Among the many evils in the Corinthian Church, the most serious was the denial, on the part of some, of the resurrection of the dead. The Apostle Paul answered it fully, leaving no room for any either to doubt it, or to fall into error concerning it.

We are not told what caused the Corinthians to deny the resurrection. It is probable, judging from the Apostle's use of the quotation, "Evil communications corrupt good manners," that they had borrowed their idea from the heathen philosophers, who also denied this truth. In their falsely-named "wisdom," it was folly to suppose that the body after death would ever be raised again. Along with all matter, it was to them evil in its origin, and therefore finally to be rid of. The spirit alone was important.

But if God has created the spirit, He has created also the body, and though the whole man has sunk under the dominion of sin, God's answer to it is Redemption, according to His eternal counsel of grace in Christ Jesus. But it is redemption of the whole man-body, soul and spirit.

Paul begins his defense of the Resurrection by reminding the saints at Corinth of the gospel he had preached to them at the beginning. This message they had received and had been saved by-allowing, of course, that it was a true gospel, and that they were anchored fast, and not drifting away from it. What then was the gospel he preached?

It was "that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures." These were the three cardinal points in his teaching and preaching. He brings in the confirmation of the fact of Christ risen by citing first of all the testimony of God in the Scriptures, and then six groups of witnesses to whom Christ appeared alive after His death and burial. Most of these were still living at the time he wrote. He appealed lastly to his own experience elsewhere expressed in the words, "Have I not seen Christ Jesus our Lord?" (1 Cor. 9:1).

The denial at Corinth was not that Christ was not risen. It went beyond that by denying resurrection altogether. We here see the blinding influence of error, in that those who were being ensnared by this teaching had already accepted what Paul had taught them. Their very hope of salvation rested on the fact which now they were denying. For if the dead do not rise, then verily Christ has not risen. If that be so, they were deceived, as to all their hopes in Him. Their faith was in vain, or to no purpose. More than that, they had placed the Apostles in the position of "liars," inasmuch as they testified that God had raised up Christ, "whom indeed He raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not."

While the error struck at all resurrection, Paul does not refer specifically to the resurrection of the wicked- this is implied, however, in what is said in verses 24-26- but he dwells rather on the resurrection of Christ and of His saints. He proves resurrection by the fact of Christ risen. It is important to observe this, for it shows that there is a real connection between the resurrection of Christ and that of all others, especially of believers. But as to all who are raised up, whoever they may be, the fact of resurrection is established inasmuch as Christ is already risen.
Having spoken of the doctrine in a general manner, Paul takes up the difficulty of some who were asking, "How are the dead raised up, And with what body do they come?" Scripture does not attempt to satisfy the mere cavils of-unbelief; but saints at times descend to a low level, allowing questions in their minds as to God's power, etc.-sad tokens of an unspiritual state. Here, however, the Spirit of God, through His Apostle, meets them in their need.

Paul takes up the natural process of sowing and harvest to illustrate the truth of resurrection. There is an identity between what is sown and that which is its fruit. There is, of course, a decided difference between the naked kernel sown in the ground and the full stalk of grain which results from the dying of the seed. But allowing all the contrast called for, there is still an identity between what is sown and what is raised. This is not, and cannot be, set aside; for it is a law throughout nature. Had God chosen to order it so, He might have created a new supply each season for the creature's need, entirely apart from the old seed. But it has pleased Him to prepare the present life after the pattern of the spiritual. Hence we see that Paul did not simply light upon a happy illustration; he saw and understood rather that in the process of sowing and reaping there is a divine plan-a prophecy, so to speak, of that to which he here calls attention. Had the Corinthians allowed even "Nature" to teach them, they would not have fallen into their error; for what is termed nature is God's handmaiden, and, except where man has interfered, always speaks the truth, witnessing just that which God gave it to speak. Hence in another place, and in a different connection, the Apostle speaks of the same fact when he says, "Whatsoever a man soweth that (not something having no relation, but that) shall he also reap." The seeds which God brought forth in the beginning, whatever the changes since apparent, are the lineal ancestors of those now upon the earth. At the beginning God announced that the "herb" and "fruit" were each to yield "after his kind," and this law has been faithfully carried out.

It is so, says Paul, as to the resurrection. It is the body which is sown, and it is the body, though different as to form, which is raised up. In this life the body is patterned after Adam's, but in the resurrection it will be patterned after Christ's. Let us not forget that though Christ is risen and glorified, He lives in the same body which was offered up in death and was buried in Joseph's tomb. There has taken place that change in it which His entrance into heaven demanded; for we read that "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." Yet who will say that it is not the same body in which He walked the earth, although changed into that form in which He appeared to His disciples when risen? It was to them that He said, "Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself:handle Me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have." But we are distinctly taught that our body of the resurrection order is to be "raised" as was His. Writing also to the Philippians, Paul says, "We look for our Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour, who shall change this body of our humiliation, into conformity to His body of glory, according to the working of the power which He has even to subdue all things to Himself."

Let us hold fast these things. The body which our holy Lord said that God had "given" Him, when He came into the world, in which He lived and suffered and died, and was buried, is that in which He now "appears in the presence of God for us," and in which He will come again, to "receive us unto" Himself. But how could His resurrection illustrate and confirm ours, if the body we shall receive has no identity with that laid down at death? If the grave never gives up the body of the saint, how can there be that song of victory:"O death, where is thy sting? 0 grave, where is thy victory?"
The Corinthians did not deny that the saints would be happy with Christ in the glory of God; but they denied that the body, claimed by death, would ever be raised up again. They said, "There is no resurrection* of the dead." *Note the similarity of this denial at Corinth with that of the Sadducees, "which say there is no resurrection." At Athens, too, when Paul spoke of "the resurrection of the dead, some mocked." It was ridiculous to them to suppose that the body should ever be raised up to life again. To the Sadducees, who were acquainted with the letter of Scripture, the Lord said, "Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, neither the power of God." Standing before Agrippa, Paul said,
"Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?"

Let us note too that while a truth, such as that of the resurrection, may not be positively denied, as at Corinth, yet it may be nullified by association with error. It is probable that Satan was seeking to make the truth of resurrection appear contemptible in the eyes of the Corinthians. To them it seemed a wise saying to declare against the resurrection. But Paul showed them where their conclusions led, and they were delivered from the enemy's snare, who spares no pains to deny Christ. The Devil also knew the sanctifying power of this vital truth, and this was another reason for his subtle device. If there be no resurrection, we may well say as the apostle suggests:"Let us eat and drink; for to-morrow we die." We do not need to go as far as did those in Corinth, to lose in measure at least the precious truth of God in this respect. Even if great and good men tell us that the glorified body of the saint has no relation or identity with the present earthly body, this is not sufficient reason for accepting it as a fact. The idea may spring from the attempt to satisfy the minds of some in connection with difficulties as to the body of the future. Conceding all the difficulties, what are they as compared with the "power Of God?" Why should we accept the idea of a quasi-resurrection which supposes saints who have died appearing in the glory with Christ in a new body, while the other body, perhaps recently put off, is still claimed by death in the grave?*

It is absurd to suppose a resurrection in any true sense with an undisturbed grave. Paul disproves the denial by the fact that Christ arose in the body in which He entered the tomb. He shows by this fact that the saints also, at His coming, will be raised up as He was.

Let us beware of giving up any part of the truth for any substitute, however plausible or specious; for our Lord has prayed to the Father concerning the saints:"Sanctify them through Thy truth; Thy word is truth." Wm. Huss