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:
Not that body that shall be - but beautiful, and no longer a "bare grain," but clothed with blade and ears, yielding many grains, instead of only one. The plant falls back again into the same wheat as its seed: but Paul's comparison of the heavenly body is to the living plant; not to the bare grain produced subsequently. There is not an identity of all the particles with the old body: for the perpetual transmutation of matter is inconsistent with this. But there is a germ which constitutes the identity of body amidst all outward changes: the outward accretions fall off in its development, while the germ remains the same. Every such germ ("seed," 1 Corinthians 15:38) 'shall have its own body,' and be instantly recognized, as each plant now is known from the seed that was sown (see note, 1 Corinthians 6:13). So Christ illustrated the truth that His death was the prelude of His putting on His glorified body, which is the ground of the regeneration of the many who believe (John 12:24). Progress is the law of the spiritual, as of the natural world. Death is the avenue, not to mere revivification or reanimation, but to resurrection and regeneration (Matthew 19:28; Philippians 3:21). Compare "planted," etc., Romans 6:5.