longer will sickness plague us. No longer will fatigue be a problem. No longer will the frailty of age sneak up on us. We will be filled with divine life and strength.

Paul calls this a “spiritual body”. It doesn’t mean a non-physical body. It isn’t that we will be raised from death to living on clouds with harps in our hands having sprouted wings. Job says it.

For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me! (Job 19:25-27, ESV)

In this flesh, with these very eyes. This body will raise from death because of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. Our spiritual body will be physical, it won’t be subject to all the things that are buried in the grave. Death is done in. We will no longer die. Sin is dead in the grave. We will no longer sin. We will be fully controlled by the Holy Spirit.

It is return to Creation.

first man Adam became a living being

Everything that Adam was created to be, will be ours again. God’s perfect design for people will be fully realized.

Will it be worth it? I think so. And so did Paul. He said it this way to the congregation in Rome.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. (Romans 8:18, ESV)

The sufferings of the present time. All of them are part of this natural body, perishable, dishonorable and weak. But that’s just it, the present time, not forever, passing away and sooner than any of us believe. Unless Jesus returns first, we will all close our eyes in death. And when they open all of that perishable, dishonorable, weakness will be gone. We will be delivered from this body of death.

Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:24-25, ESV)

Amen. The peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.