As mentioned before in our discussion of chapter 6, Paul writes to an audience with conflicted viewpoints on souls and bodies:

To Gentile listeners influenced by Greek philosophy, humans are immortal souls shackled to profane bodies, and death presents liberation from this world and entry into the ideal. The popular Greek philosophy of Paul’s day places heavy emphasis on the individual and the journey to enlightenment, and death marks a culmination in this journey. Because souls are immortal and bodies are not, our souls cast off our bodies, and there is no resurrection.
But this isn’t quite right according to Paul.

To Jewish listeners who grew up with the Torah and the Prophets and the Wisdom writings, the divisions between body and soul are not so stark, and our whole beings face an eventual death and shadowy afterlife in Sheol (a loosely defined underworld), so best to enjoy this world while we’re here. Some Jewish leaders in Paul’s day discussed the possibility of resurrection, but only one sort of eternity was agreed upon: while individuals might die, God would remain faithful to the people of Israel and bring about restoration— a sort of cultural immortality.
But this also isn’t quite right according to Paul.

Knowing the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus has flipped every script out there, Paul writes something different to both of these perspectives, and his listeners wait with eager ears since they’re trying to understand a big problem:

At this point in the life of their church, the Corinthians are starting to see some of the earliest converts to Christianity dying off, and this is raising all sorts of questions about what exactly Jesus promised. “Didn’t he say he was coming back soon? What about those who died before he comes? Have they gone to Sheol or Hell or Heaven or what? What’s going to happen when Jesus returns?” We learn in 1 Corinthians 15 that these believers were distraught enough to make a practice of baptizing people on behalf of the dead (though, admittedly, we’re not sure what this practice looked like or what it was thought to accomplish). Paul seeks to alleviate their fears with his argument here and correct some misconceptions in the process:

Just as Jesus died and returned in a perfect body,
so it will be for you.

To help his listeners make sense of this, Paul first draws on the image of Adam, stating, “For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.” (v. 21-22) Just as the first humans pluck fruit from a tree, ushering in sin and death, Jesus gives up his life and is raised up on a tree to remedy sin and death. Through his life and death, Jesus forgives humanity of our sins, and through his resurrection, he demonstrates what will happen to those who follow him. Death cannot contain Jesus, and Paul assures his listeners it won’t be able to contain them either; the impermanent will be made imperishable through Christ’s perfect love. A resurrection is coming. Those who have already passed away will return, and those still here will change.

As to what this resurrection will look like, Paul compares our deaths to the burying of a seed. When you plant an acorn in the ground and a tree springs up, is the tree still the original acorn? Well, yes and no. A transformation has taken place. Where something old was buried, something new has emerged. So it will be with us.

We won’t be disembodied spirits; we will have physical bodies.
These bodies will be discernibly us, but they’ll also be different.
The perfection which we only glimpse now will be fully realized then.
Death and sin will be no more.
There will be a new heaven and a new earth,
not souls fluttering off in some land of puffy white clouds
but a physical Kingdom we’ll inhabit together in resurrected bodies,
and we’ll all be there.

Paul offers these assurances to his listeners and to us:
Through Adam you are of earth,
but through Christ, you are also of heaven,
and you will be changed.

You are a seed.

But we’re not there yet,
and we’re not done yet.
There’s still work to do,
and because of all we’ve heard and pass on,
we trust that none of this work will be in vain.