After further defending the resurrection
of the dead by mentioning the practice of baptism for the dead (15:29-34), Paul
begins another major section of the chapter with hypothetical questions (15:35):
“But someone may ask, ‘how are the dead raised? With what kind of body will
they come?’” Verses 36 through 57 are basically Paul’s answers to these questions.
Paul’s answer involves (1) the analogy of nature (15:36-41), (2) a transitional
summary statement that leads into the Adam-Christ typology (15:42-44), and (3) the
Adam-Christ typology (15:45-59).
The analogy of nature is drawn from
plants (15:37-38), animals (15:39), and planets (15:40-41). By this analogy
Paul basically argues 91) that there is a difference between what is sown in
the ground (seed) and what is raised from it (plant), (2) that God gives a different
kind of body to different types of species as He chooses, and (3) that there
are different kinds of bodies and degrees of glory of the body. (Sang-Won
(Aaron) Son, Corporate Elements in Pauline Anthropology: A Study of Selected
Terms, Idioms, and Concepts in the Light of Paul’s Usage and Background [Rome:
Pontificio Instituto Biblico, 2001], 47-48, emphasis in bold added)