The Resurrection of the Body

The resurrection of the body is a very important part of the Christian belief system for several reasons. First of all, as Christians we believe that Jesus himself had a bodily resurrection. The Gospels record the resurrection of Jesus as a physical resurrection. Jesus is recorded as having a body with scars from his crucifixion. Thomas feels the wounds on Christ’s body after having doubted the resurrection and then truly believes that Jesus is alive after feeling that Jesus had a physical body. The Gospels record that the disciples were a bit startled at Jesus’ appearance to them after his resurrection. They wondered if he might be a ghost or some kind of spirit. He was not a spirit, however. He is recorded as having flesh and bones. Luke’s Gospel records: “He said to them, ‘Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 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 24:38-9). Jesus reassured them that he was not a spirit and asked them to bring him a piece of fish, which he ate in front of them. A spirit would have no need for physical food. However, Jesus’ body, while it is physical, does appear to be different than it was before. He is able to do things in his body, such as walk through walls, that he is not recorded as having done before his resurrection.

Matthew’s Gospel has little to say about Jesus’ resurrection. However, he does record some sort of a resurrection occurring at the time of Jesus’ death. He records that when Jesus died, “At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people” (Matthew 27:51-3). This passage is seldom reflected on and seems rather bizarre in its placement at the time of Jesus’ death. It seems to be a glimpse of both the future resurrection of Christ as well of the rest of mankind. This Gospel records that these people underwent a bodily resurrection, not a spiritual one. Honestly, I am unsure of what to make of this passage, since it would appear that the resurrection of the dead began occurring even before Jesus was in the grave – almost as though these folks jumped the gun and could not wait until the Last Day.

According to Paul, Christ is the first born from among the dead (Colossians 1:18), indicating that the rest of us will follow him in his resurrection. Paul writes in Romans, “If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection” (Romans 6:5). If we are to truly be resurrected as Jesus was then we must be resurrected in our bodies, for that is how Jesus was resurrected. He had a physical body after his resurrection and so will we. However, Jesus’ resurrected body was not exactly the same as it had been before his death, so we may assume that our resurrected bodies will not be exactly the same as they were before our deaths. One of the differences is that Christ will not die again. His body cannot die. In the same way, our physical bodies will no longer be subject to death.

Paul says that we will have spiritual bodies, indicating not an idea of a disembodied spirit, but rather an eternal flesh. Just as the spirit lives on forever, so will our bodies. Paul presents this idea in 1 Corinthians: “So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body” (1 Corinthians 15:42-4). Paul goes on to say that the physical does not inherit the kingdom of heaven, but that which is spiritual. He says, “I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable” (1 Corinthians 15:50).This would seem to indicate that we would become disembodied spirits in heaven. However, this is not what Paul is saying. He continues his discourse by saying that because the physical body will naturally perish, it must be “clothed” with the spiritual body. This is how we may go on living forever. He says, “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.’” (1 Corinthians 15:53-4). Paul is not saying that the physical creation is evil; only that it will perish unless it is united with the spiritual. We will not lose our physical bodies through death and resurrection. Rather our physical bodies will be saved by being united with the spiritual, with Christ, who is both God and man, physical and spiritual. We will always be both physical and spiritual beings. Paul says that we will be resurrected with “spiritual bodies,” not that we will be resurrected without bodies.

Paul also records that all of creation is waiting to be liberated from its bondage to decay. He writes, “The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God” (Romans 8:19-21).In this is seen the idea of a sort of resurrection of all creation, all of the physical realm. Paul continues, “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:22-3). This again shows that in the future we will have physical bodies that have been redeemed; just the whole of the physical creation will be redeemed. All of creation will be resurrected. This idea of resurrection points to something beyond the merely spiritual ideas we have inherited from Plato and others. This idea includes a physical resurrection of all people, as well as a resurrection of the entire physical domain.

When God created the physical world, he did not create it separate from the spiritual world. He created all and he said that all was good, including both the physical and the spiritual. He created the heavens as well as the earth. This indicates that the earth and the physical creation is not evil as the Gnostics believed. They believed that we needed to escape the physical world through death in order to enter the spiritual realm. This idea is not much different than the idea of salvation that many Christians have today. Many Christians are focused solely on getting into heaven, believing that the world is purely evil and that God will destroy it someday, so the only thing to look forward to is heaven, a place where we will be free from our evil fleshly bodies and this evil physical world. However, this concept is flawed. God will indeed create a new heavens and a new earth, but this does not mean that the physical realm will be done away with. The scriptures give us a picture of heaven being united with earth in a new creation. It is a picture of the physical and the spiritual being united as they were truly meant to be.