Thursday, July 2, 2020

Joseph Smith on 1 Corinthians 15:50 and the Physical Nature of the Resurrected Body

Some groups who reject the resurrection being physical but spiritual only (i.e., Jehovah's Witnesses) often (mis)interpret Paul to teach such in 1 Cor 15:50 (cf. Matt 16:17).

 

Interestingly, Joseph Smith (correctly) understood that Paul was not teaching that the resurrected body would not be physical; only that it would not be perishable. Note the following from a discourse dated 9 October 1843, as reported by Willard Richards:

 

Flesh and blood cannot go there but flesh and bones quickened by the Spirit of God can