1 Corinthians 15:37 (DRB)

Passage

And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not the body that shall be: but bare grain, as of wheat, or of some of the rest.

Nearby Context

1 Corinthians 15:35 But some man will say: How do the dead rise again? Or with what manner of body shall they come?

1 Corinthians 15:36 Senseless man, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die first.

1 Corinthians 15:37 And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not the body that shall be: but bare grain, as of wheat, or of some of the rest.

1 Corinthians 15:38 But God giveth it a body as he will: and to every seed its proper body.

1 Corinthians 15:39 All flesh is not the same flesh: but one is the flesh of men, another of beasts, other of birds, another of fishes.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "thou", "sowest", "body", "shall", "bare", and "grain". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "thou" and "sowest", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 36's "Senseless man that which thou sowest is..." into verse 38's "But God giveth it a body as...", so "thou" and "sowest" belong inside that flow. In 1 Corinthians context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "thou" and "sowest" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.