The Meaning of 1 Corinthians 15:42 Explained

1 Corinthians 15:42

KJV: So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:

YLT: So also is the rising again of the dead: it is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption;

Darby: Thus also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruptibility.

ASV: So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:

KJV Reverse Interlinear

So  also  [is] the resurrection  of the dead.  It is sown  in  corruption;  it is raised  in  incorruption: 

What does 1 Corinthians 15:42 Mean?

Context Summary

1 Corinthians 15:42-58 - Victory Over Sin And Death
Life on the other side will be as real and as earnest as here. We shall not dissolve into thin mist or flit as bodiless ghosts. We shall each be provided with a body like that which our Lord had after, He arose from the dead. It will be a spiritual body, able to go and come at a wish or a thought; a body that will be perfectly adapted to its spiritual world environment. The last Adam, our Lord, will effect this for us. But we must in the meanwhile be content to make the best use of the discipline of mortality, keeping our body pure and sweet as the temple and vehicle of the Holy Spirit until we are born into the next stage of existence. Always the physical before the psychical and the psychical before the spiritual.
What triumph rings through those last four verses! As generations of Christians have stood around the mortal remains of their beloved, they have uttered these words of immortal hope. The trumpet's notes will call those who have died and the saints that are still alive on the earth, into one mighty host of transfigured and redeemed humanity. Oh, happy day! Then we shall be manifested, rewarded, and glorified with Christ. All mysteries solved, all questions answered! Till then let us abound always in the work of the Lord. [source]

Chapter Summary: 1 Corinthians 15

1  By Christ's resurrection,
12  he proves the necessity of our resurrection,
16  against all such as deny the resurrection of the body
21  The fruit,
35  and the manner thereof;
51  and of the resurrection of those who shall be found alive at the last day

Greek Commentary for 1 Corinthians 15:42

So is the resurrection of the dead [ουτως και η αναστασις των νεκρων]
Paul now applies his illustrations to his argument to prove the kind of body we shall have after the resurrection. He does it by a series of marvellous contrasts that gather all his points. The earthly and the risen beings differ in duration, value, power (Wendt). [source]
It is sown [σπειρεται]
In death, like the seed (1 Corinthians 15:37). In incorruption (εν απταρσιαι — en aphtharsiāi). Late word from α — a privative and πτειρω — phtheirō to corrupt. In lxx, Plutarch, Philo, late papyrus of a Gnostic gospel, and quotation from Epicurus. Vulgate incorruptio. The resurrection body has undergone a complete change as compared with the body of flesh like the plant from the seed. It is related to it, but it is a different body of glory. [source]
In incorruption [εν απταρσιαι]
Late word from α — a privative and πτειρω — phtheirō to corrupt. In lxx, Plutarch, Philo, late papyrus of a Gnostic gospel, and quotation from Epicurus. Vulgate incorruptio. The resurrection body has undergone a complete change as compared with the body of flesh like the plant from the seed. It is related to it, but it is a different body of glory. [source]
So also []
Having argued that newness of organization is no argument against its possibility, Paul now shows that the substantial diversity of organism between the earthly and the new man is founded in a diversity of the whole nature in the state before and in the state after the resurrection. Earthly beings are distinguished from the risen as to duration, value, power, and a natural as distinguished from a spiritual body. [source]
It is sown []
Referring to the interment of the body, as is clear from 1 Corinthians 15:36, 1 Corinthians 15:37. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for 1 Corinthians 15:42

Galatians 6:8 Corruption [φθοράν]
Primarily, destruction, ruin; but it also has the sense of deterioration, decay, as 1 Corinthians 15:42. Comp. Aristotle, Rhet. iii. 3,4: “And thou didst sow ( ἔσπειρας ) shamefully ( αἰσχρῶς ) and didst reap ( ἐθερίσας ) miserably ( κακῶς ).” See also Plato, Phaedrus, 260 D, and on defile, Romans 3:17. [source]
Galatians 6:8 Corruption [πτοραν]
For this old word from πτειρω — phtheirō see note on 1 Corinthians 15:42. The precise meaning turns on the context, here plainly the physical and moral decay or rottenness that follows sins of the flesh as all men know. Nature writes in one‘s body the penalty of sin as every doctor knows. [source]
Ephesians 6:24 In uncorruptness [εν απταρσιαι]
A never diminishing love. See note on 1 Corinthians 15:42 for απταρσια — aphtharsia sa120 [source]

What do the individual words in 1 Corinthians 15:42 mean?

So also [is] the resurrection of the dead It is sown in decay it is raised immortality
Οὕτως καὶ ἀνάστασις τῶν νεκρῶν σπείρεται ἐν φθορᾷ ἐγείρεται ἀφθαρσίᾳ

Οὕτως  So 
Parse: Adverb
Root: οὕτως  
Sense: in this manner, thus, so.
καὶ  also  [is] 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: καί  
Sense: and, also, even, indeed, but.
ἀνάστασις  resurrection 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Feminine Singular
Root: ἀνάστασις  
Sense: a raising up, rising (e.
τῶν  of  the 
Parse: Article, Genitive Masculine Plural
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
νεκρῶν  dead 
Parse: Adjective, Genitive Masculine Plural
Root: νεκρός  
Sense: properly.
σπείρεται  It  is  sown 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Middle or Passive, 3rd Person Singular
Root: ἐπισπείρω 
Sense: to sow, scatter, seed.
φθορᾷ  decay 
Parse: Noun, Dative Feminine Singular
Root: φθορά  
Sense: corruption, destruction, perishing.
ἐγείρεται  it  is  raised 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Middle or Passive, 3rd Person Singular
Root: ἐγείρω  
Sense: to arouse, cause to rise.
ἀφθαρσίᾳ  immortality 
Parse: Noun, Dative Feminine Singular
Root: ἀφθαρσία  
Sense: incorruption, perpetuity.