Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

Given the miraculous circumstances of Christ’s resurrections, it is not hard to understand why there have always been skeptics who have rejected the resurrection – or any resurrection at all.

Some of the most prominent religious leaders of Jesus’ day rejected the idea of a resurrection.

Mark unfolds for us a story (12:18-27) in which the Sadducees offered Jesus a hypothetical scenario of a woman who ended up marrying seven brothers.

They then asked, “In the resurrection, whey they rise again, whose wife will she be?”

They were mocking the idea of a resurrection and intending to embarrass and shame Jesus for his teachings.

This is no new phenomenon.

From Jesus day to the present, there have been people who have looked at the absolutely bizarre events surrounding the death and resurrection of Jesus and have concluded that it must be a myth.

There must be no historic reliability to a fairytale that purports to events such as an earthquake breaking open tombs and dead people walking around.

A curtain being rent in half.

Darkness overwhelming the land in the middle of the day.

An angelic being overwhelming soldiers at Jesus’ tomb.

Those some soldiers not immediately prostrating themselves to God but instead running and making up a story with the religious leaders . . .

and on and on the weird events unfold.

There must not be any historic reliability to these events.

And that is what Paul is as well dealing with in the Corinthian church.

These questions are a display of cynicism not genuine curiosity.

Gnosticism rejected the idea of a physical resurrection because the physical being was evil.

The flesh would have been something they wanted to rid themselves of.

Therefore, for the Gnostics, a physical resurrection would not have been desirable.

On the other hand Jewish rabbis of the day were teaching an extreme opposite to that of the Gnostics.

They likely had misinterpreted Job’s statement, “And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God” ( ESV).

This view is reflected in the pseudepigraphal writings of 2 Baruch.

For the earth shall then assuredly restore the dead . . .

It shall make no change in their form, But as it has received, so shall it restore them, And as I delivered them unto it, so also shall it raise them.

(2 Baruch 50:2)[1]

If this view was present in Corinth, all the more, we can understand the sarcasm and condescension of those affected by the Gnostics.

They likely criticized the Christian belief of any kind of resurrection.

This is likely the background to the questions in , “How are the dead raised?

With what kind of body do they come?”

( ESV).

We may have asked these same questions at some point in our lives, but the fact that Paul refers to those asking as “fools” seems to imply that something is going on here more than a sincere and honest inquiry.

You fool.

Apparently the American colloquialism, “there are no stupid questions,” was lost on Paul.

Paul considers these questions foolish.

At least he considered those who asked them to be fools.

This is the same demeanor Paul had with Agrippa in , “Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?” ( ESV).

For Paul, the concept of a resurrection was very plausible.

In fact, he would argue that we regularly see the same type of transformation occur each time we see a new plant come forth.

And it is with the analogy of a plant we begin our walk through Paul’s description and characteristics of the resurrection body.

Characteristics of Resurrection

Your resurrected body requires death.

Paul writes, “What you sow does not come to life unless it dies” ().

Paul helps us understand, what he appears to consider, a fairly simple concept.

Our resurrected bodies will flow from the death of our earthly bodies – in the same way that a seed dies within the ground and grows into a tree.

ESV).

There is no way for our minds to grab a hold of this radical transformation from the earthly body to a heavenly resurrected body without the aid of figurative language.

The vast majority of things that are buried (or could be buried) in the ground don’t produce some new form of life – but a seed does – and apparently so do our earthly bodies.

There is no way for our minds to grab a hold of this radical transformation from the earthly body to a heavenly resurrected body without the aid of figurative language.

The vast majority of things that are buried (or could be buried) in the ground don’t produce some new form of life – but a seed does – and apparently so do our earthly bodies.

Christ uses same analogy.

Christ used a similar analogy when speaking to his disciples about his impending death.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” ( ESV).

While it may be natural to fear the process of death, death itself ought not be feared, for as Erich Sauer writes, “Thus do the graveyards of man become the seed-plots of resurrection and the cemeteries of the people of God become through the heavenly dew the resurrection fields of the [promised] perfecting.”[2]

Sauer draws this poetic statement from the writings of Isaiah.

“Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise.

You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy!

For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead” ( ESV).

A challenge within the analogy.

There is a challenge in this analogy, and its one that Paul will acknowledge a few verses later.

What about those who don’t die?

What about those who are still alive when Christ returns?

Do they have to die?

Will they receive a new body?

So while death is a requirement for this transformation to occur, those who have not died will still receive this transformation.

Likely, this transformation, although accomplished in a moment, will involve the destruction of the earthly body (which could be considered death to the earthly body) and transformation to a heavenly form.

So while death is a requirement for this transformation to occur, those who have not died will still receive this transformation.

Likely, this transformation, although accomplished in a moment, will involve the destruction of the earthly body (which could be considered death to the earthly body) and transformation to a heavenly form.

The product of transformation is different than original.

There is an inherent implication within this seed and plant analogy, and it is one that Paul takes quite a bit of time to discuss.

When a seed dies, it is not another seed that emerges from the ground.

What emerges is a dramatically different form, which leads us to the second characteristic of our resurrected bodies.

Your resurrected body will be different than your present body.

This reality is spread throughout these 24 verses (15:35-58).

“What you sow is not the body that is to be” ().

It is different.

God gives it a body that he has chosen.

In the same way that humans, animals, birds, and fish all have a unique body for their particular environments, the heavenly form or body will as well be different than its earthly counterpart.

In the same way that the sun, moon, and stars all possess their own unique glory, so will this new resurrected body.

This new body must be different for Paul tells us that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable” ( ESV).

“Verse 50 reminds us that our current sinful and mortal bodies are incapable and unworthy of coexisting with an infinite, holy God.”[3] Therefore a change must occur.

Imperishable in contrast to perishable.

Our resurrected bodies will know no sickness, decay, or death.

On the other hand, our natural bodies are perishable.

Solomon writes of this reality in Ecclesiastes.

“All go to one place.

All are from the dust, and to dust all return” ( ESV).