How does the dead rise, in what body will they appear? St. Paul explains concretely

Faith in the resurrection of our bodies on the day of the Parousia is based on the fact of the resurrection of Christ killed on the cross and buried in the tomb. God, who in Jesus became a true man, actually died, experienced true human death, that is, the separation of soul and body. His body became a corpse, was laid in the tomb, and on the third day was glorified, this is resurrected. In this way, our salvation was accomplished - the whole man with soul and body.

And how will the dead be resurrected?

It is an undeniable historical fact that Jesus actually died, that he was buried and rose again on the third day in the same body that dwelt in the tomb (cf. 1 Cor 15:3-4). After his resurrection, Jesus repeatedly appears to his disciples already in a glorified body, but the same body in which he suffered and died. When the frightened disciples think that they see only the spirit, Jesus says: " Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see, I have. " (Lk 24:39).

To the Apostle Thomas, who found it difficult to believe in the resurrection, Jesus appears in his resurrected body. "Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe" (Jn 20:26-27).

Of course, the corporeality of the resurrected body is of a very different kind than during the earthly life. To the question posed: " How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come back?" (1 Cor 15:35), Saint Paul replies that on the one hand there is a continuity, an identity, but in the Resurrection, there is a radical change. "It is sown dishonorable; it is raised glorious. It is sown weak; it is raised powerful. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual one" (1 Cor 15:42-44). St. Paul emphasizes that " For that which is corruptible must clothe itself with incorruptibility, and that which is mortal must clothe itself with immortality " (1 Cor 15:53).

It is Christ himself, with his almighty love, who " will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body by the power that enables him also to bring all things into subjection to himself " (Phil 3:21). St. Paul explains that "Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep; all die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life " (1 Cor 15:20, 22). Our resurrected bodies will be like the glorified body of Christ.

Will those people who will still be living on earth at the end of the world have to die? St. Paul replies: " Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed, in an instant, in the blink of an eye …. the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. " (1 Cor 15:51-52). Resurrected bodies, like the glorified body of Christ, will not be subject to the laws of matter. " I declare, brothers" St Paul writes, "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption." (1 Cor 15:50). The Lord Jesus, explaining the essence of the Eucharist, pointed to his glorified and resurrected body. He said, "The spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail " (Jn 6:63). "Flesh and blood" are synonymous of decay, indicating transience and finitude, and for this reason they cannot possess infinity unless they are transformed and glorified by the power of the Holy Spirit. Only then will " corruptible clothes itself with incorruptibility “(1 Cor 15:54).

The guarantor of the resurrection of the bodies of all the dead on the Last Day is Christ himself, who said of himself: "I am the resurrection and the life" (Jn 11:25). It is then, at the end of time, that the resurrection of the bodies will take place and they will be reunited with the beloved souls of the dead. Everyone will be resurrected, both the saved and the damned. " Those who have done good deeds to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked deeds to the resurrection of condemnation " (Jn 5:29).

To the Sadducees, who claimed that there was no resurrection, the Lord Jesus replied, " Are you not misled because you do not know the scriptures or the power of God?" (Mk 12:24). Faith in the resurrection is therefore based on faith in the omnipotence of God, who " is not God of the dead but of the living" (Mk 12:27).

If at the moment of death, the eternal fate of man is decided and the soul immediately goes to heaven, purgatory or hell, why is the resurrection of bodies still needed?

In Sacred Scripture, God reveals to us that all material reality, the whole of creation, " would be set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God " (Rom 8:21). Thus, the entire created universe will be saved and transformed, to which man also belongs as a bodily-spiritual being. His soul and body form this special kind of unity. The Christian doctrine of man, following St. Thomas, defines the human soul as the form of the body (anima forma corporis). The human body is more than the sum of the particles of matter. The body becomes the body of a particular person through the formative power of the soul and is its bodily expression.

When the history of mankind comes to an end, when Christ's final victory over all evil is brought to an end in humanity and in the entire created universe, it is then that the formation of the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ will be completed and the day of the Parousia, the day of the Last Judgment, the day of transformation, the glorification of all created not only spiritual but also material reality will take place (cf. 1 Cor 15, 21-28). It will also be the day of the resurrection of our bodies. The identity of the glorified body with the body of our earthly life will not depend on the identity of atoms and molecules, but on the formative power of the soul, which is, after all, the form of the body. In this way, through the resurrection of the bodies, the salvation of man will be completed. As was the case with the humanity of Jesus, in the case of every human being too, his soul is glorified at the moment of death, and the body only at the moment of resurrection. In this way the whole man with body and soul will be saved.

Why is the Last Judgment still needed, when at the moment of death an individual judgment has already taken place, which definitively determined salvation or condemnation?

Since all men are " one body in Christ and individually parts of one another " (Rom 12:5), therefore, the history of humankind concerns each individual person. The fate of the whole is the fate of each of us. On the day of judgment, the formation of the Mystical Body of Christ will be completed. Then good and evil will be definitively separated (cf. Mt 25:31-46). Christ will deprive the evil powers of any possibility of doing evil. There will be the final victory of Love and Truth, the transformation, the renewal of the world, the universal resurrection. It will be the fullness of time and the union of all things "in Christ as Head" (Eph 1:10). We will know the ultimate meaning of the work of creation and salvation. Only then, on the day of the Last Judgment, will the saved people be given the final "place" in the Mystical Body of Christ. Then God will be "all in all" (1 Cor 15:28).