What does Paul's sowing illustration in 1 Corinthians 15 picture for believers?
Paul's sowing illustration pictures the believer's own resurrection experience: the bare grain sown is not the body that shall be, and it must die before it is made alive. As seed yields stalk and grain, so the believer's death is followed by resurrection.
Les explains that Paul uses the mundane things of agriculture—sowing wheat, rye, corn, or other grain—to illustrate resurrection. You do not sow the whole stalk or the body that shall be; you sow bare grain, an individual kernel. That seed must die, or be quickened, before it comes up. First comes the stalk, then the grain. Paul makes this plain so people can get it straight, and he uses it as a total illustration of our own resurrection experience.
Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die:
And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain:
More Questions
What kind of planting is Paul talking about in 1 Corinthians 15:36-37?
In this passage Paul is talking about the mundane things of agriculture, sowing wheat or rye or corn or whatever else that is going to produce a crop.
Why does Paul use such a simple and almost ridiculous farming illustration in 1 Corinthians 15?
Paul deliberately makes the agricultural comparison so plain, even to the point of sounding almost ridiculous, so that people will get the point straight without a shadow of a doubt.
What kind of farming example does Paul use when explaining the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15?
Paul's illustration in this passage draws on the mundane things of agriculture — sowing wheat, rye, corn, or whatever else is sown to produce a crop.
Does Romans 6:5 mean the same thing as being sown in corruption in 1 Corinthians 15:36?
Romans 6:5 uses the same kind of language as Paul's statement that the body is sown in corruption, only with a different word, but it means the same thing.