In this week's "Life, Love, & Light" podcast, we continue delving into Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians and examine the difference between the archetype of a human being -- namely Adam -- who came from the earth, and Jesus Christ, who came from heaven. We discuss in detail Paul’s glorious teachings on the “spiritual body.” For Paul, the spiritual body defines the transformed human person who has died completely to sin and lives in the resurrected glory of Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. This resurrected, divinized spiritual body is the fully actualized human person, clothed in a transformed physicality, animated through and through by the Spirit of God, the heart of divine love.
We also hear Paul's exhortation to hope in his Letter to the Galations: "let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up." The apostle is insistent that the work of the Lord we do every day will have a direct correlation to the eternal gifts we will receive in the consummation and recreation of the world. And in his Second Letter to the Corinthians, Paul reminds us that faith in resurrection is the ground of hope: "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. For while we live, we are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be made visible in our mortal flesh" (2 Cor 4:8–11).
By examining Paul's luminous teachings, we realize that faith and hope in resurrection give meaning—eternal meaning—to even the smallest of our efforts. We know that nothing will be forgotten. Everything—joys, sorrows, losses, disappointments, rejections, physical and emotional suffering of every kind— will be transformed into eternal glory by the power of Christ's death and resurrection. At this critical time of war, incomprehensible devastation, and tragic death in our world, these teachings are essential for our spiritual lives.
NOTE: This series of podcasts is based on themes from my award-winning book, "Living Resurrected Lives: What it Means and Why it Matters," co-authored by my daughter, Eva Natanya, PhD (Cascade Books, 2020).
PLEASE SHARE these "Life, Love, & Light" podcasts with your family and friends.
Blessings to all!