1Corinthians 15:35-58
Outline:
I. \\#1:1-4:21\\ In Answer to Chloe’s Report
II. \\#5:1-6:20\\ In Answer to Common Reports
III. \\#7:1-16:4\\ In Answer to the Church’s Requests
A. \\#7:1-40\\ Counsel Concerning Marriage
B. \\#8:1-10:33\\ Meat Offered to Idols
C. \\#11:2-16\\ God’s Authority
1. \\#2-3\\ God’s Authority over Others
2. \\#4-6\\ God’s Authority Displayed
3. \\#7-16\\ God’s Authority Explained
D. \\#11:17-34\\ Abuse with the Lord’s Supper
E. \\#12:1-14:40\\ Spiritual Gifts
1. \\#12:1-3\\ Marks of the Holy Ghost
2. \\#12:4-11\\ Lessons about the Holy Ghost
3. \\#12:12-26\\ Believers, like gifts, Are Many, Different,
and one
4. \\#12:27-31\\ See Among Yourselves
5. \\#13:1-13\\ The Better Way
(a) \\#1-3\\ The Missing Ingredient
(b) \\#4-8\\ Characteristics of Love
(c) \\#8-13\\ All Gifts Will Cease
6. \\#14:1-40\\ Tongues Is Not the Best Gift
(a) \\#1-25\\ Prophecy Is the Better Gift
(1) \\#1-4\\ Three Commands, Two Reasons
(2) \\#5\\ Paul’s Conclusion
(3) \\#6-25\\ The Problems with Tongues (as the
Corinthians were practicing the gift)
i. \\#6\\ Tongues did not profit the church.
ii. \\#7-20\\ Tongues had no meaning.
iii. \\#21-25\\ Tongues was for the lost.
(b) \\#14:26-40\\ Tongues Should Be Practices Properly
F. \\#15:1-58\\ The Resurrection
1. \\#15:1-34\\ The Resurrection Demanded
a. \\#15:1-11\\ Since the gospel requires a resurrection
of Jesus, there must be a resurrection.
b. \\#15:12-19\\ Since our faith is useless without a
resurrection, there must be a resurrection.
c. \\#15:20-28\\ Since Christ was but the firstfruits of
the resurrection, there must be a resurrection.
d. \\#15:29-34\\ Since some were baptized for the dead,
there must be a resurrection.
2. \\#15:35-57\\ The Resurrection Explained
a. \\#15:35-49\\ Questions about the Resurrection Answered
b. \\#15:50\\ The Truths that Necessitate the Resurrection
3. \\#15:58\\ The Ramifications of the Resurrection
\\15:35-57\\ The Resurrection Explained
I. \\#15:35-49\\ Questions about the Resurrection Answered
A. \\#35\\ Paul stated two questions he intended to answer.
1Cor 15:35 But some man will say, How are the
dead raised up? and with what body do they come?
1. How will we be raised?
2. What kind of body will we have?
B. \\#36-49\\ The answers overlap.
1Cor 15:36 Thou fool, that which thou sowest is
not quickened, except it die:
1. First, by using the word "fool," a sharp rebuke was given.
a. Calling them by this name was the harshest reprimand
Paul had given in this entire section.
b. This is NOT the same Greek word that Jesus warned His
followers about using \\#Mt 5:22\\.
(1) That Greek word is the word from which we get
"moron."
(2) In some ways, the word Paul used was more harsh.
c. According to Strong’s, the word Paul used means
mindless, stupid, egotistic, rash, and unbelieving.
2. Then Paul told them the first step in HOW we get the new
body.
1Cor 15:36 …except it die.
a. We must die.
b. The only way that which is planted can live again is
it must die.
c. This was a clear teaching of Jesus; and, as such, may
account for Paul’s stern rebuke in addressing them.
John 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and
die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth
forth much fruit.
d. Hence the death of a believer is part of God’s plan;
and we should prepare for it as much as is possible.
3. But then Paul begins to discuss "What kind of body will it
be?"
a. What you sow is not WHAT you reap.
1Cor 15:37 And that which thou sowest, thou
sowest not that body that shall be, but bare
grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other
grain:
(1) We sow a seed, but the seed bears very little
resemblance to what we reap.
(2) In fact, the body of the seed is NOT AT ALL like
the body that is reaped.
(3) God gives that which is reaped a body as it suits
Him.
1Cor 15:38 But God giveth it a body as it hath
pleased him, and to every seed his own body.
(a) Paul used the image of corn kernels and
wheat seeds becoming tall stalks to
illustrate his point.
(b) In Alabama, we can see the difference
between the acorn that is planted and the
mighty oak tree that is harvested.
(c) There is no physical resemblance at all.
(4) Paul went on to state that we can see how God
gives different bodies by looking at the
physical world He has created.
(a) There are different kinds of flesh in the
physical realm.
1Cor 15:39 All flesh is not the same flesh: but
there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh
of beasts, another of fishes, and another of
birds.
(b) And there are different kinds of bodies
throughout the physical realm.
1Cor 14:40 There are also celestial bodies, and
bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the
celestial is one, and the glory of the
terrestrial is another.
41 There is one glory of the sun, and another
glory of the moon, and another glory of the
stars: for one star differeth from another star
in glory.
(c) By pointing this out, Paul was telling us
that what God intends for us may not look
anything like what we have today.
i. It may, but it may not.
ii. These bodies are merely the "seed" for
our eternal bodies.
iii. But what is sown is NOT what we will
get.
b. What you sow is not the QUALITY of what you reap. What
we reap will be infinitely BETTER.
1Cor 15:42 So also is the resurrection of the
dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in
incorruption:
43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in
glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in
power:
44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a
spiritual body. There is a natural body, and
there is a spiritual body.
(1) \\#42\\ What was sown was corrupted seed.
(a) A body that was falling apart.
(b) That body would not have died had it not
been corrupted.
(c) What we reap will be incorruptible.
(2) \\#43\\ What was sown was dishonorable.
(a) That is, it shamed us.
(b) What is reaped will be glorious.
(c) That is not a word typically applied to
humans; and when used of us, I don’t know
exactly what it means.
(d) It is used of God, and to me, that means we
will be recreated more into the image of
God than we presently are.
(e) How much more remains a mystery.
(3) What was sown was weak.
(a) What is reaped will be powerful.
(b) Again, powerful is a word seldom—if ever
used to describe these bodies.
(c) At our best, we were not that strong!
(d) But we will not just be strong which one
might think Paul would say since it is the
opposite of weak.
(e) But we will be powerful, a vessel through
which God’s power may flow.
(4) What was sown was natural.
(a) The first body was made from this earth, for
this earth, and limited to this earth.
(b) The body we shall have will be spiritual,
which is again a word that is hard for us
to apply to a body we have not seen.
(c) But yet again, it means that we will be much
more like God in whose image we are already
created.
4. \\#1Cor 15:45-49\\ To illustrate this, Paul compared the
first Adam to the last Adam.
1Cor 15:45 And so it is written, The first man
Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was
made a quickening spirit.
a. Notice Paul said "last" Adam not "second" Adam.
(1) If "firstfruits" implied more resurrections in
\\#1Cor 15:23\\, then a "first Adam" could imply
additional Adams.
(2) Paul made sure there will only be TWO Adams, one
the genuine Adam. The last a picture of Adam.
b. Notice the differences in the two Adams:
(1) \\#45\\ The first was MADE a living soul. The
Last was the QUICKENING SPIRIT, the One who
makes alive.
1Cor 15:46 Howbeit that was not first which is
spiritual, but that which is natural; and
afterward that which is spiritual.
(2) \\#46\\ The first was all natural. The Last was
spiritual.
1Cor 15:47 The first man is of the earth,
earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
(3) \\#47\\ The first was of or from the earth. The
Last was from heaven.
1Cor 15:48 As is the earthy, such are they also
that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such
are they also that are heavenly.
(4) \\#48\\ And since the first was earthly, all he
and his are earthy. As the Last is heavenly,
all He and His are heavenly.
1Cor 15:49 And as we have borne the image of
the earthy, we shall also bear the image of
the heavenly.
(5) \\#49\\ Perhaps still telling the readers
something of what our new bodies may look like,
Paul announces that as we resemble the things of
earth here, so we will resemble the things of
heaven in the future.
II. \\#50\\ The Truths that Necessitate the Resurrection
1Cor 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh
and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God;
neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
A. Apparently God has given two laws which will never change.
1. Flesh and blood cannot inherit (receive or be gifted)
God’s kingdom.
2. Corruption cannot inherit (receive or be gifted)
incorruption.
B. These two laws necessitate that the human body be raised and
changed.
III. \\#15:51-57\\ The Process of the Resurrection
A. The first step of the process was mentioned in verse \\#36\\.
1. We must die.
2. Paul previously stated that:
1Cor 15:50 …flesh and blood cannot inherit the
kingdom of God….
a. A fleshly being may "visit" the eternal realm in some
fashion, i.e. John in the book of Revelation; but he
cannot possess it.
b. To do that, we must be changed.
B. \\#51\\ We must be changed:
1Cor 15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We
shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
1. The change will happen very quickly:
1Cor 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an
eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall
sound, and the dead shall be raised
incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
a. Some say that is not the blinking of eye, which in
itself is incredibly fast.
(1) "On average the human blink lasts only a tenth
of a second which is 100 milliseconds."
https://www.somatechnology.com/blog/thursday-thoughts/fast-average-
blink/
(2) A millisecond (MS) is one one-thousandth of a
second.
b. But that a twinkling of an eye is the speed at which
light, or an image, reflects off the retina of the
eye.
(1) MIT released a study which says that the eye can
see a complete image in 13 milliseconds.
(2) That is more than 7 times faster than we can
blink.
https://news.mit.edu/2014/in-the-blink-of-an-eye-0116#:~:text=You%
20might%20think%20it%20would,of%20such%20rapid%20processing%20speed.
2. The order will be:
a. A trumpet will sound.
b. The dead shall be raised, "incorruptible, that is,
already changed.
c. Then we will be changed.
C. \\#53\\ This will keep God’s Laws as already stated:
1Cor 15:53 For this corruptible must put on
incorruption, and this mortal must put on
immortality.
54 So when this corruptible shall have put on
incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on
immortality, then shall be brought to pass the
saying that is written, Death is swallowed up
in victory.
D. \\$54-57\\ This future event has already "defanged" death,
removed its stinger, but it has not defeated or slain death:
1Cor 15:55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave,
where is thy victory?
56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength
of sin is the law.
1. Even though the stinger of death has been removed, we must
still die.
2. Death will be the LAST enemy God defeats.
57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
3. But though we must face death, WE have the victory, not
it!
IV. \\#58\\ The Ramifications of the Resurrection
1Cor 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye
stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the
work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your
labour is not in vain in the Lord.
A. Knowing we have the victory, we should be:
1. Steadfast
2. Unmoveable
3. Abounding in the work of the Lord, for our work will never
be in vain.
B. This is a stark contrast to what the Corinthians had been
doing in arguing, sinning, and giving place to false
doctrines. All of which was in vain.
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