In the previous blog post about 1 Corinthians 15, we saw that at the moment of the snatching away, two trumpets will sound, whereby the dead in Christ will be resurrected in a transient state, and the believers still living at that time will be transformed. The dead will be raised and receive imperishable bodies, and the bodies of the living who remain will be changed into imperishable bodies.
Philippians 3
20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also await the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ…
Followers of Paul
The sentence begins with the word for. With this, Paul refers to the previous point in which he calls his readers to follow him and others who walk like him (1 Corinthians 4:17). We also find this exhortation elsewhere (1 Corinthians 4:16), and he adds: as I also am of Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1).
In the Philippian ecclesia, just as among the Galatians, teachers had come who preached that believers from the nations should also be circumcised and observe other Jewish customs. Paul calls this: forcing the nations to Judaize. See Galatians 2:14.
Not earthly-minded
Paul calls these teachers enemies of the cross of Christ (18). Because the cross symbolizes that all is accomplished, and by preaching to the nations to observe certain customs, they indicated that something could still be added to the work of Christ. “Their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame,” Paul adds, referring respectively to kosher food and circumcision. They are earthly-minded (19). Do not imitate them, but imitate me and others who also walk in the same way (18).
Heavenly
For our citizenship is in heaven. They are earthly-minded, but we are citizens of a heavenly kingdom. In this world, we are ambassadors for Christ (2 Cor. 5:20), not belonging to this world, but to Him. Delivered from the power of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of the Son of His love (Col. 1:13). Our Lord is in heaven, and therefore we seek the things that are above, not the things that are on earth (Col. 3:1-2).
21 Who will transform the body of our humiliation into the likeness of the body of His glory…
transfigured
From heaven we await our Savior: the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transfigure our lowly body. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven (1 Thessalonians 4:16), and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed (1 Corinthians 15:52). We will then receive a body conformed to His glorious body. The body He received in His resurrection, we also receive!
Romans 8
29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
30 But whom He predestined, He also called; and whom He called, He also justified; and whom He justified, He also glorified.
Conformed to Him
We will return to Romans 8 later, because this chapter describes in detail how, in the redemption of our bodies, we will be placed in the position of sons. As an ecclesia (>exclamation), we will share in everything that belongs to Christ.
The ecclesia that God gathers from the nations (Acts 15:14) are called according to God’s purpose (Rom. 8:28), and God has predestined them to be conformed to the image of His Son, and He glorifies them. All things are God’s work; He has predestined them (3 times in verses 29-30).
21 … according to the working by which He can also subject all things to Himself.
a metamorphosis
In the snatching away, the dead will be raised, and those who are still alive will be changed. They will undergo a metamorphosis, a complete transformation. This happens by power, namely, according to the working (Greek: energeian) by which He can also subject all things to Himself. And He will subdue all things (1 Cor. 15:27-28; Eph. 1:22-23)!
Those who are Christ’s are the firstfruits (Rom. 8:23) and will be the first to share in the life of the Firstfruit (1 Cor. 15:23). But the gathering of the firstfruits precedes the harvest and is the promise of it!