How are the dead raised? And what body will they have? (1 Cor. 15:35).

The first of these questions is posed by unbelievers to those who believe in the resurrection of the dead, that is: “by what power, or by what means is it possible to accomplish resurrection?” In their view, this is impossible. The second question is: Assuming that resurrection is possible, will they rise with exactly the same appearance and body members? The first question is the question of an atheist who cannot fathom the power of God to raise the dead; and the second question arises from the curiosity of a skeptic.

Rather than explaining ‘how?’ faith compels us with the ability of the power of God to do this. When the prophet Ezekiel was asked how it is possible for dry bones to come back to life, his answer was, “O Lord God, You know” (Ezek. 37:3). If God made the sun, the

1286 St. Augustine of Hippo, The Enchiridion 91 (NPNF I/3:266).

moon, and the planets with a word, why should it be difficult for Him to resurrect our bodies anew?

St. Ambrose says, “But you wonder how what has yielded to putrefaction can again become solid, how scattered particles can come together, those that are consumed be made good: you do not wonder how seeds broken up under the moist pressure of the earth grow green. For certainly they too, rotting under contact with the earth, are broken up, and when the fertilizing moisture of the soil gives life to the dead and hidden seeds, and, by the vital warmth, as it were, breathes out a kind of soul of the green herb. Then little by little nature raises from the ground the tender stalk of the growing ear, and as a careful mother folds it in certain sheaths, lest the sharp ice should hurt it as it grows, and to protect it from too great heat of the sun; and lest after this the rain should break down the fruit itself escaping as it were from its first cradle and just grown up, or lest the wind should scatter it, or small birds destroy it, she usually hedges it around with a fence of bristling awn.”¹²⁸⁷

St. John Chrysostom says, “And wherefore did he Paul not at once appeal to the power of God? Because he is discoursing with unbelievers. For when his discourse is addressed to believers, he has not much need of reasons … But here he also urges reasons.”¹²⁸⁸

The apostle Paul says, “Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies” (1 Cor. 15:36). Regarding the first of our two questions, the apostle Paul answers that accomplishing resurrection lies easily within the capabilities of the almighty God whose divine power works constantly to accomplish the likeness of resurrection in our daily lives. Just as a grain of wheat disintegrates and appears to have completely perished, yet returns and yields fruits of the same kind, so it is with our body. He means to say: Why foolishly deny the power of God the bestower of resurrection, when every day we experience His lifegiving power over dead things? The apostle Paul’s answer appeals to an example from reality that is familiar to everyone. The objection to the possibility of resurrection has no basis in practical reality. The resurrection of Christ who died for us does not expel from us the death of the body that befell us from Adam — but it brings us to Him to enjoy a new, heavenly life emerging from His life-giving death.

St. John Chrysostom says, “here he solves an objection brought in by the Gentiles … And he states two difficulties, one touching the manner of the resurrection, the other, the kind of bodies … ‘Therefore do I [i.e., Paul] call you foolish because of the things daily done by your own self you are ignorant, and being yourself an artificer of a resurrection, you doubt concerning God.’ Wherefore very emphatically he said, ‘what You sow,’ ‘you who are mortal and perishing.’”¹²⁸⁹

1287 St. Ambrose of Milan, On the Decease of His Brother Satyrus 2.55 (NPNF II/10:182).

1288 St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on the First Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians 41.2 (NPNF I/12:249) amended.

1289 St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on the First Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians 41.1–2 (NPNF I/12:249) amended.

And St. Ambrose says, “We ought not to doubt whatever is in agreement with nature and not opposed to it. It is natural for all living things to rise, while it is their destruction that is unnatural.”