How the Resurrection Releases Us...

Wednesday, we saw Paul explain that without the resurrection, and without a resurrection body that has been transformed by the Spirit of God, we are unable to experience the relationship with God that we were created to experience for all eternity. We see Paul unpack this timeless truth for us in 1 Corinthians 15:45-49:

So also it is written, "The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A LIVING SOUL." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.

To prove the necessity for a transformed resurrected body, Paul quotes a section of a letter in our Bibles from the book of Genesis that describes the creation of the world. In Genesis 2:7, we read that God formed man from the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.

Yet in spite of the gift of life and relationship with God that was given to humanity, all of humanity selfishly rebelled and rejected that relationship to be consumed with self. And that selfish rebellion and rejection of God leads us to do things that hurt God and others, which the Bible calls sin. And as a result of sin, all of creation was corrupted, including our physical bodies, resulting in death and decay.

Paul then explains that God responded to our selfish rebellion and rejection by sending Jesus Christ, the last Adam, who became a life giving spirit. And it is Jesus, as the last Adam, who began to restore humanity and to provide the eternal life and relationship with God that they were created for through His life, death, and resurrection.

Paul unpacks this for the church, and us here today by explaining that while Jesus has rescued us from selfishness and sin, we still experience life here on earth in our deteriorating and decaying bodies. Apparently, some members of the church believed that one you became a follower of Jesus, you immediately received your resurrection body. Paul responds to this error by stating that we follow our first father Adam in that we entered into life made of mortal and physical materials that are corrupted by sin and bound us to earth. Jesus, however, entered into earth by taking on flesh, but has His eternal existence in heaven and is able to transcend the selfishness and sin that bind us to earth as a result of the perfect life that He lived on earth.

And as a result of Jesus willingness to live the life we refused to live and to allow Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful life so that God the Father could treat us as though we lived Jesus perfect life, God raised Him from the dead with a supernatural, resurrected body which transcends earth and is heavenly in nature. And as Paul states in verse 49, those who recognize their need of forgiveness and respond by believing, trusting, and following Jesus as Lord and Leader will not only live lives that reveal and reflect Christ here on earth; they will also receive the same form of a supernatural, resurrected body that transcends earth and is heavenly in nature when they are raised from the dead.

Paul's point is that to reject the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is to reject the gospel and is to reject the opportunity to experience the relationship with God that we were created for.