1 Corinthians 15:42Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

"So also is the resurrection of the dead" (1 Cor 15:42). What means "so"? There will be the same great difference. Then, leaving this subject as sufficiently proved, he again turns to the proof and to the image of the resurrection itself, and says: "It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption." See his wisdom. Concerning seeds he uses expressions proper to bodies: "It is not made alive unless it dies." Concerning bodies he uses expressions proper to seeds: "It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption." He did not say. "it grows," lest you ascribe this to the action of the earth, but "it is raised." By sowing here he means not our conception in the mother's womb, but the burial of dead bodies in the earth, dissolution, and dust.

"So also is the resurrection of the dead." How so? With great difference, as is evident from the examples already given. "It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption." Above, when speaking of seeds, he used words appropriate to bodies, as when he said, "It is not made alive unless it dies" (1 Cor 15:36). Now, when speaking of bodies, he uses words appropriate to seeds. For he says, "It is sown in corruption." By sowing he now means not our conception in the womb, but the burial of dead bodies in the earth. It is as though he were saying that the dead body is buried in the earth in corruption, that is, in order to decay. He also said well, "it is raised" (egeiretai), and not "it springs up," lest you think this is the work of the earth.

The time came when I turned to better and more enlightened minds, or rather, to the truth itself. Then I heard in the Apostle's words the groaning of the saints in their struggle against the desires of the flesh. Although the saints are spiritual in their mind, they are still fleshly, having a corruptible body that weighs down the soul. Yet they will become holy also in the flesh, when the natural body that is sown rises as a spiritual body. They are still prisoners of the law of sin insofar as they are subject to movements of passions, though they do not follow them. Thus I came to understand this according to Hilary, Gregory, Ambrose, and other holy and acknowledged teachers of the Church. They saw how the Apostle, by his own words, fought fiercely against the desires of the flesh, which he did not wish to have, but still had (cf. Rom 7:14-25).

Thus the heavenly surpass the earthly in the resurrection of the dead. Therefore bodies are sown in corruption and rise in incorruption.

"So also is the resurrection of the dead," that is, as the comparison with seeds shows. "It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption." In two or three days it is subjected to foul-smelling corruption, but it is freed from corruption and rises incorruptible.

Again the divine Apostle says: "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality" (1 Cor 15:53). And again: "It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body," that is, coarse and mortal, "it is raised a spiritual body" (1 Cor 15:42-44), unchanging, passionless, and subtle, such as the Lord's body was after the resurrection, passing through locked doors, not becoming weary, and needing neither food, sleep, nor drink.

The image of the resurrection and the diversity of glory in the bodies that are to rise (1 Cor 15:35-46). To those who object against the possibility of the resurrection of bodies, the holy Apostle Paul points to the wondrous process of growth and renewal in seeds cast into the earth. He explains the diversity of the glory of bodies after the resurrection by other comparisons as well. Here earthly bodies of different creatures differ among themselves in relative dignity: men, cattle, fish, and birds. Heavenly bodies, the sun, moon, and stars, surpass earthly bodies. The heavenly bodies themselves differ endlessly from one another in radiance and brilliance. In precisely the same way, at the resurrection of the dead, the risen bodies will be far more excellent than they were on earth. Yet even with certain shared excellent qualities, they will still differ endlessly from one another in the degree of their glorification.

On earth there are different kinds of bodies: of fish, birds, animals, and man. In the visible heaven there are also different bodies: the sun, the moon, and the stars, likewise different in their composition and appearance. So too the bodies of those who rise will differ according to their present dignity. Now our body is corruptible, weak, and natural, that is, filled with sinful passions. Then it will be incorruptible, strong, and spiritual, that is, passionless. "Look at the heavenly bodies," says St. John Chrysostom, "so bright, unchanging, and never growing old. Believe that God can make corruptible bodies incorruptible, and far better than the visible ones." Then, turning attention to the difference between the various earthly and heavenly bodies indicated by the Apostle, St.

Such are the features of the distinction. The present body is corruptible, dishonored, weak, and natural. The future body will be incorruptible, glorious, strong, and spiritual. "So also." To what does this comparison answer? It seems that it should be referred to verses 36 and 37. What you sow is not made alive unless it dies. And what you sow is not the future body, but a bare grain, which must die so that from it a new and better body may come forth. So, he says, it will be in the resurrection. Our body will arise with properties wholly different from those with which it is laid in the earth. Should verses 39-41, the indication of the difference of bodies, perhaps be regarded as an inserted discourse? It would then arise from the statement that God gives each seed its own body.

As the rational soul, while being neither virtue nor vice, receives both, so also our body, while being neither corruption nor incorruption, receives at different times the essential qualities belonging to them.