How can we look forward to reinhabiting these worthless husks that we leave behind in death?

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Overview

Craig Payne of Ottumwa, Iowa, asks a good question: “If after death, we are already in the joy of God’s presence, what exactly do we gain from a bodily resurrection?” Timothy George, theologian, seminary professor, and executive editor of CHRISTIANITY TODAY, provides a concise answer. In this study, we’ll review George’s insights and the biblical texts behind them. We’ll probe what some people consider to be a difficult issue: If to be “absent from the body” means for believers to be “present with the Lord” as Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:8, why bother with the bodily resurrection? Isn’t simply being in the presence of God good enough?

Table of Contents

SCRIPTURE: 1 Corinthians 15:12–50

LEADER'S GUIDE

    • Identify the Current Issue

    • Discover the Eternal Principles

—Teaching point one: "Why do some among you say there is no resurrection?" (1 Cor. 15:12)

—Teaching point two: "How are the dead raised?" (1 Cor. 15:35)

—Teaching point three: "And with what kind of body do they come?" (1 Cor. 15:35)

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