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14:3; 17:24. The classical passage of the New Testament for the doctrine of the resurrection is I
Cor. 15. Other important passages are: I Thess. 4:13-16; II Cor. 5:1-10; Rev. 20:4-6 (of dubious
interpretation), and 20:13.
C. THE NATURE OF THE RESURRECTION.
1. IT IS A WORK OF THE TRIUNE GOD.
The resurrection is a work of the triune God. In some
cases we are simply told that God raises the dead, no person being specified, Matt. 22:29; II
Cor. 1:9. More particularly, however, the work of the resurrection is ascribed to the Son, John
5:21,25,28,29; 6:38-40, 44,54; I Thess. 4:16. Indirectly, it is also designated as a work of the Holy
Spirit, Rom. 8:11.
2. IT IS A PHYSICAL OR BODILY RESURRECTION.
There were some in the days of Paul who
regarded the resurrection as spiritual, II Tim. 2:18. And there are many in the present day who
believe only in a spiritual resurrection. But the Bible is very explicit in teaching the resurrection
of the body. Christ is called the “firstfruits” of the resurrection, I Cor. 15:20,23, and “the
firstborn of the dead,” Col. 1:18; Rev. 1:5. This implies that the resurrection of the people of
God will be like that of their heavenly Lord. His resurrection was a bodily resurrection, and
theirs will be of the same kind. Moreover, the redemption wrought by Christ is also said to
include the body, Rom. 8:23; I Cor. 6:13-20. In Rom. 8:11 we are told explicitly that God through
His Spirit will raise up our mortal bodies. And it is clearly the body that is prominently before
the mind of the apostle in I Cor. 15, cf. especially the verses 35-49. According to Scripture there
will be a resurrection of the body, that is, not an entirely new creation, but a body that will be
in a fundamental sense identical with the present body. God will not create a new body for
every man, but will raise up the very body that was deposited in the earth. This cannot only be
inferred from the term “resurrection,” but is clearly stated in Rom. 8:11, I Cor. 15:53, and is
further implied in the figure of the seed sown in the earth, which the apostle employs in I Cor.
15:36-38. Moreover, Christ, the firstfruits of the resurrection, conclusively proved the identity
of His body to His disciples. At the same time Scripture makes it perfectly evident that the body
will be greatly changed. Christ’s body was not yet fully glorified during the period of transition
between the resurrection and the ascension; yet it had already undergone a remarkable
change. Paul refers to the change that will take place, when he says that in sowing a seed we do
not sow the body that shall be; we do not intend to pick the same seed out of the ground. Yet
we do expect to reap something that is in a fundamental sense identical with the seed
deposited in the earth. While there is a certain identity between the seed sown and the seeds
that develop out of it, yet there is also a remarkable difference. We shall be changed, says the
apostle, “for this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on
immortality.” The body “is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: it is sown in dishonor;