ACC ~ 1 Corinthians 15 v35 - 44

OVERVIEW:

All bodily deficits will be healed in the resurrection (THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA, PELAGIUS). A better body is to be constructed, one that is no longer flesh and blood but immortal and indestructible (THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA). Paul reasons with the analogy of seeds in order to talk about the resurrected body (ORIGEN, CHRYSOSTOM). As a seed dies and comes back again with additional benefit, so it is credible that by God’s power a human body should rise again in an equally improved form (AMBROSIASTER). The resurrection of the human body transcends the power of nature (GREGORY OF NYSSA). As the rational soul is not good or bad in itself but is capable of becoming either, so is our body capable of becoming either perishable or imperishable (DIDYMUS THE BLIND). Though it is sown in dishonor and eaten by worms, the body will rise again in glory (AMBROSIASTER). Sown as a physical body, it will be raised as a spiritual body (DIDYMUS THE BLIND). The mystery of the resurrection is presignified in the miracle of the seed (MACRINA, AMBROSE).

After the resurrection the Spirit will dwell permanently in the flesh of the righteous (CHRYSOSTOM). This is seen by analogy to the Spirit indwelling the flesh of the incarnate Son (OECUMENIUS). These better things have already begun, because their root and their source have been revealed (CHRYSOSTOM). The substance of our flesh was not from the outset condemned, but the guilt of the flesh is censured, having been caused by willful rebellion (NOVATIAN). The body by itself is not the obstacle but rather our willful wickedness that prevents us from inheriting the kingdom of God (CHRYSOSTOM). Meanwhile believers continue to struggle against sin in this flesh (AUGUSTINE). Paul did not say that flesh and blood will not rise from the dead but that their corruption cannot inherit the kingdom of God. The earthly flesh and blood we have is perishable but will be clothed with immortality, and in that renewed state we shall enter the kingdom (SEVERIAN OF GABALA). If any corporeal creature were thought to be of one and the same nature as God, it would not exist in any place locally or in time (FULGENTIUS). God gives as he chooses. Every nature is wholly created by God (AUGUSTINE).

15:35 | What Kind of Body in the Resurrection?

THE MYSTERY OF THE GROWING SEED. AMBROSE: Some may wonder how decayed bodies can become sound again, scattered members brought together, and destroyed parts restored. Yet no one seems to wonder how seeds softened and broken by the dampness and weight of the earth grow and become green again. Such seeds, of course, are rotted and dissolved by contact with the earth. But when the generative moisture of the soil imparts life to the buried and hidden seeds by a kind of life-giving heat, they receive the animating force of the growing plant. Then gradually, nature raises from stalk the tender life called the growing ear, and, like a careful mother, wraps it in a sheath as a protection against its being nipped at this immature stage by the frost or scorched by the sun when the kernels are emerging, as it were, from early infancy. ON HIS BROTHER SATYRUS 2.55.

ARGUMENT AND REASON. CHRYSOSTOM: Why does Paul argue like this, instead of simply referring his hearers to the power of God as he does elsewhere? Here he is dealing with people who do not believe in what he is saying, so he gives them reasons for it. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 41.2.

HEALED BODIES. PELAGIUS: Everything wrong with our bodies in this life will be healed in the resurrection. COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 15.

15:36 | Life Through Death

SEEDS AND HUMAN BODIES. CHRYSOSTOM: Notice how Paul utilizes language appropriate to seeds and plants, yet talks instead about life and death in a way more appropriate to our human bodies. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 41.2.

THE NATURALNESS OF RISING AGAIN. AMBROSE: We must not doubt what is more in accord with nature than against it. For it is as natural that all things living should rise again as it is unnatural that they should perish. ON HIS BROTHER SATYRUS 2.57.

15:37 | Sowing a Bare Kernel

THE GRAIN RESTORED FROM CORRUPTION. ORIGEN: The power which exists in a grain of wheat refashions and restores the grain, after its corruption and death, into a body with stalk and ear. ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 2.10.3.

NOT THE BODY YET TO BE. AMBROSIASTER: If a seed dies and comes back again with so much additional benefit to the human race, why is it incredible that a human body should rise again, by the power of God, with an equally improved substance? COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

15:38 | To Each Kind of Seed

GOD TRANSCENDS THE STANDARDS OF NATURE. GREGORY OF NYSSA: It seems to me that here Paul is refuting those who ignore the particular standards of nature and assess the divine power in the light of their own strength. They think that God can do only as much as man can comprehend. They think that what is beyond us also exceeds the power of God. ON THE SOUL AND THE RESURRECTION.

GOD GIVES AS HE HAS CHOSEN. AUGUSTINE: He did not say God “gave” or “ordered” but God “gives,” that you may know how the Creator applies the effective power of his wisdom to the creation of things which come into existence daily at their appointed times. LETTER 205.

15:39 | Not All Flesh Is Alike

DIFFERING TYPES OF RESURRECTION. CHRYSOSTOM: Here Paul distinguishes different kinds of resurrection. Do not suppose that just because grain is sown and it all comes up as ears of corn that therefore every resurrection will be the same in honor. For even in the world of seeds, some are more valuable than others. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 41.4.

GOD’S POWER DEMONSTRATED. AMBROSIASTER: Let the Sophists explain this if they can! All the philosophers of this world are unwilling to submit their minds to the law of God in order to believe in him. Instead they confound one another with diverse and mutually contradictory theories, none of which can be proved. God, on the other hand, does not argue. Instead, he demonstrates his power by raising Christ from the dead. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

EVERY NATURE IS WHOLLY CREATED BY GOD. AUGUSTINE: Whatever bodily or seminal causes may play a part in reproduction, by the intermingling of the two sexes, or in animals, or even by the influence of angels, and whatever longings or emotions of the mother may affect the features or the hue while the fetus is soft and pliable, nevertheless every nature as such, however affected by circumstances, is created wholly by the supreme God. It is the hidden and penetrating power of God’s irresistible presence that gives being to every creature that can be said to be, whatever its genus and species may be. For without his creative act, a nature would not only not be in this or that genus. It simply could not have being at all. CITY OF GOD 12.26.

AN IMMORTAL BODY. THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: In the resurrection a better body is constructed, one which is no longer flesh and blood as such but which is an immortal and indestructible living being. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

15:40 | Celestial and Terrestrial Bodies

DIFFERENCES AMONG EARTHLY BODIES. ORIGEN: Even among earthly bodies there are no small differences. Take the human race, for example. Some are Greeks and some are barbarians, and among the barbarians, some are wilder than others. Some have higher laws. Some lower ones, and some follow savage customs which are not laws at all. ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 2.9.3.

CONVINCE BY GRADUAL STEPS. AUGUSTINE: If any man does not believe that common flesh can be changed into a nature of this sort, he is to be convinced toward faith by gradual steps. If you ask them whether earth can be changed into water, that will not seem to him incredible because there is no great distance between these two elements. Again if you ask whether water can be changed into air, he will agree that that is not absurd because these two elements are close neighbors. FAITH AND THE CREED 10.24.

WHETHER THE WORLD ITSELF IS ETERNAL. AUGUSTINE: Porphyry says: “You praise the body to me without good reasons. No matter what kind of body it is, you must escape from it if you wish to be happy.” Philosophers say this, but they are wrong. They are raving. … I read your books where you say that the world is animated, that the heavens, the earth, the seas, all the huge bodies which exist, all the immense elements of all times, this whole universal body which consists of all these elements—all this, you say, is a vast living thing and has its own soul. But you claim that it does not have the senses of the body because outside of it there is nothing which can be perceived. Nevertheless you say it has intelligence, and that it leads to God, and that the soul of the world is called Jupiter. … You claim that the same world is eternal, that it will always exist, that it will not have an end. If then the world is eternal and remains without any end, if this world is a living thing and if its soul is always held in the world, then as a matter of fact, must we then flee every kind of body? EASTER SERMON 241.7.

GOD CAN MAKE NEW BODIES. PELAGIUS: If God could make the sun, moon and stars, what problem will he have in making new bodies for us? COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 15.

15:41 | Star Differs from Star

ANOTHER GLORY FOR STARS. JEROME: The members of the one church are different. Just as the sun has its own brilliance, and the moon also tempers the darkness of the night. And the five other stars called the wandering stars traverse the sky, differing both in their courses and in their brilliance. There are other countless stars that we see shining in the firmament. The brilliance of each of these is different, and yet each and every star is perfect, according to its own standard, to the degree that, in comparison with a greater star, it lacks perfection. … So the eye cannot say to the hand: “I do not need your help.” AGAINST THE PELAGIANS 16.

DIFFERENCES IN HONOR. CHRYSOSTOM: Paul switches metaphors in order to underline the fact that although there is only one resurrection, there will be great differences of honor from one body to another. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 41.4.

THE EYE NEEDS THE BODY. AUGUSTINE: In the body the eyes are held in high esteem. But they would be less esteemed if they were all alone or if there were no other members of seemingly less worth. In the heavens the sun outshines the moon but does not scorn it, and “star differs from star in glory” but is never measuring itself through pride. THE EXCELLENCE OF WIDOWHOOD 6.8.

CREATURES EXIST LOCALLY. FULGENTIUS: The diversity of corporeal natures demonstrates that each one of them is not what it is because of what it could always have had all by itself. Rather it is what it is because of what it has received from the plan and working of the one omnipotent, unchangeable and allwise Creator. If any corporeal creature whatsoever were of one and the same nature as the holy Trinity, which is the one God, it would not exist in any place locally, nor would it ever undergo change because of passage of time, nor would it move from one place to another, nor would it be circumscribed by the fact of its mass. TO PETER ON THE FAITH 26-27.

15:42 | Raised Imperishable

WHAT IS RAISED IS IMPERISHABLE. DIDYMUS THE BLIND: Just as the rational soul is not good or bad in itself but is capable of becoming either of these, so our body is neither perishable nor imperishable by nature but acquires these immanent, essential qualities in due course. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

WHETHER BELIEVERS CONTINUE TO STRUGGLE WITH SIN. AUGUSTINE: In due time I yielded to better and more enlightened minds, or rather, to truth itself, as I heard in the words of the apostle the groaning of the saints in their battle against carnal concupiscence. Although the saints are spiritually minded, they are still carnal in the corruptible body which remains a weight upon the soul. They will, however, be spiritual also in body when the body sown animal will rise spiritual. They are still prisoners under the wall of sin, in as much as they are subject to stimulation by desires to which they do not consent. Thus I came to understand this matter as did Hilary, Gregory, Ambrose, and other holy and renowned teachers of the church, who saw that the apostle, by his own words, fought strenuously the same battle against carnal concupiscences he did not wish to have yet in fact did have. AGAINST JULIAN 70.

15:43 | Raised in Glory

RAISED IN POWER. DIDYMUS THE BLIND: When the body formed by the copulation of male and female is sown, dishonor and weakness will be in it because it is the body of a perishing soul and shares its characteristics. But when it rises again by the power of God, it appears as a spiritual body, having imperishability, power and honor. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

DISHONOR WILL VANISH. AMBROSIASTER: The body is sown in dishonor because it is placed in a coffin where it rots and is eaten by worms. But when it rises again, it will do so in glory, and all trace of this dishonor will vanish. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

VIVIFIED BY THE SPIRIT. AUGUSTINE: We will still be bodies, so vivified by the spirit, however, as to retain the substance of the flesh without suffering the accidents of sluggishness and mortality. CITY OF GOD 13.22.

15:44 | Physical and Spiritual Bodies

THE SAME BODY WILL RISE. ORIGEN: In regard to our bodily nature we must understand that there is not one body which we now use in lowliness and corruption and weakness and a different one which we are to use hereafter in incorruption and power and glory. Rather this same body, having cast off the weaknesses of its present existence, will be transformed into a thing of glory and made spiritual, with the result that what was a vessel of dishonor shall itself be purified and become a vessel of honor and a habitation of blessedness. ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 3.6.6.

THE WHOLE CREATION TO BE DELIVERED. ORIGEN: The quality of a spiritual body is something such as will make a fitting habitation not only for all saints and perfected souls but also for that “whole creation” which is to be “delivered from the bondage of corruption.” ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 3.6.4.

RAISED A SPIRITUAL BODY. ORIGEN: It is from the natural body that the power and grace of the resurrection calls forth the spiritual body, when it changes it from dishonor to glory. ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 2.10.1.

RESURRECTION SIGNIFIED IN THE MIRACLE OF THE SEED. MACRINA: The seed does not germinate unless it is dissolved in the earth, rarefied and made for us, so that it is mixed with the moisture nearby and dust changes into root and sprout, and it does not stop there but changes into a stalk with sections in between which are surrounded by chains, as it were, so as to be able to hold the grain in an upright position. … Thus the apostle says that the mystery of the resurrection is presignified before us in the miracles performed in the seeds. The divine power in its surpassing excellence not only gives back to see but adds many great and more wonderful features with which nature is magnificently adorned. [THE TEACHING OF MACRINA] ON THE SOUL AND THE RESURRECTION.

GROWTH IN DUE SEASON. AMBROSE: You are sown as are all other things. Why, then, do you wonder whether you will rise again like the rest? You believe the seed because you see it. You do not believe the rising again because you do not see it. “Blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed.” Yet, before the proper season arrives, not even the seed is believed. For not every season is suitable for seeds to grow. Wheat is sown at one time and comes up at another time. At one time the vine is grafted. At another shoots begin to grow, foliage becomes luxuriant, and grapes take form. At one time, the olive tree is planted. At another, as though heavy with child and burdened with a progeny of berries, it is bent low in the abundance of its own fruit. But before the proper time arrives for each, production is restricted. Neither the tree nor the plant has the time of bearing within its own power. ON HIS BROTHER SATYRUS 2.60.

THE SPIRIT WILL DWELL PERMANENTLY. CHRYSOSTOM: Is our present body not spiritual as well? Yes it is, but then it will be more so. For now the grace of the Holy Spirit often leaves people who commit great sins, and even if he remains, the life of the flesh depends on the soul, with the result that the Spirit plays no part. But after the resurrection this will no longer be so, because then the Spirit will dwell permanently in the flesh of the righteous and the victory will be his, even while the soul is also alive. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 41.5.

THE SPIRITUAL BODY. AUGUSTINE: As the Spirit, when it serves the flesh, is not improperly said to be carnal, so the flesh, when it serves the spirit, will rightly be called spiritual—not because changed into spirit, as some suppose who misinterpret the text, “What is sown a natural body rises a spiritual body,” but because it will be so subject to the spirit that, with a marvelous pliancy of perfect obedience, it will accept the infallible law of its indissoluble immortality, putting aside every feeling of fatigue, every shadow of suffering, every sign of slowing down. This “spiritual body” will not only be better than any body on earth in perfect health but will surpass even that of Adam or Eve before their sin. CITY OF GOD 13.20.

THE LORD AND THE SPIRIT. OECUMENIUS: Christ had a spiritual body, because he had received the full presence of the Holy Spirit when the dove rested on him. So the Lord had the power of the Paraclete in his humanity in a way distinguishable from his divinity, since he was himself the Spirit. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.