Paul’s Two Scheme Dimensional System [Part-2]

The Rapture in Technical Terms – 1st Corinthians 15 

35 But someone will say, “How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come? 36 Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. 

Paul states that a death – a destruction of some sort – is necessary in the resurrection process. This requirement is a mystery in the same sense that God’s vicarious sacrificial system also required the death of the offering. We could infer from Peter’s statement that death is required in order to take on spiritual form. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit. 1 Pet. 3:18. And Jesus’ example of the seed was both a prophecy about the fruitfulness of His crucifixion and a statement that resurrected life requires a foregoing death. But Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.” John 12:23, 24 

In the following verses Paul explains “How?” and “What body?” because it is ultimately stated that we will all be changed. Presumably, all means all; both the living and the resurrected dead must be changed. This assumption will also prove to be in agreement with First Thessalonians 4:17, which says that the dead in Christ which have been resurrected will be changed together with the living to meet the Lord in the air. 

1 Cor. 15:38 But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body. 39 All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds. 40 There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory. 

Paul demonstrates in preceding verses that God is able to create different life forms and various celestial objects with unique bodily forms. These examples provide support in the following verses that God is the creator of both the natural (mortal) body, and the spiritual (immortal) body. 

1 Cor. 15:42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. 43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body (σῶμα ψυχικόν – soma psuchikon), it is raised a spiritual body (σῶμα πνευματικόν – soma pneumatikon). There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body… 

The existence of the soma psuchikon, the natural body, is self- evident. Paul expects the reader to concede the existence of the soma pneumatikon based on the existence of the natural body and based upon faith in what is not seen by his redundant assertion that there is both a natural body and a spiritual body in this passage. This argument is strikingly similar to Paul’s assertion in First Thessalonians 4:14 If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who are alive and remain at His coming. Paul states what is known to be fact, and then what we as Christians should believe by faith also to be true. 

1 Cor. 15:45 And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 However, the spiritual (pneumatikon) is not first, but the natural (psuchikon), and afterward the spiritual (pneumatikon). 47 The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. 49 And as 

we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man. 50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. 

Just as flesh and blood cannot withstand the consuming fire of God’s glory, in order to lay “physical” hold on the more enduring possession we must be transformed into the spiritual state. Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:6; That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 

51. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed… 

Only some people will be left alive at Christ’s coming, but all, whether previously dead or alive, must be changed. (This point has been well established above.) 

52. in a moment (ἐν ἀτόμῳ – en atoma)… in the twinkling of an eye… 

The Greek word, “tom” means “to cut.” Therefore, a-tom means “un-cuttable.” This word is meant to imply the smallest indivisible particle. When referring to time, ἐν ἀτόμῳ describes a segment of time that cannot be measured – an instant. 

52 Continued… at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 

Because this study will develop by logic its own witness for the timing of the rapture, we will not investigate the rapture in relationship to the sounding of the trumpet at this time. 

At this point we must take note of how many times in Chapter 15 Paul has reiterated that we all must be changed. This change encompasses every aspect of man’s mortality: 

Death to Life – from the temporal to the eternal 

Corruption to Incorruption – from the degenerative to permanence, from entropy to indestructibility 

Dishonor to Glory – from what is shameful, dark and dull to what is glorious, illuminated, and brilliant 

Weakness to Power – from tiredness and fatigue to inexhaustible ability 

Natural to Spiritual – we do not yet know what we shall be or how we will appear 

Earthly to Heavenly – from dust, born of flesh and blood, to the regenerated heavenly form 

Image of Adam to Image of Christ – from the image of the first man, to appear as Jesus appears, for we shall be like Him 

53. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 

Here Paul reiterates his argument from verse 50. That is, the necessity, whether once dead or alive, for the soma psuchikon to be destroyed and replaced by the soma pneumatikon. 

54. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 

The Greek word for “swallow” in the original language is katapino, literally, “to drink down.” Katesthio and kataphagein can be literally translated, “to eat down,” and are used extensively in the Greek Septuagint to mean, “devour” or “destroy.” 

In the same epiphany in which it was revealed to Job that he would see his Redeemer, it was also revealed that Job’s natural body would be destroyed by force. But then, in some type of resurrected body, Job would see his Redeemer. 

Job 19:24-27 Oh, that my words were written! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book! That they were engraved on a rock with an iron pen and lead, forever! For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; and after my skin is destroyed . . . this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me! 

Job didn’t describe the destruction of his flesh as a natural process. The word Job used to depict the destruction of his flesh is 

Strong’s 5362, ֙נ_ ף nâqaph, naw-kaf’; a primitive root; to strike with 

more or less violence (beat, fell, corrode); by implication (of attack) to knock together, i.e. surround or circulate:—compass about, cut down, destroy, go round (about).⁴⁵ 

It appears that Job anticipated a sudden, violent attack upon his bodily remains; followed by a reconstitution of his body which would enable him to behold his Redeemer with his own eyes. In fact, such a supernatural “redemption of the body” would be entirely dependent upon the existence of a Redeemer. Job’s was under the conviction that God was able, and would indeed raise Job from the grave in some type of body; and that Job himself would behold the One responsible for his regeneration – who would Himself be standing on the earth in some type of bodily form. Paul echoed a similar observation when he asked the rhetorical question; Who will deliver me from this body of death? To which Paul acknowledges the Redeemer who is able to accomplish this supernatural feat; I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! 

Paul expounds further in Second Corinthians 5:1-5; that because God’s plan for man includes such a supernatural transition, God has also prepared us to undergo this change. 

For we know that if our earthly house, this tent (the soma psuchikon), is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens (the soma pneumatikon). For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed… 

We don’t want to be found naked; that is, we don’t long to become disembodied spirits. We want to be further clothed; to have an even more enduring body. And God has not prepared us to be mentally comfortable with the prospect of life outside the mortal body. That was never God’s plan for the ultimate glorification of man. Instead, death will be the process by which the saints will become further clothed. . . that mortality may be swallowed up (devoured, destroyed) by life. 

…Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. 

What is “this very thing” that has been guaranteed? For which our earthly tent must be destroyed? Once again, this thing is the destruction of the natural body, and its replacement with the spiritual body. We have the Spirit as a guarantee that this replacement process will be completed at some time in the future. 

Job 19 made a direct connection between the Redeemer and the resurrection of Job’s body. Paul’s discourse on the restoration of the creation in Romans Chapter Eight also describes this glorification of “we ourselves” as the redemption of the body. Here, the first fruits of the Spirit stand as our guarantee. 

For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. Rom. 8:22, 23 

We who have the first fruits of the Spirit know that our spirits have already been redeemed, because we “have received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out Abba, Father.” Rom. 8:15 We are, nonetheless, still waiting for the redemption of the body. From Paul’s letters to the Corinthians, we derive that this event, this thing that has been guaranteed by the Spirit, consists of the ablation of the soma psuchikon and the creation of habitation from heaven (the soma pneumatikon). And, He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. 

In Ephesians Chapter One, Paul adds further assurance of the coming redemption of the body; stating that the Spirit is, Himself, both a promise and a guarantee of the coming redemption. 

In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. Eph. 1:13, 14 

Paul’s most concise statement on the future glorification guaranteed by the indwelling Spirit is given in Colossians 1:27; 

Christ in you, the hope of glory. The hope of a ransom from sin was realized when Jesus laid down his life for the sins of the world. This hope has already been realized in the forgiveness of sins, the deliverance from judgment, and Christ’s righteousness imputed to those who believe. But there is another hope which has not yet been realized, the hope of glory. This unrealized hope in a future transformation into the glorious state of existence is part of the knowledge of our salvation. 

For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. Rom. 8:24, 25 

Paul concludes his discourse on the transformation from death and mortality to life and immortality, by quoting two Old Testament prophets. He begins with Isaiah 25:8; Death is swallowed up in victory. And then he alludes to Hosea by asking; O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? 

Hosea 13:14 reads; 

I will ransom them from the power of the grave I will redeem them from death. 

O Death, I will be your plagues! 

O Grave, I will be your destruction! 

This verse implies that both death and the power of death will be conquered. The bodies of the dead will be raised from the grave, and the bodies of the living will not go down to the grave. This comprehensive verse covers the altruism that we will all be changed and that there are two distinct groups that will experience the Thessalonians resurrection/rapture – the dead in Christ and the living, respectively. 

In conclusion, Paul’s First Thessalonians rapture will be a dimensional change with the meeting/gathering to follow. The rapture will be the physical realization of putting off the old man and putting on the new man. When “this tent” is destroyed (notice: not when we die, or breathe our last breath) we will immediately be clothed with our heavenly habitation which has been prepared for us, and for which we have been prepared.