Body By God.

For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. – 2 Corinthians 5:1-5 ESV

Paul closed out his preceding thoughts with the words, “So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever” (2 Corinthians 4:18 NLT). He is contrasting the seen with the unseen, the temporal with the eternal, the material and the spiritual. Now in chapter five, he continues his comparison by sighting the difference between our earthly, temporal bodies and the new resurrected bodies we will receive as part of our glorification. What we see here is not all there is or will be. The body in which we live does not represent the reality of who we are or will be. John reminds us, “we are already God's children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is” (1 John 3:2 NLT). In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul told them, “our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies” (1 Corinthians 15:53 NLT).

Our earthly, physical bodies were not designed for eternity. They are temporal by nature and susceptible to disease, decay and, ultimately, death. And as Paul so matter-of-factly states, there is a day coming when our earthly body will be destroyed. We will die and our physical bodies will undergo decomposition. But Paul assures us that “we have a building from God, a house not made with hands” (2 Corinthians 5:1 ESV). He is referring to our resurrected body. Again, in his first letter, Paul had told them, “Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever. Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength. They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies” (1 Corinthians 15:42-44 NLT).

And there is a certain degree to which we should long for our new body. This body is corrupted by sin and prone to disease and decay. In his letter to the Romans, Paul provides us with an autobiographical glimpse into his daily struggle with his own sin nature:

The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.d I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. – Romans 7:14-21 NLT

To the Corinthians, he describes the outcome of this internal battle as producing a burden that results in groaning. Our new nature wearies over the constant warfare going on within us. It even led Paul to exclaim, “Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?” (Romans 7:24 NLT). And he answered his own question. “Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 7:25 NLT).

Faith in Christ produces victory over the control and penalty of sin in this life and victory over the power and presence of sin in the next life. According to Paul, we should long for the day when we can put off this body of death and put on our new bodies, clothed in the righteousness of Christ. It is on that day when we will finally experience what it is like to be sinless and totally righteous, not just propositionally, but practically. Holiness will no longer be a goal for which we strive, but a reality in which we live. 

And Paul says, “He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee” (2 Corinthians 5:5 ESV). We have been redeemed by God in order that we might one day be restored to sinless perfection, and able to enjoy unbroken fellowship with Him. The Holy Spirit is a down payment, a sort of guarantee that what God has promised to us will be done for us. In this life we enjoy the indwelling presence of the Spirit of God who guides and directs our lives. He convicts and comforts. He provides us with a supernatural source of power and a never-ending supply of God’s mercy and grace. But while we enjoy His presence in our lives, we also struggle with the influence of indwelling sin and the external attacks of the enemy. Yet the day is coming when our fellowship with God will never again be broken by sin. Our righteousness will no longer be contaminated by unrighteousness thoughts or actions. Our obedience will be complete. Our joy will be constant. Our holiness will be undiminished and unending. He has prepared us for this very thing.

All Things New.

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. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. – 1 Corinthians 15:35-50 ESV

The idea of the resurrection of the human body from death has always been difficult to comprehend. And it was no different for the Corinthians to whom Paul was writing. What made it even more unfathomable for the Corinthians was the influence of Hellenistic dualism, the philosophy that taught the separation of the body from the soul. For the dualist, the body was essentially evil and of no value in man’s pursuit of spiritual fulfillment.

“The Corinthians are convinced that by the gift of the Spirit, and especially the manifestation of tongues, they have already entered into the spiritual, ‘heavenly’ existence that is to be. Only the body, to be sloughed off at death, lies between them and their ultimate spirituality. Thus they have denied the body in the present, and have no use for it in the future.” – Gordon D. Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians

The thought was, if the body is evil, what good would it be to have it resurrected? And even if you could resurrect the body, what kind of body would it be? That is the very question with which Paul begins this section of his letter. “How will the dead be raised? What kind of bodies will they have?” (1 Corinthians 15:35 NLT). If you think about it, the first part of this question seems logical and worthy of asking. After all, who hasn’t wondered how God is going to restore a fully decomposed body and restore it to its original pre-death condition. And what is God going to do about a body that was buried at sea and eaten by fish. While we know that nothing is impossible with God, we can’t help but wonder at the seeming impossibility of it all.

But rather than acknowledge the validity of these questions, Paul refers to anyone who would ask them as a “foolish person.” They don’t get it. They are focused on the wrong thing. When the hear of the resurrection of the body, they are thinking the human body as they know it, the only body with which they are currently familiar. But Paul uses a series of analogies to help them understand the true nature of the resurrected body. First he uses seeds. “When you put a seed into the ground, it doesn’t grow into a plant unless it dies first. And what you put in the ground is not the plant that will grow, but only a bare seed of wheat or whatever you are planting.” (1 Corinthians 15:36-37 NLT). He goes on to point out that God gives the seed a “new body.” It comes out of the ground different than how it went in. And it has to “die” first. The shell encasing the seed must decompose and release the “life” that exists within. The body after death looks dramatically different than it did before. And it is all up to God. “God gives it the new body he wants it to have” (1 Corinthians 15:38 NLT).

Then Paul points out that there are different kinds of bodies in nature. Humans have one kind of body, while birds, fish and animals each have their own kind. We have no problem seeing that validity and necessity of these different kinds of bodies. The human body was not made for living in water. The body of a fish was not intended to sustain life on dry land. So why would we think that the human body, as we know it, could survive life in heaven. It will be a different existence requiring a different an altogether different kind of body. And speaking of heaven, take a look at the planets and stars. Each has its own kind of “glory”, Paul says. They each have their own purpose.

So, Paul concludes, “It is the same way with the resurrection of the dead” (1 Corinthians 15:42 NLT). Using the seed analogy, Paul states that our bodies, after death, will be buried in the ground, only to come out in new life and in a different configuration. “Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength. They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies” (1 Corinthians 15:43-44 NLT).

Paul makes an interesting pronouncement that goes against the whole premise behind dualism. After the resurrection, we will have spiritual bodies. They will be no separation. There will be no dual aspect to our nature in eternity. We will spiritual beings with bodies, albeit, a different kind of body. In our current bodies, we resemble our ancestor, Adam. In our resurrection bodies, we will resemble our Savior, Jesus Christ. “Just as we are now like the earthly man, we will someday be like the heavenly man” (1 Corinthians 15:49 NLT). The bottom line is that, after death, we will have to have new bodies in order to live with God in eternity. “What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever” (1 Corinthians 15:50 NLT). As impossible as the resurrection of the body may sound, it is a necessity. Without it, men could not exist in the rarefied atmosphere of heaven, any more than a fish could exist out of the water. Our new home will require that we have new bodies. In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul puts it this way:

For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies. While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit. – 2 Corinthians 5:1-5 NLT

New home. New bodies. New life. New nature. New heaven. New earth. It’s all coming some day. And it is the past resurrection of Jesus Christ and the future resurrection of our bodies that make it all possible. “And the one sitting on the throne said, ‘Look, I am making everything new!’” (Revelation 21:5 NLT).

We Shall Be Like Him.

Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. – 1 John 3:2 ESV

We are already God's children. Right here. Right now. But we are in the process of transformation, what theologians refer to as our sanctification. We are being made into the likeness of Christ. Paul says that we “are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18 ESV). It is a spiritual transformation, an inner action that is taking place while we live in these earthly bodies. As our bodies grow older and suffer from the impact of sin, our inner spirits are slowly, but steadily going through a make-over, a renovation and renewal that is totally God's handiwork. But John gives us the assurance that there is a day coming when we will be like Jesus, not only in terms of our sinlessness, but also our outward appearance. Paul describes it in this way:  “For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies. While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit” (2 Corinthians 5:1-5 NLT).

So John reminds us that “what we will be has not yet appeared.” Our transformation is not yet complete. And it will not be complete until we see the Lord again. And at that moment, when we see Jesus, we will undergo a radical and revolutionary change that will leave us totally transformed into His likeness. Our process of sanctification will be complete. Our slow journey toward glorification (from one degree of glory to another) will be over. We will be glorified and receive new bodies. We will see Him like He is and we will be like He is. Again, we turn to Paul for some helpful insights into how all this works. He uses the imagery of a seed being planted in the ground and dying, only to transform into something new and life-giving. “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. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven” (1 Corinthians 15:42-49 ESV).

We will bear the image of the man of heaven. We shall be like Him. We will receive new bodies, heavenly bodies that are free from sin, no longer susceptible to pain, and totally death-resistant. What will they look like? John doesn't tell us. Will we be able to recognize one another? I would certainly think so. The disciples had no trouble recognizing Jesus in His transfigured state on the mountain. But rather than worry about things we have not been told, we would probably do well to think about what John has made clear to us. “And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure” (1 John 3:3 ESV). Because we know that there is a day coming when we will be totally transformed into His likeness and we will see Him as He is and bear His image, we should make our inner transformation our highest priority. After all, it is God's highest priority. Our transformation from sinfulness to sinlessness was why Jesus came. “You know that he appeared in order to take away sins” (1 John 3:5 ESV). “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8 ESV). Jesus died so that we might be freed from having to sin. He has made it possible for us to live sin-less lives, even in these earthly bodies. So as we await His appearing, we need to make our pursuit of holiness job number one. We do that by abiding in Him and remembering our status as God's children. God has made us His own, and “that’s only the beginning. Who knows how we’ll end up!” (1 John 3:2 NLT). All we know is that the end result is a complete transformation into the likeness of Jesus Christ. And we are works in process at this very moment. So let's live with the end in mind. Let's make our holiness our highest priority – with God's help.