Comparing Bodies and Seeds

These ten verses assemble a wide variety of materials as Paul continues to argue in behalf of the reality of the resurrection of the dead. Here, Paul offers a collage of data as he quotes the LXX, alludes to stories from Genesis, and develops analogies related to seed, flesh, body and glory, and Adam. The lines of the discussion open in the style of a diatribe with a dialogical argument, leading to Paul’s central point in verse 38, “God gives … as he wishes.” Above all, Paul’s point in relation to the issue of the resurrection of the dead is that the resurrection or spiritual body is a kind of its own. The bodies of those who are raised from the dead are as unique as are other bodies, but the spiritual body is like all other bodies in that it is given by God.

1…