Bodily Resurrection And 1 Corinthians 15: 42-54 :: essays research papers

Bodily Resurrection and 1 Corinthians 15 42-54          One of the most of import issues concerning nearly all religions,Christianity among them, concerns the fate of men following their death.Believing in an inevitable resurrection of the body among the faithful, Paul, aprinciple founder of Christianity, asserted his beliefs on the temperament of bodilyresurrection in 1 Corinthians 15 42-54. As eternity tends to last a long time,believing Christians (even agnostics such as myself) would likely be passablyeager to arrive at an accurate interpretation of Pauls message found in theabove verses, so as to glean insight as to what capability await them following theirlast heartbeat. The approach I will take in analyzing 1 Corinthians 42-54 willbe to 1) explain how the verses fit in with the boilersuit structure of the book2) to explain and paraphrase the meaning behind the passage 3) relate theverses to similar passages expressed elsewhere by P aul 4) and lastly to feignupon some of the controversy associated with the verses.     1 Corinthians was written around 54 C.E. and was addressed to thecongregation which was made up primarily of gentiles and was located in Corinth.At the time, Corinth was a highly urbanized and religiously diverse city whichmade it very conducive to the early Christian movement. Pauls first letter tothe Corinthians was written as a response to a letter he had received (which didnot survive) from the Corinthians in which Paul was asked to settle variousdisputes that were arising within the struggling congregation. Writing in grandiloquent fashion to the congregation he had founded, Pauls letter whilepastoral, answered numerous questions and demanded numerous changes rangingfrom the rich eating with the poor at the church building suppers (1118-22) to curbingthe acceptance of intimate immorality (51-13) to abstaining from taking fellowChristians to court (612-20) to answering the question on the acceptability ofeating meat begot from pagan sacrifice (81-13) to the role of women in thechurch (112-16) to the importance of prophesying (141-40) and much, muchmore.     It was under these auspices that Paul answered the question of whetherman would be with or without a body following resurrection. Although all ofthe 15th chapter deals with issues of resurrection, the line of the body iscurtly addressed in verses 42-54 and is prefaced with the 35th verse which asks,"But someone will ask, How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do theycome?"(1535).     Paul believed that at the time of the resurrection the perishable bodywould be transformed into an imperishable body, that would neither be a ghost-