“But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” (1 Corinthians 15:20)
In 1 Corinthians 3:10, Paul wrote that he laid the foundation of Jesus Christ in Corinth but “someone else is building upon it”. We do not know who this “someone else” is, but we can get a sense of what they were trying to tack on to the gospel when we read 1 Corinthians 15:12. This person was denying the “ἀνάστασις”, or the bodily resurrection of the dead. They were denying that we will all be raised again with bodies of flesh and blood, some to eternal life on a renewed earth and some to the second death, at the second coming of Jesus Christ.
In the church today as well, many “someones” are spreading the same false teaching. It is an unfortunate fact of modern Christianity in the West that the default Christian hope is to “die and go to heaven”. But the scriptural Christian hope is to be resurrected in a physical body of flesh and blood and bones which will live forever on a renewed earth in the presence of the Lord. As Paul says, “we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.” (1 Corinthians 15:15).
Then what does Paul mean in 1 Corinthians 15:44 when he talks about a “spiritual body”? Paul is not talking about what material our bodies will be made of. He is not saying that we have a material body now but will be resurrected as a spirit. Instead, Paul is distinguishing between the life source that animates our bodies. In this world, our life source is “natural”, that is, it comes from our parents (cf. John 1:13). But when we are resurrected, our life source will be the Holy Spirit, thus making us “spiritual” bodies.
In Philippians 3:20-21, Paul teaches us that Christ’s resurrection body is the pattern of our resurrection body. And Christ’s body was not a ghostly body, but a material body. In Luke 24:39, the resurrected Jesus says, “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” (Luke 24:39). He has flesh, blood, bones, and he ate fish. This is the kind of body that we will have when we are resurrected.
Our understanding of the resurrection will strongly shape our understanding of two key concepts: death and salvation. As we’ll see, a wrong understanding of the resurrection always gives rise to a wrong understanding of death which always gives rise to a wrong understanding of salvation.
So we must understand what “death’ is according to scripture. In scripture, death is not when the spirit and body are separated–a Greek concept. Genesis 3 shows that death is a curse from God for disobeying his word.
Originally, humans were created in a state of blessing in the Garden of Eden. This does not mean that there were no steep cliffs, fierce animals, or sharp stones that could have afflicted Adam. It means that such things posed no threat to Him because God’s blessing on him ensured that these dangerous things served him (cf. Psalm 91:12).
But due to Adam’s sin, the things which previously served him became his master and thus a threat to him.
The ground which once served to nourish him became a grave for him and for every human who followed—a curse on the ground for which it was never purposed (cf. Genesis 3:19). In the Old Testament, God describes the ground as a prison in which people await punishment (cf. Isaiah 24). And God prophesies the resurrection, saying, “Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light and the earth will give birth to the dead.” (Isaiah 26:19).
Right after Jesus says that He goes to prepare a place for us, Jesus is crucified and buried—he goes into the ground (cf. John 14:2-3). In doing so, Jesus reverses the curse and provides a “room” in which he invites us to take refuge from the wrath of God. This we do by being baptized into Christ’s body (cf. Isaiah 26:20).
When people who are not in Christ die, they do not go anywhere. Their soul and body stay in the prison of the ground, awaiting the judgment at the return of Christ. But, for those of us who die in Christ, we remain with Him even when we die. But this way of being in Him is not the end. It is temporary until He returns on the Day of the Lord and takes us to be with Him by resurrecting us bodily from the dead.
As for the day of judgment, it is spoken of even in Isaiah 25:21, saying, “For behold, the Lord is coming out from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it, and will no more cover its slain.” This is why Paul writes in Romans 8:19-25 that the “creation waits with eager longing” and even “we ourselves” wait for the day when the curses on creation are reversed and we are resurrected bodily.
This is why the Christian hope is not the slipping off of our bodies like banana peels while we go on to eternal life as spirits. The Christian hope is that the curse will be reversed, the ground and the sea will give up their dead, and the resurrected dead will be judged, the creation will be redeemed, and those who are in Christ will live forever with him on a renewed earth, in flesh and blood bodies animated by the Holy Spirit.
This is the gospel hope.
Do the Word 
I agree with Dr. Foley substantially. It is undeniable that the Scripture promises believers that just as Christ rose from the grave in a glorified body, we all will rise in like manner and live eternally. However, what I want to humbly suggest is that I think Dr. Foley is minimizing something that the Scripture doesn’t. I submit that there is equal hope in the NT for what happens to us the moment we die.
[Philippians 1:21-23] “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.” – For Paul, departing and being with Christ was “far better” for him than staying on earth ministering and caring for the church
[2 Corinthians 5:6-8] “So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.” – Paul says that we are “well-pleased” to not be in this earthly body, but to be present with the LORD.
[Luk 23:42-43] Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” – The robber makes an eschatological statement. Effectively, he says “when You become the glorified King of all in the resurrection, remember me”. – The blessed assurance and comfort of Christ’s words are not based on the bodily resurrection. Rather, the robber knowing in the short time he was about to die that he would be WITH CHRIST in Paradise is the promise Christ made.
My point is to only say that we shouldn’t minimize the hope of being with Christ at the moment of death. That is SOOOOO comforting to me. Praise God that He does promise we will be resurrected bodily in a new heaven and new earth. I suggest what makes that age and any time up to it, including physical death, most significant for the believer is that fact that we will be WITH God, worshiping and serving Him forever!
Good to hear from you, Vincent. Thanks for your good word. I preached a few weeks ago and several times this past year on the “far better” state you mentioned here, so certainly I agree with you completely about it without reservation. I spent little time on it in this particular message (the blog post is taken from a sermon I preached, which is available through our VOMK YouTube channel) in faithfulness to Paul’s omitting it from 1 Cor 15. I am certain that his reason for omitting was not because he changed his mind or because he considered it less important, but rather because his concerns were centered on those in Corinth who were denying the general bodily resurrection. Paul could have written the chapter differently, highlighting the “far better” state and noting that it was not the final state, but he did not. Hard to know why. Perhaps sharpening the contrast was more important to him in that chapter than seeking common ground with those who had abandoned the hope of general bodily resurrection. It is true of Paul’s writings generally, that in theological controversies he writes to emphasize contrast rather than common ground. In any case, my goal when preaching a particular passage is to hew to the passage and its preaching and theological logic as closely as possible, rather than to round it out systematically. But thanks for rounding it out as graciously as you have done here!