Proverbs 15 and I Corinthians 15

"So also is the resurrection of the dead.  It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; 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.  So also it is written, 'the first man, Adam, became a living soul.'  The last Adam became a life-giving spirit." I Cor 15:42-45

"For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality." - I Cor 15:53


"Better is a little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure and turmoil with it.  Better is a dish of vegetables where love is, than a fattened ox served with hatred."  - Proverbs 15:16-17


Just as you have an earthly body, you also have a spiritual body.  Has that occurred to you lately?

C.S. Lewis talks about it often.  In Mere Christianity, I remember him talking about our spiritual bodies, and how in heaven we will be so glorious that we may be tempted to worship each other, like men did with angels in the Bible.  People pay much attention to their earthly bodies, because they are visible and they say much about us.  It's more difficult to pay attention to our spiritual bodies, to train them and shape them as we do our earthly bodies even though they say much more about us than our earthy bodies.  I think that's one reason why Paul's exhortation is so strong in this chapter, because he knows the stakes of trading a spiritual focus for an earthly one.

More than anything, I Corinthians 15 is about resurrection.  Apparently some members of the Corinthian church were preaching that there is no resurrection of the dead.  Paul didn't take kindly to that teaching because resurrection is central to Christianity:  "and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins" (17).

Of course Jesus' resurrection is the central event of the world's history, the greatest victory ever recorded and the source of our meaning and salvation.  When we think about resurrection, though, we usually think only of Jesus' resurrection and not of our own.  It is extremely important to our right perspective, though, to recognize that we will be resurrected and we will take on a spiritual body someday soon, after the pattern of Jesus, the last Adam.  That right perspective allows us to emphasize less the struggles of today, and have peace looking forward to the future.  "Putting on" the imperishable, recognizing our immortality, gives us the perspective we need to be what Pew wants, to be noticeably different from everybody else.

I encourage you to renew your mind and put on your immortality today.  Try to actively remember that you will live forever with Jesus, and see if it doesn't change how this Friday goes.


Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord!

Powell