In the resurrection there will be some raised to sit at the right hand of God

far above all; some will walk the streets of the New Jerusalem; some will

inherit the earth, and for each sphere of blessing an appropriate body will

be given.  'How' God preserves the identity and individuality of each soul is

not emphasized; possibly the explanation would not have been intelligible to

us even if it had been revealed.  Then as to the differing 'ranks':

'There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and

another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in

glory.  So Also is the Resurrection of the Dead' (15:41,42),

that is, the believer too is raised with a different body, and the glory of

one will differ from that of another, 'every man in his own rank'.  The

contrasts between the body which we have 'in Adam' and that which God will

give 'in Christ' are given:

Weakness

A natural body

a spiritual body.

The 'sowing' here in each of the four instances must not be translated

as of the death and burial of a believer.  When seed is sown it must be

alive, or nothing will come of it.  If living seed be sown, it dies, and

lives again.  That is the teaching here.  The 'sowing' is our birth into the

life of the Adamic race, the 'raising' is our new birth into the life of

Following this statement the apostle says, 'There is a natural body,

there is also a spiritual body'.  This is a revelation.  The conception which

is formed of the life after death by the religions of men is that of

disembodied spirits, or of souls, but resurrection necessitates a

body.  The word 'natural' is psuchikos and occurs in 1 Corinthians 2:14;

James 3:15 translates it 'sensual'.  The word 'spiritual' (pneumatikos) is

contrasted with 'natural' in 1 Corinthians 2:13-15; and with 'carnal'

(sarkikos) in 1 Corinthians 3:1-3.  The English language does not contain a

word that allows us to see the contrast clearly.  If we could use the

expression 'soul-ical' we should the better see the intention.  'There is a

soul-ical body, there is also a spirit-ual body'.  Now the soul-ical body is

one of 'flesh and blood'; such, however, cannot inherit the kingdom of God

(see verse 50); and the fact that the verse continues 'neither does

corruption inherit incorruption' is confirmatory of the interpretation of

verse 42 given above.

This reference to the 'soul-ical'* body which we now possess and the

spiritual body which we shall possess in that day, introduces the next

amplification, viz.,

*

We do not suggest that such a cumbersome word be adopted into our

everyday speech.