The Resurrection Body

³⁵ But someone will ask,^(A) “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?”^{(B) 36} How foolish!^(C) What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.^{(D) 37} When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. ³⁸ But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body.^{(E) 39} Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. ⁴⁰ There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. ⁴¹ The sun has one kind of splendor,^(F) the moon another and the stars another;^(G) and star differs from star in splendor.

⁴² So will it be^(H) with the resurrection of the dead.^(I) The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable;^{(J) 43} it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory;^(K) it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; ⁴⁴ it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.^(L)

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. ⁴⁵ So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”^[a];^(M) the last Adam,^(N) a life-giving spirit.^{(O) 46} The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual.^{(P) 47} The first man was of the dust of the earth;^(Q) the second man is of heaven.^{(R) 48} As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven.^{(S) 49} And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man,^(T) so shall we^[b] bear the image of the heavenly man.^(U)

⁵⁰ I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood^(V) cannot inherit the kingdom of God,^(W) nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.^{(X) 51} Listen, I tell you a mystery:^(Y) We will not all sleep,^(Z) but we will all be changed^(AA)— ⁵² in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound,^(AB) the dead^(AC) will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. ⁵³ For the perishable^(AD) must clothe itself with the imperishable,^(AE) and the mortal with immortality. ⁵⁴ When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”^[c](AF)

⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin,^(AH) and the power of sin is the law.^{(AI) 57} But thanks be to God!^(AJ) He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.^(AK)

⁵⁸ Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord,^(AL) because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.^(AM)

Believers Who Have Died

¹³ Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed^(A) about those who sleep in death,^(B) so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.^{(C) 14} For we believe that Jesus died and rose again,^(D) and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.^{(E) 15} According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord,^(F) will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.^{(G) 16} For the Lord himself will come down from heaven,^(H) with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel^(I) and with the trumpet call of God,^(J) and the dead in Christ will rise first.^{(K) 17} After that, we who are still alive and are left^(L) will be caught up together with them in the clouds^(M) to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord^(N) forever. ¹⁸ Therefore encourage one another^(O) with these words.

Marriage at the Resurrection^(A)

¹⁸ Then the Sadducees,^(B) who say there is no resurrection,^(C) came to him with a question. ¹⁹ “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.^{(D) 20} Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. ²¹ The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. ²² In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. ²³ At the resurrection^[a] whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”

²⁴ Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures^(E) or the power of God? ²⁵ When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.^{(F) 26} Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the account of the burning bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’^[b]?^{(G) 27} He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!”

Marriage at the Resurrection^(A)

²³ That same day the Sadducees,^(B) who say there is no resurrection,^(C) came to him with a question. ²⁴ “Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him.^{(D) 25} Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. ²⁶ The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. ²⁷ Finally, the woman died. ²⁸ Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?”

²⁹ Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures^(E) or the power of God. ³⁰ At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage;^(F) they will be like the angels in heaven. ³¹ But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, ³² ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’^[a]?^(G) He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”

³³ When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.^(H)