§49 Comparing Bodies and Seeds (1 Cor. 15:35–44)
These ten verses assemble a wide variety of materials as Paul continues to argue in behalf of the reality of the resurrection of the dead. Here, Paul offers a collage of data as he quotes the LXX, alludes to stories from Genesis, and develops analogies related to seed, flesh, body and glory, and Adam. The lines of the discussion open in the style of a diatribe with a dialogical argument, leading to Paul’s central point in verse 38, “God gives … as he wishes.” Above all, Paul’s point in relation to the issue of the resurrection of the dead is that the resurrection or spiritual body is a kind of its own. The bodies of those who are raised from the dead are as unique as are other bodies, but the spiritual body is like all other bodies in that it is given by God.
15:35 / Verse 35 opens this complex of data, facts, and figures with a pair of questions from an imaginary inquisitor (as Talbert [Reading, pp. 100–103] observes). The questions form a sequence: How are the dead raised? and With what kind of body will they come? In the verses that follow, Paul takes up these question in reverse order, answering the query concerning what kind of body in verses 36–44, with addenda in verses 45–49. Then, in verses 51–57 (or, 50–57) he addresses the issue of how the dead are raised.
15:36–37 / Paul begins by issuing an initial, scoffing reply to the question about the kind of body that the dead will have in resurrection. How foolish renders Paul’s more direct and offensive address, “Foolish one!” (Gk. aphrōn). Then, he begins an analogy on seed to contrast what is sown with what subsequently grows. Paul’s lesson is not concerned with horticulture, although that is the realm of his illustration. He suggests that a sown seed dies (a parallel to burial) and then it will come to life. Paul points out that the “death” of the seed is necessary and precedes the emergence of new plant life.
Furthermore, he observes that the one sowing does not sow a plant to grow a plant; one sows a seed. The body (form) of the seed and the body (form) of the plant are different, but the sower plants the seed in order to grow the plant. Paul’s point is that there is anticipation of difference and transformation from the seed to the plant.
15:38 / Paul engages in the agricultural metaphor in order to make the point that he declares in this verse: God is sovereign and supreme in relation to all creation. The form of the seed does not to the human eye show forth the form of the plant that will grow from the seed. The plant takes a form that results from the theological fact that God gives it a body as he has determined. From this statement, Paul elaborates on the notion of God’s giving the body according to God’s will: to each kind of seed he gives its own body. This additional observation in verse 38b sets up the following analogies in verses 39–41.
15:39–41 / In one way the argument in these verses is simple and clear, and in another way the line of thought strikes many readers as being strange. In essence, Paul refers to a variety of entities: humans, animals, birds, fish, heavenly bodies, earthly bodies, the sun, the moon, and the stars. He claims the plain, observable truth: each of these elements of creation has a distinct form, be it flesh or splendor. Indeed, the different forms of these items make them both what they are and distinguishable from one another. This long series of observations works out the point that Paul made in verse 38b, “to each kind of seed” or to every part of creation “he [God] gives its own body.” The elaborate and gentle flow of this illustration does not suggest that Paul is operating in utter frustration, even though he regards the problem in Corinth concerning the resurrection of the dead as “foolish” (v. 36).
15:42–44 / Paul draws a conclusion by interpreting the picture he painted in the previous verses. At this point, he combines his interpretation of the analogy of the seed and plants with the references to different kinds of bodies throughout created order.
The theme of the exposition is announced with the declaration, So also the resurrection of the dead. Paul takes up the contrast of the form of the sown seed and the grown plant. Now, however, Paul expands the contrast by introducing the categories of perishable and imperishable, or as the terms are more literally rendered in some translations, “in corruption” and “in incorruption” in verse 42; in dishonor and in glory as well as in weakness and in power in verse 43; and finally, natural body and spiritual body in verse 44. In each of these pairs of contrasts, Paul uses the first-named characteristic in reference to the body of a human in this present life—perishable, dishonorable, weak, natural; the second characteristic in each pairing describes the body of those who are resurrected from the dead—imperishable, honorable, powerful, and spiritual. These lists are not exhaustive, though they briefly create a vivid contrast. Above all, in the list of characteristics, one should notice the final pair of contrary characteristics: natural body and spiritual body. As N. Watson notes,
the expression, “a spiritual body,” would certainly have shocked the Corinthians, for whom body and spirit were clearly antithetical … [moreover,] the two adjectives used here to describe the two kinds of body are the same adjectives as used in 2:14f to differentiate unbelievers and believers … [so one sees that] the spiritual body is not composed of spirit but a body appropriate to life in the new age under the rule of the Spirit. (First Epistle, p. 176)
With the contrasts stated and the argument made, Paul summarizes his conclusion, which is the point for which he seeks to win the Corinthians’ agreement: If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body—after all, a seed becomes a plant by God’s determination.
On the significance of bodily resurrection of the dead, see R. J. Sider, “St. Paul’s Understanding of the Nature and Significance of the Resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:1–19,” NovT 19 (1977), pp. 124–41.
15:35 / The theme of this section is the resurrection of the dead, not merely resurrection or even the resurrection of Christ. Paul’s concern is focused specifically as he opens this section with a diatribe, presenting an imaginary opponent in debate (someone) and quoting that one. The NIV translates this dramatic introduction, Someone may ask, but more literally Paul states in good form, “Someone will say.” Interpreters debate whether Paul means to quote a slogan or question he knows from Corinth, although he means to anticipate the potential objection(s). The future cast of the opening (“will say”: Gk. erie, third-person sing. future of legō) suggests the debate is hypothetical rather than real.
The phrase what kind of body pinpoints the crux of the dispute or disbelief. The notion of a body was antithetical to the ideas of superior spirituality that were current among many of the Corinthians. Nevertheless, Paul gives his own theological prejudice when he phrases the opponents’ question, How are the dead raised?—employing a passive form of the verb (Gk. egeirontai from egeirō) that indicates or assumes that God is the unnamed agent of the action in raising the dead.
15:36 / Paul’s rhetoric in response to the inquisitor is forceful. After explicitly calling the opponent foolish, Paul emphatically addresses the imaginary figure saying, “What you yourself sow is not made alive except that it dies.” Paul adds emphasis with the emphatic second person sing. pronoun “you/yourself,” and then he uses another passive verb, “is made alive” (Gk. zōopoieitai, from zōopoieō), that assumes the activity of God. The force of this rhetoric is to introduce a theological discussion through examples and an appeal to the experience of the imaginary partner in the discussion.
15:38 / The sequence and the tenses of the verbs in the statement God gives … as he has determined are striking. The first verb (Gk. didōsin) is present tense, and the second verb (Gk. ēthelēsen) is aorist or simple past. As Orr and Walther recognize, God gives what God already determined—a statement of confidence in the idea of a “divine plan” (I Corinthians, p. 342). Paul’s assumption is that God is sovereign in deciding and acting in relation to raising seed into plants, and by implication, in relation to the resurrection of the dead.
15:39 / Commentators frequently note the extremely awkward construction of Paul’s statement(s) in this verse. The phrases are repetitious and clumsy, obscuring the plain sense of the idea being expressed. The NIV offers an excellent translation at this juncture with the small problem of continuing to render the Gk. anthrōpōn as men rather than as the more natural and neutral and accurate “humans.”
15:40–41 / The language of these verses is reminiscent of the material in Gen. 1 LXX. Paul’s introduction of this imagery seems purely illustrative, for he merely extends the argument in progress and does not develop it through the references to heavenly and earthly bodies, sun, moon, and stars.
15:42–44 / The initial words of v. 42, houtōs kai, translated So, are a rhetorical signal to indicate that Paul is drawing a conclusion or forming an important comparison. The entire introductory phrase, So [also] the resurrection of the dead, emphasizes the gravity of the ensuing comments in these verses. The entire argument amounts to this: The body raised is different; the body raised is real. By implication, Paul recognizes that there already is (it is raised, not “will be”) evidence of the reality of the different, raised spiritual body in Christ himself.
The paragraphing of v. 44 in the NIV is debatable at this point, as it breaks the verse into two segments and locates the first part of the verse with the previous paragraph and then uses the last phrases of the verse to lead into vv. 45–49. Actually v. 44b serves better to conclude the discussion from vv. 42–44 than to initiate the reflection that follows in vv. 45–49.