Now that Paul has confirmed the truth of bodily resurrection to the believers of Corinth who doubted it, he knows their next question will be about the nature of the resurrected body. In today's passage he explains that the resurrection body can never die, just as Christ's resurrected body can never die.
First he gives a warning against listening to those who aren't spiritual and who don't know what they're talking about. "Do no be misled: 'Bad company corrupts good character.' Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God---I say this to your shame." (1 Corinthians 15:33-34) Paul has said a lot of things to their shame in this first letter. There is no excuse if they are falling for the lies and ignorance of unworthy teachers, for they have been taught by the apostles themselves and they have the Scriptures of the Old Testament available to them in the Greek language which they are able to read and understand. There would be no shame if they were incapable of knowing better, but this is not the case.
When Paul says, "Bad company corrupts good character," he's quoting a line from a play that the people of Corinth would have been familiar with. The play was called "Thais" and it was written by a Greek playwright named Menander who wrote 108 comedies. Although this quote is not from the Holy Bible, it's still the truth, and Paul's readers were able to recognize it. If we hang with the wrong crowd long enough, their behavior will start to rub off on us.
"But someone will ask, 'How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come? How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body as He has determined, and to each kind of seed He gives its own body." (1 Corinthians 15:35-38) My family planted gardens every spring when I was growing up. We grew almost all our own vegetables and we grew enough to freeze and can vegetables to get us through the winter. I've planted all sorts of seeds in the ground. Just by looking at a seed it was often difficult to determine what type of plant (or body) would grow from it, but the plant that grew from each seed was so much more beautiful and useful than the seed itself. From one kernel of corn grew a tall stalk with many ears of corn. From one tiny cucumber seed grew a spreading vine that produced cucumbers through a good part of the summer. In the same way our resurrection bodies are going to be much more beautiful and useful than the seeds (our dead bodies) that were planted in the ground.
"Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor." (1 Corinthians 15:39-41) God created a great deal of diversity in the universe, and everything He created is good, just as He said in the book of Genesis. Everything He created for this universe and for our planet is exactly what it needed to be to sustain the human race. The current universe and the current earth are glorious, but when the Lord recreates them into something new (Revelation 21) they will be something even better. They will be exactly what is needed for the eternally living saints of God. In this same way, our mortal bodies are "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14) but our resurrection bodies will be even better, for they will be like Christ's.
Even John, "the beloved apostle", could not fully take in the concept of someday having a body like the Redeemer's, but he believed and taught that it would be so. "Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." (1 John 3:2) John saw and interacted with and ate with the risen Christ, but he did not witness the full glory that is Christ's in heaven. He saw Christ again in a revelation while in exile on the Isle of Patmos, and even then I don't think he saw the full glory of Christ, for just the part he did witness caused him to fall at the feet of Jesus "as though dead". (Revelation 1:17) After all, no mortal man can see the face of God and live (Exodus 33:20). But someday when we are in our resurrection bodies, we will be able to look our Redeemer in the face and behold His indescribable glory and holiness because our new bodies will be able to withstand such a thing.
The thing that amazes me the most is that Christ wants us to have the same type of resurrected body that He has. We don't deserve redemption, much less eternal life, and even less a body like the Son of God's. But the One who gave His life for us wants us to share in all that belongs to Him, and that includes having a glorious, immortal, and holy body like His. Weak and sinful though we may be in this world, because we have trusted in His name He is not ashamed to call us His brothers and sisters. (Hebrews 2:11) As His brothers and sisters, we share in the inheritance He receives from the Father, who is now our Father too. (Romans 8:17) We haven't earned this great gift by our good works. We don't deserve this gift because we have lived holy lives. We are granted this gift through the love and grace of the One who is good and holy. Blessed be His name!
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