1 Cor 15: Nice Bod

Ok so that was a really terrible title.

But how fitting is it that the day after my grandma passed away, I would be reading and blogging about the resurrected, incorruptible body that she has now! My grandma would have been 90 years old in July. She has been married to my grandpa for over 70 years and has lived for Christ for nearly the same amount of time.

In chapter 15, Paul questions the church at Corinth as to why some of them say that there was no resurrection of the dead. Basically Paul counters there ignorance by explaining that if there were no resurrection of the dead, then all that Christians live for is completely pointless because Christ would have never been raised from the dead.

I wonder about what my grandma will look like in heaven? What does her heavenly body look like? How does it all work? After reading in verses 35-42, I feel somewhat silly. Paul lays it out clear to us; our physical bodies are simply seed that must perish in order to become fruitful. Our heavenly bodies are what we reap once our physical bodies have died. They are completely different kinds of splendor. Because of Adam’s sin, our physical bodies die and return to the dust that we came from; but because of Christ’s resurrection, our spiritual bodies are raised up with Christ.

Death has no victory over the saints of God. Death has no sting or power over the saints of God. In a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the sound of the last trumpet, the dead bodies that were the seed of the earth shall be raised up and will be harvested into imperishable bodies. I know that my grandma has no more pain, no more suffering, and no more tears.

Paul beseeches the church at Corinth to stand firm and not be moved because we have been assured that our labor in the Lord is not in vain. For over 70 years, my grandma has never wavered in her faith in Christ. She and my grandpa have been shining Christ-like examples in their marriage to not only my family and I, but to the whole community. I am so grateful to have had the privilege to know her and be influenced by her. Just like Paul said to follow him as he followed Christ, I want to follow in my grandma’s footsteps to live for Christ for my entire life, never wavering.

-Ryan F