What Did Paul Really Mean by a Spiritual Body in 1 Corinthians 15.36–58? | Daniel Mikkelsen

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So what is the resurrection body made of?
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What is going on?
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What is the nature of it?
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What is the material?
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What's going on in that text?
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What is at stake here?
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There's two dominant views, the resurrection of the body composed of flesh or the resurrection of a body composed of spirit material.
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No one will argue that the body that we have now is solely made out of soul.
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So why is it that is then argued that the resurrection body is then made up purely out of spirit?
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verse 50, which is...
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massively controversial.
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I don't think it's actually difficult at all, but I will go through it because it is a massive proof text.
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So death is the last enemy that needs to be destroyed.
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And that's what Jesus had come to do.
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He's come to destroy sin so that death can be destroyed.
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Welcome back to another episode of Exploring Your Language and Scripture, brought to you by NT Greek Tutoring, the place for personalized Greek learning in your spare time.
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I'm your host, Daniel Mikkelsen the founder of NT Greek Tutoring and a PhD candidate in New Testament at the University of Edinburgh.
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this podcast exists to make gems from biblical studies accessible to everyday Christians and show you how the biblical languages opens up scripture.
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Our aim is to increase your love for God and his word so that you become more joyful witnesses for his mission.
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Today there will be no guests.
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Instead I will do two things.
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Firstly I want to give you my take on the material or nature of the resurrection body in 1 Corinthians 15 from verse 36 to 58.
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And finally as or secondly as always I want to apply it to everyday walk with Christ.
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So let's just dive straight in.
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So what is the resurrection body made of?
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What is going on?
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What is the nature of it?
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What is the material?
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What is the issue of the resurrection body in 1 Corinthians 15, 36 to 58?
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What's going on in that text?
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That's what we will be talking about today.
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And most of the...
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This episode today was built on my article that I wrote; it was published in 2019.
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2018 edition. It was a bit late. That particular publication it was not my fault. it is in its original language in Danish. It's the title is 'Hvad er Opstandelseslegements karakter ud fra Første Korintherbrev 15?' Or in English, what is the resurrection character or nature in 1 Corinthians 15?
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So I want to divide this into six sort of chapters.
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First of all, I want to discuss what is at stake and discuss the two most dominating views of in interpreting 1 Corinthians 15, then I want to go through the seed metaphor in the list, which is verse 36 to verse 41.
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And then what is the spiritual body, which is probably why you're here.
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And we will get into that and we'll explain my position on this and I'll explain why I hold my views on this particular point.
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And that is from verse 42 to 44a, as I have divided it.
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And then There's the first and the last Adam, which is from 44b to 49.
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And then I've titled the next section, accessing the kingdom, the kingdom of God, the transformation, which is from 50 to 54AD, not AD, just 54A.
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And then it is, I will have a conclusion.
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Paul has a conclusion from 54b to 58.
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And I will do my conclusion and my application in relation to that particular part of the text.
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So what is going on?
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What is at stake here?
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There's first two things, there's two dominant views, the resurrection of the body composed of flesh or the resurrection of a body composed of spirit material.
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And if you were like me when I first encountered this idea of spirit material, you're probably thinking, what?
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But I'll try to explain this and we'll also go over it a couple of times probably throughout this episode.
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But one of the things that is very important to note is that spirit materials that we think of spirit mostly as some kind of immaterial, it's not a material thing.
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Spirits are not material.
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But that's not how people in the ancient world thought of it.
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It's been argued by Dale B.
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Martin, and I think he is correct on this point, that it first came with the enlightenment that we began to think about spirit as something immaterial in our world.
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was not the case in the ancient world.
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They thought of spirit as some kind of material, a lighter material, ethereal material, sort of like maybe more floating material than what our bodies are made of, more airy so to speak.
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And in some cosmologies, the stoic cosmology, spirit is what, at least that's what Engberg-Pedersen is arguing in his monograph, Cosmology and Self, that the Stoics believed that the stars were made of this material.
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But we will get into more details on that in a moment, I think.
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But I think that that is important to consider what is agreed upon and what is disagreed upon in order to understand what is going on here.
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So the first thing that is agreed on is that Paul believed the resurrection happened and it needs to be modified here because not all scholars believe that Paul built that in the resurrection.
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So you need to be fair to everybody in scholarship.
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I don't think anybody disagrees, at least not anymore.
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Bultmann has a very funny comment in when he talks about resurrection, but that's, that's an entirely different story.
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In modern scholarship, I think everybody more or less agrees that Paul believes the resurrection happened.
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And I think that is fairly clear from, from his writings.
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Then it is very important to state that it is agreed that the resurrection is bodily.
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So this spirit material view is not an immaterial, not a non bodily understanding of resurrection.
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It has to be bodily, it is bodily and they've believed that that is bodily to the people who hold this view.
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And we need to represent people accurately.
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that is, they agree with the flesh position that the resurrection is bodily.
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Thirdly, all agree that it is mortal.
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Sorry, is immortal in resurrection.
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It is a material immortality that the body will go on and there will be a transformation of this body happening as well.
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So we might want to touch upon what is then disagreed because now we know that they agree upon Paul believed the resurrection happened and that the the resurrection is bodily that is material and that it is immortal and the body is immortal in the resurrection and that the body has undergone a transformation.
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So, but what?
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What is disagreed?
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The resurrection material so this seems pretty obvious.
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The material, they believe the material is different, either believe that it's flesh or it's this spirit material, lighter material that some will argue is what the stars are made of.
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We'll get to that later.
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What is transformed?
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What is transformed and what the transformation is?
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m the wild view, the flesh view, is the transformation of character traits.
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So it remains the same material but the character traits have changed and the body changed in that sense.
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not material change, it's a qualitative change, so to speak.
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But where the spirit material view is, no, no, it is actually a material change.
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We need to change material because the material of the flesh is a mortal material, per definition, and therefore it needs to be transformed and needs to be changed, it needs to get...
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You could maybe say they're exposed off, they might not always use those words, but I think that's fair rendering.
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And then change that into new material that is immortal, that can inherit the kingdom of God.
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And then also what are we delivered from is also eh one thing that is important and that's what I already touched a little bit upon is what the one view, the spirit material view is that we need to be delivered from a mortal material flesh whereas the flesh view is no no we need to be not redeemed from the material but the consequences of sin that has affected the material.
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In a sense, they both agree that sin may be a problem depending on maybe who you ask, but sin is a problem fundamentally for both views, but it's just how has that affected us in some sense.
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It might not be as clear in the spirit material and you might be able to say that they might not think so much about that particular view depending on which scholar we are talking about.
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Let's dive into the text.
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for those of you who are listening, I have put it on a screen here in the video version where I have text in Greek and then the text in English, my translation of it.
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Sometimes a bit of a rough translation, deliberately.
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But I'll read the translation and then we will dive into the Greek wherever is necessary.
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So, I'll read my translation from verse 35, but some of you will say, how are the dead raised?
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And with what kind of body do they come?
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You senseless person, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies, and what you sow, you do not sow the body that will come.
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But a naked seed, if perhaps of wheat or of some other kind?
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Yet God gives the body to it just as he wants it.
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We could potentially add that.
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Indeed, to each of these seeds, of the seeds, its own body.
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So what is happening here?
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There's a rhetorical point about with 35, but I will leave that aside.
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can look that if you want opposing views on that rhetorical, you can look at James P.
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Ware's commentary, The Final Triumph of God for a flesh point of view on this.
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And all you could look at Jeffrey Asher's book on 1 Corinthians 15 where he also goes into a lot of this.
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So if you want, some views on that, but we're not going to talk about it today because in either case, Paul, whatever you might think of this question, whether it's rhetorical or real, then Paul is explaining what is going on anyway.
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So what's going on here?
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Paul is creating a picture to enhance the understanding of what is going on.
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How can resurrection happen?
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And there is a rhetorical emphasis here is which is interesting in the Greek is that you have to try to highlight it over here is that he says ἄφρων (afrōn) so they could potentially put the comma here.
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That's how I interpreted it in my translation.
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So saying you senseless and then I put person in because it otherwise makes no sense in English.
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He's really emphasizing You don't have any sense if you don't understand this in some sense.
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Understand what is going on.
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This is very important for our faith.
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That's basically what you're saying because that's what we've been arguing on to this point.
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And that's why he says he uses this strong language and rhetorically also uses the singular you, which is quite unusual.
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This would have been read in congregation out loud and then suddenly you get this like personal addressing.
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You senseless person.
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What you sow is not made alive unless it dies and so on.
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But what Paul is doing is that he is creating a picture to understand how creation can happen.
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is giving us a metaphor, so to speak.
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That's why we call it a seed metaphor in scholarship.
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So the spirit material view says that this metaphor, essentially, God is able to give a body to you in the resurrection.
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That's what the point is here.
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That's they generally put a lot of emphasis on ἠθέλησεν which is the verb down here, which as I translated it wants, it could also be desires, but basically they say, oh, because God can give whatever body to anybody what he wants, because he has the power to do so.
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That seems to be the main point, at least in Engberg-Pedersen's Cosmology and Self.
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And so the point is that the resurrection will be bodily.
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It will be bodily and God is able to give a body to you.
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That's the point.
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Where the flesh view has a more in-depth analysis of this text, they see the metaphor as expressing continuity and discontinuity.
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The plant is different from the seed.
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I'll come to that in a minute.
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Basically, there is an organic connection, such that the material continuity, as you can see from a seed, is seed.
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a seed in the ground then it sprouts and becomes a plant.
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And then in that sense, there is an organic continuity.
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That's what the thing is that the material continuity, but there's a clear, apparent, very apparent change is not the seed anymore.
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It's something else, something more greater, something more beautiful or elegant.
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At the point, I don't think is what happens botanically, but it creates a frame of reference.
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Although James P.
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Ware in his book, The Final Triumph of God, has demonstrated that ancient people actually thought exactly the same as they knew exactly what we know today about botanically that that there is part of the seed that dies in order for the rest of the seed to sprout eh which is very fascinating it's interesting interesting read for for his own reason for his own sake but i think the point here is that that is not that death is necessary as some will argue but rather that transformation happens through death and resurrection And Paul is using the seed, being putting in the ground in the sense that it dies in the ground.
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But life comes from that death out of the ground and it's something more spectacular than what you put in.
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And I think that that is the frame of reference and that's why he uses ἀλλά (alla), which is what I've highlighted here.
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so what, so what you put in degrees, the naked seed that you put in the ground is not actually what is coming out in the end.
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It is.
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the seed, the seed becomes the plant.
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And I think that's why he uses this strong like, but.
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So he's saying, what do you sow?
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You do not sow the body that will come.
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But a naked seed, perhaps a weed or some other kind.
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But what is important, I think, is that what he says in the next sentence, and I think that that is where there is misunderstanding, because he says, καὶ ἑκάστον or ἑκάστῳ τῶν σπερμάτων ἴδιον σῶμα And I think that illustrates that it's not a random body that's given to the seat.
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Where I think that that, could potentially accuse Engberg-Pedersen to say, it doesn't really matter what kind of body that comes out of it, God can do whatever he wants.
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But I think that this particular wording in Greek says that it's not random, if it's a body of, if there's a seed of weed, it's going to have a body of wheat, is a wheat plant.
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If it's a flower, whatever kind of flower it will be, there will be a flower.
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And that is what is going on, I think.
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So that in that sense, there is a material continuity, but also that enormous transformation.
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And then we might also want to mention which is important for this first part of, well actually for the chapter is that We have a background, this metaphor seems to have a background in the creation account in Genesis 1 And it becomes very apparent, I think, from the list that is of the bodies that is in the next few verses.
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And in my opinion, the view of focus here is on God's ability to create, both in the beginning, but also eschatologically, that he can do the same thing as he does with the seed.
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He created the seed in the beginning, he can also create a resurrection body.
00:17:54.560 --> 00:17:56.981
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Now back to the episode.
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And in my opinion, the view of focus here is on God's ability to create, both in the beginning, but also eschatologically, that he can do the same thing as he does with the seed.
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He created the seed in the beginning, he can also create a resurrection body.
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the allusion is strengthened here because it says from verse 39 in my translation, not all flesh is the same flesh, but one for humans and other flesh for cattle and other flesh for birds and another for fish.
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Indeed, heavenly bodies and earthly bodies exist, but on the one hand, the glory of the heavenly one is one, on the other hand, the earthly is another.
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The glory of the sun is one and the glory of the moon is another and the glory of the stars is yet another one.
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For a star differs from a star in glory.
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So here the list is still allusion to Genesis, think, although it is a reversed order.
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So he mentions humans first and then goes back in the account.
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But it could also potentially have been suggested that this is a reference to Deuteronomy 4.15-23 where the order is actually the same.
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The order is the same order as here.
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Yet it doesn't, I don't think that it makes such a big difference for what I think is the point here.
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Although David Burnett who has just suggested it thinks that it can make a huge difference.
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But I just don't think that that's actually possible reading.
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em But I think that the point here is that the Paul illustrates that God has created this many different kind of bodies within creation, then he also has the power to create and control, he is also in control of your resurrection body.
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That's what he's saying.
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You can rest assured that God, if God can create this many different kind of bodies in creation, then he can definitely also make a resurrection body for you.
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and make sure that your body raises from the dead.
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So in that sense, it's not a value statement, which is what the spirit material view is that the whole point and the whole controversy within this text is the μέν… δέ… construction here, where the spirit material view sees a stoic scala naturae in this text that suggested the lower parts of the scala which is the earthly body, they are mortal in of themselves, where the upper parts...
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heavenly parts which is where the stars are which in Troels Engberg's view is made of he thinks that that's what Cicero thinks that they are made of of pure spirit, pure pnuma and they're heavenly and they're immortal and that's what the μέν… δέ… construction is suggesting is that it's creating the Scala or value hierarchy so to speak that says that the earthly bodies glory are lesser than than those of the heavenly heavenly bodies possess.
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This is argued em that therefore the heavenly bodies are made of spirit or panoma and stoic cosmology, which Paul then adopts here.
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Therefore the earthly body who are made of flesh are of lesser quality and they are mortal per definition and therefore you need to become a heavenly body in order to get into the kingdom of God.
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That's the argument sort of fairly fleshed out.
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David Burnett adds another interesting to this.
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says, the glory is only related to the heavenly bodies.
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But I actually think that that is not possibly grammatically because the μέν… δέ… construction does compare the glory of the earthly bodies with the heavenly bodies.
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Otherwise, what is compared?
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So, but the flesh view does not see a scalar network here.
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And the diversity of, but see this as a diversity of created body, the body that God has created in creation and it's not about value but about distinctness of bodies, they have different kinds which I already mentioned a few times already, I don't want to repeat myself too much.
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So and I actually in my article I post three reasons why I think that a stoic scholar network is not what Paul is intending here.
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So the first one is that the heavenly, so the ἐπουράνια and the ἐπίγεια has a locative sense here rather than a hierarchical one referring to the bodies and it refers to the bodies placement in creation so the heavenly bodies is up in heaven and the earthly ones are down on earth and that's what I think is the point here and that seems to be the case even so it seems that If there is any hierarchy as the hierarchy we find in the creation account of Genesis or in Genesis in Deuteronomy 4 it doesn't change anything.
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I don't think that it suggests a Greek cosmological hierarchy or scala naturae.
00:23:41.005 --> 00:23:56.925
Then secondly, the μέν… δέ… construction is more likely to refer to the difference in glory that is between earthly and heavenly ones rather than a strong contestant in their value.
00:23:59.167 --> 00:24:08.038
This is the case because I think if Paul really wanted to make this strong contrast, he does have another grammatical category available, which is a μέν...
00:24:08.038 --> 00:24:20.982
ἀλλά construction, which is much stronger than in this actual μέν… δέ… construction, where I think it's a much more light contrast, which is saying, we have these bodies on one hand.
00:24:20.982 --> 00:24:21.663
what is it?
00:24:21.663 --> 00:24:28.269
Actually, what I think is this is which was translated here is that indeed heavenly bodies and earthly bodies exist.
00:24:28.871 --> 00:24:32.355
But on the one hand, the glory of the heavenly one is one.
00:24:33.237 --> 00:24:39.973
On the other hand, the earthly is another, the earthly ones are another.
00:24:42.119 --> 00:24:59.148
And then my third point is that if a hierarchy should be present within this context, it would be better to suggest the creation account hierarchy as that is vividly clearly in here.
00:24:59.229 --> 00:25:04.913
And in that hierarchy, the humans, human beings are the top of the hierarchy, not the heavenly bodies.
00:25:04.913 --> 00:25:11.476
So it's the other way around, which I think is a much more likely interpretation.
00:25:13.246 --> 00:25:30.260
So to just sum it up, so it's a locative sense, the heavenly and earthly bodies, and the μέν… δέ… construction is not strong enough to create a value hierarchy, but more contrast that say they're different.
00:25:30.721 --> 00:25:40.575
And then if a hierarchy with presupposed in the text, it is more likely to be that one we find in Genesis 1, where human beings are on top of the hierarchy.
00:25:40.575 --> 00:25:43.079
So now we get to the fun part.
00:25:43.256 --> 00:25:47.038
So verse 42 'Thus indeed is the resurrection of the dead.
00:25:47.038 --> 00:25:51.162
It is sown in corruption, raised in corruptability.
00:25:51.162 --> 00:25:54.085
It is sown in dishonor, raised in glory.
00:25:54.085 --> 00:25:56.886
It is sown in weakness, raised in power.
00:25:57.307 --> 00:26:16.367
It is sown in a soulish body, it raised in spiritual body.' And now Paul is applying the analogy and that's why he starts, Οὕτως καὶ ἡ ἀνάστασις τῶν νεκρῶν So thus indeed is the resurrection of the dead, or thus indeed the resurrection of the dead will be.
00:26:16.367 --> 00:26:18.482
We could potentially also understand it that way.
00:26:18.482 --> 00:26:27.964
And he's repeating the verb, σπείρεται (speiretai), is repeated from the seed metaphor, which you can see here.
00:26:27.964 --> 00:26:33.184
So it's repeated, where it suggests that this is an application of the metaphor.
00:26:34.144 --> 00:26:39.025
The whole point of the metaphor is to illustrate how resurrection can happen.
00:26:39.280 --> 00:26:41.280
and what is going on in resurrection.
00:26:42.461 --> 00:26:52.285
So, but the subjects of, or the subject of σπείρεται (speiretai) and ἐγείρεται (egeiretai) are disputed.
00:26:52.285 --> 00:26:59.446
And there are three suggestions here, I think at least predominantly.
00:26:59.446 --> 00:27:00.116
So C.K.
00:27:00.116 --> 00:27:09.449
Barrett, who was a major British scholar, that you should understand it as passive verbs that had an implied subject.
00:27:09.449 --> 00:27:12.260
then secondly, others, Dale B.
00:27:12.260 --> 00:27:19.247
Martin, James Duun, Richard Carrier, has suggested that there are two different bodies that are subject.
00:27:19.247 --> 00:27:38.307
So there's one body that is subject for σπείρεται (speiretai) and there is one for σπείρεται (speiretai) But the third suggestion, although these prominent scholars suggested this reading in both one and two, This actually cannot be true.
00:27:38.307 --> 00:27:38.548
James P.
00:27:38.548 --> 00:27:53.128
Ware has very prominently in an article in JBL, so the Journal of Biblical Literature, in 2014 demonstrated that in particular the second reading is grammatically very unlikely, I would say probably impossible.
00:27:53.128 --> 00:27:56.970
And that is quite an interesting.
00:27:56.970 --> 00:28:26.384
perspective and also I think it also if you actually look at the grammar the first one it is also ruled out so Greek grammar expect an explicit subject present in a close context and in this case we have the seed metaphor which is very clearly the body the soma which is used many times throughout the metaphor under the list And then that must be the subject that is in the application.
00:28:26.384 --> 00:28:29.955
which is then referred to all the eight verbs that we have.
00:28:30.977 --> 00:28:39.513
There are some exceptions to this, that one thing that can happen, two things can happen in order for this to not be the case.
00:28:39.513 --> 00:28:41.914
So we can have a change of person and number in the verbs.
00:28:41.914 --> 00:28:48.210
So we could have the verbs, verbs are all uh third person.
00:28:48.712 --> 00:29:07.636
singular, so that's what, if you wanted to have a change of subject, you could change the person, so you could change it to a first person or to a second person, But you could also change the number, just change it to a plural instead of a singular that will signal a change of subject in Greek.
00:29:08.817 --> 00:29:46.223
It could also be an object from the previous em verb that is implied, but but none of these features are actually present in our text because we have a lot of predicates and then we have an implied body and I think it is very well can be illustrated in this way that I put it on the screen here that you have the eight verbs four sown and four raised so it's the body that is sown in corruption it is the body And that is same, that is exact same body is raised in incorruptibility.
00:29:46.223 --> 00:29:52.606
That body is then, this is the same body is sown in dishonor and raised in glory.
00:29:52.606 --> 00:29:57.009
The same body is sown in weakness, raised in power.
00:29:57.009 --> 00:30:02.631
And this same body is sown, a soulish body raised in spiritual body.
00:30:02.830 --> 00:30:10.513
So grammatically, we can only have one body and actually Engberg-Pedersen is criticizing Dale B.
00:30:10.513 --> 00:30:23.055
Martin for having this view because he also says that is not grammatically correct, although Engberg-Pedersen and Dale B Martin agrees that the body of resurrection body has to change to a different material, to a spirit material.
00:30:23.174 --> 00:30:27.295
So it's very clear that that is what is going on here, I think.
00:30:28.275 --> 00:30:38.634
So what is going on here is that, but the problem is that we have many translations create a non-existent problem.
00:30:38.866 --> 00:30:47.807
You probably read, you read the ESV, you'll say that there's a natural body that is, so it's sown as a natural body is raised as a spiritual body.
00:30:48.307 --> 00:30:51.446
And that is probably case for most translations.
00:30:52.166 --> 00:30:55.047
That's because that's also in the King James in English.
00:30:55.426 --> 00:31:08.691
That's then interpretation tradition is kind of pared over into a lot of these, but there are also a that was like, say, as a physical body, it's sown as a physical body raised as a spiritual body, which makes the comparison even worse.
00:31:08.691 --> 00:31:10.564
because that's not what's going on here.
00:31:12.517 --> 00:31:17.288
The point is not that there's a physical body or natural body that is so versus a spiritual body.
00:31:19.191 --> 00:31:24.594
And there is an actual real problem for the spirit material view here.
00:31:25.173 --> 00:31:31.597
Because what is happening is that we have the the soul-ish body, so to speak.
00:31:32.979 --> 00:31:34.980
And then we have the spiritual body.
00:31:35.160 --> 00:31:40.063
But no one will argue that the body that we have now is solely made out of soul.
00:31:42.387 --> 00:31:57.652
So why is it that it's then argued that the resurrection body is then made out of, purely out of πνεῦμα (pneuma), or spirit, when the comparison is clearly different?
00:31:57.652 --> 00:32:11.445
There's a one, on the one side we have a body, there's a soulish body and then we have a body that is spiritual, but the soulish body is not made out of complete soul because No one says that that's what we're running around in now.
00:32:11.445 --> 00:32:12.977
We have bodies of flesh.
00:32:13.198 --> 00:32:14.838
So it has to be something else.
00:32:14.838 --> 00:32:17.381
Although M.
00:32:17.381 --> 00:32:33.273
David Litwa in his book, We Are Being Transformed, tries to get around this by saying that the current body is partly made out of soul as a way to explain that the resurrection then will be made out of spirit alone.
00:32:34.154 --> 00:32:37.037
But that's not actually what he's saying.
00:32:38.397 --> 00:32:39.479
Honestly.
00:32:39.525 --> 00:32:56.564
I don't see that that actually makes sense because then he should actually go with what John Granger Cook argues in his new monograph, The Enspirited Body where he says that the resurrection body will be made partly out of soul and part, no, sorry, partly out of spirit and partly out of flesh.
00:32:57.005 --> 00:33:00.306
But that is not what Luther want to argue in his monograph.
00:33:00.906 --> 00:33:08.430
So in a sense, he breaks the comparison between the bodies, we can say state.
00:33:09.393 --> 00:33:11.464
currently and in the resurrection.
00:33:11.826 --> 00:33:24.338
So there must be something else going on because I've not seen anyone on this side, spirit material view who actually explained this comparison between states.
00:33:26.131 --> 00:33:40.230
So I don't think that it's possible for to be referring that ψυχικόν and πνευματικόν are referring to materiality because that's not how it's used before.
00:33:40.711 --> 00:33:55.772
Previously Paul is using it in this particular contrast between the ψυχικὸς ἄνθρωπος so the soul-ish person or something like that, with the πνευματικός ἄνθρωπος Yeah.
00:33:55.772 --> 00:34:04.500
So, so I made a translation of that text while cringes to 14 to 16.
00:34:05.126 --> 00:34:10.849
A soul is person does not receive the spirit of God, but it is foolishness to him.
00:34:11.250 --> 00:34:20.132
And he cannot understand that he is spiritually judged, but the spiritual person judges everything.
00:34:20.498 --> 00:34:24.510
but is himself judged by no one.
00:34:25.391 --> 00:34:30.315
For who has known the mind of God, of the Lord?
00:34:31.217 --> 00:34:32.757
Who will instruct him?
00:34:32.757 --> 00:34:34.858
But we have the mind of Christ.
00:34:35.599 --> 00:34:45.005
So what is going on here is that we have a comparison between a person who has the spirit and a person who does not have the spirit.
00:34:45.005 --> 00:34:58.494
So the soulish person is a person that does not have the Holy Spirit, whereas the spiritual person does have the spirit of God and that's why he's able to just judge spiritual matters, he's able to understand spiritual wisdom and so on.
00:34:58.494 --> 00:35:17.875
So, innocence is like, on this picture I have here, this person who has enlightened innocence, not enlightened in the sense of like, gnosis, but he has been filled with the spirit and is now able to understand the glory of God in a sense, which is Christ.
00:35:18.855 --> 00:35:22.534
But so he is in this spiritual light, so to speak.
00:35:23.594 --> 00:35:33.574
And then what the soulish person is the person in the dark, spiritual darkness, he doesn't understand that he thinks it's foolish to believe in Christ, which is literally what is in the context.
00:35:33.574 --> 00:35:38.335
you read 1 Corinthians 1 and 2, that's exactly what is going on.
00:35:40.518 --> 00:35:43.862
So this is clearly a functional thing.
00:35:43.862 --> 00:35:59.373
The ψυχικόν and the πνευματικόν is clearly not referring to the material of these persons, to whether they have this spirit or not, whether they're Christians or followers of Christ, followers or not.
00:36:00.099 --> 00:36:02.215
So it's about spiritual matters.
00:36:02.635 --> 00:36:07.748
And *πνευματικόν is used exactly like that just in the next verse.
00:36:08.146 --> 00:36:11.786
in the start of the day was compared to σάρκινος (sarkinos) where it is an ethical term.
00:36:12.487 --> 00:36:15.827
So that's clearly what's going on here.
00:36:17.106 --> 00:36:26.266
So you must have either an ethical function, which is has in chapter three, and here up think a functional, potential ethical function in chapter two.
00:36:26.266 --> 00:36:30.367
So I think that is exactly what's going on in chapter 15 as well.
00:36:31.226 --> 00:36:43.458
And Here Engberg-Pedersen has a hermeneutical problem because he interprets the difficult text in chapter 15 first and then he reads that into chapter 2.
00:36:43.923 --> 00:36:47.724
And I think that's enormously problematic.
00:36:47.724 --> 00:36:58.130
You need to read the clear text, which is chapter 2, it's very clear text, and then use that to understand the more difficult text.
00:36:58.130 --> 00:37:02.795
So I think this reading has a has a big problem.
00:37:03.317 --> 00:37:09.722
So the hemineutical may be potentially a logical problem, but we might not want to be so harsh.
00:37:11.603 --> 00:37:12.813
But it's clearly functional.
00:37:12.813 --> 00:37:35.413
I think it makes better sense to translate it as I've highlighted here is that We should think of it as a body It is sown a body kept alive by the soul raised a body kept alive by the spirit and Here we could say this Holy Spirit or the Spirit of God Or potentially talk about it.
00:37:35.413 --> 00:37:46.547
It is a body sown It's a study is sown as a body empowered by the soul, raised the body empowered by the spirit.
00:37:47.847 --> 00:37:50.347
So it is how this body is kept alive.
00:37:50.347 --> 00:37:53.706
I think it's a much more meaningful way of understanding.
00:37:53.706 --> 00:38:07.106
I think that fits the context of the character traits as well is that we have a set of characters, negative character traits on the one side, and we have a set of positive character traits on the other side.
00:38:07.106 --> 00:38:09.786
And they go with each of these bodies.
00:38:10.047 --> 00:38:19.913
So it would make it kind of doesn't really make sense, think, exegetically to think of them as material determinators.
00:38:20.474 --> 00:38:42.311
But rather talking about the state of the body or what is keeping it alive or what is empowering the body, keeping it alive, it's the soul in the current body and it will be the spirit of God in a much more clearer new way that Maybe it's quite hard to explain it.
00:38:42.311 --> 00:38:50.496
don't think Paul actually explains it into details, but he says that that's what will happen.
00:38:51.869 --> 00:39:03.085
Then in the next part of the text, we have a very interesting comparison because then he says, if a soulish body exists, also a spiritual body exists.
00:39:03.085 --> 00:39:12.809
And thus it is written, the first man, Adam, became a living soul, the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
00:39:13.769 --> 00:39:21.251
But not the spiritual first, but the soulish, then the spiritual.
00:39:21.326 --> 00:39:25.052
I know there's a bit of a wooden translation, but I did it on purpose.
00:39:25.773 --> 00:39:26.284
So...
00:39:26.284 --> 00:39:31.157
Here is a clear allusion to Genesis 2.7 in the Septuagint.
00:39:31.157 --> 00:39:59.440
The only difference is that this, so he says, ἐγένετο ὁ πρῶτος ἄνθρωπος Ἀδὰμ εἰς ψυχὴν ζῶσαν The only difference here is that he adds πρῶτος and Ἀδὰμ Otherwise it's exactly what it is in the Septuagint The question is where the last Adam comes from.
00:39:59.740 --> 00:40:03.925
And there's a very long argument about this and don't want to go into deep details about it.
00:40:03.925 --> 00:40:15.914
But on the one hand, it may be Philo of Alexandria had a theory of two men, where there's one man on the one hand, eh who is the created man who is created as a spiritual being.
00:40:16.655 --> 00:40:19.498
And then he has been bound in the flesh.
00:40:19.498 --> 00:40:24.681
And then he kind of needs to get out of that to get to the back to the state of spirit.
00:40:25.202 --> 00:40:43.550
So in that sense, He has these two men so that it's kind of worse being encapsulated in the flesh Than it is to be the free spirit so so to speak and But it doesn't really fit Paul's chronology.
00:40:43.550 --> 00:40:54.554
is very clear that this is that this that the soulish is before the spiritual, which is clearly not what what Philo thinks.
00:40:55.114 --> 00:41:14.025
Then it doesn't fit with Paul's soteriology the way he thinks about salvation, because he thinks about these character traits, the change of state, rather than a change of existence, so to speak, in the sense of being, heavenly being to being an earthly being.
00:41:14.164 --> 00:41:16.416
That's not, it seems to be problematic there.
00:41:16.416 --> 00:41:19.550
And the eschatology is also very different.
00:41:20.150 --> 00:41:30.260
And also, I think the most important bit is that he says, οὕτως καὶ γέγραπται Which is a phrase that Paul only uses when he quotes scripture.
00:41:30.260 --> 00:41:33.083
He only uses this when he quotes scripture.
00:41:33.905 --> 00:41:52.994
So therefore I find it very unlikely that he is having a theory of another ancient interpreter of the Torah in mind, rather than the Torah or the Old Testament or the Tanakh itself in mind.
00:41:52.994 --> 00:41:53.855
So.
00:41:54.827 --> 00:41:57.367
Old Testament background is much more likely.
00:41:57.367 --> 00:42:00.427
We clearly see the Genesis already here.
00:42:01.567 --> 00:42:13.047
And we can see, I think it's very much an exposition of what, so 42-44 so we just looked at the raising of the bodies, the sewing and raising of the bodies.
00:42:13.047 --> 00:42:15.706
There's kind of a commentary on what this is already.
00:42:16.106 --> 00:42:21.606
So it's clearly saying that there's one man on the one hand and the other man on the other hand.
00:42:21.606 --> 00:42:24.586
So there's a body, so they kind of go with the bodies.
00:42:26.282 --> 00:42:32.103
And then I think that there is a similarity, maybe even a dependence.
00:42:32.103 --> 00:42:46.123
don't know exactly about that, Ezekiel 37.1-14 where Israel, so that's the vision where Ezekiel sees the valley of the bones and they are raised up and they become human again.
00:42:46.123 --> 00:42:53.402
And yes, that's about Israel, but some people have also understood that to be about literal eschatological resurrection.
00:42:54.514 --> 00:43:01.427
and potentially, but it has kind of same kind of link to the Genesis that Paul seems to trying to make here.
00:43:01.427 --> 00:43:06.603
So that's potentially a more likely eh understanding.
00:43:08.639 --> 00:43:11.340
Then we get to the very difficult part, think.
00:43:11.340 --> 00:43:17.184
eh But I do think that there is a very ingenious solution to this.
00:43:18.385 --> 00:43:22.869
The first man is from the dust of the earth.
00:43:22.869 --> 00:43:24.889
The second man is from heaven.
00:43:24.929 --> 00:43:27.411
Such is the dusty one.
00:43:28.072 --> 00:43:31.434
Of such kind are, though, also the dusty.
00:43:31.675 --> 00:43:36.378
And I know it's a bit wooden, but I want to render it how the Greek goes.
00:43:36.378 --> 00:43:38.728
And such is the heavenly one.
00:43:38.771 --> 00:43:43.833
of such a kind are those also the heavenly ones.
00:43:44.713 --> 00:43:51.416
Just as we bore the image of the dusty, also we will bear the image of the heavenly.
00:43:51.916 --> 00:43:58.358
And here it's continuous, the antithetical thesis continues from the bodies.
00:43:58.420 --> 00:44:04.882
So we have one that is the mortal one that will be sown and then we have the one that will be raised.
00:44:05.702 --> 00:44:31.784
We have the first Adam that is associated with the quality with the weakness and the mortality and the dishonor, whereas the other one is the power and the immortality and incorruptibility and glory and the spiritual body.
00:44:32.284 --> 00:44:34.423
the clear and the thesis here.
00:44:34.610 --> 00:44:49.204
But most people see it almost like this picture where we have a man from the dust that is kind of being transformed into a heavenly being that has now gone and float around up amongst the stars, which is exactly what Troels Engberg-Pedersen thinks that's going on here.
00:44:49.324 --> 00:44:52.465
But it doesn't really work.
00:44:53.545 --> 00:45:11.887
Because if it's really about like character traits and rather than material, it is obviously doesn't really work, although this reversed way of looking at it is quite popular these days.
00:45:12.007 --> 00:45:21.168
And then there is the indirect argument of sin, which is like people say, oh, there's no, the sin is not present in 1 Corinthians 15, but it is.
00:45:21.467 --> 00:45:28.748
we have 1 Corinthians 15, 3 says, Jesus died for our sins.
00:45:28.887 --> 00:45:33.927
Again, in verse 17, he says, if Jesus didn't rise from the dead, we are still in our sins.
00:45:33.927 --> 00:45:42.728
then we have in the end of the chapter verse 56 that the sin is the sting of death.
00:45:43.367 --> 00:45:47.188
death has no sting if sin wasn't there.
00:45:47.708 --> 00:45:49.967
So it's clearly there.
00:45:51.427 --> 00:45:57.128
the big problem that is death is the big problem that resurrection solves in 1 Cor.
00:45:57.128 --> 00:46:03.208
15, unlike where the problem seems to be sin in Romans 5.
00:46:03.972 --> 00:46:13.402
yet sin is still implicitly present in the text and it comes back and forth and we have Genesis 1 to 3 explicit within the context.
00:46:13.422 --> 00:46:30.070
Therefore it seems that Adam's death comes into the world through the curse we see in Genesis 3.19 where he is cursed to die and to and the hero will return to the dust that he is made of.
00:46:30.469 --> 00:46:32.391
And that's after his sin.
00:46:33.673 --> 00:46:47.043
it must be what Paul is bringing into the argument when he is talking about that in Adam we all die in verse 21 and 22, and exactly what is happening in verse 56, which he just mentioned.
00:46:47.503 --> 00:46:58.356
So I think that there are this implicit or almost explicit rendering of sin within this argument suggests that the real problem is sin.
00:46:58.356 --> 00:47:03.181
It is not really the material is not the materiality of the body that's the problem.
00:47:04.402 --> 00:47:12.780
So what I think is going on, rather, I think that this is ingeniously exegetical genius of James P.
00:47:12.780 --> 00:47:16.534
Ware it is not in my original article, because this book is from 2025.
00:47:16.534 --> 00:47:19.034
And my article is from 2019.
00:47:20.735 --> 00:47:27.719
But it is not the heavenly man that we're going to go up and become heavenly person.
00:47:28.358 --> 00:47:33.221
But Jesus himself is the heavenly man that has come down to us.
00:47:33.342 --> 00:47:35.943
And he is bringing his glory down to us.
00:47:37.202 --> 00:47:44.465
And he has destroyed sin by dying for us and rising for us.
00:47:45.467 --> 00:47:46.748
And that is exactly what is happening.
00:47:46.748 --> 00:47:47.722
And therefore he can...
00:47:47.722 --> 00:47:50.083
distribute the glory to us.
00:47:50.083 --> 00:47:57.735
So he's giving us his own character traits and his glory that we get to share in if we follow us of him, and we trust in him and his resurrection.
00:47:57.735 --> 00:48:00.496
I think that's an ingenious way of reading this text.
00:48:00.496 --> 00:48:10.059
I think that solves the problem much better than thinking about it as like a location of where we're going to live.
00:48:10.059 --> 00:48:16.539
And then we get to 50, verse 50, which is massively controversial.
00:48:16.539 --> 00:48:18.958
I don't think it's actually difficult at all.
00:48:19.219 --> 00:48:27.099
But I will go through it because it is a massive proof text for the spirit material view.
00:48:27.099 --> 00:48:31.918
And I think that it's because they don't actually read the text.
00:48:32.219 --> 00:48:34.398
And I'm actually being serious here.
00:48:34.478 --> 00:48:37.278
I'm not trying to say anything bad.
00:48:37.278 --> 00:48:39.938
think that many of them are brilliant people and...
00:48:40.744 --> 00:48:46.686
and they're very good exegetes, but I just don't think that they read the text and what Paul actually is trying to say.
00:48:46.686 --> 00:48:47.766
And I will show why.
00:48:47.766 --> 00:48:50.677
We'll read it first and then we'll talk about it.
00:48:52.137 --> 00:49:01.840
But I say this, brothers, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor can the corruptible inherit the incorruptible.
00:49:02.400 --> 00:49:04.342
See, I tell you a secret.
00:49:04.342 --> 00:49:10.179
We shall not all fall asleep, but we shall all be transformed in a moment.
00:49:10.179 --> 00:49:54.503
in a blink of the eye at the last trumpet for it shall sound and the death the dead I should have said dead here I'm sorry for the spelling mistake here the dead will rise shall rise incorruptibly and we shall be transformed before it is necessary that this corruptible is clothed with incorruptibility and this mortal is clothed with immortality When this incorruptible is clothed with incorruptibility, the mortal is clothed with immortality, then the word that has been written will be or will have happened.
00:49:54.983 --> 00:49:57.257
We can also put it that way.
00:49:59.690 --> 00:50:08.655
So what happens here is that I put up on the screen here for those who listen, I will try to explain what is going on.
00:50:13.278 --> 00:50:28.956
So it says here, for this I say brothers, that, and then we have σὰρξ καὶ αἷμα which is a parallel to ἡ φθορὰ which is corruptible.
00:50:29.309 --> 00:50:55.766
And then you have βασιλείαν θεοῦ which is parallel to τὴν ἀφθαρσίαν And that's what is happening here, that Paul is essentially saying the same thing twice, kind of in a Hebrew way, and then in a more Greek way.
00:50:55.766 --> 00:50:57.686
So he's repeating himself.
00:50:59.550 --> 00:51:15.260
The thing here is when people say, σὰρξ καὶ αἷμα I cannot inherit the kingdom of God so it's flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God therefore we have to get rid of the flesh in the resurrection, but When you actually read the text until here is it seems to be that the point is actually character traits.
00:51:15.260 --> 00:51:28.235
So σὰρξ καὶ αἷμα is σῶμα ψυχικόν So it's the body that is corruptible And corruptible things cannot inherit the incorruptible, cannot inherit the kingdom of God.
00:51:28.235 --> 00:51:29.695
So there needs to be a change.
00:51:29.695 --> 00:51:35.481
And that is exactly what he's saying in the following is that we have to be enclothed with something.
00:51:35.481 --> 00:51:37.322
There needs to be a change.
00:51:38.143 --> 00:51:47.510
So what is going on here is that there will be a change in from one character trait to another.
00:51:48.271 --> 00:51:52.394
So that's consistent within the whole text goes through the text.
00:51:52.394 --> 00:52:00.027
We have character traits, the quality of change is a change of quality rather than material.
00:52:00.387 --> 00:52:02.286
And this is exactly what is going on here.
00:52:02.286 --> 00:52:06.559
And also σὰρξ καὶ αἷμα and has been demonstrated really well, I think by James P.
00:52:06.559 --> 00:52:08.626
Ware and John Granger Cook.
00:52:08.867 --> 00:52:15.186
I think Thistleton already had found the end of the long stick when he wrote his commentary in 2000.
00:52:15.686 --> 00:52:16.367
But.
00:52:17.940 --> 00:52:41.958
They have very clearly demonstrated that σὰρξ καὶ αἷμα is always a negative term, always refers to people in their mortal state, not just human beings as fleshly beings, but it refers to human in their weakness and mortality, which is exactly what Paul has been talking about, is that we are weak and mortal, and that needs to change, otherwise death will not be defeated.
00:52:42.539 --> 00:52:44.701
And that is exactly what is going on here.
00:52:46.534 --> 00:52:52.757
So it's proof texting to say that σὰρξ καὶ αἷμα means that flesh cannot inherit the kingdom of God.
00:52:52.757 --> 00:52:55.838
No, but it is mortal flesh that cannot inherit the kingdom of God.
00:52:55.838 --> 00:52:57.679
It needs to become immortal.
00:52:58.639 --> 00:53:02.561
And that is exactly what Paul is going to tell us in the next bit.
00:53:03.461 --> 00:53:07.423
And that's why he focuses so much about we need to be transformed.
00:53:07.423 --> 00:53:10.405
We need to be transformed and repeats it twice.
00:53:11.565 --> 00:53:14.099
We should all be transformed and then.
00:53:14.099 --> 00:53:16.998
We will be transformed and we shall transform.
00:53:17.179 --> 00:53:21.478
He says that twice in verse 51 and in 52.
00:53:23.684 --> 00:53:25.958
And then he explains what it needs to be.
00:53:25.958 --> 00:53:31.382
He says in the Greek, says, let me find it here.
00:53:31.534 --> 00:54:08.775
δεῖ γὰρ τὸ φθαρτὸν τοῦτο ἐνδύσασθαι ἀφθαρσίαν καὶ τὸ θνητὸν τοῦτο ἐνδύσασθαι ἀθανασίαν.
00:54:09.496 --> 00:54:32.219
so it is exactly the point here is that he says that this mortal so the τοῦτο (touto) what is that that is the body that is our current body that which is mortal the mortal body that we have now needs to be in clothe it will be in clothe with incorporeality.
00:54:32.219 --> 00:54:37.380
And this mortal is clothed with, with immortality.
00:54:38.820 --> 00:54:43.641
So, and is it actually, and this is where I think there's a really big point.
00:54:43.641 --> 00:54:49.974
We could go into Engberg-Pedersen's theory about Aristotelian philosophy but we're actually going to skip it for the sake of time.
00:54:49.974 --> 00:54:54.775
It's already we already have a quite long video and quite a long episode already.
00:54:56.074 --> 00:55:01.795
But what is going on here is that something needs to be put on.
00:55:01.894 --> 00:55:05.054
New character traits need to be put on is not a strip away.
00:55:05.494 --> 00:55:14.215
It's not something that needs to be shed, which is essentially what the spirit material view says is that we need to shed the flesh and get a new material.
00:55:16.711 --> 00:55:19.375
So it needs to be taken off.
00:55:19.375 --> 00:55:21.976
We need to take off the flesh and get something better.
00:55:22.476 --> 00:55:24.159
But that's actually not Paul's words.
00:55:24.159 --> 00:55:30.543
Paul's words is that this mortal body, the fleshly body that we have, needs to be enclothed with something else.
00:55:32.126 --> 00:55:42.045
It needs to have a new garment, which is exactly what I think is going on here, is that there's an allusion here to what happens in...
00:55:42.170 --> 00:55:54.679
the garden when God sends Adam and Eve away from the garden he gives them garments and he uses the word ἐνδύω which is what is used here twice And it's very interesting, I think.
00:55:55.880 --> 00:55:57.244
That it's been clothed.
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We put something on, something new on, which is what James P.
00:56:00.445 --> 00:56:09.965
Ware always says, and he says that several times in his monograph, which I think is an excellent monograph, and if you haven't read it, I would recommend it.
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We need to put on immortality and incorruptibility.
00:56:18.085 --> 00:56:25.264
We don't need to or shed, well, shed, that's the right word in English, sorry about that.
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So shed the...
00:56:26.512 --> 00:56:30.635
the flesh we need to, it need to be clothed with new character traits.
00:56:30.677 --> 00:56:33.757
And I think that that's what goes on through the text.
00:56:36.201 --> 00:56:43.786
So, and then Paul comes to say that he, then the word that has been written will occur.
00:56:44.208 --> 00:56:47.148
Death has been devoured in victory.
00:56:47.871 --> 00:56:49.762
Death, where is your sting?
00:56:49.762 --> 00:56:50.583
Where's your victory?
00:56:50.583 --> 00:56:52.333
Death, where is your sting?
00:56:52.454 --> 00:56:56.135
The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law.
00:56:56.135 --> 00:57:02.507
but thanks be to God who gives victory to us through our Lord Jesus Christ.
00:57:02.527 --> 00:57:13.349
Thus, beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, abounding in the work of the Lord always because we know that your work is not in vain in the Lord.
00:57:14.210 --> 00:57:18.570
So now he gets to saying that when this happens, this will be true.
00:57:19.032 --> 00:57:23.293
I made in my article, I put up, I put this.
00:57:23.465 --> 00:57:25.364
chart, which you can see on the screen.
00:57:25.364 --> 00:57:28.965
If you're listening, there is a chart here with three states.
00:57:29.465 --> 00:57:31.925
it's a creation state, a present state and a salvation state.
00:57:31.925 --> 00:57:37.304
And then on the top, you have the spirit material and not flesh body.
00:57:37.505 --> 00:57:43.045
And then it's divided and then there's bottom dividing line below the body of flesh.
00:57:43.364 --> 00:57:44.445
And we have three lines.
00:57:44.445 --> 00:57:53.545
So one is Philo's theory is which is I think is more consistent than the spirit material view is my critique of the spirit material view, essentially.
00:57:54.811 --> 00:57:59.802
is that Philo's theory is that the creation state is a spirit body.
00:58:00.222 --> 00:58:03.543
Then it's encapsulated in flesh and then it needs to go back.
00:58:03.722 --> 00:58:12.885
Although Philo doesn't actually have a salvation theory, but that is kind of a way we could set it up.
00:58:13.226 --> 00:58:28.028
And then you have secondly, Engberg-Pedersen and all with him, is that we have a creative state which is flesh, which is then continued in as a mortal flesh.
00:58:28.208 --> 00:58:30.628
So that is also the case in the present state.
00:58:30.869 --> 00:58:36.409
And then it ends up in the salvation state that needs to change material.
00:58:37.608 --> 00:58:39.108
And then we have the third view.
00:58:39.108 --> 00:58:40.028
I know that I put N.
00:58:40.028 --> 00:58:40.188
T.
00:58:40.188 --> 00:58:41.668
Wright in my comment.
00:58:41.668 --> 00:58:43.969
I actually think Ware is a better one.
00:58:45.690 --> 00:58:50.034
where we have the creation state where it's higher than the...
00:58:50.034 --> 00:59:06.331
because it is a state where flesh is immortal and then sin enters into the world and then we have a fall into a state of sin where sin has corrupted the flesh and creates...
00:59:06.331 --> 00:59:12.246
it weak, corruptible and dishonored and is weak.
00:59:13.068 --> 00:59:30.063
But the creation, the salvation status then that it will be transformed, it will be enclosed with, with God's glory, will receive God's glory in Christ.
00:59:30.583 --> 00:59:51.690
And it will be enhanced and return to a state actually will go beyond the state of the creation state because it will now share in the glory of God in a way that it did not do in original creation and Christ will be centered and the spirit will be more central in a way that was not the case in creation.
00:59:51.710 --> 00:59:53.911
So how can we apply this?
00:59:53.911 --> 00:59:56.673
I think Paul makes his own obligations.
00:59:56.673 --> 00:59:58.735
He actually makes three of them I think.
00:59:58.735 --> 01:00:02.177
So he first says that death will be destroyed, death will die.
01:00:03.239 --> 01:00:07.623
That is And that is the biggest problem for human beings.
01:00:08.643 --> 01:00:19.603
Our enemy, he's called it the last enemy in this text, earlier in the text in verse 27, 28, I can't remember.
01:00:22.023 --> 01:00:25.342
So death is the last enemy that needs to be destroyed.
01:00:25.342 --> 01:00:27.262
And that's what Jesus had come to do.
01:00:27.262 --> 01:00:30.802
He's come to destroy sin so that death can be destroyed.
01:00:31.523 --> 01:00:32.561
So that...
01:00:32.561 --> 01:00:36.757
Sin cannot use the law to kill us Sin will no longer be a problem.
01:00:36.757 --> 01:00:42.469
Sin is eradicated, it's done, it's gone, it's not there anymore.
01:00:44.719 --> 01:00:46.619
And the work in the Lord is never in vain.
01:00:46.619 --> 01:01:01.893
He's saying if you live in the Lord, if you work for the Lord, if your focus is on Him and His resurrection and Jesus' resurrection and the life in the resurrection and life, then no matter what you do, if you do it for the Lord, it will not be in vain.
01:01:01.893 --> 01:01:03.623
It will last into eternity.
01:01:03.623 --> 01:01:10.286
But if you work for yourself, on the other hand, or for something else in this world, then it will be in vain.
01:01:11.407 --> 01:01:17.840
I think that that is Paul's point is that resurrection, if Jesus rose from the dead, then you will rise again.
01:01:18.599 --> 01:01:27.382
I think that the centrality of Jesus in the resurrection is one of the greatest things about this chapter is that Jesus has done it all.
01:01:27.842 --> 01:01:36.425
Jesus has really made it possible for us to gain life, although we only deserve death.
01:01:37.565 --> 01:01:43.867
So he took our sins and he rose and he did it in advance of us who trust in him.
01:01:44.114 --> 01:02:09.815
And I think that that leads into the final point is that if Jesus has risen, which is what Paul argues, and I think he argues very persuasively and the historical criteria and all that stuff, Ware has a very lovely section on that, first part of the, yeah, it's a couple of chapters where he goes through the historical reliability of the resurrection account within 1 Corinthians 15.
01:02:09.934 --> 01:02:12.534
And it's just, yeah.
01:02:13.170 --> 01:02:16.630
very clear that that was what happened, I think.
01:02:16.891 --> 01:02:21.451
And if Jesus has risen, then you will do too if you trust in him.
01:02:21.451 --> 01:02:31.291
So if we trust in Jesus' death and resurrection and what he has accomplished there to save us from our sins and from the wrath of God, then we can have life in him.
01:02:31.291 --> 01:02:35.650
And if we trust in that, then we are saved and we will be saved.
01:02:35.650 --> 01:02:39.951
will not be removed from the living.
01:02:39.951 --> 01:02:41.731
We will not end up in hell.
01:02:42.030 --> 01:02:43.190
We will not.
01:02:44.210 --> 01:02:49.054
We will not go perish as Paul's favorite term for that.
01:02:49.255 --> 01:02:53.717
So I think that that is the beauty of the gospel.
01:02:54.898 --> 01:02:59.380
That we have been redeemed, although we did not deserve it.
01:02:59.601 --> 01:03:02.844
And that is what the resurrection is all about.
01:03:02.844 --> 01:03:06.465
Is that there is hope and there is life.
01:03:06.987 --> 01:03:07.967
Death will be destroyed.
01:03:07.967 --> 01:03:09.248
Sin will not be a problem.
01:03:09.248 --> 01:03:13.851
And if we work for God, live for him, bring the message to people.
01:03:14.402 --> 01:03:27.260
so that people see who Jesus is, then there is nothing that can stop us, there's nothing that can take anything away from us because Jesus already secured it for us in Christ.
01:03:27.260 --> 01:03:35.481
So if we trust in him, there is life eternal And that's the wonderful, wonderful, wonderful truth of 1 Corinthians 15.
01:03:35.856 --> 01:03:43.460
And it is physical resurrection because a resurrection that is not in the flesh is not really a resurrection at all.
01:03:44.795 --> 01:03:47.528
That's how I will end, and I will see you in the next one.
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But before you go, if you enjoyed this podcast and you want more people to see it, please subscribe and leave a like.
01:03:53.173 --> 01:03:55.755
It really helps us create more episodes like this one.
01:03:55.755 --> 01:03:56.746
I really appreciate it.
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Thank you.
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Have a great day and I'll see you in the next one.