Working through 1 Corinthians 15, the study begins with Paul’s answer to those who denied the resurrection: if the dead are not raised, Christ is not raised, our preaching is vain and we are still in our sins. All men are joined to Adam in sin and death, but in Christ’s resurrection history does not end in frustration. God’s justice is satisfied in His death and resurrection, and those in Him are a new creation.
The body matters in God’s purpose, in creation and in re-creation, and its resurrection is reserved for the end, when all things are made new. Like a seed that must die before new life springs up, it is sown perishable and raised imperishable. The spiritual body is not ghostly but a glorified body for the Spirit, bearing the image of the heavenly Man. So our present work has meaning: in the resurrection we will go on serving God in the new creation.