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8) 1 Cor 15:50: Paul began this verse with an emphatic, “I say this, brothers [and sisters],”[1] followed by two parallel statements for additional stress.[2]
He wrote, “Flesh (sarx) and blood (haima) and blood is not able to inherit the kingdom of God, nor [is] the perishable able to inherit the imperishable.”
In this case, “flesh and blood” refers to our physical substance.[3]
This phrase is particularly apropos given our fleeting, frail lives,[4] which are ill-suited for our future existence due to their tendency to death and decay (Isa 40:7–8).[5]
During the Old Testament era, God’s people focused upon gaining the promised land (Exod 12:23–27; Deut 6:3; Isa 40:1–11).
However, Jesus preached that his followers would expand from inhabiting primarily Israel to the ends of the earth (Matt 28:16–20; Luke 24:45–47; Acts 1:1–11).
Only then shall the Lord complete the restoration of the conditions of Eden through the resurrection and renewal of all creation into a new heaven and a new earth (Gen 2:8–14; Matt 24:14; Rev 5:6–10; Rom 8:19–23; Rev 21:1–3).[6]
Image via Wikimedia Commons
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a) Read 1 Cor 15:50. Why can’t flesh and blood inherit the kingdom of God? How far shall the Lord’s realm extend?
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Go to We Shall Be Changed (1 Cor 15:51–52)
[Related posts include Dead in Adam but Alive in Christ (1 Cor 15:20–23); We Shall Be Changed (1 Cor 15:51–52); Victory over Death (1 Cor 15:53–55); A Well-Watered Garden (Gen 2:8–14); A Return to the Ground (Gen 3:19); Christ’s Resurrected Body (Luke 24:31, 35–44); Passed from Death into Life (John 5:24–27); A Second Resurrection (John 5:28–29); Co-Heirs with Christ (Rom 8:16–18); Creation’s Eager Expectation (Rom 8:19); Subjected to Futility (Rom 8:20); Set Free from the Slavery of Corruption (Rom 8:21–22); The New Holy City (Rev 21:10–11); and A Return to Paradise (Rev 22:1–5, 20)]
[Click here to go to Chapter 10: The Tree of Life (Genesis 3:22–24)]
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[1]Ciampa and Rosner, The First Letter to the Corinthians, 828. Note that the masculine plural in Greek can refer either to men or to a mixed group of men and women.
[2] Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, Rev. Ed., 883.
[3]Eduard Schweizer, “σαρξ” (sarx), NIDOTTE 7:98–151, 128–9.
[4] Ciampa and Rosner, The First Letter to the Corinthians, 828.
[5] Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, Rev. Ed., 885.
[6] Ciampa and Rosner, The First Letter to the Corinthians, 828–9.
Redemptive History and Theology 