Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Philippians 3:21

"who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, [that it may be] conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working whereby he is able even to subject all things unto himself." — Philippians 3:21 (ASV)

Christ at his return will “transform” (GK 3571) believers’ mortal bodies, so that they will conform to the character of his resurrection body. The present body is described literally as “the body of lowliness,” a description calling attention to its weakness and susceptibility to persecution, disease, sinful appetites, and death. At Christ’s coming, however, the earthly, transient appearance will be changed, whether by resurrection of the dead or by rapture of the living (1 Thessalonians 4:13–17), and believers will be transformed and will receive glorified bodies that will more adequately display their essential character as children of God and sharers of divine life in Christ (1 Corinthians 15:35–57). This will be accomplished by the same effective operation that will ultimately bring all things in the universe under the authority of Christ (cf. Ephesians 1:10).