(35) But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come? (36) Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die: (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: (38) But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body. (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. (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. (42) So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: (43) It is sown in dishonor; 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. (45) And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. (46) Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. (47) The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. (48) As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. (49) And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. (50) Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
Who they were which put the question, how are the dead raised up, and with what body do they come? is not said; but we have reason to he thankful it was put, that the Apostle, under divine teaching, might answer it as he hath here completely done, and that God the Holy Ghost hath caused both question and answer to be recorded. No form of words can be more plain, than Paul hath used, to bring the Church acquainted with the pleasing doctrine. And no images or similitudes more striking, in a way of illustration I do not think it necessary to add a word on this point, which the Lord himself hath explained. The striking figure of the corn, which by dying and rotting in the earth is made to live; and the diversity of flesh, to shew that there will be diversity of degrees in the resurrection; and the different glories of the heavenly bodies, which is another similitude as taken from them, in illustration of the same; these all beautifully explain while they prove the doctrine. But, passing by these, which are so plain as to need no comment, I would beg to offer an observation or two on that part which the Apostle dwells upon, in reference to the resurrection, when considering Christ the second Adam, so called, as a quickening spirit. The last Adam (saith he) was made a quickening spirit. And the Apostle draws this most precious and blessed conclusion from it, that as in the Adam-nature of the first man, such are they that are earthy; so, in the received nature of the second Man, are they that are heavenly. All which corresponds to what Christ himself taught, that as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them: even so the Son quickeneth whom he will, John 5:21
I beg the Reader's close attention, to this point. It is in my view most sweet and blessed. And every truly regenerated child of God, conscious of his union and oneness With Christ, will find it, under the Holy Ghost's teaching, most sweet and blessed indeed.
I shall not in this place stay to dwell on that grand point, (though it is the foundation of every other), in respect to the blessedness of the resurrection itself, I mean that Christ's resurrection is the sole cause of ours. This I will take for granted, the child of God hath been taught by the Holy Ghost, and knows it as a practical and living principle in his renewed nature. Daily experience in his access to the throne, and rejoicing in hope of the glory of God, hath brought home the sweet truth to his soul, that Christ was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification, Romans 4:25; This he bottoms his joy, and hope, and comfort wholly upon. But what I have now particularly in view is from what the Apostle hath here said of Christ, the second Adam, as a quickening spirit, to observe how blessedly secured the resurrection of the Lord's people, is from this divine principle. It is by virtue of the union and oneness with Christ, as members of his body, of his flesh; and of his bones, that Christ quickens his people, and raiseth up the bodies of his saints at the last day.
Now, in proof of this most precious and soul-refreshing doctrine, there are one or two interesting points to be attended to, which set this subject in the clearest light, and which not only explain the principles of the resurrection, as all coming from Christ himself, but render the expectation of it a joy unspeakable, and full of glory. I beg the Reader to examine them one by one.
And first. Taught as we are to consider Christ and his people one, and to behold, him as a quickening spirit, it immediately follows, that from that quickening, as the Head of his body the Church, every individual member of his body shall be raised, and brought into life at the last day. This was what Jesus himself preached at the grave of Lazarus, when he said, I am the resurrection and the life, John 11:25. And the same his servant Paul was commissioned to tell the Church, when he said, your life is hid with Christ in God, when Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory, Colossians 3:3-4. So that Christ himself is the life of his people, precisely, as the head of an human body is the life of that body, and the efficient principle of communicating new life to the dust of his saints, is in him, and front him. This the Lord himself preached by Ezekiel also, when he said, 0 my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, 0 my people, and brought you up out of your graves, and shall put my spirit in you. Then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken, and performed it, saith the Lord, Ezekiel 37:12-14. So, again, by the Prophet Isaiah, the same blessed truth is proclaimed, and certified to be accomplished in the same way. Yea, God the Father gives his Personal word in the confirmation of it also. Thy dead men, said God the Father to his dear Son, as Christ mediator, thy dead men shall live. To which Christ is represented as answering, together with my dead body shall they arise. Then comes Christ's call to his dead: Awake and sing ye that dwelt in dust. Compare this with what the Holy Ghost hath said by Paul concerning them which sleep in Jesus, when the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, and the dead in Christ shall rise first, 1 Thessalonians 4:13 to the end. Then God the Father takes up the conversation again, and by a beautiful figure, explains how the glorious act shall be accomplished: thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out her dead, Isaiah 26:19. As in the wintry season of the year, there is nothing in the whole vegetable creation, so unpromising as the dry sticks of herbs, and yet from their root there comes forth in the spring moisture to give them new life and verdure; so Christ, the root of his people, in the morning of the resurrection, reanimates the dust of his mystical body, and his dew is the sole cause of their renewed life. To this effect also is that sweet promise. Psalms 110:3
From hence it very fully appears, that in Christ's resurrection, the resurrection of his people is not only secured, but by it effected. Christ himself is the sole efficient cause. It is accomplished by their union with him, according to what he said, because I live ye shall live also, John 14:19. And what I be the Reader most particularly to consider, indeed it is the grand point I am laboring under God the Spirit, teaching to impress upon his mind, that the resurrection of the just. (justified believers in Christ), differs wholly from the ungodly, the unregenerate, and uncalled. The hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and come forth, John 5:28. But this is said to be effected on the graceless dead by the naked power of God, in hearing his voice. Not so, the members of Christ's mystical body. They arise from their union with Him, as a quickening spirit. And the Holy Ghost gives his further confirmation to it, by his servant Paul, when speaking to the Church, If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness; that is, the body not being renewed, because it was never intended while in the present time-state, when the spirit at regeneration is made holy in Christ, returns, at the time appointed, as a body of sin and death, to the dust of the earth, and there remains until the morning of the resurrection. But the spirit being life because of righteousness, that is, being one with Christ, and interested in Christ's righteousness; the body sleeps in Jesus, and is His by redemption also. And, therefore, the Holy Ghost adds by the Apostle: But, if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit which dwelleth in you, Romans 8:10-11. The indwelling Spirit of Christ becomes the sole efficient cause of raising the body from the grave of death at the resurrection, as the Spirit of Christ became the sole efficient cause of raising the soul from the grave of sin at regeneration. I hope that I have explained myself to the Reader's apprehension, on this most soul comforting subject, and from those precious scriptures of God, very fully shewn, the sweetness of that glorious office-character of Christ, as it concerns his people, that as Paul hath here said, the last Adam is a quickening Spirit. Secondly. It is another grand point in the doctrine of the resurrection to have in view, and, under divine teaching, always to keep in remembrance, and live in the enjoyment of, that the bodies of believers will arise the same identical bodies as they go down to the grave. As Christ arose the very same body as was put into the sepulchre, so shall his people. As was the Head, so must be the members. Job was taught this precious truth, and rejoiced in it, ages before redemption-work was accomplished : Job 19:25-27
And Paul most decidedly confirms the same, when saying, this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. Indeed, on the supposition that this was not the case, the doctrine of the resurrection would be lost. If the Lord gave to his people a new body, this would not be resurrection, but a creation. And in this sense, what is become of the mystical body of Christ? Wonderfully changed it will be indeed, and prepared for the everlasting enjoyment of God in glory. So Paul describes. And blessed be God, so we shall find it. It will be no longer the subject of sin, and sorrow, and temptation, and evil. It was sown a natural body, it will be raised a spiritual body. And, as spirits are not liable to bodily infirmities, all the cares and disquietudes to which our flesh is heir, in this mortal state, will be known and felt no more. But, identity will be preserved. The very person that I now am, and that you now are, will be then the same. The hand that is writing those humble lines of the Poor Man's Commentary, and the eye that reads them, or the ear that hears them, will be the same. Changed from weakness to power, and from dishonor to glory, we shall be but, personally, the very beings we now are. Jesus will change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things, unto himself. Philippians 3:21
I must detain the Reader no longer. But may the Lord the Holy Ghost lead every truly called, and regenerated believer into an heart-felt enjoyment of these soul-refreshing things. In the blessed expectation of it, we may all cry out with Job; 0 hide me in the grave, and keep me secret till the set time, and remember me! All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. Job 14:13-14.