I wrote this article three years ago, but havve since revised and expanded it.
The Resurrection Body and 1st Cor. 15.
But don't forget 12, 13, and 14
One thing I noticed in studying out 1st Corinthians and the resurrection body is that this seems to be a sustained theme in this epistle, the last part at least. People miss the whole picture who just focus on that 15th chapter.
Of course, as a Preterist, I have a different view on what the resurrection body is than many here, I realize. I believe that the emphasis in chapter 15 is much more on a corporate vs. a bodily (individual) resurrection. With that emphasis in mind I began to notice the wider context. Interesting facts came to light.
Starting with the word "body"
Number one fact is that there is not one single reference to "bodies" in the plural in reference to the resurrection. This is an important detail. One does a Google search for the phrase "bodily resurrection" "resurrection bodies", "glorified bodies", etc. and one will get many hits, many pointing to the very chapter under consideration. But if you do a Bible search for those terms - or terms truly comparable - you come up with nothing.
The chapters of 1 Cor.12 through 15 have much to say about the term "body". I believe a study of these can be very fruitful. Take a look at some preliminary details:
Chapters 12 - 15 have 22 references to the word "body".
Chapters 12 - 15 have only 2 references to "bodies", 15:40 - in a reference to astronomical objects.
Here is the breakdown:
12:12 (twice); 13; 14; 15 (twice); 16 (twice); 17; 18; 19; 20; 22; 23; 24; 25; 27. Sixteen references to "body".
13:3 starts with a reference to an individual body, Paul's. The only reference in the chapter to "body".
14:1 - 15:9 has no references to "body", but has 10 references to "the church". I believe that this is synonymous, reflecting a partial shift in Paul's subject from the unity of the church in 12 to the usefulness (or uses) of the church in the present passage. Though the emphasis shifted it is still the same subject; the church as the body of Christ.
15:38 and 40 give two body examples from creation, their being distinguished in nature and in glory.
Now we come to the "body" verses in the context of the resurrection.
15:42, 44 (four times).
I want to go into greater detail on these verses later, but first I wanted to draw attention to the context that these verses need to be seen in. It is noteworthy that these last few verses are all so often called upon and carefully lifted out and exposited - to the exclusion of that necessary background. When you study the whole - Don't take my word for it. Do it yourself - you notice that Paul is really stressing the unity of the body, and that it is - that we are - one in Christ. But we are of such an individualistic bent - and we have inherited such an individualistic framework of Christianity - that we have a hard time seeing this.
---
There are a few things I wanted to add to my original post. Taking a broader look at these chapters it can be seen that Paul, though he leaves off referring to "body" in chapters 13 and 14 (with one off-topic exception of 13:3) he now refers to "church", using one as synonymously for the other. The body is the church:
12:18: "God has set the members ... in the body."
12:24: "God composed the body"
compared to verses like...
12:28: "God has appointed these in the church."
12:4 - 12 expounds on the gifts to benefit the the body, and
12:28; 14:12, 26 the gifts to the church.
My OP was never about our not getting our individual rewards, or that we will just blend into some cosmic spiritual oversoul. We will always be individuals. And we will always (as the Confession says) "enjoy Him forever". But we will be spiritual beings, not flesh and blood. As Paul says, that would be an impossibility. God is Spirit. We worship in spirit and in truth. We fellowship and commune the same way.
We are so attuned to the physicality of this life, and are so acculturated to traditional and engrained thinking, that we have a hard time even thing about not being physical. We appraise the reward of a spiritual God by flesh-and-blood standards. We are set in the flesh, biased toward it, that we instinctively recoil at suggestions of being "merely" spiritual. But Christ before the Incarnation was "merely" spirit. The Father and Spirit always wereand will be such. If the perfect God, the everlasting Trinity, had existed forever in spiritual (not physical) form why should it seem a bad thing for us, likewise, not to have physical bodies?
Once again: my point in the OP was that physical bodies in the resurrection is not what Paul was writing of in these chapters. His main thrust was on the body of Christ, and that we are members of that one body. He says this several times.
The Resurrection Body and 1st Cor. 15.
But don't forget 12, 13, and 14
One thing I noticed in studying out 1st Corinthians and the resurrection body is that this seems to be a sustained theme in this epistle, the last part at least. People miss the whole picture who just focus on that 15th chapter.
Of course, as a Preterist, I have a different view on what the resurrection body is than many here, I realize. I believe that the emphasis in chapter 15 is much more on a corporate vs. a bodily (individual) resurrection. With that emphasis in mind I began to notice the wider context. Interesting facts came to light.
Starting with the word "body"
Number one fact is that there is not one single reference to "bodies" in the plural in reference to the resurrection. This is an important detail. One does a Google search for the phrase "bodily resurrection" "resurrection bodies", "glorified bodies", etc. and one will get many hits, many pointing to the very chapter under consideration. But if you do a Bible search for those terms - or terms truly comparable - you come up with nothing.
The chapters of 1 Cor.12 through 15 have much to say about the term "body". I believe a study of these can be very fruitful. Take a look at some preliminary details:
Chapters 12 - 15 have 22 references to the word "body".
Chapters 12 - 15 have only 2 references to "bodies", 15:40 - in a reference to astronomical objects.
Here is the breakdown:
12:12 (twice); 13; 14; 15 (twice); 16 (twice); 17; 18; 19; 20; 22; 23; 24; 25; 27. Sixteen references to "body".
13:3 starts with a reference to an individual body, Paul's. The only reference in the chapter to "body".
14:1 - 15:9 has no references to "body", but has 10 references to "the church". I believe that this is synonymous, reflecting a partial shift in Paul's subject from the unity of the church in 12 to the usefulness (or uses) of the church in the present passage. Though the emphasis shifted it is still the same subject; the church as the body of Christ.
15:38 and 40 give two body examples from creation, their being distinguished in nature and in glory.
Now we come to the "body" verses in the context of the resurrection.
15:42, 44 (four times).
I want to go into greater detail on these verses later, but first I wanted to draw attention to the context that these verses need to be seen in. It is noteworthy that these last few verses are all so often called upon and carefully lifted out and exposited - to the exclusion of that necessary background. When you study the whole - Don't take my word for it. Do it yourself - you notice that Paul is really stressing the unity of the body, and that it is - that we are - one in Christ. But we are of such an individualistic bent - and we have inherited such an individualistic framework of Christianity - that we have a hard time seeing this.
---
There are a few things I wanted to add to my original post. Taking a broader look at these chapters it can be seen that Paul, though he leaves off referring to "body" in chapters 13 and 14 (with one off-topic exception of 13:3) he now refers to "church", using one as synonymously for the other. The body is the church:
12:18: "God has set the members ... in the body."
12:24: "God composed the body"
compared to verses like...
12:28: "God has appointed these in the church."
12:4 - 12 expounds on the gifts to benefit the the body, and
12:28; 14:12, 26 the gifts to the church.
My OP was never about our not getting our individual rewards, or that we will just blend into some cosmic spiritual oversoul. We will always be individuals. And we will always (as the Confession says) "enjoy Him forever". But we will be spiritual beings, not flesh and blood. As Paul says, that would be an impossibility. God is Spirit. We worship in spirit and in truth. We fellowship and commune the same way.
We are so attuned to the physicality of this life, and are so acculturated to traditional and engrained thinking, that we have a hard time even thing about not being physical. We appraise the reward of a spiritual God by flesh-and-blood standards. We are set in the flesh, biased toward it, that we instinctively recoil at suggestions of being "merely" spiritual. But Christ before the Incarnation was "merely" spirit. The Father and Spirit always wereand will be such. If the perfect God, the everlasting Trinity, had existed forever in spiritual (not physical) form why should it seem a bad thing for us, likewise, not to have physical bodies?
Once again: my point in the OP was that physical bodies in the resurrection is not what Paul was writing of in these chapters. His main thrust was on the body of Christ, and that we are members of that one body. He says this several times.
