Paul’s Belief in a Bodily Resurrection …an argument against a spiritual resurrection, based on 1Cor 15

Spiritual Resurrection Many sceptics have argued that the earliest Christians believed in a solely spiritual resurrection of Jesus and, eventually, his followers: Carrier Friedman There are 4 key arguments to support this view.

Spiritual Resurrection Paul makes no distinction between his vision and appearances to the others, apart from when it happened (vv. 8, vs. 1-7). This makes it prima facie reasonable that all the appearances were understood by him to be visions and not literally physical in the sense portrayed by the Gospels of Luke and John.

Spiritual Resurrection Paul's distinction between "perishable" and "imperishable" bodies (vv. 42) is based on a distinction between earthly things and things of heaven (vv. 40, 47-9); it was common belief that the heavenly things were ethereal. Since Paul does not disclaim the common belief, he must be assuming his readers already accept it. This makes it prima facie reasonable that he means the "imperishable body" to be an ethereal one, not a body of flesh.

Spiritual Resurrection Paul literally makes this distinction, calling the one a "natural body" (psychikos) and the other a "spiritual body" (pneumatikos), and says that they both coexist in one person. He says outright (here and in 2 Cor. 4:16-5:9) that the body we know, the body of flesh, is sown only to die, and only this other, second body, the body of the spirit, rises to new life.

Spiritual Resurrection Paul says point blank that "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God" (vv. 50), because flesh and blood is the mortal, perishable body, and we are resurrected as an imperishable body. It is clear that he does not believe that the resurrection involved flesh and blood, but a different, ethereal body, like the same sort of body angels have (and according to the Gospels, Jesus said we shall be like angels, cf. Mk 12:25; Mt 22:30; Lk 20:34-36).

However, the idea that Paul believed in a spiritual resurrection and not a physical one has rightly been rejected by the majority of scholars!

Reasons… Paul's self-identified Jewish heritage precludes such a conclusion. The notion that Christianity grew out of a Jewish belief in a spiritual resurrection that evolved into a belief in a bodily resurrection as Christianity became more influenced by Hellenism is a very unlikely prospect [Price, 2003] The language Paul uses to describe the resurrection--most notably "soma"--emphasizes the physical nature of the resurrected person. Paul's belief that Christians immediately went to be with Jesus upon their death, but still awaited a "resurrection" demonstrates that the resurrection being discussed was a physical one.

Market Place: Stage 1 [30mins] In groups of 3, read the information that you’ve been given. Selecta maximum of 10 key words. Summarise the information you have been given, using pictures, diagrams, symbols & abbreviations. The only words you may use are your 10 identified key words. Your summary poster must be good enough that you can interpret it without looking at the notes. (N.B. the notes will be collected back in!)

Market Place: Stage 2 [15mins] 1 person must remain at the table and teach your information to other people in the class. 2 people must individually go around the class and be taught about the other information.

Market Place: Stage 3 [15mins] All people to return to their original groups. The 2 learners must now teach the other people in their group what they learned. Everyone must leave the room with notes on all 4 reasons. Revise for a test on these reasons, for next week’s lesson.