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Thursday 21 October 2010

1 Corinthians15:42-44 - Raised in glory

This teaching immediately does away with the notion that eternal life will be a mere continuation of the current life. Our resurrection bodies will be different from our present ones. When Jesus was raised He was still the same Jesus, but was also radically different. He suddenly appeared, and was able to pass through locked doors. The disciples sometimes had difficulty recognising Him, though this could be at least partly due to the fact that they were not expecting to see Him as He had died. 
If someone dies of old age, or of a terrible disease, or after an horrific accident, their body is done for, and to be honest you would not want that body to be raised again in its current form. Paul says we need not fear. What is sown perishable, will be raised imperishable, what was sown in weakness will be raised in power, what was sown in dishonour will be raised in glory. Finally, what is sown a natural body will be raised a spiritual body. Now we need to be careful here, we are so saturated with Greek thought concepts that we think the material and spiritual are completely separate. So when we read of a spiritual body we tend to think of ghosts! In reality the spiritual and material are not completely separated. Jesus' resurrection body was different, yet He was able to eat fish, and He could ask Thomas to put his hands in the wounds in His side. 
Our resurrection body will be completely different, but also completely real. And while your body will be different you will still definitely be you. After the resurrection it will be amazing. We will radically transformed, yet still recognisable. We will say, "so that's what you were always meant to be like!". His work in us will be complete.

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