Thirdly: It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.
Fourthly: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.
From this it is clear that our resurrection body will be such, as under the different conditions prevailing in the future life, will have every element of personality which we possess now, but in a glorified and spiritual form. "I" shall be "I" in the resurrection body, and recognisable as such to those who know and love me now. Beyond this we need not go. For it is God Who will raise us from the dead, and to Him nothing is impossible.
CHRIST AND His CHURCH.
Though the actual word "Church" is only found twice in the Gospels, on both occasions in St. Matthew (XVI. 18 and XVIII. 17)—that Christ meant His followers to form a visible Body with proper equipment for the task of evangelising the world after He had left it in the flesh is shown clearly by the following facts. In the first place He selected twelve men, whom He kept together, trained together by close and constant association with Himself, and to whom He gave the distinct commission not merely to preach the Gospel but to admit men into the fellowship by the Sacrament of Baptism. He also instituted the Sacrament of the Holy Communion which, though it had other purposes, was certainly intended to be, and was in fact, from the first, a bond of visible corporate union of all Christians. Also the early records of Christianity, as found in the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles, point conclusively to the conviction that in the foundation of the "Churches" in different places, and in the beginnings of very definite organization that are there seen, general instructions given by our Lord were being followed by the Apostles. It has been argued that, as the first Christians were convinced that our Lord's return would be quite soon, they would not have concerned themselves with the foundation of a Society intended to last for an indefinite future. It is quite true that they did believe that the second Advent of Christ would not be long deferred. This belief arose partly from a mistaken interpretation of certain sayings of our Lord, in which they confused His prediction of the fall of Jerusalem with the end of the present age, and partly from a very natural idea that His manifestation in Glory could not be separated by any length of time from His Resurrection and Ascension into heaven. The fact remains, however, that the foundations of the Christian Church were planned with the care and forethought that an age-long existence called for, with the result that, when the expectation of an almost immediate return was seen to be unfounded, the disappointment did not in the slightest degree weaken the faith or check the growth of the Church. The certainty that Christ would return remained, as it still remains, one of the component parts of the Christian's belief about Christ. When the time comes, He will most certainly return "to be our Judge", but as He Himself said "Of that day and hour knoweth no one ... neither the Son, but the Father only". It is not for us to speculate therefore about the exact date of Christ's return, but to endeavour to live in such a state of preparation that we should be ready to meet Him at whatever time His second Advent may occur. "Blessed are those servants whom their Lord, when He cometh, shall find watching."
Christ is the Head of His Church, which is therefore a Divine Institution, though it works in the world by human instruments. Into this Body we are admitted at Baptism, and by virtue of Christ's Headship become by our admission "Members of Christ, Children of God, and Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven".
CHRIST AS MEDIATOR
As Christ is God and also shares our humanity, and in virtue of His great Act of Reconciliation shown on the Cross, we rightly approach God the Father through Him. That is why we end our prayers with the words—"through Jesus Christ our Lord", and plead the Sacrifice of the Cross before the throne of God in the Blessed Sacrament. St. Paul (Romans VIII. 34.) speaks of Christ as making intercession for us at the right hand of God.
HIS CHURCH AND HER MEMBERS
Christ told His disciples that He would be with them always, even to the end of the Age. This promise He, as Head of His Church, fulfills, both to that Body at large, and to the individual members thereof by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit through which He works both in the heart of the individual and in the whole Body, to which He has given the charge of the Means of Grace. We also rightly believe that He is specially present in the Sacrament of His Body and Blood, which He Himself instituted and ordained for His followers.