Thus also [is] the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruptibility.
The chapter has been answering a question about what sort of body the dead will have, and the answer is a picture from the field: something real goes into the ground, and what comes out belongs to another order. Where the ESV says "perishable" and "imperishable," older translations — the ones the writers below use — say "corruption" and "incorruption."
The argument rests on farming. What goes into the soil and what comes up out of it are clearly linked, yet no one would confuse them.
Here we have the same picture again, used in a different way. A seed is sown in the earth. It keeps its identity, yet it comes up with a very different body. The acorn is buried, but the oak springs up. The point is plain. The dead body of the believer is laid in the grave. At the resurrection it will come up very different, yet it will still be the same body.
Notice the small word the verse repeats. It is not one body swapped for another, but one body carried through a change.
Scripture is careful to show that resurrection is real. It stresses that the very thing sown is the thing raised, though it is raised in new conditions. So we read, "It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption." The identity stays, because the it that is sown is the it that is raised. Corruption is where man in the flesh ends up, and the body is in that state when it goes into the grave.
This also rules out a common misunderstanding of the glorified body as something manufactured elsewhere and handed to us.
We must not conceive of our future glorified bodies as though they were a new and improved suit of clothes, already existing somewhere in heaven, and coming to us straight out of heaven. So thinking, we should find ourselves in collision with 1 Corinthians 15:42-44, where a certain identity is preserved between the body of humiliation which is put down into the ground and the body of glory that is raised up.
The apostle does not call this throwing a body away. He calls it planting — and a farmer plants because he expects a return.
The body of the believer is sown in corruption, but raised in incorruption. Sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory. "Sown" is a word of triumph. It reminds us of the farmer, who sows to get a fitting harvest. The summoning shout of our Lord is still to come, and it will show His mighty triumph. Then what was sown in corruption, dishonour and weakness will rise in incorruption, glory and power. "Sown" is indeed a word of triumph when we lay our loved ones in the cold grave.
Decay is not a neutral fact of biology. It is the verdict of God on sin, running its course in the body — and yet that same ground becomes the place of harvest.
"It is sown in corruption." That is where the activity of natural life ends. Being mortal is only death put off. Ever since the first sin, the body of man has been doomed to return to dust. But the Lawgiver can make alive as well as kill... Judgment has sown what mercy is to reap... It is a sinful body, and decay is its badge of shame. But the Lord has bought it in righteousness, and He now entrusts it for a while to the safe keeping of the earth, which once was His own grave.
The word describes a condition, not a place. Writers also point out that older translations sometimes print it as "immortality."
This is the state that the bodies of the dead in Christ will have at the resurrection. Their bodies are decaying in their graves now. When the resurrection happens, and what is mortal has put on immortality, death will be swallowed up in victory! In Romans 2:7 and 2 Timothy 1:10 the same Greek word is used, and it should be translated 'incorruption' instead of 'immortality.'
That state is solid, not shadowy. Writers insist this is a real body you could touch, shaped like the risen Christ.
It is raised in incorruption, glory, and power. It is not a thin, airy body, as Chrysostom and Origen each said. It is a body filled with spirit life, as it once had animal life from the soul. It is not a spirit, but a spiritual body. It is not held in by earthly limits. It can pass through a closed door, or be touched. It can take food, though it needs none. We judge this from Him who rose as the great Head, pattern and power, and who said that a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as they saw He had.
The phrase "the resurrection of the dead" here does not cover everyone alike. The words of the verse settle the question.
Look for a moment at 1 Corinthians 15. To show how clearly it is God's people and no one else who are raised here, we read, "It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory." How can you apply that to a general resurrection? "Raised in glory" — can you say that of the wicked? You cannot read one sentence about the resurrection here without seeing that it speaks of the resurrection of God's people. That is not to say others will never be raised. But these are in view, because they are redeemed and have life in Christ.
- Sown — burial is not throwing away but planting; the farmer's word turns a grave into a place of hope.
- Corruption — decay is God's sentence on sin running its course, and the body returns to dust. That is the honest state of what goes in.
- Identity — the it that is sown is the it that is raised; the acorn and the oak are one life, so no one is replaced.
- Incorruption — what comes up is a real body, not a ghost: touchable, free of earthly limits, patterned on the risen Christ.
- Harvest — judgment sowed the body, mercy will reap it, and this harvest belongs to those who are Christ's; no one is "raised in glory" without redemption.
It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.
Paul answers a blunt question here: what kind of body comes out of the grave? Verse 43 gives two of his four contrasts, and each one starts with the dead body and ends with God's work.
Paul does not call it a burial. He picks a word from the farm, and that word carries the hope.
The word "sown" is a triumphant word. It reminds us of the farmer, who sows to get a suitable harvest. We still wait for the summoning shout of our Lord to show His mighty triumph. Then what was sown in corruption, dishonour and weakness will rise to a condition of incorruption, glory and power. The word "sown" is indeed a triumphant word when we commit our loved ones to the cold grave.
The first half of the verse does not flatter us. One writer shows how much human pride goes into the grave with the body.
The body of the Christian is sown in dishonour, for all man's glory is brought down into dishonour in the dust of death. What has a man to boast of when his body lies in corruption in the grave? This is the end of all man's pride and distinctions among men.
Corruption describes a physical process. Dishonour goes deeper. Even the grand tombs of the rich prove the point.
If corruption expresses the effect of a mortal condition, dishonour is a confession of its moral degradation. Our bodies are bodies of humiliation, and the grave is their hiding-place of shame. Human pride may refuse to admit this. Princes who had gold try in vain to keep up a shadow of their rank in the grand tombs they build for themselves. But the worm is still their brother.
The verse does not stop at dishonour. One writer ties glory to righteousness, and a believer's death to what he confessed all his life.
But if sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory. The death of a believer is the seal of his lifelong confession as a sinner and a worm. His resurrection will be the completion of his hope as a partaker, in Christ, of the righteousness of God. Glory is the natural ornament of righteousness, as dishonour is the inseparable consequence of sin.
One writer describes both changes in the body, and traces them back to Christ, who went this road first.
The way the body shows itself is completely changed — from dishonour, decline and humiliation, to "glory," a dignity and beauty impossible in our present bodily state. And the weakness of the vessel, which often sinks into utter helplessness in old age, will give place to a "power" we have not yet imagined. Christ was "crucified in weakness." He had taken a place lower than angels, who are mighty in strength. But God raised Him by His power, and gave Him in Manhood a place above angels. His bodily condition is now no barrier to the use of this marvellous power. So the capacity of our bodies will also be wonderfully changed.
Paul's repeated "it" holds the two halves of each clause together. What goes into the ground is what comes out.
The identity stays the same. The words show it, repeated four times: "It is sown … it is raised." Still, the condition it is in is of an entirely different order. This answers the question, "With what kind of body do they come?"
The raised body is not a ghost. One writer is careful to say what a "spiritual body" is not.
The body of the believer is sown in dishonour, corruption, and weakness: so all can see. What do we believe? It is raised in incorruption, glory, and power. It is not a merely airy body, but a body alive with spirit life, as it once was with animal life from the soul. It is not a spirit, but a spiritual body, not limited by earthly conditions.
This hope also settles a present question about our sins.
If we are believers, we are raised in glory. What is more, Christ Himself will come to bring us to Himself: "who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body." If Christ comes to fetch us and puts us in glory, what room is left to raise any question about our sins?
- Sown. Paul uses a farmer's word. Seed goes down expecting a harvest, so a Christian grave is a planting, not a disposal.
- Dishonour. The seed goes down in shame. The grave ends every human distinction and boast.
- Glory. The harvest comes up in glory, the fitting ornament of righteousness, as dishonour was the companion of sin.
- Power. Weakness gives way to power. Christ went first: crucified in weakness, raised by the power of God.
- The same "it." Four times Paul says "it is sown… it is raised." The body that goes down comes up: same identity, new condition.