1 Corinthians 15:42–56

⁴²That is how it will be when the dead come back to life. When the body is planted, it decays. When it comes back to life, it cannot decay. ⁴³When the body is planted, it doesn’t have any splendor and is weak. When it comes back to life, it has splendor and is strong. ⁴⁴It is planted as a physical body. It comes back to life as a spiritual body. As there is a physical body, so there is also a spiritual body. 

⁴⁵This is what Scripture says: “The first man, Adam, became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. ⁴⁶The spiritual does not come first, but the physical and then the spiritual. ⁴⁷The first man was made from the dust of the earth. He came from the earth. The second man came from heaven. ⁴⁸The people on earth are like the man who was made from the dust of the earth. The people in heaven are like the man who came from heaven. ⁴⁹As we have worn the likeness of the man who was made from the dust of the earth, we will also wear the likeness of the man who came from heaven. ⁵⁰Brothers and sisters, this is what I mean: Flesh and blood cannot inherit God’s kingdom. What decays cannot inherit what doesn’t decay. 

⁵¹I’m telling you a mystery. Not all of us will die, but we will all be changed. ⁵²It will happen in an instant, in a split second at the sound of the last trumpet. Indeed, that trumpet will sound, and then the dead will come back to life. They will be changed so that they can live forever. ⁵³This body that decays must be changed into a body that cannot decay. This mortal body must be changed into a body that will live forever. ⁵⁴When this body that decays is changed into a body that cannot decay, and this mortal body is changed into a body that will live forever, then the teaching of Scripture will come true: 

“Death is turned into victory! 

⁵⁵Death, where is your victory? 

Death, where is your sting?” 

⁵⁶Sin gives death its sting, and God’s standards give sin its power.