Author : Tommy Thornhill
reprinted by permission from “Etna Enlightener”
First Corinthians chapter fifteen is the most complete treatment of the future, bodily, resurrection of the dead, yet the A.D. 70 adherents contend the primary meaning of 1 Corinthians 15 is the resurrection of Christianity out of Judaism, not the personal return of Jesus and the bodily resurrection of mankind from the graves.
They contend that Paul in verses 35-44 is answering questions concerning how the dead are raised and with what body they will come forth. And it is dealing with the development and rise of the Christian system itself. The natural body sown in verse 44 answers to fleshly, carnal Judaism and the spiritual body is the resurrected Christian system. The natural body received its death blow at the cross and was passing away and finally died in A.D. 70. Thus out of the decay of Judaism arose the spiritual body of Christianity, fully developed at the end time. To come to this conclusion they twist the Scriptures to teach their foregone conclusion.
The truth is that the thing that is resurrected in the same thing that has died. If, as they teach, Judaism died, then in the same vein it is Judaism that was raised. If it is Christianity that was resurrected, then it is Christianity that died. But King says Judaism died and Christianity was raised. This is senseless to say the least. Peter had it right (2 Peter 3:15-17).
In actuality Paul in this chapter is dealing with the physical body that dies and will later be raised. He is refuting the teaching of those who say there is no resurrection of the dead (verse 12).
Note that Paul compares our future resurrection with Christ’s. In verses 3-4 he declares Jesus died bodily, so our resurrection will be the same bodily type (verses 12-13). Paul begins the chapter by establishing the validity of Jesus’ bodily resurrection (verses 1-11). Then in verses 12-34 he shows that Christ’s resurrection guarantees our own after first presenting the consequences of denying this bodily resurrection.
Jesus is the first fruits (verse 20). First fruits were the token of a future harvest, which will be of the same type as the first fruits (verse 23). “Those who are fallen asleep,” “those who are Christ’s” (“those” is a plural, personal pronoun). This pronoun indicates that the final resurrection involves people individually, not a resurrection of the body (church) as the whole of Christianity, as the A.D. 70 doctrine teaches. Also note that the part of man that sleeps is the body to be resurrected, not the soul. Paul continues in verses 24-28 to point out that after the individual bodily resurrection takes place at Christ’s second coming, Christ delivers the kingdom back to the Father because the last enemy, death, has been destroyed. Jesus then returns the kingdom to the Father and becomes subject to Him.
Paul then asks a question in connection with the bodily resurrection of individuals –“Otherwise, what will they do, who are baptized for the dead, if the dead do not rise at all? Why then are they baptized for the dead?” (verse 29). What Paul meant in mentioning the “baptism for the dead” would have been clear to Paul’s 1st century readers even if it is not as clear to us today. It was in some way connected with Paul’s discussion of the bodily resurrection, not salvation. Whatever the meaning, it has nothing to do with one person being baptized for another, so that person might be saved, even though he/she died unsaved. Bible teaching is abundantly clear that each person is responsible for his/her own obedience or disobedience. No one else can believe, repent, confess or be baptized for anyone else. Each must do these things for him or herself. I will leave further explanation of this verse for a later article because of space limitation).
But I do want to make a brief point about verses 33-34. “Do not be deceived: ‘Evil company corrupts good habits’.” Many use this verse with a secondary meaning, (which is not a wrong usage), but we need to keep in mind that its primary meaning is in the context of the discussion of the bodily resurrection. There will be a future bodily resurrection of individuals as affirmed by Christ’s bodily resurrection. Paul is warning believers not to taken in by, and associate with, those who deny the resurrection. To fellowship such people is dangerous for it can lead them astray and shipwreck their faith (Ephesians 5:11; 2 John 9-11).
Paul continues in verses 35-49 to answer questions concerning how the resurrection will happen, and what the resurrected body will be like. In verse 35 it is clear that he is discussing individual bodies (plural pronoun “they”). He first points out that the seed planted must first die, then be given a different body, but it will have identity with the seed planted. He next points out there are different types of fleshly bodies (men, animals, fish, birds), different environments (celestial, terrestrial), different glory (sun, moon, stars). The flesh, environment, glory is given a body suitable to exist in its environment, (birds fly in air, fish swim in water, animals live on land). So the body to be resurrected must be changed to fit its new environment. Our present earthly bodies are not suitable for eternity, physical bodies wear out and die. So the bodies will be changed, from corruptible to incorruptible, fleshly to spiritual, dishonorable and weak (age and wear out) to honor and power. We do not know what the body will look like, but it will look like Jesus’ body when He returns (verse 49; 1 John.3:2). Finally Paul, in verses 50-59, concludes with the praise of our victory over death, gained through Christ’s resurrection. A careful study of this chapter thoroughly refutes the false doctrine we are studying.
Max King by his redefinition of words and ignoring of proper grammar certainly plays very loose with what 1 Corinthians 15 actually teaches. He has spiritualized it over and over, showing utter disregard for text or hermeneutical rules of interpretation. Nowhere in this chapter can we find a Judaism-Christianity contrast. It is found only in the imagination of those who advocate A.D. 70.
Just as with the previous tenets examined, the A.D.70 doctrine on the bodily resurrection is not some harmless conviction held by a few people. It is a total perversion of God’s word, ignoring the context while forcing Scripture to say what they think it ought to say. It is false teaching and must be exposed and refuted. We need to know what is true and what is false so we will not be like children “tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting” (Ephesians 4:14).
