When you plant a seed, what comes up first — the seed itself or the stalk?
When a seed is planted, the stalk comes up first, not the seed itself. The bare grain is sown, but it must die before it produces the stalk and then the grain. This agricultural principle illustrates resurrection.
Les explains that Paul is using the mundane things of agriculture—whether sowing wheat, rye, corn, or whatever else produces a crop—to teach a spiritual truth. When you plant, you do not sow the whole stalk of wheat; you sow the seed, the bare grain, the individual kernel. It stands to reason that if you plant the seed, you do not expect the seed to suddenly come up above the ground. Instead, the stalk comes first, and then the grain. Paul uses this as a total illustration of our own resurrection experience. He says you do not sow what you expect to see, the whole stalk, but you sow the bare grain. The seed must die before it is quickened or made alive.