Sown in Weakness, Raised in Power

The body believers are raised with is the same body that was buried but it is changed. It is transformed. It is a higher kind of body changed and suited for life in the new heavens and new earth. And he points out several important differences:

• The body that was put in the ground is corruptible, subject to decay, but that which is raised is immortal and no longer subject to things like sickness and age and infirmity and eventually death
• The body that was put in the ground in dishonor, there is nothing particularly honorable about a decaying body, it is not something we want to leave around for long, there is a reason we have to get rid of them quickly. But that which is raised is glorious and honorable.
• The body that we have today is weak (comparison of the power of our bodies to those of animals) especially when compared to the power of the mind, and that which is buried has become completely powerless, but that which is raised is full of power.
• That which was buried was a body designed for life in the natural realm, the fallen world. This doesn’t mean it will not have a material component, but that it is adapted for life in the world to come, a life dominated not by the things of the flesh, but the things of the Spirit.

Now what is the key to this transformation? We follow in the train of Christ the firstfruits.