Resurrection 6 - 1 Corinthians 15:42-44

I can’t believe that it’s been almost a month since I have posted. It’s interesting because with this whole corona virus thing going on, and me working in healthcare, work was pretty crazy for a while, and then there was an earthquake and everyone lost their minds. And then I got hand, foot, and mouth disease in which I suffered enormously for two weeks with fevers, sores in my mouth, etc. It was terrible, I lost 10 pounds from not being able to eat for 2 weeks, I was off work, I went to the ER twice, it was an absolute disaster. I just got back to work yesterday and I still didn’t feel that great, especially since I am just starting to eat again so I’m having stomach issues. It’s been terrible. I have definitely developed some appreciation for the atonement and for those who are ill.


But once I got back and started studying again, I was reminded why this can be such a difficult task to do every single day. It is overwhelming. The information is vast and just to work through a couple of verses I have to read several different sources to just be able to understand what Paul is talking about. I think that’s one of the reasons why I’ve been so disengaged with this project for the last few months, it is just overwhelming and I feel like I’m making no progress. I was looking back through my posts and saw that I’ve been working on the New Testament since October 2016, that is 3 ½ years and I’m not even close to being done. I got through the Book of Mormon in about 1 ½ years and the D&C in about the same. This Memorial Day I will have been doing this blog for 7 years, that’s a really long time, and I would have to say that I am *maybe* half way through the material.


My plan for when I’m done with the New and Old Testaments is to circle back around and start on the Book of Mormon again, and I’m really excited to do that, but I also really liked working on the Savior’s mortal ministry. But Paul has such a difficult to understand writing style, and the context is so out there and each post is at least a couple of hours in commitment, so instead of getting into smaller posts, I try to spend a lot of time on each one, but it gets overwhelming. I think what I need to do is go back and reevaluate what I consider success to be with this project.

I never want to stop studying the scriptures this way, I really love it and it has changed my life. I don’t think that I’ll finish with the Old Testament and think, “wow, I’m done, there’s nothing else to learn from the scriptures.” No, I will start again with the Book of Mormon and then do this cycle for the rest of my life. And it’s not about powering through the material so that I’ll be finished sooner, it’s about what I can learn along the way. So that’s what I need to focus on, instead of requiring a several hour chunk of time, I should just focus on learning what I can and then maybe requiring less time of myself. That way maybe I can do smaller, less overwhelming posts.


We left off with Paul teaching about the resurrection, comparing seeds to our bodies when they die, which are buried, then come forth anew in a glorious form. There are also differences in the types of resurrected bodies, with some being as glorious as the sun and about to reproduce, and others who cannot with varying degrees of glory themselves. Going back to the seed analogy, Paul notes that our bodies are “sown in corruption… dishonor… (and) weakness” but we are “raised in incorruption… glory… (and) power.” This is like when a seed is planted, it is helpless and small, but when it undergoes it’s amazing transformation, it is glorious.


Not only is our body “sown” in corruption, but it is “sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.” The article about this chapter from gospeldoctrine.com has some really good insight into this concept saying, “some have misunderstood the meaning of the term ‘spiritual body.’ It is important to distinguish between a spiritual body and a spirit body. A spirit body is like a ghost; it is separate from it’s assigned mortal tabernacle. It is not tangible. It cannot receive a fullness of joy. A spiritual body is a perfected, resurrected body. It is a tangible body of flesh and bones which can receive a fullness of joy. Since all things physical, mortal, and corruptible are done away in the resurrection, it is inappropriate to describe the resurrected body as physical. Hence, resurrected bodies are described as spiritual.”


I really feel like this concept of laying down a flawed, mortal body and being resurrected to a perfect, spiritual body highlights the connection of our spiritual nature to our physical nature. It is so easy to get caught up in the everyday stuff of our mortal world, and I mean really, most of us live in that head space for 99% of our lives. Paying bills, making dinner, going to work, etc is all consuming for us most of the time, and those of us who have the gospel or even those who can exist on a plane higher than simply survival lose a lot of perspective because of out circumstances here. There really is a disconnect between the mortality focused existence in this life and the spirituality focused existence in the next. By imagining our spirits connecting with our perfect, resurrected bodies, it might be a little bit easier to understand how our spirituality in this life plays into our existence in the next.


The IM quotes President Howard W. Hunter as teaching, “The resurrection will again unite the spirit with the body, and the body becomes a spiritual body, one of flesh and bones but quickened by the spirit instead of blood.” This is an interesting way to think about it. Blood pumps from our heart, down through various blood vessels, and finally infiltrating every capillary in our body. These capillaries are microscopically small. Every cell within our body is fed by the blood products that circulates through our system. If we lose blood supply to any part of our body no matter how small, that part dies, blood is literally what feeds all of us and who we are. If we contrast that to our spirit being that ingrained into our bodies instead of blood, it’s a little bit easier to understand the significance of the spiritual in our lives.