The varied gifts of the Spirit bestowed upon the Christian Church
served to quicken the hope of the yet greater gifts of that
indwelling Spirit which were yet to come. Chief amongst these our
text considers the transformation of the earthly into a spiritual
body. This transformation our text regards as being the participation
by the body in the redemption by which Christ has bought us with the
great price of His blood. We have to interpret the language here in
the light of the further teaching of Paul in the great Resurrection
chapter of 1st Corinthians, which distinctly lays stress, not on the
identity of the corporeal frame which is laid in the grave with 'the
body of glory,' but upon the entire contrast between the 'natural
body,' which is fit organ for the lower nature, and is informed by
it, and the 'spiritual body,' which is fit organ for the spirit. We
have to interpret 'the resurrection of the body' by the definite
apostolic declaration, 'Thou sowest not that body that shall be...
but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased Him'; and we have to give
full weight to the contrasts which the Apostle draws between the
characteristics of that which is 'sown' and of that which is
'raised.' The one is 'sown in corruption and raised in incorruption.'
Natural decay is contrasted with immortal youth. The one is 'sown in
dishonour,' the other is 'raised in glory.' That contrast is ethical,
and refers either to the subordinate position of the body here in
relation to the spirit, or to the natural sense of shame, or to the
ideas of degradation which are attached to the indulgence of the
appetites. The one is 'sown in weakness,' the other is 'raised in
power'; the one is 'sown a natural body,' the other is 'raised a
spiritual body.' Is not Paul in this whole series of contrasts
thinking primarily of the vision which he saw on the road to Damascus
when the risen Christ appeared before him? And had not the years
which had passed since then taught him to see in the ascended Christ
the prophecy and the pattern of what His servants should become? We
have further to keep in view Paul's other representation in 2nd
Corinthians v., where he strongly puts the contrast between the
corporeal environment of earth and 'the body of glory,' which belongs
to the future life, in his two images: 'the earthly house of this
tabernacle'--a clay hut which lasts but for a time,--and 'the
building of God, the house not made with hands and eternal.' The body
is an occasion of separation from the Lord.
These considerations may well lead us to, at least, general outlines
on which a confident and peaceful hope may fix. For example, they
lead us to the thought that that redeemed body is no more subject to
decay and death, is no more weighed upon by weakness and weariness,
has no work beyond its strength, needs no sustenance by food, and no
refreshment of sleep. 'The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne
shall feed them,' suggests strength constantly communicated by a
direct divine gift. And from all these negative characteristics there
follows that there will be in that future bodily life no epochs of
age marked by bodily changes. The two young men who were seen sitting
in the sepulchre of Jesus had lived before Adam, and would seem as
young if we saw them to-day.
Similarly the redeemed body will be a more perfect instrument for
communication with the external universe. We know that the present
body conditions our knowledge, and that our senses do not take
cognisance of all the qualities of material things. Microscopes and
telescopes have enlarged our field of vision, and have brought the
infinitely small and the infinitely distant within our range. Our ear
hears vibrations at a certain rate per second, and no doubt if it
were more delicately organised we could hear sounds where now is
silence. Sometimes the creatures whom we call 'inferior' seem to have
senses that apprehend much of which we are not aware. Balaam's ass
saw the obstructing angel before Balaam did. Nor is there any reason
to suppose that all the powers of the mind find tools to work with in
the body. It is possible that that body which is the fit instrument
of the spirit may become its means of knowing more deeply, thinking
more wisely, understanding more swiftly, comprehending more widely,
remembering more firmly and judging more soundly. It is possible that
the contrast between then and now may be like the contrast between
telegraph and slow messenger in regard to the rapidity, between
photograph and poor daub in regard to the truthfulness, between a
full-orbed circle and a fragmentary arc in regard to the completeness
of the messages which the body brings to the indwelling self.
But, once more, the body unredeemed has appetites and desires which
may lead to their own satisfaction, which do lead to sordid cares and
weary toil. 'The flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit
against the flesh.' The redeemed body will have in it nothing to
tempt and nothing to clog, but will be a helper to the spirit and a
source of strength. Glorious work of God as the body is, it has its
weaknesses, its limitations, and its tendencies to evil. We must not
be tempted into brooding over unanswered questions as to 'How do the
dead rise, and with what body do they come?' But we can lift our eyes
to the mountain-top where Jesus went up to pray. 'And as He prayed
the fashion of His countenance was altered, and His raiment became
white and dazzling'; and He was capable of entering into the Shekinah
cloud and holding fellowship therein with the Father, who attested
His Sonship and bade us listen to His voice. And we can look to
Olivet and follow the ascending Jesus as He lets His benediction drop
on the upturned faces of His friends, until He again passes into the
Shekinah cloud, and leaving the world, goes to the Father. And from
both His momentary transfiguration and His permanent Ascension we can
draw the certain assurance that 'He shall fashion anew the body of
our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of His glory,
according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things
unto Himself.'
III. The redeemed body is a consequence of Christ's indwelling
Spirit.
It is no natural result of death or resurrection, but is the outcome
of the process begun on earth, by which, 'through faith and the
righteousness of faith,' the spirit is life. The context distinctly
enforces this view by its double use of 'adoption,' which in one
aspect has already been received, and is manifested by the fact that
'now are we the sons of God,' and in another aspect is still 'waited'
for. The Christian man in his regenerated spirit has been born again;
the Christian man still waits for the completion of that sonship in a
time when the regenerated spirit will no longer dwell in the clay
cottage of 'this tabernacle,' but will inhabit a congruous dwelling
in 'the building of God not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.'
Scripture is too healthy and comprehensive to be contented with a
merely spiritual regeneration, and is withal too spiritual to be
satisfied with a merely material heaven. It gives full place to both
elements, and yet decisively puts all belonging to the latter second.
It lays down the laws that for a complete humanity there must be body
as well as spirit; that there must be a correspondence between the
two, and as is the spirit so must the body be, and further, that the
process must begin at the centre and work outwards, so that the
spirit must first be transformed, and then the body must be
participant of the transformation.
All that Scripture says about 'rising in glory' is said about
believers. It is represented as a spiritual process. They who have
the Spirit of God in their spirits because they have it receive the
glorified body which is like their Saviour's. It is not enough to die
in order to 'rise glorious.' 'If the Spirit of Him that raised up
Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the
dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that
dwelleth in you.' The resurrection is promised for all mankind, but
it may be a resurrection in which there shall be endless living and
no glory, nor any beauty and no blessedness. But the body may be
'sown in weakness,' and in weakness raised; it may be 'sown in
dishonour' and in dishonour raised; it may be sown dead, and raised a
living death. 'Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall
awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting
contempt.' Does that mean nothing? 'They that have done evil to the
resurrection of condemnation.' Does that mean nothing? There are dark
mysteries in these and similar words of Scripture which should make
us all pause and solemnly reflect. The sole way which leads to the
resurrection of glory is the way of faith in Jesus Christ. If we
yield ourselves to Him, He will plant His Spirit in our spirits, will
guide and growingly sanctify us through life, will deliver us by the
indwelling of the Spirit of life in Him from the law of sin and
death. Nor will His transforming power cease till it has pervaded our
whole being with its fiery energy, and we stand at the last men like
Christ, redeemed in body, soul, and spirit, 'according to the mighty
working whereby He is able to subdue all things unto Himself.'