Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

³⁵ But someone will ask, `How can dead people be raised? What kind of body will they have when they come back from death?'

³⁶ What foolish questions! The seed you put in the ground must die before it can come to life.

³⁷ You do not put a grown-up plant in the ground. You put in a seed, such as corn, wheat, rice, or something like that.

³⁸ God gives the seed the body he wants it to have. He gives a different kind of body to every kind of seed.

³⁹ Not all living bodies are alike. People have one kind of body. Animals have another kind of body. Fish another kind of body. Birds have another kind.

⁴⁰ So too, there are bodies for the sky and bodies for the earth. The bodies for the sky are fine in one way, and the bodies for the earth are fine in another way. They are not alike.

⁴¹ The sun is fine in one way. The moon is fine in another way. The stars are fine in still another way. And one star is fine in a different way from another star.

⁴² So it is with the body that is raised from death. When it is put in the ground it is a body that dies. When it rises from death, it will never die again.

⁴³ When it is put in the ground, it is not fine. When it rises, it is very fine. When it is put in the ground it has no strength. When it rises it is strong.

⁴⁴ When it is put in the ground it is only a body for this world. When it rises it is a body for the spirit. If there is a body for this world, then there is also a body for the spirit.

⁴⁵ The holy writings say, `The first man, Adam, was of this world! The last Adam [Christ] is a Spirit who gives life.'

⁴⁶ The body for the spirit does not come first. The body for this world comes first. Then comes the body for the spirit.

⁴⁷ The first man came from earth. He was made from the dust of the earth. The second Adam is the Lord from heaven.

⁴⁸ Those who are made of earth are like the man made of dust. Those who are for heaven are like the man from heaven.

⁴⁹ We were made like the man of dust but we shall look like the man from heaven.