But God gives it a body as He has designed, and to each kind of seed He gives its own body.
Parallel translations
- WEB But God gives it a body even as it pleased him, and to each seed a body of its own.
- KJV But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.
- NKJV But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body.
- NASB But God gives it a body just as He wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own.
- NLT Then God gives it the new body he wants it to have. A different plant grows from each kind of seed.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God gives each seed the body He chooses. It matters because the resurrection body is God's sovereign and fitting gift.
Overview
Paul attributes the seed's growth to God's wise design, who gives each kind its own body. This points to the resurrection as a work of God's power and pleasure, not human achievement. Believers can trust that the body God raises will be exactly what He wisely intends.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- 1 Cor 3:7So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.
- Isa 61:11For as the earth brings forth its growth, and as a garden enables seed to spring up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.
- Gen 1:11–12Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth vegetation: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees, each bearing fruit with seed according to its kind.” And it was so.
- Mark 4:26–29Jesus also said, “The kingdom of God is like a man who scatters seed on the ground.
- Ps 104:14He makes the grass grow for the livestock and provides crops for man to cultivate, bringing forth food from the earth:
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Christ at the center
Christ crucified is the wisdom and power of God; he is our Passover sacrificed for us, the firstfruits of resurrection, the foundation on which everything is built.
How 1 Corinthians 15:38 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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