New Life in Christ: Embodied, Immortal, and Glorious

September 30, 2026/Daniel Rowlands/
Photo Credit: Snapwire

Photo Credit: Snapwire

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Not long ago my wife and I helped care for her sister who suffered from multiple sclerosis. In the final years of her life in this world, she was unable to do anything for herself; her body simply would not function. We and her other caregivers prepared her meals and fed her, moved her in and out of bed to her mobility chair, and did everything else a healthy person is able to do for themselves. Everything. Multiple sclerosis had so debilitated her that she was unable to do anything at all. Even a few words were a struggle. Though she had lived with multiple sclerosis for nearly thirty years, it became clearer that she was approaching the end of her life.

The resurrected bodies of believers will be beautiful beyond imagination.

It was during this time that we talked more about heaven and the new life she would enjoy through faith in Christ Jesus. In particular, we often spoke about what it would be like to have a new and completely perfect body. We talked about death and the shedding of her broken and painful body but also how in the resurrection she would be given a new body—imperishable and immortal. It would be a body beautiful beyond imagination—one that never wears out and is always perfect, a new life body made possible by the resurrection of Christ Jesus. As the apostle Paul writes,

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. (1 Cor. 15:20-23)

The bodies of believers will be raised imperishable and in glory.

Christ is the firstfruits of our own resurrection. In Adam (that is, in this fallen sinful creation) we all will die and our bodies will return to dust. Those who die in Christ, united to him by faith, will immediately be present with the Lord in heaven like the thief on the cross to whom Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). But until the resurrection at Jesus’s return, his second coming, we will be without bodies. When he returns, in the blink of an eye, our souls will be united to new bodies.

Paul anticipates our questions: “But someone will ask, ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?’” (1 Cor. 15:35). His answer:

So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. (1 Cor. 15:42-44)

Our new bodies received from God in the resurrection will be imperishable, glorious, powerful, and spiritual. Our present mortal bodies, subject to decay and death, will be raised to an immortal state and bear the image of our Savior.

God’s Spirit will give us a bodily life that is perfect, imperishable, and immortal.

God’s Spirit who dwells in us will give life to our new resurrected bodies. Paul writes to the church in Rome,

But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. (Rom. 8:10-11)

God will give us a bodily life that is imperishable and immortal (1 Cor. 15:53)! This is new life indeed! It is a life to which we can all look forward, especially as we struggle with our current bodies that may be suffering from disease, weakness, and decay. The new life in the new creation we have right now by faith in Christ Jesus and in the power of the Holy Spirit brings us ultimately to the resurrection and bodies made perfect, raised in glory, and kept forever by our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus.

This article was originally featured in BCL’s April 2025 monthly newsletter “New Life.”

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