Paul’s Account of Change at the Resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:42‐44a

The following article discusses Paul's conception of change regarding the resurrection body in 1 Cor 15:42-44a.Our thesis is that Paul uses a popular Hellenistic cosmology and account of change to explain how the transformation of the body is possible.He uses seed imagery to contrast the pre-andpost-resurrection bodies the mortal and immortal bodies.Using rhetorical accommodation techniques, he resolves the Corinthian confusion regarding physical resurrection using popular Hellenistic ideas.Whereas some interpreters think that the resurrection body is terrestrial, others find a rarefied extraction of matter like the Stoic material soul or a holistic transformation into a rarefied and/ or celestial element fitted to a polarized heavenly environment.Our interpretation is characterized by material continuity and integrative rather than absolute polarity.Though Paul conceives of material continuity, he says nothing of rarefied bodies or their natural habitat.Jesus's resurrection and anticipated return suggest a transformation of the 'flesh' into a body capable of traversing both heavenly-earthly spheres.Some think this view is incoherent, because it combines two incompatible conceptions of resurrection.Paul's solution seems to be that the resurrection body changes its properties as needed, depending on its environment.Hence, it never exemplifies incompatible properties at the same time.incompatible conceptions of resurrection.Theoretically, and admittedly speculatively, Paul may have resolved this problem by conceiving of bodies that change their properties as needed.If they never exemplify incompatible properties at the same time, Paul did not need to address the conceptual problems further.Section II explains our methodological approach to the question of resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15.Section III summarises our structural-formal assessment of the chapter, providing a framework for our discussion of resurrection transformation.Section IV explains Paul's Hellenistic account of change in vv.42-44a, considers alternative interpretations of the resurrection body, raises objections, and then presents our interpretation with supportive reasoning.Section V summarises our findings. II. THE CORINTHIAN CONTROVERSY AND THE 'OPPONENTS FIRST' APPROACHSeveral theories about the nature of Paul's 'opponents' have been developed: those sympathetic to Greek philosophy and the soul's immortality, 1 Gnostics, 2 Hellenistic Jewish Wisdom Mystics, 3 deniers of an afterlife such as the Sadducees, 4 etc. 5 Each provides different explanations of the problems and Paul's teaching in 1 Cor.15.According to the conventional Greek position drawing on Plato, the Corinthians rejected the idea of a physical resurrection in favour of the soul's immortality.Some hold that Paul maintained physical resurrection in response, whereas others theorise that he accepted the soul's immortality in Hebraic-Greek terminology.According to the Gnostic position, the Corinthians believed in a spiritual resurrection at conversion, and denigrated matters of the body and the eschatological resurrection.In response, Paul affirms the futurity of physical resurrection against realised eschatology.According to the Hellenistic Jewish Wisdom position, the