1 Corinthians 15: 12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; 14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ—whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. 17 If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have died in Christ have perished. 19 If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. (NRSV)
If we ASSUME that Paul is considering resurrection as a physical, flesh and blood event, then that makes sense. HOWEVER, to understand what Paul is REALLY getting at, we have to read the whole chapter and MORE! Here is what Paul says later in the same chapter:
1 Corinthians 15: 35 But someone will ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?" 36 Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. . . . 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; indeed, star differs from star in glory. 42 So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. (NRSV, emphasis added)
It seems clear that Paul is saying that the resurrection is a SPIRITUAL thing - not physical. This life is physical; the next life is spiritual.
We also have to keep in mind that in vss. 3-8, the Greek term translated as "appeared" can certainly have the meaning of "a ghost appeared to me." It is also interesting to realize that Paul says in vs. 31 that he "dies everyday," which I think lends to the idea that Paul sees resurrection as a metaphorical happening in addition to spiritual - which can both be the case, in my opinion.
On top of that, in order to fully understand what Paul is saying in chapter 15, we have too look at what he is saying in preceding chapters. Here is a brief summation of each chapter, starting with chapter 11:
- Chapter 11 - This has Paul's version of the Lord's Supper (which he sees as a REAL meal), and he chastises the Corinthians for failing to "discern the body of Christ" by some eating / drinking too much while others go hungry. For too long, many have interpreted "the body" here as meaning simply "the bread" or "Jesus' literal body." See next. . .
- Chapter 12 - Paul begins expounding his theology of the body of Christ, meaning the community of faith, and how it is supposed to operate. Thus, Chapter 11's "discerning the body" is talking about the community of faith.
- Chapter 13 - Paul reminds us that we shouldn't take part in the body because we "have to" but because we choose to - i.e. have love.
- Chapter 14 - Paul continues his theology of the Body of Christ (with an unfortunate addition by an anti-woman scribe along the way).
- Chapter 15 - Paul talks about the resurrection of the body. Based on the FACT that the four preceding chapters are talking about the body of Christ not being Jesus' "literal body," I think he also is assuming that the resurrection (which is spiritual and metaphorical) is also symbolic (even incarnated) in that the Body of Christ continues to do what Jesus did even though he was crucified.
Do you agree with this? Why or why not?
What difference does it make?
