The Wind in My Sails

I love 1 Corinthians 15.

It is one of my favorite chapters in the bible. I mean how could a whole chapter on the resurrection NOT be one of your favorite chapters?? Paul is such a great rhetorician, I just love how his arguments swell into these grand visions of Christian Hope (ala Romans 8).

One of the things he talks about in this chapter is how right now we have soma psychikon (natural body) but when the resurrection happens we will have a soma pneumaikon (spiritual body). The interesting thing is that Paul does not mean that right now we have a normal body, and then later our body will be made out of "spirit" or something. He is not making a comment on what our bodies will be made out of, instead, he is making a comment about what drives or animates those bodies. How do I know that?

Well, because I read a book by N.T. Wright. He says its all in the adjectives. The kind of ending used here on these words always refers to animating force rather than substance. Its like the difference between asking, "Is this ship iron or wooden?" and asking "Is this ship steam or wind powered?" Paul isn't saying will be made out of spirit. He is saying that the Spirit will be what powers us, drives us, sets us in motion. Using the ship analogy, we aren't going to be ships made from spirit, but the Spirit is going to be the wind in our sails.

I love that idea, that picture. We all know we are supposed to be Holy Spirit led, but I have never thought about it quite this way before. That the Holy Spirit is to be the force that drives me. That the Spirit is to be what moves me and makes me act. That the Spirit is to be the wind in my sails.

May He be the wind in your sails as well.

~J.L. Smith