As we have learned, some in the church at Corinth were saying that there is no resurrection of the dead (1 Cor. 15:12). The two questions (vs. 35) with which Paul began this passage of Scripture (1 Cor. 15:35-49) may have been posed by one of them, or perhaps, Paul anticipated the questions.
The first question, “How are the dead raised up?” reflects a lack of belief in the possibility of resurrection. The question may be restated, “How is it possible that the dead are raised up?” To summarize Paul’s answer, “As God raises a live plant from a dead seed buried in the ground, He is able to raise a dead body from the grave.”
The second question is, “And with what body do they come?” Paul answered continuing to use the farming analogy. What is sown, seed or grain, is not the plant it will become when it comes forth out of the ground. In the same way, the dead body that is buried will be raised a different body. The first body is corruptible and susceptible to death and decay; the resurrected body is incorruptible and will never die. The first body, the natural body, is suited for life in the natural world. The second body, the spiritual body, is suited to live in the spirit world. At birth we bore the image of Adam. At the resurrection we will bear the image of the second Adam, Jesus Christ!