The idea of physical resurrection had always been part of the Hebrew mindset. For Gentiles, and especially the Gnostics of Paul’s time (who believed physical matter was evil and spiritual things were good), receiving a physical body after the first one decays was hard for them to understand.
Philosophical questions like “what happens to a body lost at sea when resurrection time comes?” were common in rabbinic discussions, and the general belief was that a particular bone in the neck was durable enough to survive most anything, and that Yahweh would use that to re-build upon.
Logically, however, we should be able to understand that the one who created us (and entire galaxies) hould be able to recreate us without requiring some kind of starter batch like we would need for making yogurt or sourdough bread. An all-powerful God is not all-powerful if he can’t do things he’s already done. Thus, when Paul describes the idea of a seed being buried and then growing into something different, he is using an analogy to explain to an agrarian society, how a physical entity can be changed into one greater than it was before. He is not saying that people need to be buried in order for the resurrection to work on them.
One of the added psychological horrors of crucifixion for the Jews was that the victims were left hanging on the crosses for days or weeks until the bodies broke apart and dogs ran off with the bones (ensuring the victim could not have his bones put in an ossuary, or bone box, with his ancestors, and thus not be resurrected on the last day). God is able to attach a physical, supernatural body to our spirit without requiring all the old parts first.
Some people today carry a remnant of that fear, believing that cremation is somehow un-Christian, or that organ donation will result in just a partial resurrection for them. But Paul explains—if we let ourselves see the imagery of the seed as a descriptive analogy instead of a procedural requirement—that God’s majestic glory is at work in the process and has no limitation.
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. 37 And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be, but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. … 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. 45 Thus it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the physical, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven. 50 What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. — 1 Cor 15:35–38, 42- 50 (NRSV)
Paul’s summarizing point is that death is a doorway through which we all must pass in order to enter the next life. Just as when an acorn transitions to a mighty oak the original acorn no longer exists, this physical form in which we currently function will eventually cease to be. The new form apparently will be similar in some respects, but significantly different as well. Birth is terminal. But for followers of Jesus, death is just a momentary change and not an end. We are promised a permanent, perfect body to replace the perishable one we now inhabit. In that new body we will enjoy eternity with our savior and lord.
It was hard for the Corinthians to comprehend a physical realm after death. It’s not too easy for us, either. But someday we will understand it fully. Until then, we can trust that the one who created us isn’t done with us yet.
Your Brother in Christ,
Fr. Austin