1 Corinthians 15:37

Contextual Overview

³⁵But someone may ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?" ³⁵ But someone will ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?" ³⁵Some have wondered, "How are we brought back from the grave? What will our bodies look like?" ³⁵ But someone will say, "How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?" ³⁵But someone will say, "How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?" ³⁵ But someone will say, How do the dead come back? and with what sort of body do they come? ³⁵ But some one will say, How are the dead raised? and with what body do they come? ³⁵ But someone will say, "How are the dead raised? What kind of body will they have when they come?" ³⁵ But some one will say, "How are the dead raised?" and, "With what kind of body do they come?" ³⁵ But some one will say, How are the dead raised? And with what body do they come?

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Reciprocal: Leviticus 11:37 - sowing seed Mark 4:27 - and grow 2 Corinthians 2:14 - which

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be,.... The sower, for instance, does not take a stalk of wheat in its blade, and ear, and full corn in the ear, encompassed with the husk, and sow it in the earth, which is the body or form in which it appears when it rises up again, and is come to its full growth:

but bare grain (or naked grain) it may chance of wheat, or some other grain; wheat, or any other grain, is cast into the earth naked, beat out of the husk; and that selfsame grain rises up again, clothed with additional verdure, beauty, and fruitfulness; and so the body which comes out of its mother's womb naked, and returns naked again, Job 1:21 to which the apostle seems to allude, will rise again the same body, though with additional glories and excellencies; so that if it should be asked, how is it possible that a dead body can be raised up again? the possibility of it may be seen, in the quickening and raising up of a grain of wheat, that first rots and dies; and if it be inquired with what body the dead will be raised, it may in some measure be observed in this instance, that though it will be the same body, yet with different and excelling qualities: this simile seems to have been much in use among the Jews, to illustrate this doctrine, and we have some traces of it still in their writings o:

"Cleopatra the queen asked R. Meir, saying, I know that the dead shall live, for it is written, "they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth", Psalms 72:16 but when they rise, shall they rise naked, or shall they rise in their clothes? to which he replied, much more than wheat: for as wheat is buried, ערומה, "naked", it comes forth, (or springs up,) with many clothings; and how much more the righteous, who are buried in their clothes?''

and again p,

"says R. Eliezer, all the dead shall stand in the resurrection of the dead, and shall rise with their garments on; from whence do you learn this? from the seed of the earth, especially from wheat; for as wheat is buried "naked", and comes forth with many clothings, much more the righteous, who are buried in their clothes.''

o T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol, 90. 2. p Pirke Eliezer, c. 33.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And that which thou sowest - The seed which is sown.

Not that body that shall be - You sow one kernel which is to produce many others. They shall not be the same that is sown. They will be new kernels raised from that; of the same kind, indeed, and showing their intimate and necessary connection with that which is sown. It is implied here that the body which will be raised will not be the same in the sense that the same particles of matter shall compose it, but the same only in the sense that it will have sprung up from that; will constitute the same order, rank, species of being, and be subject to the same laws, and deserve the same course of treatment as that which died; as the grain produced is subject to the same laws, and belongs to the same rank, order, and species as that which is sown. And as the same particles of matter which are sown do not enter into that which shall be in the harvest, so it is taught that the same particles of matter which constitute the body when it dies, do not constitute the new body at the resurrection.

But bare grain - Mere grain; a mere kernel, without any husk, leaf, blade, or covering of any kind. Those are added in the process of reproduction. The design of this is to make it appear more remarkable, and to destroy the force of the objection. It was not only not the grain that should be produced, but it was without the appendages and ornaments of blade, and flower, and beard of the new grain. How could anyone tell but what it would be so in the resurrection? How could any know but what there might be appendages and ornaments there, which were not connected with the body that died?

It may chance of wheat ... - For example; or suppose it be wheat or any other grain. The apostle adduces this merely for an example; not to intimate that there is any chance about it.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 37. Thou sowest not that body that shall be — This is decomposed, and becomes the means of nourishing the whole plant, roots, stalk, leaves, ear, and full corn in the ear.