Commentary on 1 Corinthians
Lecture 5. Death before the resurrection
15:35 But some man will say: how do the dead rise again? Or with what manner of body shall they come? [n. 964]
15:36 Senseless man, that which you sow is not quickened, except it die first. [n. 966]
15:37 And that which you sow, you sow not the body that shall be: but bare grain, as of wheat, or of some of the rest. [n. 970]
15:38 But God gives it a body as he wills: and to every seed its proper body. [n. 972]
964. Having proved the resurrection of the dead, the Apostle now shows the quality and mode of those rising. In regard to this he does two things: first, he raises a question about the quality of those rising; second, he answers it, at senseless man, that which you sow.
965. In regard to the resurrection there have been two errors. For some absolutely denied the future resurrection of the dead. For since they considered only the principles and capabilities of nature and saw that according to natural principles and capabilities no one could return to life or a blind person recover sight, they absolutely denied the resurrection. From their mouth it is said: our allotted time is the passing of a shadow (Wis 2:5); we are born of nothing (Wis 2:2); do you think a dead man will live again? (Job 14:14).
Others, on the other hand, have said there will be a resurrection, but they will rise to the same manner of living and to the same acts. Even philosophers have posited this when they said: after many years Plato will rise again and will have the same scholars in Athens, whom he had at some time. The Sadducees also assert this about the woman with seven husbands (Matt 22:29). Hence they asked: in the resurrection to which of the seven will she be wife? The Saracens, too, pretend that after the resurrection they will have wives, and pleasures, and bodily delights: he will not move upon the rivers, the streams flow with honey and curds (Job 20:17). Against these Matthew says that they will be as the angels in heaven (Matt 22:30).
Therefore the Apostle raises two questions here. The first is when he says, how do the dead rise again? How is it possible that the dead who are dust can rise? The second when he says, or with what manner of body shall they come? As if to say: will they rise with the same kind of body as we have now?
966. He answers these two questions when he says, senseless man. First, he solves the second; second, he solves the first, at behold, I tell you a mystery (1 Cor 15:51).
To understand what the Apostle presents in the first part, it is necessary to investigate what the Apostle intends. But in this part the Apostle intends to show that the dead will rise and that their substance will be the same.
Here he first presents likenesses; second, he adapts, at so also is the resurrection of the dead (1 Cor 15:42); third, he proves it, at it is sown a natural body (1 Cor 15:44). In regard to the first he does two things: first, he proposes likenesses in one species; second, in diverse species, at all flesh is not the same flesh (1 Cor 15:39).
967. In regard to the first it should be noted that we see in one and the same species that one thing on the way to generation has diverse qualities and forms: as grain has one form and quality, when it is planted, and another, when it shoots up, and another, when it is in herb. From this likeness the Apostle intends to show the quality of the rising.
Hence, in regard to this he does three things: first, he compares the order of sowing to growing; second, the difference in quality in sowing and growing, at and that which you sow; third, the cause of the quality in growing, at but God gives it a body.
968. He says, therefore, senseless man. But on the other hand it is said: whoever says to his brother: you fool, shall be liable to hell (Matt 5:22).
The answer is that God forbids saying, ‘you fool’ or ‘stupid’ to your brother in anger and not in correction.
Now the reason he says senseless man is that this objection against the resurrection proceeds from the principles of human wisdom, which is wisdom as long as it is subjected to divine wisdom. But when one departs from God, he falls back on unwisdom; hence, when he contradicts divine wisdom, he calls him foolish. As if to say: senseless man, do you not experience every day that which you sow in the earth is not quickened, except it die first, i.e., decays: unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone (John 12:24).
And the Apostle seems to make this comparison, that when a man’s body is put in a tomb, it is a form of sowing; but when it rises, it is coming to life.
969. Hence, from this some suppose that the resurrection of the dead is natural, inasmuch as the Apostle here compares the resurrection of the dead to the sprouting of a seed, which is natural. For they believed that in the dust, into which human bodies are resolved, there were certain active seminal powers for the resurrection of bodies.
But this does not seem to be true. For the resolution of human bodies into elements happens in the same way as other mixed bodies; hence, the dust into which human bodies are resolved has no other active power than other dust, in which there is no evidence of any active power to constitute a human body, but only in man’s seed. However, the dusts into which human bodies are reduced differ from other dust only according to God’s plan, inasmuch as these dusts are ordained by divine wisdom that human bodies be formed from them again.
Hence the active cause of the resurrection is God alone, even though for this he uses the service of angels to collect the dust. Hence, the Apostle explaining the manner of the resurrection below attributes it to Christ’s raising, but not to any active power in the dusts.
Therefore, the Apostle does not intend to prove here that the resurrection is natural, but to manifest by certain examples that the quality of rising bodies and that of dying bodies is not the same; and, first of all, by the fact that the quality of the seed and of the sprouting bud are not the same, as will be clearly shown from the following.
970. For when he says, and that which you sow, he shows that the quality of seed is different from the quality of the sprout. Hence he says, and that which you sow, you sow not the body that shall be, i.e., you do not plant it as it will be. Explaining this he says, but bare grain, as of wheat, or of some of the rest, namely, a seed, because a bare kernel is sowed, but what sprouts is fashioned as an herb, or an ear of corn and so on. Similarly, the human body will have another quality in the resurrection than it has now, as will be explained below.
Yet there is a difference between the resurrection of the human body and the sprouting of a seed, for the same numerical body will rise, but it will have another quality, as the Apostle says below: for this corruptible must put on incorruption (1 Cor 15:53); and: and my eyes shall behold and not another (Job 19:27). But in sprouting there is neither the same quality nor the same numerical body, but only the same in species. And therefore, the Apostle speaking about sprouting said, you sow not the body that shall be, giving us to understand that it is not the same numerically.
And in this the work of nature falls short of God’s work. For the power of nature restores what is the same in species, but not the same numerically; but God’s power can restore even the same numerically.
971. And so, even from what is stated here can be taken a proof that the future is not something impossible as the foolish man objected. For if nature, from what is dead, can restore the same thing specifically, much more can God restore the same numerical thing, because whatever nature can do is a work of God. For nature has from God that it can do this.
972. Then, describing the quality of sprouting, he attributes it first to God; second, to the proportion of nature.
973. First he says, God gives it a body as he wills, because it proceeds from an ordination of the divine will that from such a seed such a plant is produced, which plant is as the body of a seed. For the ultimate fruit of a plant is the seed. And therefore, he attributes this to the activity of God, as it says above: it is the same God who inspires them all in every one (2 Cor 12:6). And this can be considered in this way. For it is manifest that natural things act without knowledge for a fixed end; otherwise, they would not always or for the most part attain the same end.
And it is manifest that nothing lacking knowledge tends to a fixed end unless directed by a knower, as an arrow tends to a fixed target by the direction of the bowman. Therefore, just as if someone saw an arrow directly moving toward a definite target and did not see a bowman, would immediately know that it was directed by a bowman, so when we see natural things without knowledge tend to definite ends, we can know for certain that they are acting under the will of some director, which we call God. And the Apostle says, God gives to the seed a body, i.e., he produces from the seed a plant, as he wills.
974. But again, lest anyone believe that such natural effects arise solely from God’s will without the activity and proportion of nature, he adds, and to every seed its proper body; for example, from the olive seed an olive is produced, and wheat from the seed of wheat. Hence: let the earth put forth vegetation, plants yielding seed, each according to its kind (Gen 1:11).
Thus therefore in the resurrection too, there will be another quality of the rising body, which will be proportionate to the merits of the dying person.