It is sown a natural body, it shall rise a spiritual body. If there be a natural body, there is also a spiritual body, as it is written:

“God is a Spirit, not pervading matter, but the Maker of material spirits, and of the forms that are in matter; He is invisible, impalpable, being Himself the Father of both sensible and invisible things. Him we know from His creation, and apprehend His invisible power by His works. I refuse to adore that workmanship which He has made for our sakes. The sun and moon were made for us: how, then, can I adore my own servants? How can I speak of stocks and stones as gods? For the Spirit that pervades matter is inferior to the more divine spirit; and this, even when assimilated to the soul, is not to be honoured equally with the perfect God.”

“How is it possible, therefore, that that seed should be after images of the angels, seeing it has obtained a form after the likeness of men? Why, again, since it was of a spiritual nature, had it any need of descending into flesh? For what is carnal stands in need of that which is spiritual, if indeed it is to be saved, that in it it may be sanctified and cleared from all impurity, and that what is mortal may be swallowed up by immortality; but that which is spiritual has no need whatever of those things which are here below. For it is not we who benefit it, but it that improves us.”

“If, however, you remove the body from the resurrection which you submitted to the dissolution, what becomes of the diversity in the issue? Likewise, "although it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body." Now, although the natural principle of life and the spirit have each a body proper to itself, so that the "natural body" may fairly be taken to signify the soul, and "the spiritual body" the spirit, yet that is no reason for supposing the apostle to say that the soul is to become spirit in the resurrection, but that the body (which, as being born along with the soul, and as retaining its life by means of the soul, admits of being called animal (or natural ) will became spiritual, since it rises through the Spirit to an eternal life.”

“The seed does not germinate unless it is dissolved in the earth, rarefied and made for us, so that it is mixed with the moisture nearby and dust changes into root and sprout, and it does not stop there but changes into a stalk with sections in between which are surrounded by chains, as it were, so as to be able to hold the grain in an upright position.… Thus the apostle says that the mystery of the resurrection is presignified before us in the miracles performed in the seeds. The divine power in its surpassing excellence not only gives back to see but adds many great and more wonderful features with which nature is magnificently adorned.”

“You are sown as are all other things. Why, then, do you wonder whether you will rise again like the rest? You believe the seed because you see it. You do not believe the rising again because you do not see it. "Blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed." Yet, before the proper season arrives, not even the seed is believed. For not every season is suitable for seeds to grow. Wheat is sown at one time and comes up at another time. At one time the vine is grafted. At another shoots begin to grow, foliage becomes luxuriant, and grapes take form. At one time, the olive tree is planted. At another, as though heavy with child and burdened with a progeny of berries, it is bent low in the abundance of its own fruit. But before the proper time arrives for each, production is restricted. Neither the tree nor the plant has the time of bearing within its own power.”

“For a severe judgment will those teachers receive "who teach, but do not," [Matthew 23:3] and those who take upon them the name of Christ falsely, and say: We teach the truth, and yet go wandering about idly, and exalt themselves, and make their boast in the mind of the flesh. [Colossians 2:18] These, moreover, are like "the blind man who leads the blind man, and they both fall into the ditch." [Matthew 15:14] And they will receive judgment, because in their talkativeness and their frivolous teaching they teach natural wisdom and the "frivolous error of the plausible words of the wisdom of men," "according to the will of the prince of the dominion of the air, and of the spirit which works in those men who will not obey, according to the training of this world, and not according to the doctrine of Christ."”

“"It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body." What sayest thou? Is not "this" body spiritual? It is indeed spiritual, but that will be much more so. For now oftentimes both the abundant grace of the Holy Ghost flies away on men's committing great sins; and again, the Spirit continuing present, the life of the flesh depends on the soul: and the result in such a case is a void, without the Spirit. But in that day not so: rather he abides continually in the flesh of the righteous, and the victory shall be His, the natural soul also being present. For either it was some such thing which he intimated by saying, "a spiritual body," or that it shall be lighter and more subtle and such as even to be wafted upon air; or rather he meant both these. And if thou disbelieve the doctrine, behold the heavenly bodies which are so glorious and (for this time) so durable, and abide in undecaying tranquillity; and believe thou from hence, that God can also make these corruptible bodies incorruptible and much more excellent than those which are visible.”

“As the Spirit, when it serves the flesh, is not improperly said to be carnal, so the flesh, when it serves the spirit, will rightly be called spiritual—not because changed into spirit, as some suppose who misinterpret the text, "What is sown a natural body rises a spiritual body," but because it will be so subject to the spirit that, with a marvelous pliancy of perfect obedience, it will accept the infallible law of its indissoluble immortality, putting aside every feeling of fatigue, every shadow of suffering, every sign of slowing down. This "spiritual body" will not only be better than any body on earth in perfect health but will surpass even that of Adam or Eve before their sin.”

“So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power, and so forth. Then again he says: But this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Having here recourse to arguments from analogies in the natural world, he endeavours to convince of this those conversant with the wisdom of the world, and from the example about grain turns to the resurrection of the dead, saying: Just as corn is sown and is dissolved, so also the bodies of men, when planted as corpses in the earth, are dissolved; and just as the grain sprouts up with large increase, stability and beauty, so also the bodies of men are raised up with great honour and glory and power and beauty unspeakable, being discriminated by the omnipotent wisdom and ineffable might of God, who made and who renovates all things.”

“Here the Apostle sets forth an example concerning the diversity of quality of the body that rises again, in diverse species. And first by comparing heavenly things to earthly; second, earthly things to heavenly, there, "there are heavenly bodies", etc.; third, heavenly bodies to one another, there, "one glory", et cetera. Because someone could say: how is it possible that the dead resume body and flesh, if they are not going to have the same quality of body? Therefore, to exclude this, he introduces diverse qualities of body and flesh, so that it may thus be manifest that it is not necessary, if the quality will not be the same, that the same body, or the same flesh, is not resumed. He says therefore first that not every flesh is the same flesh, according to form, but one is the flesh of men, another of fish, another of cattle, another of birds, et cetera. And likewise the flesh of the one dying is one thing, and that of the one rising is another. But just as the example brought forward above, of the seed and its sprouting, was deficient in this, that in the sowing and sprouting there is not the same thing in number, nor the same qualities, so these examples are deficient, because in these examples there is neither the same species nor the same quality. But the flesh of the man rising again is the same according to species as the flesh of the one dying, yet it will be other according to quality. For it will be of the same nature, but of another glory, as Gregory says concerning the body of Christ. But if anyone should wish to refer these things that have been said to the diverse state of those rising again, it could be said that by men are understood the good who live according to reason, according to that word of Ezekiel 34:31: "But you my flocks, the flocks of my pasture, are men." By cattle, however, are understood the luxurious, according to that word of 2 Peter 2:12: "But these, as irrational cattle", et cetera. By birds, the proud; by fish, the covetous, according to that word of Psalm 8:9: "the birds of heaven and the fish of the sea", et cetera. To the same end he also introduces the diversity of heavenly and earthly bodies, when he adds: "there are heavenly bodies", such as the sun and moon and the like, and there are earthly bodies, such as fire, water, etc.; "but one indeed is the glory," that is, the beauty and comeliness, "of the heavenly bodies, but another of the earthly," Ecclesiasticus 43:10: "the beauty of heaven is the glory of the stars." And by heavenly bodies the contemplatives can be understood. Philippians 3:20: "our conversation is in heaven." By earthly bodies, the active, who are occupied about earthly things; whence it was said to Martha, Luke 10:41: "thou art troubled about many things." And to the same end he further introduces the diverse quality of heavenly bodies, when he says, "one is the brightness of the sun", et cetera. Likewise among the stars there is difference, for "star differs", et cetera. And by the sun Christ can be understood, Malachi, last chapter: "unto you that fear my name shall the sun of justice arise", et cetera. By the moon, the blessed Virgin, of whom Canticle 6:9: "fair as the moon." By the stars ordered to one another, the rest of the saints. Judges 5:20: "the stars remaining in their order", et cetera. Consequently, when he says, "so shall be the resurrection of the dead", he adapts the aforesaid examples to the resurrection of the dead. Nor is it to be understood, as far as the literal exposition goes, that the Apostle says this in order to designate a diversity of kind among those rising again, because of what he had premised, "star differs", et cetera. But this refers to all the foregoing, so that it may be shown from all that has been premised, that just as diverse qualities of bodies are found among things, so there will be a diverse quality of those rising from the quality of those dying. Whence follows, "it is sown a body", et cetera. Here the Apostle shows most of all that the quality of the dying body and of the rising body is different. And here he treats of the glorious rising body, whose proper qualities are called the endowments of the glorious body. These indeed are four, which the Apostle touches on here. For first he touches on the endowment of impassibility, when he says, "it is sown in corruption", et cetera. And although sowing could be taken for the first origin of the body, according as it is generated from seed, nevertheless it is more fitting, according to the understanding of the Apostle, that sowing be referred to death and burial, so that it may correspond to what was said above: "that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die first." Now death and dissolution are called sowing, not because in the dead body, or in the ashes dissolved from it, there is some power toward resurrection, as there is an active power in seed toward generation; but because such an ordination has been appointed by God, that the human body be reformed anew from it. Thus therefore the human body, when it is sown, that is, when it dies, is in corruption, that is, according to its own property it is subject to corruption, according to that word of Romans 8:10: "the body indeed is dead because of sin." "But it shall rise in incorruption." Now incorruption is said here, not only to exclude the separation of the soul from the body, because even the bodies of the damned will have this incorruption, but to exclude both death and any harmful passion whatsoever, whether from within or from without. And as to this is understood the impassibility of the glorious body, according to that word of Apocalypse 7:16: "they shall no more hunger nor thirst", et cetera. Second, he touches on the endowment of clarity, when he says, "it is sown in dishonor", that is, the body which before death, and in death, is subject to many deformities and miseries, according to that word of Job 14:1: "man born of a woman", et cetera. "But it shall rise in glory," which signifies brightness, as Augustine says upon John. For the bodies of the saints will be bright and shining, according to that word of Matthew 13:43: "the just shall shine as the sun", et cetera. Third, he touches on the endowment of agility, when he says, "it is sown in weakness," that is, the animal body, which before death is weak and slow, and not easily moved by the soul, according to that word of Wisdom 9:15: "the body which is corrupted burdens the soul." "But it shall rise in power," because namely it will come to be such that it can be moved by the soul with so great power, that it exhibits no difficulty at all to motion, which pertains to the endowment of agility. For there will be as much ease there as there is felicity, as Augustine says. Whence it is said of the just, Wisdom 3:7: "the just shall shine, and shall run to and fro like sparks among the reeds." And Isaiah 40:31: "they that hope in the Lord shall have strength, they shall take wings", et cetera. Fourth, he touches on the endowment of subtlety, when he says, "it is sown a natural body", et cetera. Which some wish to refer to this, that it belongs to the glorious body, according to this endowment, that it can be at the same time with a non-glorious body in the same place. This indeed could be maintained, if it belonged to the body according to its present state, that it could not be at the same time with another body in the same place because of something that could be removed from the body. But now if it be carefully considered, according to this nothing else belongs to a body except according as it has bodily dimensions. Whence we see that bodies, however subtle, do not admit other bodies together with themselves, as is evident in air and in fire; and further, if bodies existed altogether separate without matter, as some have supposed, they could not be at the same time with natural bodies in the same places, as the Philosopher says. The dimensions therefore remaining in whatever body, it is against its nature to be with another body in the same place. Whence if this ever happens, it will be from a miracle. On account of which Gregory and Augustine ascribe it to a miracle that the body of Christ entered to the disciples with the doors closed. For no finite power can make a miracle; for this belongs to God alone. It remains therefore that to be at the same time with another body in the same place cannot be from an endowment or from a quality of the glorious body. Yet it is not to be denied that a glorious body can be at the same time with another body in the same place, because the body of Christ after the resurrection entered to the disciples with the doors closed, to which we hope our body will be conformed at the resurrection; but just as the body of Christ had this not from a property of the body, but from the power of the united divinity, so the body of any other saint will have this not from an endowment, but from the power of the divinity existing in it. In this way the body of Peter had it that at his shadow the sick were healed, not through any property of it. It is therefore to be said that it pertains to the endowment of subtlety that the Apostle touches on here, saying, "it is sown a natural body, it shall rise a spiritual body." Which some, understanding badly, said that the body at the resurrection will be turned into spirit, and will be like air or wind, which is called spirit. Which is most of all excluded by that which is said to the apostles, Luke, last chapter: "handle, and see, for a spirit", et cetera. Whence also the Apostle here does not say that a spirit rises, but a spiritual body. Therefore at the resurrection it will be spiritual, not spirit, just as now it is animal, not soul. Now to know the difference between these, it is to be considered that one and the same thing in us is called both soul and spirit; but it is called soul according as it perfects the body, but spirit properly according to the mind, according to which we are made like spiritual substances, according to that word of Ephesians 4:23: "be renewed in the spirit of your mind." Likewise it is to be considered that there is a threefold difference of powers in the soul; for there are certain powers whose operations are ordered to the good of the body, such as the generative, nutritive, and augmentative. There are others, which indeed use bodily organs, as all the powers of the sensitive part; but their acts are not ordered directly to the body, but rather to the perfection of the soul. There are yet others which neither use bodily organs, nor are ordered directly to the good of the body, but rather to the good of the soul, such as those which pertain to the intellective part. The first powers therefore pertain to the soul insofar as it animates the body; the second, however, pertain most of all to the soul insofar as it is spirit; the third indeed hold themselves in a middle way between the two: yet because judgment about any power ought to be taken more from the object and the end, than from the instrument, therefore the second powers hold more with the third than with the first. Likewise it is to be considered that since each thing is for the sake of its operation, the body is perfected for this by the soul, that it be the subject of the operations of the soul. Now in this present state our body is subject to operations which pertain to the soul insofar as it is soul, as it is generated and generates, is nourished, grows and decreases. But as to the spiritual operations of the soul, the body, although it in some way serves, nevertheless brings much impediment, because "the body which is corrupted burdens the soul", as it is said, Wisdom 9:5. But in the state of the resurrection the animal operations from the body will cease, because there will be no generation, nor increase or nourishment, but the body without any impediment and fatigue will incessantly serve the soul for its spiritual operations, according to that word of Psalm 83:5: "blessed are they that dwell in thy house, O Lord", et cetera. Just as therefore now our body is animal, then it will be spiritual. Now the cause of these properties some attribute to light, which they say is of the nature of a fifth essence, and comes into the composition of the human body, which because it is frivolous and fabulous, following Augustine, we say that they proceed from the power of the glorified soul. For Augustine says in the letter to Dioscorus: "God made the soul of so powerful a nature, that its most full beatitude, which is promised to the saints at the end of time, overflows also into the lower nature, which is the body; not the beatitude which is proper to the one enjoying, but the fullness of health, that is, the vigor of incorruption." Now we see that four things come to the body from the soul, and the more perfectly, the more virtuous the soul shall have been. First indeed it gives being; whence when it shall be at the height of perfection, it will give spiritual being. Second, it preserves from corruption; whence we see that men, the stronger their nature is, the less they suffer from heat and cold. When therefore the soul shall be most perfect, it will preserve the body altogether impassible. Third, it gives beauty and clarity; for the weak and the dead, on account of the weakness of the operation of the soul upon the body, become discolored, and when it shall be in the highest perfection, it will make the body bright and shining. Fourth, it gives motion, and the more easily, the stronger the power of the soul shall have been over the body. And therefore when it shall be at the last of its perfection, it will give the body agility.”

“It is sown a natural body. It dies as it lived : its life was vegetative and sensitive, and needed for its support food and drink, like the life of other animals. So, too, it was solid, inert, unable to give place to other bodies, and impenetrable. Such was the body of Adam, even in Paradise. The natural body is one that eats, drinks, sleeps, digests, toils, suffers fatigue, is heavy, and offers resistance to other bodies. It is raised a spiritual body . 1. Not that the body is to be changed into a spirit or into an aerial body, as Origen and Eutychius, Patriarch of Constantinople in the time of S. Gregory, thought (he was convinced by S. Gregory and abandoned his error), but spiritual in the sense of being wholly subject and conformed to the spirit, so that it no longer stands in need of food or drink, it toils not, and feels no weariness, but is, so to speak, heavenly and deified, and, as Tertullian says, is, as it were, changed into the angelic nature. So S. Augustine (de Hide et Symb. c. 6) says : “ It is called a spiritual body , not because it is changed into spirit , but because it is so subdued to the spirit that it is fitted for its heavenly dwellingfilace , when all weakness and earthly frailty have been taken away , and transformed into celestial strength ” Yet (c. 10) he seems to say that in the resurrection the body will not be of the flesh, but like that of angels. A SPIRITUAL BODY 39 1 He retracts this, however, afterwards (Retract, lib. i. c. 17), and more at length (de Civ . Dei lib. ult. c. 5 and 21). 2. Spiritual denotes subtilty, freedom from that heaviness and solidity that fills space, i.e., from that property of body by which it so fills space as to exclude all other bodies. The spiritual body will be subtle, as free from this property, and able, like spirit, to penetrate and fill all other bodies. Cf. Damascene (de Fide , lib. iv. c. 28) and Epiphanius (in Hceres . Orig.). For, as God can take from man his property, viz., the power of laughing, and can take from fire the heat which is the property of fire, so from body can He take away solidity, which is the property of natural bodily substance. This gift of subtilty, however, will not be a quality infused into the soul, for this seems an impossibility. It will be an assisting presence of Divine power, internal to the soul in bliss, so that the soul can, at its pleasure, lay aside the solidity by which it excludes other bodies, when it wishes to penetrate into them ; and can, on the other hand, retain it when it wishes to occupy space and exclude other bodies. And so this assisting presence of Divine power would appear to be a gift existing within the soul in bliss, just as the power of working miracles in Christ came from the presence of God, who thus lent His help to the humanity of Christ, to enable Him to work miracles at His pleasure. Cf. Suarez (pt. iii. qu. 54, art 3). From this place theologians have gathered the four gifts of the glorified body : (1.) impassibility, from the words, “ It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption ; ” (2.) brightness, from, “ It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory;” (3.) agility, from, “It is sown in weakness ; it is raised in power ; ” and (4.) subtilty, from, “ It is sown a natural body ; it is raised a spiritual body.” Suarez adds that the “agility” of the bodies of the blessed will be of such a kind that they will be able to travel in an instant from one place to another, without passing through the intermediate space; because, they say, it is probable that this is how angels naturally move. But others, and with greater reason, deny both. At all events, the mind of man can hardly conceive how Digitized by Voi.ooQle 392 FIRST EPISTLE TO THE any one can pass from one point to another and yet not cross the intervening space. S. Bonaventura (iv. dist 49, part ii. art 2, qu. 1) thinks that these four gifts are alluded to in Wisdom iii. 7, where it is said: “The righteous shall shine, and shall run about like sparks in a bed of reeds.” For he says: “ In the shining we have brightness ; in the righteousness impassibility , because righteousness is everlasting and deathless; in the spark , subiilty ; in the running about , agility . Moreover , ihe number of these four gifts can be arrived at in a twofold way— from the formal cause and the material but specially the material (1.) From the formal : there is in our body a double nature and form — the elementary , which now holds sway , and the heavenly , which is of the nature of light, and will be the form and complement of our glorified body , and will hold sway in the resurrection . As, then , light, as it exists in the ray, has these four qualities — the brightness by which it gives light ; impassibility , which no corruption can touch; agility, from the rapidity of its flight ; subtilty , which enables it to pass through transparent bodies without injuring them — so also the glorious body , in which the nature of light is predominant , has the same four gifts. (2.) The number of the gifts is also gathered from the material cause . Our body is composed of four elements . Since those elements are imperfect, it has from them a fourfold defect. From water, an element that is humid and easily stirred, it has its passibility and corruption ; from earth it has its opaqueness ; from fire, its animal nature— for a fire is ever burning within, and hence it neats a constant supply of food ; from air it has its weakness, for air is changed most easily of all, and yields to any force, however slight. Since, therefore, these four defects ought to be removed by the four perfections opposed to them, so as to make the body perfect, therefore the gifts are four: impassibility against corruption , brightness against opaqueness, agility against animal nature , subtilty or power against weakness ; and this second mode is the more convenient, for it has the support of authority and reason. Of authority, for the Apostle says: * It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption 1 — there you have impassibility ; ‘ It is sown in dishonour ; it is raised in glory 1 — there you have brightness ; ‘ It is sown in weakness ; THE FIRST AND SECOND ADAM 393 it is raised in power' — there you have subtilty ; 1 It is sown a natural body ; it is raised a spiritual body ' — there you have agility . The Apostle therefore compares these four gifts to the four defects which they make good. Similarly , S. Augustine (de Civ . Dei) says; ‘ Our bodies will know no deformity , no slowness , no infirmity , no corruption. All deformity will be swalloivcd up in brightness , all slowness in agility , all weakness in subtilty , all corruption in impassibility.' "”

“The first man is of the earth, earthy,.... He was formed out of the earth, Gen 2:7 and the word there used signifies red earth. Josephus (c) observes, that the first man was called Adam, which in the Hebrew tongue signifies red, because he was made out of red earth; for such, adds he, is the true and virgin earth: Pausanias (d) makes mention of a clay, which is not the colour of earth, but like the sand of brooks and rivers; and gives a smell very near to that of the skin, or body of men; and which is said to be the remains of that clay, out of which all mankind was made: but be that as it will, Adam was certainly made out of the earth, and had his habitation and abode assigned him in the garden of Eden, and was made to cultivate and till it; his lordship and dominion, at most and best, only extended to the terraqueous globe, and the creatures in it; and having sinned, he was not only thrust out of the garden to till the ground out of which he was taken, but doomed to return to the dust from whence he came; and whose sin and fall had such an influence on him and his posterity, as to make their souls sensual and earthly, to mind, affect, and cleave unto earthly things: the second man is the Lord from heaven; as Adam was the first man, Christ is the second man; and these two are spoken of, as it they were the only two men in the world; because as the former was the head and representative of all his natural posterity, so the latter is the head and representative of all his spiritual offspring: and he is "the Lord from heaven"; in distinction from the first man, who was of the earth, and whose lordship reached only to the earth; whereas Christ is Lord of all, not only Lord of lords below, but Lord of angels and saints above; the whole family in heaven and in earth is named of him; and he has all power in heaven and in earth, and a name above every name in this world, and that to come, and is indeed higher than the heavens: this is not to be understood of his human nature, or of his human body, as if that came down from heaven, and passed through the virgin, as some heretics of old said, as water through a pipe; for though it was conceived and formed in a miraculous manner, under the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost from on high, yet was formed out of the matter and substance of the virgin, and so was of the earth; and was indeed an earthly body, supported by earthly means, and at last returned to the earth, and was interred in it: but it is to be understood either of Christ as a divine person, as the Son of God, as Lord of all, coming down from heaven at his incarnation; not by local motion, or change of place, but by assumption of the human nature into union with him, the Lord from heaven; or rather of him as he shall descend from heaven, as the Lord and Judge of all at the last day, when he will come in his glorious, spiritual, and heavenly body; and raise the righteous dead, and fashion their bodies like his own; when what follows will have its full accomplishment. The Cabalistic doctors among the Jews often speak (e) of , "the superior man", and , "the inferior man"; and in their Cabalistic table (f), in the sixth "sephirah", or number, they place the man from above, the heavenly Adam; and, in one of their writings (g), have these remarkable words, "anynt Mdaw hale Mda Nam, "who is the supreme man and the second man", but of whom it is said, Pro 30:4 "what is his name, and what is his son's name?" what is his name? this is the supreme man; what is his son's name? this is the inferior man; and both of them are intimated in that Scripture, Exo 3:13 "and they shall say unto me, what is his name? what shall I say?"'' Some copies, and the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions; leave out the word "Lord", and add the word "heavenly", reading the clause thus, "the second man from heaven, heavenly". (c) Antiqu. l. 1. c. 1. sect. 2. (d) Phocica, sive l. 10. p. 615. (e) Raziel, fol. 26. 1. & 31. 1. & 33. 1. Tzeror Hammor, fol. 1. 4. (f) In Cabala Denudata, par. 2. p. 9. (g) Zohar in Gen. fol. 39. 2.”

“It is sown a natural body - Σωμα ψυχικον· An animal body, having a multiplicity of solids and fluids of different kinds, with different functions; composed of muscles, fibres, tendons, cartilages, bones, arteries, veins, nerves, blood, and various juices, requiring continual support from aliment; and hence the necessity of labor to provide food, and skill to prepare it; which food must be masticated, digested, and refined; what is proper for nourishment secreted, brought into the circulation, farther elaborated, and prepared to enter into the composition of every part; hence growth and nutrition; without which no organized body can possibly exist. It is raised a spiritual body - One perfect in all its parts; no longer dependent on natural productions for its support; being built up on indestructible principles, and existing in a region where there shall be no more death; no more causes of decay leading to dissolution; and consequently, no more necessity for food, nutrition, etc. The body is spiritual, and has a spiritual existence and spiritual support. What the apostle says here is quite consistent with the views his countrymen had on this subject. In Sohar Chadash, fol. 43, it is said: "So shall it be in the resurrection of the dead; only, the old uncleanness shall not be found." R. Bechai, on the law, fol. 14, says: "When the godly shall arise, their bodies shall be pure and innocent; obedient to the instinct of the soul: there shall be no adversary, nor any evil disease." Rab. Pinchas says: "The holy blessed God shall make the bodies of the righteous as beautiful as the body of Adam was when he entered into paradise." Rab. Levi says: "When the soul is in heaven, it is clothed with celestial light; when it returns to the body, it shall have the same light; and then the body shall shine like the splendor of the firmament of heaven. Then shall men gain the knowledge of what is perfect." Sohar. Gen., fol. 69. The Jews have an opinion that the os coxendicis, the lower joint of the backbone, survives the corruption of the body; and that it is out of this bone that the resurrection body is formed. In the place last quoted, fol. 70, we have the following teachings on this subject: "Let us borrow an example from what relates to the purifying of silver. First, the ore is cast into the burning furnace, that it may be separated from its earthly impurities; it is then silver, but not perfect silver. They put it into the furnace a second time, and then all its scoriae are separated from it, and it becomes perfect silver, without any adulteration. Thus does the holy blessed God: he first buries our bodies under the earth, where they putrefy and corrupt, that nothing remains but that one bone: from this a new body is produced, which is indeed a body, but not a perfect body. But in that great day, when all bodies are hidden in the earth, and the soul departs, then even that bone decays, and the body which was formed out of it remains, and is as the light of the sun, and the splendor of heaven. Thus, as the silver was purified, so is the body: and no imperfect mixture remains." See Schoettgen. These things must not be treated as rabbinical dotages; the different similes used for the apostle have the same spirit and design: as the seed which is sown in the earth rots, and out of the germ contained in it God in his providence produces a root, stalk, leaves, ear, and a great numerical increase of grains; is it not likely that God, out of some essential parts of the body that now is, will produce the resurrection body; and will then give the soul a body as it pleaseth him; and so completely preserve the individuality of every human being, as he does of every grain; giving to each its own body? Co1 15:38. So that as surely as the grain of wheat shall produce wheat after it is cast in the earth, corrupts, and dies; so surely shall our bodies produce the same bodies as to their essential individuality. As the germination of seeds is produced by his wisdom and power, so shall the pure and perfect human body be in the resurrection. Hence he does not say the body is buried, but the body is sown; it is sown in weakness, it is sown in dishonor, etc., etc. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body - This very saying is found in so many words, in Yalcut Rubeni, fol. 126: "There are different kinds of men." אית אדם דאיהו אדם דנשמתא ואיה אדם רגופא "There is a spiritual Adam, and there is also a corporeal Adam."”

“a natural body--literally, "an animal body," a body moulded in its organism of "flesh and blood" (Co1 15:50) to suit the animal soul which predominates in it. The Holy Spirit in the spirit of believers, indeed, is an earnest of a superior state (Rom 8:11), but meanwhile in the body the animal soul preponderates; hereafter the Spirit shall predominate, and the animal soul be duly subordinate. spiritual body--a body wholly moulded by the Spirit, and its organism not conformed to the lower and animal (Luk 20:35-36), but to the higher and spiritual, life (compare Co1 2:14; Th1 5:23). There is, &c.--The oldest manuscripts read, "IF there is a natural (or animal-souled) body, there is also a spiritual body." It is no more wonderful a thing, that there should be a body fitted to the capacities and want of man's highest part, his spirit (which we see to be the case), than that there should be one fitted to the capacities and wants of his subordinate part, the animal soul [ALFORD].”