Resurrection

When thinking about the resurrection from the dead, we need to strike a balance between what we can know and what we can't.

Many theologians who teach the resurrection from the dead rightly emphasize the fact that we will have bodies in the new heavens and the new earth. We will not be floaty spirits which are finally set free from the material world. Material things are not inherently bad, and so our body is just waiting for the physical (and the spiritual) to be redeemed and re-made.

Although we can affirm that we will have bodies, we will eat, work, and do other physical things, there are still many things we don't know about our future resurrection. What indeed will we be? Will we be just like we are now with a few modifications and a remission of our defects? Paul actually answers people who come to him with this very question (cf 1 Cor 15:35). He describes our bodies as a seed that is sown. We must die (be buried) and be raised. The difference between the seed that is sown (your body) and the plant that it grows into (your resurrected body) is extraordinary. Paul says, "And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel" (1 Cor 15:37). In some regards, what we will be in the resurrection is completely different. It's not perishable, dishonorable, or mortal, rather it's imperishable, glorious, and immortal. But there's only so much we can know, for as John says, "what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is" (1 Jn 3:2).

While continuing to affirm what we do know (we'll have imperishable bodies, not just spirits), we can continue to wonder and marvel at what our resurrected bodies might be like. Indeed, the difference between a seed and the tree it grows into is very great. Be ready for an incredible future. Be prepared to be raised in power and glory. Be ready to see Christ as he is and to become as he is.

Here's the main point: Although your resurrected body will not be the same as the body you have now, it will still be yours and it will still be a body.