The Transformation of the Body
For admittedly the bodies of all will come back to life clothed with the grace of incorruption, but not all will be changed (1 Corinthians 15:51). The wicked will remain in the form of dishonor, only so that they may be punished; but the righteous alone will be changed, and, besides the good of incorruption, they will be enriched with the covering of divine glory.
So He Himself, by His own power and a working fitting for God, “will transform the body of our lowliness to be conformed to the body of His glory” (Philippians 3:21). And what is the body of our lowliness? This body from the earth, held fast by death because of that ancient curse (Genesis 3:17–19), which Christ undid by “becoming a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13).
The transformation will not carry us off into some other nature. For we shall be what we are, that is, human beings, but incomparably better: incorruptible and imperishable, and glorified besides.
What the last trumpet that raises the dead is meant to show (1 Corinthians 15:52), the inspired Paul himself will make clear to us when he says (1 Thessalonians 4:16), “For the Lord Himself, with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel…
Greek
εἰκόνος τοῦ Υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ·" ἀναβιώσονται μὲν γὰρ ὁμολογουμένως τὰ πάντων σώματα τῇ τῆς ἀφθαρσίας χάριτι κατημφιασμένα, ἀλλαχθήσονται δὲ οὐ πάντες· ἀλλ' οἱ μὲν φαῦλοι ἀπομενοῦσιν ἐν τῷ τῆς ἀτιμίας σχήματι ἐπὶ μόνῳ τῷ χρῆναι κολάζεσθαι, οἱ δέ γε δίκαιοι ἀλλαχθήσονται μόνοι πρὸς τῷ τῆς ἀφθαρσίας ἀγαθῷ, καὶ τῆς θείας δόξης καταπλουτήσαντες τὴν περιστολήν. αὐτὸς τοιγαροῦν ἰδίᾳ δυνάμει καὶ ἐνεργείᾳ θεοπρεπεῖ "μετα"σχηματίσει τὸ σῶμα τῆς ταπεινώσεως ἡμῶν σύμμορφον "τῷ σώματι τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ." ποῖον δὲ τὸ σῶμα τῆς ταπεινώσεως ἡμῶν; τουτὶ τὸ ἐκ γῆς, τὸ τῷ θανάτῳ κατησχημένον ἐκ τῆς ἀρχαίας ἐκείνης ἀρᾶς, ἣν λέλυκεν ὁ Χριστὸς 317 "γενόμενος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν κατάρα·" ἔσται δὲ ὁ μετασχηματισμὸς οὐκ εἰς ἑτέραν τινὰ φύσιν ἀποκομίζων ἡμᾶς, ἐσόμεθα γὰρ ὅπερ ἐσμὲν, τουτέστιν ἄνθρωποι, πλὴν ἀμείνους ἀσυγκρίτως· ἄφθαρτοι γὰρ καὶ ἀνώλεθροι, καὶ πρός γε τούτῳ δεδοξασμένοι. τί δ' ἂν βούλοιτο δηλοῦν ἡ ἐσχάτη σάλπιγξ ἣ διανιστᾷ τοὺς νεκροὺς, αὐτὸς ἡμῖν σαφηνιεῖ λέγων ὁ θεσπέσιος Παῦλος " Οτι αὐτὸς ὁ Κύριος ἐν κελεύσματι ἐν φωνῇ "ἀρχαγγέλου