The Resurrection Body

But someone will ask, ‘How are the dead raised? With what
kind of body do they come?’ Fool! What you sow does not
come to life unless it dies. 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. But God gives it a body as he
has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. Not all
flesh is alike, but there is one flesh for human beings,
another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.
There are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the
glory of the heavenly is one thing, and that of the earthly is
another. 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.

So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is
perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in
dishonour, 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. If there is a physical body, there is also a
spiritual body. Thus it is written, ‘The first man, Adam,
became a living being’; the last Adam became a life-giving
spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the physical,
and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a
man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 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. Just as we have
borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the
image of the man of heaven.

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. Listen, I will tell you a
mystery! 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. When this perishable body puts on

imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality,
then the saying that is written will be fulfilled:
 ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’
 ‘Where, O death, is your victory?
    Where, O death, is your sting?’