1Cor 15:35-36 - Other Ears May Be Listening

35-36 But someone will ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?" 36 You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.


By Paul’s reaction to this rhetorical question it seems obvious that he is not addressing a serious enquirer. He is addressing a person who is seeking to raise objections in order to quash the idea of resurrection altogether. A person honestly seeking information about the nature of the resurrection body would hardly be called foolish by Paul. Such legitimate inquiry is perfectly within the bounds of godliness when done with humility and with a teachable spirit.

But that’s not what is going on in Corinth. Some have crept in who deny the resurrection altogether and they are hurting the faith of others with their teaching. It is these destroyers who Paul is calling foolish, for their question is not an honest one, but a sceptical, disbelieving one that seeks to disprove what Paul asserts, and what the true gospel actually says. These he calls "foolish," and goes on to say that the concept of resurrection can be confirmed from the creation itself.

Yet, by addressing his rebuke to those in error in this way, Paul is re-teaching the true believers (those who have ears to hear) as if they were third-party listeners. There is a great lesson in this, for we often think that our arguments and our admonishments are given for effect upon the one we are addressing; a person in error being corrected, we think, is the one who will benefit from our "wise" teaching. But God is much wiser than we, and He often uses remarks made to one person to great effect upon another within hearing range, but to whom the remarks are not directly addressed. We should learn from this to be careful about our public remarks, but also to trust God that when we sow good seed, He will give the increase when and where and however and in whomsoever He pleases.