We continue with our discussion of the elements of salvation to our lives. Here again is the complete list of the elements:
“The Order of Salvation”
- Election (God’s choice of people to be saved) Posted March 19, 2017
- The gospel call (proclaiming the message of the gospel) Posted March 26, 2017
- Regeneration (being born again) Posted April 2, 2017
- Conversion (faith and repentance) Posted April 9, 2017
- Justification (right legal standing) Posted April 16, 2017
- Adoption (membership in God’s family) Posted April 23, 2017
- Sanctification (right conduct of life) Posted April 30, 2017
- Perseverance (remaining a Christian) Posted May 7, 2017
- Death (going to be with the Lord) Posted May 14, 2017
- Glorification (receiving a resurrection body) This week
We should note here that items 2-6 and part of 7 are all involved in “becoming a Christian.” Numbers 7 and 8 work themselves out in this life, number 9 occurs at the end of this life, and number 10 occurs when Christ returns.
When Christ redeemed us, he did not just redeem our spirits (or souls), he redeemed us as whole persons, and this includes the redemption of our bodies. Therefore the application of Christ’s work of redemption to us will not be complete until our bodies are entirely set free from the effects of the fall and brought to that state of perfection for which God created them. In fact, the redemption of our bodies will only occur when Christ returns and raises our bodies from the dead. But at this present time, Paul says that we wait for “the redemption of our bodies,” and then adds, “for in this hope we were saved” (Romans 8:23 – 24). The stage in the application of redemption when we receive resurrection bodies is called glorification. Referring to that future day Paul says that we will be “glorified with him” (Romans 8:17). Moreover, when Paul traces the steps in the application of redemption, the last one he names is glorification: “And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified” (Romans 8:30).
The day we are glorified will be a day of great victory because on that day the last enemy, death, will be destroyed, just as Scripture predicts: “For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Corinthians 15:25-26). In the context of a discussion of the resurrection of our bodies when Christ returns, Paul says, “Then shall come to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?'” (1 Corinthians 15:54 – 55). When our bodies are raised from the dead we will experience complete victory over the death that came as a result of the fall of Adam and Eve. Then our redemption will be complete.
We may therefore define glorification as follows: Glorification is the final step in the application of redemption. It will happen when Christ returns and raises from the dead the bodies of all believers for all time who have died, and reunites them with their souls, and changes the bodies of all believers who remain alive, thereby giving all believers at the same time perfect resurrection bodies like his own.
New Testament Evidence for Glorification
The primary New Testament passage on glorification or the resurrection of the body is 1 Corinthians 15:12-58. Paul says, “So also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ” (vv. 22-23). Paul discusses the nature of the resurrection body in some detail in verses 35 – 50. He then concludes the passage by saying that not all Christians will die, but some who remain alive when Christ returns will simply have their bodies instantaneously changed into new, resurrection bodies that can never grow old or weak and can never die:
Lo! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall 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 shall be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:51-52)
Paul further explains in 1 Thessalonians that the souls of those who have died and gone to be with Christ will come back and be joined with their bodies on that day, for Christ will bring them with him: “For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep” (1 Thessalonians 4:14). But here Paul affirms not only that God will bring with Christ those who have died; he also affirms that “the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:16). So these believers who have died with Christ are also raised up to meet Christ (Paul says in v. 17, “We . . . shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air”). This only makes sense if it is the souls of believers who have gone into Christ’s presence who return with him, and if it is their bodies that are raised from the dead to be joined together with their souls, and then to ascend to be with Christ.
In addition to these passages in 1 Corinthians 15 and 1 Thessalonians 4, several other New Testament passages affirm the reality of the doctrine of glorification. Jesus says, “The hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come forth, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment” (John 5:28-29). Jesus also says, “This is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up at the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:39 – 40).
Paul says, “He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit which dwells in you” (Romans 8:11). He realizes that Christians should live in eager expectation of Christ’s return and of the change in our bodies to be like his own perfect body. He says, “But our commonwealth is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power which enables him even to subject all things to himself” (Philippians 3:20-21).
Old Testament Support for Glorification
Sometimes people have claimed that the Old Testament has little if any evidence of hope in a future resurrection of the body, but there is in fact more Old Testament evidence for this than we might realize. First, even before Jesus was raised from the dead, the New Testament indicates that many Jewish people living at the time of Christ had some hope of a future bodily resurrection. When Jesus comes to the home of Lazarus after he had died and says to Martha, “Your brother will rise again,” Martha responds, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day” (John 11:23-24). Moreover, when Paul was on trial, he said to Felix that he had a “hope in God which these themselves [his Jewish accusers] accept, that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust” (Acts 24:15).
As for the beliefs of those living in the time of the Old Testament, Hebrews 11 tells us that Abraham “looked forward to the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Hebrews 11:10). We also read that many Old Testament saints “all died in faith, not having received what was promised, but having seen it and greeted it from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. … But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city” (Hebrews 11:13 -16). The author even says that Abraham “considered that God was able to raise men even from the dead” (Hebrews 11:19).
When we look at the actual teachings of the Old Testament itself, there are indications that Old Testament authors had a strong expectation of the resurrection to come in the future. Job says: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes – I, and not another” (Job 19:25-26).
Although Old Testament believers certainly did not have as much detail about the nature of the resurrection or the way it would come about through the resurrection of the Messiah, and although they did not have as clear a basis for confidence in the resurrection as we do in the actual event of the bodily resurrection of Christ, nonetheless there was certainly, as we have seen, an expectation of a future day of bodily resurrection. People who for years had meditated on and believed these statements of Scripture (such as Martha in John 11:24) were prepared to receive the full-fledged New Testament teaching on the resurrection eagerly, for it simply provided more detail and more assurance for what they already had believed.
What Will Our Resurrection Bodies Be Like?
If Christ will raise our bodies from the dead when he returns, and if our bodies will be like his resurrection body (1 Corinthians 15:20, 23, 49; Philippians 3:21), then what will our resurrection bodies be like?
Using the example of sowing a seed in the ground and then watching it grow into something much more wonderful, Paul goes on to explain in more detail what our resurrection bodies will be like:
What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, 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. . . . Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. (1 Corinthians 15:42-44, 49)
The fact that our new bodies will be “imperishable” means that they will not wear out or grow old or ever be subject to any kind of sickness or disease. They will be completely healthy and strong forever. Moreover, since the gradual process of aging is part of the process by which our bodies now are subject to “corruption,” it is appropriate to think that our resurrection bodies will have no sign of aging, but will have the characteristics of youthful but mature manhood or womanhood forever. There will be no evidence of disease or injury, for all will be made perfect. Our resurrection bodies will show the fulfillment of God’s perfect wisdom in creating us as human beings who are the pinnacle of his creation and the appropriate bearers of his likeness and image. In these resurrection bodies, we will clearly see humanity as God intended it to be.
Paul also says our bodies will be raised “in glory.” When this term is contrasted with “dishonor,” as it is here, there is a suggestion of the beauty or the attractiveness of appearance that our bodies will have. They will no longer be “dishonorable” or unattractive, but will look “glorious” in their beauty. Because the word “glory” is so frequently used in Scripture of the bright shining radiance that surrounds the presence of God himself, this term suggests that there will also be a kind of brightness or radiance surrounding our bodies that will be an appropriate outward evidence of the position of exaltation and rule over all creation that God has given to us. This is also suggested in Matthew 13:43, where Jesus says, “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” Similarly, we read in Daniel’s vision, “And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever” (Daniel 12:3, in a passage talking about the final resurrection). Now both of these statements might possibly be understood metaphorically, and in that case they would not indicate that an actual brightness or radiance will surround our resurrection bodies. But there is no reason in the context of either of them that would cause us to see them as metaphorical, and other pieces of evidence argue against doing so. The hints of the age to come that were seen in the shining of the glory of God from the face of Moses (Exodus 34:35), and, in a much greater way, the bright light that shone from Jesus at the transfiguration (Matthew 17:2), together with the fact that we will bear the image of Christ and be like him (1 Corinthians 15:49), combine to suggest that there will actually be a visible brightness or radiance that surrounds us when we are in our resurrection bodies.
Finally, Paul says that the body is raised a “spiritual body” (1 Corinthians 15:44). In the Pauline epistles, the word “spiritual” (Gk. pneumatikos) seldom means “nonphysical” but rather “consistent with the character and activity of the Holy Spirit”. The RSV translation, “It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body,” is misleading, and a more clear paraphrase would be, “It is sown a natural body subject to the characteristics and desires of this age, and governed by its own sinful will, but it is raised a spiritual body, completely subject to the will of the Holy Spirit and responsive to the Holy Spirit’s guidance.” Such a body is not at all “nonphysical,” but it is a physical body raised to the degree of perfection for which God originally intended it.
In spite of this strong New Testament emphasis on the similarity between our bodies and Jesus’ body after the resurrection, some have objected that we will not have physical bodies because Paul says, “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable” (1 Corinthians 15:50). This is in the very section in which he has been discussing the resurrection of the dead. But it is surely a misunderstanding to say that this verse implies that we shall not have physical bodies. When Paul says, “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God,” what he means by “flesh and blood” is our present human nature, particularly our physical bodies, as they are now existing in the likeness of Adam after the fall, that is, subject to weakness, decay, and ultimate death. This is the point he has made in the previous four verses (1 Corinthians 15:45 – 49), in which he has been contrasting Adam with Christ. He explains, “As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust” (that is, we ourselves in this present age, 1 Corinthians 15:48). Then he explains, “Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven” (1 Corinthians 15:49). By “flesh and blood” here Paul means “flesh and blood in the present state of existence with a body like Adam’s after the fall, a body that is subject to decay and death.” He does not mean that we shall exist in a nonphysical state, for the entire heaven and earth will be made new and renewed for us to live in (Romans 8:18 – 25), and we ourselves “shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). We will not cease to exist in physical bodies, but we will be changed and we will have an imperishable body, “For this perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and this mortal nature must put on immortality” (1 Corinthians 15:53).
The repeated instances in which Jesus demonstrated to the disciples that he had a physical body that was able to be touched, that had flesh and bones (Luke 24:39), and that could eat food, show that Jesus’ body, which is our pattern, was clearly a physical body that had been made perfect.
What kind of continuity will there be between our present bodies and our future resurrection bodies? Will our bodies look exactly the same and have exactly the same characteristics, or will they be somewhat different, or will they be almost entirely different? Will our resurrection bodies be made of the same molecules of which our earthly bodies consist, or will they be an entirely new creation from God, or will they be some combination of old and new?
Several passages indicate that Paul expected a considerable measure of continuity between our present earthly bodies and our future resurrection bodies. Paul said, “He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit which dwells in you” (Romans 8:11). He said that Jesus “will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body” (Philippians 3:21). And when Paul spoke about the nature of the resurrection body he gave an example of a seed sown in the ground: “What you sow is not the body which is to be, but a bare kernel, 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” (1 Corinthians 15:37-38). In this example, he draws on common human knowledge that there are differences between what is sown and what is raised (vv. 42 – 44), but there is also continuity, just as a seed grows into a larger plant, retaining the matter that was in it but taking to itself other materials from the ground as well, so we will have continuity and differences as well. On this analogy, we can say that whatever remains in the grave from our own physical bodies will be taken by God and transformed and used to make a new resurrection body. But the details of how that will happen remain unclear to us, since Scripture does not specify them, we are to affirm this because Scripture teaches it, even if we cannot fully explain how it can happens
We must also clearly note that Christ’s own resurrection body, though it differed somewhat from the body he had before he died, so that the disciples did not immediately recognize him in every situation, was similar enough in appearance for the disciples to know who it was rather quickly. There were some instances when they did not immediately recognize him, but this may in part be accounted for by the fact that during his earthly life and ministry he had no doubt aged considerably, since he was “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3). After his resurrection, Jesus would have been restored to full and perfect strength and youthfulness of appearance. Just as we sometimes do not immediately recognize a friend who has aged considerably since the last time we saw him or her, so the disciples may have had initial difficulty in recognizing Christ because the opposite of aging had occurred. On the other hand, significant continuity between Jesus’ body before and after the resurrection is seen in the fact that even the nail prints in his hands and feet and the wound in his side remained in his resurrection body (John 20:20, 27).
There is today some hesitancy on the part of many evangelicals to affirm clearly that there will be a “resurrection of the body,” or at least that the body that is raised will be a material, physical body that is in some way continuous with the body that was placed in the grave. This may be due to a sense of inability to understand how God could raise the same bodies from the grave, especially when some of those bodies have been dead for many centuries. Yet some of this hesitancy is probably also due to the continuing skepticism of unbelievers who challenge the Christian view with exactly the kind of problems just presented, does this not seem like a fantastic, unbelievable position? How could God bring about such a thing?
In both cases, whether the hesitancy comes from the honest questioning of the believer or from the hostile skepticism of the unbeliever, we should realize that our inability to understand or explain something should never be a reason for rejecting it if it is clearly taught in Scripture. The many passages cited above indicating that God will raise our mortal bodies from the grave, just as he raised Jesus’ body from the grave, indicate quite conclusively that there will be a definite continuity between our present bodies and the bodies we have in the resurrection. And if that is what Scripture teaches, then, even though we may not understand exactly how God will bring this about in every case, we should still believe it. The God who created the universe and created each one of us, and who sovereignly rules over every bit of this creation at every moment, and who carries along all things by his word of power, can certainly keep track of the parts of our physical bodies that he wishes to preserve and use as the “seed” from which a new body will be made.
It is important to insist on the resurrection of a real, physical body, not only for the reasons above, but also because this provides a clear affirmation of the goodness of God’s physical creation. We will live in bodies that have all the excellent qualities God created us to have, and thereby we will forever be living proof of the wisdom of God in making a material creation that from the beginning was “very good” (Genesis 1:31). We will live as resurrected believers in those new bodies, and they will be suitable for inhabiting the “new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13).