But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.
So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 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; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
Comment: ‘You foolish person!‘seems a bit harsh unless the question is asked in a scoffing manner. Personally there is a lot that I don’t understand and would like to understand more fully, but I don’t doubt the truth of the resurrection both for what happened in Jesus’ case and what is to happen in the future! Paul then gives a pretty comprehensive list of the different bodies which we know: humans, animals, marine, birds, stellar. He talks about planted seeds becoming, after they appear to die, much greater more productive things. Paul says talking about our deaths ‘It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.‘ He highlights this by referring i) to the first man, Adam, presumably talking about the natural body made from the dirt and ii) the second man, Jesus, who although born of Mary was God incarnate, coming down from heaven. Although truly human yet Jesus was truly a ‘spirit’ not made from merely dust. In some ways this is not very clear to our feeble minds but clearly as different as ‘chalk and cheese’ when we accept it as the truth. Somehow at the resurrection our bodies will be of eternal reality and will not again die and become dust! Maybe this is not easy to understand but because of Jesus’ resurrection proven possible!
Prayer: You have said that Your way is not the way of human wisdom nor of philosophy but of faith. Thank You that there is good time/space evidence on which to base our faith!
As I read it! 