Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Corinthians 15:36

"Thou foolish one, that which thou thyself sowest is not quickened except it die:" — 1 Corinthians 15:36 (ASV)

You fool.—Better, Fool, or more literally, Senseless one. The word in the Greek does not have the sense of opprobrium conveyed in the word translated “fool” in Matthew 5:22; Matthew 23:17; Matthew 23:19. You who with your own hand sow seed, ask such a question as that! The Apostle now proceeds to show, by the analogies in Nature, how a resurrection of a body is possible, and how substantial identity may be preserved under variation of form.

The Apostle does not here prove anything. Analogy can never be regarded as logically conclusive as an argument. The object of analogy is to show how a difficulty is not insuperable. The doctrine of the resurrection has been logically established. A difficulty is suggested as to how it is possible. Analogy shows that the same difficulty exists in theory in other directions where we actually see it surmounted in fact.

It is most important to bear this in mind, as some writers, forgetful of the difference between a logical argument and an illustration from analogy, have regarded some of the Apostle’s “arguments” in these verses as inconclusive. The fact of a buried seed rising into flower does not and cannot prove that man will rise; but it does show that the objection suggested in the question, How are the dead raised up? is not a practical difficulty.

We have in these verses three illustrations of the preservation of identity under change of form:—

1. Seeds growing into flowers and fruit;
2. Flesh in the variety of men, beasts, fishes, and birds;
3. Heavenly and earthly bodies in infinite variety of form and of glory.