Oh! Those Resurrected Bodies

Friday after Pentecost

Fridays are when I respond to your comments. Here is a comment from Glenn:

While I believe the Apostle’s Creed “and the life everlasting” I do puzzle over what our resurrected body and existence will be like, especially being reunited with loved ones. Jesus, upon his resurrection was seen and conversed with his disciples who obviously recognized him. All were happy and pleased to see him. I have believed that in heaven there will be no sorrow or pain and everyone will be happy. However, In Mark 12:18-27 is the story of seven brothers having married the same woman. I feel as clueless as the Sadducees, because depending on how extensive the loved ones are in heaven there exists the possibility of not being totally pleased with all of them. I believe the seven brothers may not be pleased to see everyone, and I may not be pleased to greet everyone I encounter. How do you view this? on Life Everlasting My response: Remember that I'm the one making the connection between Paul's description of the resurrected body in 1 Corinthians 15 and the resurrection accounts in the gospels. If that connection is correct, we have a good idea of resurrected life. The Sadducees question and Jesus' answer pose another problem. Jesus says, "When they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels in heaven." Is Jesus saying that the resurrected dead become another order of being, similar but not identical to angels. It would seem so. I should note, however, that whenever angels appear in the Bible, they look like people, and are often mistaken for people. Angels in the Bible seem to have the same "superhuman" abilities that the resurrected Jesus has. Marriage may not be the order of things in the resurrection. Or, if eternal life is something other than time, multiple marriages within non-time might be the case (that would make an interesting polyandry for the woman the the Saducees' example--while polygamy was the order of the day in OT times). Or, as Jesus may be implying, our resurrected bodies, like those of angels, will be de-sexed. Or, the entire redeemed creation (Romans 8:17) may be a whole different order of everything. Or, the list could go on. As Paul says in 1 Cor 13, "Now we know in part, then we shall know fully, even as we are fully known." The Bible, imagination, and life experiences give us glimpses of heaven, not the full picture. We can speculate on the basis of what relatively little we do know, but only then--in the life to come--shall we know fully. Who knows? We may be completely surprised.	Glenn Pomykal	on 7/9/20
Here is Glenn's other comment: In the account of Abraham going as directed by God in Genesis 12 and 13, God states that he will give the land of Canaan to Abraham’s seed (singular) forever. Paul in Galatians 3:16 (NRSV) further specifies that the promises made to Abraham were made to Jesus, not to all the offsprings of Abraham. How is this to be interpreted and understood, especially in today’s political environment? on Citizenship Unknown on 7/4/20 Glenn, you do have a penchant for asking difficult questions, for which I rarely have clear answers. My opinion on this one is a little clearer. The promise to Abraham, in its Genesis context, refers to all of Abraham's offspring. The Hebrew word zeraa, translated "seed" is a collective noun. It does not occur in the plural. Paul was likely reading the Septuagint (Greek translation of the Hebrew OT). There the word is sperma, another collective singular. In both languages it can be used literally, as seeds sown upon the earth, or figuratively as offspring. I checked this out in two Hebrew lexicons and the BAGD standard Greek NT lexicon.  For that matter the English word is collective. I have heard people say offspring many times, but I have never heard anyone say offsprings. Paul is making a huge interpretive stretch here. While Christ is an offspring of Abraham, he is certainly not the only one.  If we want to apply the promise to Abraham to 21st century politics--and I don't--we might say that both Jews--through Isaac, and Arabs--through Ishmael, are inheritors of the promised land. Both are living there now, in different parts of it. The part assigned by various treaties that Arabs live in is under occupation by Israelis. I would still affirm the two-state solution as the best way forward, although that possibility seems remote under the current leaders.  Faithfully, Christian