Philippians 3:21
Read Philippians 3:21 Using Other Translations
What does Philippians 3:21 mean?
Who shall change our vile body
Which is defiled with sin, attended with frailty, and is mortal;
and being dead, is sown and laid in the grave in corruption,
weakness, and dishonour: in the Greek text it is, "the body of
our humility"; sin has subjected the body to weakness, mortality,
and death; and death brings it into a very low estate indeed,
which is very humbling and mortifying to the pride and vanity
man: now this vile body, in the resurrection morn, shall be
stripped of all its vileness, baseness, and meanness; and be
changed, not as to its substance, nor as to its form and figure,
which shall always remain same, as did the substance and form of
our Lord's body after his resurrection; but as to its qualities,
it shall be changed from corruption to incorruption, ( 1
Corinthians 15:42 ) , from mortality to immortality, from
weakness to power, from dishonour to glory, and be free from all
sin: so the Jews say F2, that
``the evil imagination, or corruption of nature, goes along with man in the hour of death, but does not return with him when the dead arise:''and this change will be made by the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, when he shall descend from heaven; who as he is the pledge, the first fruits, the exemplar, and meritorious cause, so he will be the efficient cause of the resurrection of the saints; who will be raised and changed by him, by his power, and by virtue of union to him:
that it might be fashioned like unto his glorious
body;
or "the body of his glory", as it is now in heaven, and of which
his transfiguration on the mount was an emblem and pledge; for
glory, power, incorruption, and immortality, the bodies of the
saints in the resurrection shall be like to Christ's, though not
equal to it, and shall shine like the sun in the kingdom of their
Father. The Jews F3 have a notion, that
``the holy blessed God will beautify the bodies of the righteous in future time, like the beauty of the first Adam:''but their beauty and glory will be greater than that, it will be like the glory of the second Adam, the Lord from heaven, whose image they shall then bear: and whereas this requires almighty power, of which Christ is possessed, it will be done
according to the working,
the energy of his power and might; or as the Syriac version
renders it, "according to his great power"; which was put forth
in raising himself from the dead, and whereby he was declared to
be the Son of God: and
whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto
himself;
not only sin, Satan, and the world, but death and the grave; and
so consequently able to raise the dead bodies of his saints, and
to change the qualities of them, and make them like unto his own:
and now who would but follow such persons, who are citizens of
heaven, have their conversation there, look for Christ the
Saviour from thence, ( Philippians
3:20 ) , who when he comes will raise the dead in Christ
first, put such a glory on their bodies as is on his own, (
1
Thessalonians 4:16 ) , and take them to himself, that where
he is they may be also? see ( 14:3 ) ( Hebrews 6:12
) .
F2 Midrash Tillim apud Galatin. de Arcan. Cathol. ver. l. 12. c. 2.
F3 Midrash Hanneelam in Zohar in Gen. fol. 69. 1.
