In the natural world we have many illustrations of resurrection. In 1936 I paid a visit to one of the leading universities in China. One of the students spoke to me about his difficulty in believing in resurrection. He told me that due to his modern scientific knowledge, he could not believe. To him, resurrection was against scientific truth. Outside of the room where we were meeting there was a wheat field. Drawing his attention to the wheat growing in the field, I pointed out that the wheat was produced by some grains of seed that were buried in the earth. I told him that, in a sense, those seeds died, but that now they had come forth in resurrection as wheat. Through that illustration of death and resurrection, this young man was saved. Now he is one of the leading co-workers in Taiwan. In using wheat as an illustration of resurrection, I was not following my own wisdom. On the contrary, I was following the example set by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15.
Verses 35 and 36 say, “But someone will say, How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come? Foolish man, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies.” The philosophical Greeks thought they were clever, but Paul addressed them as foolish, indicating that the questions they asked proved their foolishness. In his answer Paul refers to the plant life. The reality of resurrection is contained and concealed in nature, especially in the plant life. A seed sown into the earth dies and is made alive. This is resurrection. This answers the foolish Corinthians’ first question, “How are the dead raised?”
In verse 37 Paul continues, “And what you sow, you do not sow the body that shall be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat, or some of the rest.” What is sown is not a sheaf of wheat, but a seed, bare grain. Then the seed grows and changes into “the body that shall be.” It may be very difficult to distinguish between certain seeds. But once these seeds have been sown into the soil and have grown up, eventually the differences will be manifest. The plants will differ in shape and color.
Continuing this illustration in verse 38, Paul goes on to say, “But God gives it a body even as He willed, and to each of the seeds its own body.” Paul applies the word body here not to the body sown to die, as in verse 37, but to the resurrected body given by God, in a different shape and on a higher level. This answers the Corinthians’ second foolish question, “With what kind of body do they come?”
Verse 39 says, “All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one of men and another flesh of cattle, and another of birds, and another of fishes.” From verse 39 through 41, the apostle proves to the foolish Corinthians that God is able to give a body to all resurrected lives, just as He gave to all created things—to men and animals on the earth, to birds in the air, and to fish in the water—the earthly bodies with their different glories; and to the sun, the moon, and the stars, heavenly bodies with heavenly glory in varying degrees. In verse 42 Paul draws the conclusion, “So also is the resurrection of the dead.” Then he points out that the body is sown in corruption, dishonor, and weakness, but raised in incorruption, glory, and power.
In verse 44 Paul declares, “It is sown a soulish body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a soulish body, there is also a spiritual body.” A soulish body is a natural body animated by the soul, a body in which the soul predominates. A spiritual body is a resurrected body saturated by the spirit, a body in which the spirit predominates. If we die, our natural body, having been soulish, will be sown, buried, in corruption, dishonor, and weakness. When it is resurrected, it will become spiritual in incorruption, glory, and power. Hallelujah, one day we shall be in resurrection! Then there will be no more corruption, dishonor, or weakness. Instead, we shall be in incorruption, glory, and power.