15 35 But, you may ask, how are the dead raised? In what kind of body? 15 36 How foolish! The seed you sow does not come to life unless it has first died; 15 37 and what you sow is not the body that shall be, but a naked grain, perhaps of wheat, or of some other kind; 15 38 and God clothes it with the body of his choice, each seed with its own particular body. 15 39 All flesh is not the same flesh: there is flesh of men, flesh of beasts, of birds, and of fishes—all different. 15 40 There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies; and the splendour of the heavenly bodies is one thing, the splendour of the earthly, another. 15 41 The sun has a splendour of its own, the moon another splendour, and the stars another, for star differs from star in brightness.
15 42 So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown in the earth as a perishable thing is raised imperishable. 15 43 Sown in humiliation, it is raised in glory; sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 15 44 sown as an animal body, it is raised as a spiritual body.
If there is such a thing as an animal body, there is also a spiritual body. 15 45 [ Gn.1.7. ] It is in this sense that Scripture says, 'The first man, Adam, became an animate being', whereas the last Adam has become a life-giving spirit. 15 46 Observe, the spiritual does not come first; the animal body comes first, and then the spiritual. 15 47 The first man was made 'of the dust of the earth': the second man is from heaven. 15 48 The man made of dust is the pattern of all men of dust, and the heavenly man is the pattern of all the heavenly. 15 49 As we have worn the likeness of the man made of dust, so we shall wear the likeness of the heavenly man. 15 50 What I mean, my brothers, is this: flesh and blood can never possess the kingdom of God, and the perishable cannot possess immortality.
15 51 Listen! I will unfold a mystery: we shall not all die, but we shall all be changed 15 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet-call. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will rise immortal, and we shall be changed. 15 53 This perishable being must be clothed with the imperishable, and what is mortal must be clothed with immortality. 15 54 [ Is.25.8. ] And when Some witnesses insert: our perishable nature has been clothed with the imperishable, and ... our mortality has been clothed with immortality, then the saying of Scripture will come true: 'Death is swallowed up; victory is won!' 15 55 [ Hs.13.14. ] 'O Death, where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting?' 15 56 The sting of death is sin, and sin gains its power from the law; 15 57 but, God be praised, he gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
15 58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, stand firm and immovable, and work for the Lord always, work without limit, since you know that in the Lord your labour cannot be lost.