1 Corinthians 15:43 Commentary and Bible Study

All the illustrations that Paul has given us are being employed here. Just as we can see with our own eyes the enormous variation in the created world, so we must not stagger at the power of God to take that earthly body, which is, admittedly, so corrupt, so dishonourable, so weak, and raise it up to something so different. God has left for himself this grandest of works which mankind has been unable to do during the whole history of the human race. This inability is the backdrop to God’s wonderful display of power in the resurrection. Christ alone has defeated death. We are meant to compare the two, but we are not meant to stagger at the power of God.‘It is sown in dishonour’ – every form of dishonour and failure. The mortal body is a thing of dishonour. Why else are those who were in life so fond of each other, so keen to bury their dead loved ones and put them out of sight? If someone lives to old age, the features by which they were known in youth have long since departed. Beauty has become wrinkled and worn; hair has thinned or fallen out; the upright frame now stoops; the balance and poise has become a tottering frame. It is sown in dishonour, but it is raised in glory, as if we had never sinned, as if we merited the reward of the righteous. We are saved and clothed with eternal honour – the resurrection of the body. It has also failed the examination of God, failed in parenthood, failed as a husband in so many respects, failed as a wife. There is no glory in us. There is failure as colleagues; failure as a Christian friend. We deserve the notice to be plastered over us many times over – a failure. We were ashamed of our sin. We succumbed to temptation. There was so much imperfection and wrong within us, even washed by the blood of Christ. We were such imperfect people, and we were weak and tired people. ‘Sown in dishonour; raised in glory’ – no more sin, no more shame. ‘It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.’ At the end of life we may have reached the stage where we need to be supported or even carried to get around. A wheel chair may have to be provided, and we suffer the humiliation of needing to be pushed around wherever we wish to go. Indeed, we may be denied the possibility of going where we wish altogether. The body may be confined to bed, and assistance required to do the simplest task. It is this weak and helpless body that is going to be raised and transformed into something so wonderful and it is beyond our imagination to conceive. When Scripture speaks of power, we do not know what that means, but there will be no disappointment for any in the world to come.