What Does the Bible Teach About the Resurrection of the Body?

What evidence does the Old Testament provide for the doctrine of resurrection?

The Old Testament contains several key passages that teach about resurrection, contradicting those who claim it's absent from the early scriptures. Dr. Lloyd-Jones highlights specific examples including:

• Job 19:25-27: "I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh I shall see God."
• Psalm 16:9-10 and Psalm 17:15, which were later quoted by apostles in the early church
• Daniel 12:1-3: "Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt."
• The book of Hosea also contains resurrection references

While resurrection teaching is less prominent in the Old Testament than the New Testament, it is definitely present.

How did Jesus demonstrate that His resurrection was physical and not merely spiritual?

Jesus provided clear evidence that His resurrection was physical, not just spiritual, through:

1. His invitation to the disciples in Luke 24:39: "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me and see. For a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have."

2. His encounter with Thomas in John 20, where He told Thomas: "Reach hither thy finger and behold my hands, and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side. And be not faithless, but believing."

3. The visible marks of crucifixion still present on His resurrected body - the nail prints in His hands and the wound in His side

Jesus emphasized "it is I myself" to show that His resurrection was bodily and physical, not merely a spiritual apparition or phantom.

Why is the doctrine of bodily resurrection essential to Christian salvation?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones emphasizes that bodily resurrection is essential to Christian salvation for several reasons:

1. Salvation is incomplete without the resurrection of the body - "Before salvation can be complete, it must include the body also."

2. Sin affected the whole person - body, soul, and spirit - so redemption must address the whole person.

3. It distinguishes Christianity from false religions that teach escape from the body: "It's the exact opposite of Christian salvation, which teaches this not escape out of the body, but the redemption even of the body."

4. Scripture explicitly teaches bodily resurrection as part of salvation (Romans 8:11, 23): "waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body."

5. Paul considers it so essential that in 1 Corinthians 15 he states that without resurrection, our preaching is vain and we remain in our sins.

What will our resurrection bodies be like according to 1 Corinthians 15?

According to 1 Corinthians 15, our resurrection bodies will have several distinct characteristics:

1. They will be incorruptible - "It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption" (v.42), meaning they won't be subject to disease, aging, or death.

2. They will be glorious - "It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory" (v.43), transformed from our current "vile body" to a glorified state.

3. They will be powerful - "It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power" (v.43), without any vestige of weakness.

4. They will be spiritual bodies - "It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body" (v.44), not meaning incorporeal but suited for spiritual existence.

5. They will not be flesh and blood - "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God" (v.50), yet they will be flesh and bones.

6. They will be heavenly bodies, fashioned like Christ's glorious body.

7. They will maintain our identity - we will still be recognizable as ourselves.

How does Dr. Lloyd-Jones address the scientific objection about the resurrection of decomposed bodies?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones addresses the scientific objection about resurrecting decomposed bodies by explaining:

1. The doctrine doesn't teach that the exact same particles will be raised - "The doctrine of the resurrection does not teach that the same particles are going to be raised."

2. Even in our current existence, our bodily particles constantly change - "I haven't got the same particles in my flesh as I had 20 years ago... And yet, you see, I have the same body."

3. Identity isn't based on specific particles but on the pattern or organization - "The body must not be thought of in terms of particles... The body, if you like, in a sense, is the particular order of the particles, or the particular organization."

4. The resurrected body has an "organic connection" to our present body, like a seed to the plant that grows from it, but with a transformed nature.

5. Our identity will be preserved despite this transformation - "My body will always be recognizable as my body."