Bible prophecy: The Resurrection of the Body and Why It Matters
The apostle Paul tells us, “If there is no resurrection of the dead…our proclamation is in vain and your faith is in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:13-14). If there is no future life, then we might as well focus on enjoying this life (verse 32).
But there is a resurrection, and this is an important part of the Christian faith. Let’s look at the significance of this doctrine—not just for the future, but also for day-to-day living.
Biblical evidence
Jesus, the example of true humanity, was raised from the dead. He will bring back to life all who believe in him when he returns to earth. Christians who have died will rise, and Christians who are alive will be changed and will meet the Lord as he returns, and we will be with him forever (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
In 1 Corinthians Paul gives more details, and comments briefly on what we will be like in this future life. First, he compares the resurrection to how a plant develops from a seed. Although there is physical continuity, the plant looks different than the seed (1 Corinthians 15:37-38).
So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is 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 physical body; it is raised a spiritual body. (verses 42-44)1
The important differences are that we will be imperishable, glorious, powerful, and spiritual—and we will look like Christ:
Just as we have borne the image of the one of dust [Adam], we will also bear the image of the one of heaven [Jesus]….
We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. (verses 49-53)
Paul describes it as if we are putting on new clothes. He stresses that our bodies will not decay, and we will never die. We will not be spirits floating in space, but we will have bodies — new, glorious bodies, transformed by God to be like Christ.
Why is this important?
What significance does this doctrine have for us? The significance is that
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- we will live forever
- with Christ
- with glorious bodies that are like his, with power and glory and life that’s far better than what we know now.
A great reward is waiting for us, a reward that far overshadows the difficulties we sometimes have in Christianity. No matter what kind of sacrifices we make in this life, they are well worth making, because we will be given 100 times and more in the world to come (Mark 10:30). We will enter our Master’s happiness, and there are pleasures forevermore (Matthew 25:23; Psalm 16:11).
The gospel teaching about the resurrection goes with the teaching about judgment. The gospel says that there is a judgment (Romans 2:16). God will call people into account for what they do. The gospel says that we are being rescued from something, and judgment is something that we are rescued from. The gospel says that we will be counted as righteous on the day of judgment. We will be in a resurrection of life, and others will be in a resurrection of judgment (John 5:29).
The gospel is good news. We are announcing an eternity that is far better than anything this life has to offer. Whatever we do in serving Christ and his gospel is worth doing. People need to hear that there is life after death, as a warning about judgment (Acts 24:25) and the promise of eternal joy.
Day-to-day significance
Our belief in the resurrection affects our day-to-day lives, too. It helps us deal with the difficulties of believing in Christ when most people around us do not believe. When our life and ministry have problems, we do not just quit. Life does matter, and we want to live with our future in mind.
Paul ends his discussion of the resurrection in this way: “Therefore [because there is a resurrection]…be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (verse 58). The resurrection is not just an interesting bit of trivia about the future—it gives us reason to live and work.
It also affects the way we live. We see this in Romans 6: “Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life” (verse 4). We now have a new way of life. Paul explains that “our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, so we might no longer be enslaved to sin” (verse 6).
He is talking about a change in behavior. When we are with Christ, we “put to death” sinful actions (Romans 8:13). We put them out of our lives, and we walk and live in a new way, a way that is good for our future life. We want the love, joy, peace, and truth that we will enjoy with God; we value those things now, too. We bring the life of the future into the present.
Instead of doing whatever our body happens to want, we serve the Lord, because we will be with him forever. God wants to live with us, and he cares about the way we live – not for his own convenience, but because it’s good for us and the other people we live with.
As 1 John 3:2-3 says, “We are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.”
When we live in Christ, we do not go on sinning (verses 4-6).2 “But if anyone does sin” (as we all do), then we have a defense attorney helping us, Jesus Christ, and the atoning sacrifice has already been made for us (1 John 2:1-2).
“There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ” (Romans 8:1), and people who believe in the resurrection also change the way they live. Knowing that we will live with Christ forever changes the way we live with him right now.
Last, knowing about the resurrection gives a new perspective to death. Death is not the end; we know that we will see our loved ones again and live forever. Hebrews 2:14-15 tells us that Jesus shared in our humanity “so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death.”
We are freed from the fear of death. That enemy has been conquered, and we share in the victory that Christ has won! As we read in 1 Thessalonians 4:12, we do not grieve like people who have no hope. We may have grief (because death is still an enemy), but we have a hope that others do not have.
When we know that we will live again with Christ, we can die in faith, hope and confidence for the future. The best is yet to come. As 1 Thessalonians 4:18 says, “Therefore encourage one another with these words.”
Why bother with the body?
Why does God bother with our bodies? Wouldn’t it be simpler to take our spirits to heaven and live forever with the Lord without any need for a resurrection? We don’t know what the options really are. But we know that God created physical matter, and it is therefore good. God did not make it just to destroy it later. He will keep the physical world in a renewed form, in a new heavens and new earth.
The physical body is not an evil thing that we need to escape from (as many non-Christians have taught). Jesus had a physical body, and there was nothing wrong with that. Jesus was made flesh for the purpose of redeeming all things (Colossians 1:19-20). God is not abandoning the physical world — he is rescuing it.
Romans 8:21 tells us that the physical creation will be liberated from its bondage when we are transformed into glory. This salvation involves the “redemption of our bodies” (verse 23). Our bodies will be redeemed, not thrown away. Our bodies will be freed from the decay that affects the physical world today. Christ has made it possible, as shown in his own resurrection with a body that goes beyond the limits of space and time.
The fact that the physical world will be redeemed, the fact that our bodies will be raised, means that we should value the physical world that God has placed us in and made us part of. We are to care for the creation and care for our bodies. We are not to abandon or abuse the world we live in, but we are to improve it in whatever small ways we can (Genesis 2:15).
The fact that our bodies will be raised emphasizes our need to be involved in the world in a positive way. We are not merely passing time until Christ comes, but we are involved, letting Christ live in us and grow in us until we are raised with him in glory, we see him as he is, and we share in his eternal joy.
Endnotes
1. What is a spiritual body? In verse 44, when Paul says that our current bodies are “natural,” he uses the Greek word psychikos, the adjective form of the word psychē, or soul. He is not talking about a body made out of soul, but a body that is appropriate for the life of a soul. Similarly, when he says we will have a spiritual body, he uses the word pneumatikos, the adjective form of pneuma, or spirit. He is not talking about a body made out of spirit. But the body will be appropriate for our new spirit life, able to understand spiritual things. We cannot understand what all the details of this life, just as a fetus cannot understand what adult life is like.
2. It might sound like John is writing a fact: “No one who abides in him sins…. Those who have been born of God do not sin” (1 John 3:6, 9). However, he is using this form of speech as a command, not a simple fact. This is sometimes done in English, too, such as when a parent tells a visiting child, “After we eat, we take our dirty dishes to the sink.” The parent is not saying that there are never any exceptions, but that this is the normal practice, and this is what the visiting child is expected to do. John is saying that Christians do not sin as their way of life. We try to eliminate sin, and replace it with righteousness.
Author: Michael Morrison, updated 2025
