Significance of 1 Corinthians

• 'it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body'
• Paul believed that Jesus' death and resurrection had freed humans from the power of sin and death and had opened up for humanity the possibility of eternal life in the presence of God
• He believed in resurrection of the body rather than immortality of the soul
• The physical earthly body is not resurrected, that body perishes as death
• Rather, a new spiritual and imperishable body, appropriate to the new mode of existence after death, is resurrected
• Paul believed that the second coming of Christ and the end of the world of human experiences were imminent: he describes this is language that many Christians believe was meant as a metaphor, showing the momentus nature of what would happen