I tell you a Mystery!

Paul revealed a mystery to the Corinthians. Believers who remain alive when Jesus returns will be transformed and receive immortal bodies.

Certain members of the Corinthian congregation were denying the future resurrection of believers. Paul responded by stressing the necessity for resurrection. He also appealed to Christ’s past Death and Resurrection as the precedent of our resurrection. We will be raised bodily when he “arrives <…> at the last trumpet,” and those saints still alive will be transformed.

Christ’s “arrival” or ‘Parousia’ (παρουσια) will mean the end of death and our receipt of immortality. Thus, the Apostle declares triumphantly, “Death is swallowed up in victory! O Death, where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting?!” – (1 Corinthians 15:55).

[Jour glorieux-Photo de Mohamed Nohassi sur Unsplash]

However, the Apostle Paul also revealed something new, a “mystery.” Those of us who remain alive when Jesus returns will be transformed and receive immortal bodies without undergoing death. “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed” – (1 Corinthians 15:51).

In making his case, Paul describes several events that must precede the “arrival” of Jesus. He began his explanation with the rhetorical question - “If Christ is proclaimed that he has been raised from the dead, how say some of you there is no resurrection of the dead?” – (1 Corinthians 15:12).

The heart of his argument is the absolute necessity of bodily resurrection. All of Paul’s statements are designed to support this position, and its basis and confirmation are the past Death and Resurrection of Jesus. Our future resurrection is based on Christ’s death on the Cross and his subsequent resurrection:

• “For I delivered to you first of all that which also I received, that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, and that he was buried; and that he has been raised on the third day, according to the scriptures” – (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

If there is no future resurrection, “not even Christ has been raised,” and if that is the case, then the Gospel is null and void, a cruel lie. Furthermore, Christ’s past resurrection is pivotal to the salvation hope proclaimed by Christ’s Apostles.

“All will be made alive, but each in his own order.” Jesus was the “first fruits.” He rose first, and the rest will follow “at his arrival.” The resurrection and related events on the Last Day will constitute “the end when he will deliver the Kingdom to God and will void all rule, authority, and power” – (1 Corinthians 15:24-28).

Paul elsewhere labels the Gift of the Spirit the “first fruits” of the believer’s resurrection, the “redemption of our body.” The Spirit of God will be intimately involved with the resurrection of our bodies and the New Creation - (Romans 8:19-23).

• “But if the Spirit of him that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he that raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life also to your mortal bodies through his Spirit that dwells in you” - (Romans 8:11).

The raising of the righteous dead began with Jesus, the “firstborn of the dead.” He is the first of the many who will follow “in their order” when he arrives, and his resurrection is the prototype, foretaste, and guarantee of our own resurrection:

• “Christ the first fruits; then they that are Christ's, at his arrival” - (1 Corinthians 15:23).

• “Knowing that he who resurrected the Lord Jesus will resurrect us also with Jesus and will present us with you” - (2 Corinthians 4:14).

TRANSFORMATION AND IMMORTALITY

Paul applies the Greek noun ‘Parousia’ to the future “arrival” of Jesus. Similarly, he links the coming resurrection of dead believers to Christ’s “arrival” from Heaven in his letters to the Thessalonian congregation. When he arrives, he will send his angels to “gather his elect,” both the living (and now transformed) and the dead (but now resurrected):

• “But we would not have you ignorant, brothers, concerning those who sleep, that you sorrow not, even as the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, those also who are asleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left to the arrival of the Lord, will in no way precede those who sleep” - (1 Thessalonians 4:13-15).

• “Now, we implore you, brothers, touching the arrival of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together to him” - (2 Thessalonians 2:1).

• “Then will appear the sign of the Son of man in the heavens, and then will all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send forth his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” - (Matthew 24:30).

The ‘Parousia’ of Jesus will mean “the end” of the present age, the subjugation of all his enemies, the gathering of Christ’s church, and the termination of death, which is the “Last Enemy” to be vanquished. Only then will Christ deliver the "Kingdom” to his God and Father, after which, God will be “all in all” - (1 Corinthians 15:24-28).

Jesus was raised as the “first fruits” of those who “sleep.” Logically, dead believers will participate in the same kind of resurrection that he did, though only at the appointed time. In the conclusion of his argument in 1 Corinthians, Paul returns to the subjects of the resurrection and the end of death:

• (1 Corinthians 15:51-58) - “We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed <…> During the last trumpet, for it will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.”

The end of death as a reality and a process will coincide with the “arrival” of Jesus. That day will mark the final overthrow of all God’s enemies and the completion of His rule. After that, no enemies will remain, and therefore, death will be no more.

The bodily resurrection does not mean the resuscitation of corpses. Our mortal bodies will be transformed into another kind of body equipped for life in the Spirit and the New Creation. The evidence for this is the glorified body of Jesus. We, likewise, will receive glorified bodies like his - (1 Corinthians 15:35-50).

• “So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruptible. It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a sensual body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a sensual body, there is also a spiritual body. So, also, it is written, the first man Adam became a living soul. The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit” – (1 Corinthians 15:42-44).

• “We know that, if he will be manifested, we will be like him, for we will see him even as he is” – (1 John 3:2).

The “mystery” revealed by Paul is that believers who are alive when Jesus arrives will be physically transformed. They will not experience death. Instead, they will receive immortal bodies, “spiritual bodies.” Whether through resurrection or transformation, all of Christ’s saints will receive immortality and live with him forevermore.

Our hope of salvation rests on belief in this coming resurrection and life in the New Creation. Moreover, this hope has been confirmed and secured for us by the past Death and Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth and his present existence in a glorified body as the “Life-Giving Spirit.”

[PDF Copy]

SEE ALSO:

• The Last Enemy, Death - (The arrival of Jesus at the end of the age will mean the resurrection and the end of the Last Enemy, namely, Death - 1 Corinthians 15:24-28)

• Jesus Conquered Death! - (Paul reminded Timothy of the resurrection of Jesus and his victory over death since false teachers were denying the future resurrection of believers)

• Final Events - (In explaining the resurrection, Paul lists key events that will precede or coincide with Christ’s arrival at the end of the age)

• Je vous raconte un mystère - (Paul a révélé un mystère aux Corinthiens. Les croyants qui resteront en vie au retour de Jésus seront transformés et recevront des corps immortels)