The Resurrection of the Body
The Bible teaches that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the Just and unjust" (Acts 24:15). A great number of religious people deny that the body will be resurrected. However, most of those who deny the doctrine of a bodily resurrection claim to believe in some kind of a resurrection. Those who deny that the body will be resurrected are at a loss to explain just what the resurrection of the dead will consist of.
I accept the resurrection of the body as a fact of the faith. This doctrine is as clearly revealed upon the sacred page of inspiration as any other. I am glad to call attention to a collation of passages which undeniaby affirms my proposition.
1. John 5:28, 29: "Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, 29, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." Only the body is in the grave; the spirit returns unto God at death (Eccl. 12:7). But that which is in the grave shall come forth unto a resurrection, either of life or damnation, depending upon the kind of life lived in the flesh; therefore, the body shall come forth unto a resurrection!
2. Daniel 12:2: "And many of the that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." The same argument can be made upon this as upon (John 5:28, 29). The teaching in the two passages is identical, and both of them teach the resurrection of the body.
3. Romans 8:23: ". . . even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." To redeem is to rescue or to deliver. Our bodies will be rescued; they will be redeemed. When will they be redeemed? Not in conversion; the body is not subject to the new birth: "That which is born of the spirit is spirit (John 3:6)." If the body is not redeemed when resurrected, when will it be redeemed?
4. Job 19:25-27: For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: (26), And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: (27) Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me." Though Job expected to die; though he knew the skin worms would destroy his body; he nevertheless expected to see God in his own flesh and with his own eyes. Unless the body of Job will be resurrected, when will he have opportunity to do that which he expected to do?
5. 1 Corinthians 15:53, 54: "F or this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. (54), So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." Some part of man is corruptible and mortal; it is not the spirit: it is neither corruptible nor mortal (I Peter 3:4). It is the body that is corruptible and mortal. But this corruption must put on incorruption. This corruption is THIS body; therefore this body must put on incorruption. The body will not become incorruptible during this life; thus must become incorruptible in the resurrection (I Cor. 15:52).
6. Isaiah 26:19: "Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead."
I am convinced that these passages clearly and unmistakably teach that the body will be resurrected. Certainly the body will not exist in heaven as flesh and blood (I Cor. 15:50). We shall be changed; a corruptible body is not adapted to an incorruptible home: "Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. (52) In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed (I Cor. 15:51, 52)."
Truth Magazine I:11, pp. 12-13
August 1957