Expert: Thurman C. Petty, Jr. - 9/22/2008

Question
QUESTION: In Paul’s pinnacle statement in 1Cor. 15 did the term “resurrection” refer to spiritual ascension, which has been recently accepted, or was there an earlier understanding more akin to transformed physical reinstatement?

ANSWER: Dear Terry,

Thank you for your question about 1 Cor. 15.

We must remember that 1 Cor. 15 was not written in a vacuum. It must be understood in the context of the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation. The Word of God (though you can find miniscule differences here and there) is, on the major subjects, of one accord. For example, on the subject of death, the Bible teaches that a person ceases breathing, the breath of life returns to God and the body becomes dust; the person knows nothing (Eccl. 9:5, 6), and is often referred to as being “asleep.” (John 11:11-14, for example). Thus the human body is perishable—diseased, aging, etc.—and mortal—able to die.

Paul, and other Bible writers, point out that this will not be the case with the body that is resurrected from the dead. It will be imperishable and immortal—no longer subject to aging or disease; no longer able to die.

You mention “spiritual ascension.” I realize that the major part of Christianity now think of death as a “passage” from the physical life to a spiritual life wherein people become spiritual beings—that is, without substance. This cannot be established from Scripture. It came from pagan Greek philosophy, wormed its way into Christianity via the great apostasy, and has been transferred down to us via the mother of all “Christian” tradition.

All through Scripture, however, as in chapter 15 here, you will find that the resurrected person has a BODY. Paul never refers to the person who has be raised as being anything other than a body. Even when he refers to it as a “spiritual” body, he still calls it a body. A body is a physical object, not an essence, as would be so if it were a spirit—the word in Greek means “air.” (pneuma—the word we use in pneumonia, or pneumatic tire. They both have to do with air.)

I think it would be well at this point to notice what Jesus was like after He was resurrected, after all, Paul refers to the similarity of His resurrection and ours a number of times during this chapter.

The two people who had walked with Jesus to Emmaus had just returned to Jerusalem to tell the disciples that they had seen Jesus.

Luke 24:36  While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you."
Luke 24:37  They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost.
Luke 24:38  He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?
Luke 24:39  Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have."
Luke 24:40  When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet.
Luke 24:41  And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, "Do you have anything here to eat?"
Luke 24:42  They gave him a piece of broiled fish,
Luke 24:43  and he took it and ate it in their presence.

JESUS WAS A REAL, FLESH AND BONE, TANGIBLE PERSON WHEN HE CAME FORTH FROM THE TOMB—not a disembodied spirit/ghost/air. Just so, WE WILL BE REAL, FLESH AND BONE, TANGIBLE PEOPLE WHEN WE COME FORTH FROM OUR TOMBS/transformed in a moment/twinkling of an eye.

Phil 3:20  But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
Phil 3:21  who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, WILL TRANSFORM OUR LOWLY BODIES SO THAT THEY WILL BE LIKE HIS GLORIOUS BODY.

OUR BODIES WILL BE LIKE HIS BODY: He has a real, tangible body; we also will have real, tangible bodies.

1 John 3:2  Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM, for we shall see him as he is.
1 John 3:3  Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.

John says that “we shall see him as he is."

Phil 2:8  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!
Phil 2:9  Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,
Phil 2:10  that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
Phil 2:11  and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

When Jesus returns, He will have a glorified body. Not now a poor Man wandering from place to place looking for people who will heed His teachings and accept Him as their Savior. Not now the bloody figure hanging on the cross, rejected by almost all, even of His disciples. Not now the dead body lying in the tomb. But now a resurrected Lord, glorified with the position He had before He descended to the world. He will ever have the form of a human being because God GAVE Him to the world (John 3:16). He took humanity upon Himself to identify Himself with the redeemed for eternity. But He is God and as God possesses all the glory of the Father, "full of grace and truth."

You see, IT’S ALL ABOUT JESUS!  

So with this in mind, it is of utmost importance that we are always ready for Jesus to come.

Thurman C. Petty, Jr.
Thurman@PettyPress.com
Check out my web site www.PettyPress.com where I’ve posted 18 books, 40 Bible study guides, and a whole lot more.


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Jesus told the thief on the cross "This day you will be with me in paradise". Are there scriptures describing what is our state between death and the final resurrection?
Thank-you so much for your first answer.

Answer
Dear Terry,

Most Christians believe that when a person dies his/her soul  immediately ascends to heaven, or
(God forbid) descends to hell. So, even as the loved ones are holding the funeral, they feel, the
soul of the deceased is looking down (up?) on them.

Rather than classify this as what “I think” or what “you think” or “what a church teaches,” let’s
see what the Bible says.

In several scriptures the Bible spells out exactly what happens to a person when he/she dies. Here
are some examples:

Eccl 9:5, 6 (NIV)  For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no
further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten. Their love, their hate and their jealousy
have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun.

Solomon makes it quite clear that those who have died don’t know anything. They cannot be
aware of God, or Christ, or of whatever is happening in Heaven or Earth—not even the
proceedings of their own funeral. They are dead in the absolute sense of the term.

Psa 146:3, 4 (KJV) Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.
His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.

David agreed with his son, that the dead stop breathing, turn back to dust—out of which they
were made—and stop thinking.

Gen. 2:7 (KJV): “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into
his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”

The soul is a result of the combination of both body and breath and not an entity by itself. The
soul is not merely IN the person, the soul IS the person. So when body and breath are separated,
the soul ceases to exist.

John 11:11-14 (NIV)  After he had said this, he went on to tell them, "Our friend Lazarus has
fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up." His disciples replied, "Lord, if he sleeps, he
will get better." Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural
sleep. So then he told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead,”

Both Jesus and the apostles referred to death as a sleep (for example: 1 Cor. 15.51). When a
person dies it’s like he’s gone into a dreamless sleep.

There are several more scriptures that make these things plain as well. [Examples: Psa 13:3; Job
14:12]

Of course this is not the end. The sleeping dead will arise at the resurrection. And since a sleeping
person has no knowledge of the passing of time, so the dead also do not realize that time has
passed, because they are dead—“asleep.” So when the resurrection takes place and the sleeping
dead arise, it will be, as Paul describes it, “in the twinkling of an eye,” (1 Cor. 15:52 KJV) But
they will know nothing until the resurrection. (So they will not be looking down on their funeral
or upon their loved ones.)

John 5:28, 29  "Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves
will hear his voice and come out--those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have
done evil will rise to be condemned.

1 Cor 15:53-57 (NIV) For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal
with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with
immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in
victory." "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" . . . But thanks be to
God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Th 4:16, 17 (NIV) For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command,
with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise
first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the
clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

Another indication, that the dead stay in their graves until the resurrection, is the words of Jesus
as to the time the righteous receive their reward.

Mat 16:27 (NIV)For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and
then he will reward each person according to what he has done.

Rev 22:12 (NIV) "Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone
according to what he has done. (These are Jesus' words as spoken to John when he wrote the
Revelation.)

If a person goes directly to heaven or hell upon death, then he/she receives their reward at that
point in time. But Jesus Himself said that He wouldn't give His reward until He comes.

So the Bible teaches that when a person dies he/she 1) doesn’t know anything; 2) he/she stops
breathing and thinking; 3) he/she returns to dust; 4) he/she no longer has anything to do with
people or things on Earth. (Don’t forget this last point when you hear about ghosts or
communication with the dead.) 5) But death is not the end. Those who accept Jesus as their
Savior can look forward to receiving their reward at the resurrection of the righteous at the
Second Coming of Jesus.

In Rev. 20:11-15, according to the context (verses 1-9), John is describing what takes place after
the 1000 years during which the devil is chained. This event is often referred to as the “Great
White Throne Judgment.” This judgment is for the purpose of revealing to those who are lost a
number of things: 1) it points out to them that they could have been saved by the blood of Christ;
2) why they are lost (because of their own choices); and 3) what their sentence will be.

I picture God as showing the history of Earth from the beginning in a great panorama across the
sky, around the world, showing each person where they lived, the opportunities they had to
choose Christ as their Savior—those who had no opportunity to know of Christ will be judged by
the way they allowed the Holy Spirit to lead them to obey Him—and the way they spurned Him
over and over again.

I suggest that you read the book "When the Devil Goes to Jail". You can find the complete text at
www.PettyPress.com/books. This will give you an overall picture of the second coming of Christ,
the millennium, and the Great White Throne Judgment.

Always be ready for Jesus to come.
Thurman C. Petty, Jr.
Thurman@PettyPress.com
Feel free to write me at my personal address if you like.
(I give Bible lessons via e-mail to those who are interested. No fee. Just let me know, and let's get started.)