Jehovah’s Witnesses claim that the “Kingdom of God” consists only of 144,000 chosen individuals who comprise a special “anointed class” and who will become immortal spirit creatures and rule with Christ invisibly in heaven. Others will be raised as humans in physical bodies on a paradise earth, but cannot enter the Kingdom of God. In defense of this doctrine, they frequently appeal to Paul’s words to the Corinthians:

“Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable,” (1 Corinthians 15:50).

This passage, however, is not claiming that people cannot enter the kingdom in physical, human bodies. Indeed, the passage actually affirms physical resurrection and eternal life in human bodies! The mistake that Jehovah’s Witnesses make here derives from their misunderstanding of how Paul is using the terms “flesh” and “spirit.”

Flesh, spirit, and inheriting the Kingdom

Paul is not introducing the contrast between flesh and spirit in 1 Corinthians 15. Earlier in the same letter, Paul writes:

“And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?” (1 Corinthians 3:1-3).

Paul is not saying that the Corinthian’s problem is that they still consist of the wrong material. His rebuke is not related to their literal substance. He is talking about their sin-corrupted nature. “since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly?” Indeed, Paul uses this kind of language frequently. Note, for example, in Romans where he says:

“so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,” (Romans 8:4-6).

And again:

“for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live,” (Romans 8:13).

Likewise, to the Galatians he gives a striking example:

“And you brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise. But as at that time, he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also. But what does the Scripture say? ‘Cast out the bondwoman and her son, For the son of the bondwoman shall not be an heir with the son of the free woman.’” (Galatians 4:28-30).

Ishmael and Isaac are not two different types of beings. Ishmael wasn’t a human and Isaac an angel. They both had bodies of skin, muscle, blood, and bone. They were biological half-brothers. Paul’s point here is not about their physical nature. Note how he expands on the concept of spirit and flesh in the next chapter:

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another,” (Galatians 5:16-26).

Note that Paul again uses the phrase “will not inherit the kingdom of God” regarding those who are in the flesh. But what does he mean? The issue is the sin-polluted existence of the old man and the Spirit-renewed existence of the new. Note a similar passage earlier in first Corinthians:

“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God,” (1 Corinthians 6:8-10).

Paul also wrote to the Galatians:

“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary,” (Galatians 6:7-9).

This is, indeed, precisely how Paul concludes his point in 1 Corinthians 15 as well:

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord,” (1 Corinthians 15:58).

While Paul certainly sometimes uses “flesh” to refer to physical human bodies, when he contrasts “flesh” with “spirit,” his point is not a matter of material substance. And, as we noted, Paul already set up what he meant by this contrast earlier in the same letter.

It is also worth noting that the earliest Christian writers consistently interpreted 1 Corinthians 15:50 as referring to the removal of the corruption of sin from our bodies so as to grant our bodies eternal life. Over against the Gnostics, who saw flesh as evil and sought an ethereal, disembodied eternity in the heavens, the early Christians saw in Paul’s words a promise that our bodies would be made perfect and rise incorruptible, but remain physical and quite human. This also comports with the Old Testament hope we see expressed in men like Job:

“Even after my skin is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I shall see God,” (Job 19:26).

Job’s hope was that even after the destruction of his body he would rise in his flesh and see God! Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe that those who rise in bodies of flesh will see God, but Job believed it. Early Christians believed it, and Paul taught it.

Walking through the passage

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul is defending the central Christian teaching that those who are in Christ await a future, bodily resurrection. Christians can face persecution, hardship, and loss now because this struggle is temporary and after death will ultimately come life eternal. Paul then raises a common objection of his day so as to answer it, saying:

“But someone will say, ‘How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?’ You fool! That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies; and that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body just as He wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own,” (1 Corinthians 15:35-38).

Paul’s point is not that the seed that goes into the ground is an entirely different substance than the body that comes out. That wouldn’t make any sense. A grain of wheat going into the ground will rise again as a complete wheat plant. It will not rise again as a whale or an eagle. An acorn buried in the earth will come forth as a whole oak tree. It will never come forth as an angel. Paul’s analogy assumes that the body that rises is the completed and perfected form of the mere seed that dies. He is not saying that we die and become some other creature. That would be reincarnation, not resurrection. Paul is saying that our bodies will not rise with the frailties and corruptions with which they died. They will be restored, completed, and perfected. They will still be human bodies, but they will be more alive than ever before! After another brief example from the different kinds of bodies that exist in visible nature (1 Corinthians 15:39-41), Paul goes on to explain:

“So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body,” (1 Corinthians 15:42-44).

Jehovah’s Witnesses tend to latch on to “natural body” and “spiritual body” without observing the other contrasts by which these ideas are explained. Paul defines the body that dies by words like perishable, dishonor, and weakness. He describes the resurrected body using the terms imperishable, glory, and power. The contrast here is between a body under the curse of sin that is fragile, mortal, corruptible, grows old, sick, dies, and decays. The resurrected body is the opposite of that. With the curse of sin removed, it is vibrant, alive, and no longer subject to age, sickness, death, or decay. This is the difference between the “natural” body (the body enslaved to sin and death in Adam) and the “spiritual” body (the body liberated in Christ.). Paul continues:

“So also it is written, ‘The first man, Adam, became a living soul.’ The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly,” (1 Corinthians 15:45-49).

Paul does not say that the difference between Adam and Jesus is that Adam had a physical body and Jesus did not. When Jesus became a man, when Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit and bore the Messiah as a virgin, the child conceived was a physical human being. As to His substance, He consisted of flesh like any other man, and that flesh did not deprive Him of His glory:

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth,” (John 1:14).

Likewise, Jesus rose from the dead still as a man. He explained to His followers:

“See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have,” (Luke 24:39).

Indeed, Paul himself teaches earlier in the chapter that Jesus “was buried and then rose again,” (1 Corinthians 15:4). What was buried is what rose. The body that went down into the grave is the body that came up out of it. Paul’s point contrasting Adam and Jesus was not a matter of substance. Jesus was made of physical flesh. But there was a crucial difference. Adam was made from the earth. Jesus descended from heaven. This is the difference to which Paul draws our attention. We bear the image of the earthy man. In him are sin, death, and corruption. We must bear the image of the heavenly man. In Him is life and eternity. None of this means we cease to be humans and reincarnate as some angelic beings in ethereal heavenly realms beyond. Instead, it means freedom from the curse under Adam and a new and better life in Christ for all ages to come! Paul goes on to explain:

“Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, ‘Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?'” (1 Corinthians 15:50-55).

Note, we do not cast off the perishable and replace it with the imperishable. We don’t leave behind the mortal body to rot and take up a new immortal body. The perishable must “put on” imperishable. The mortal must “put on” immortality. Something is added to the nature of our bodies, but they are still the same bodies. They are completed, perfected, but not traded out for something else. As Paul writes to the Corinthians again later:

“For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be further clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life,” (2 Corinthians 5:4).

The kingdom of God is not an other-worldly realm strictly for angels, ghosts, or spirit creatures without bodies. All who are in Christ will see the kingdom of God with gladness, and we will do so as men and women in sinless and perfected human bodies. All that is truly good about this life will be a part of the next, and yet unpolluted by sin and (most glorious of all) in the very presence of Almighty God! We will have intimate fellowship with our LORD as never before. This is the amazing hope of the biblical gospel and a hope which our Jehovah’s Witness friends and neighbors greatly need to hear and receive through the true gospel and the real Jesus Christ.

Inside the Bible

Jesus said
John 6:40, “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”

Paul said
Romans 8:11 “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”

The Prophets said
Daniel 12:2, “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.”

One of the lesser-known biblical doctrines concerns whether Jesus is a man right now. Many do not know that presently, in heaven, Jesus is a man though in a glorified body. Some object to this and cite various reasons (answered at the end of this paper) for denying His present humanity. They are in error. Following is a biblical demonstration that Jesus is still both divine and human in nature. It is biblically correct to say that Jesus is a man right now in heaven, though a glorified man. But it would be wrong to say that He was only a man. He is both divine and human in nature at the same time (Col. 2:9); He is both God and man, right now. Furthermore, Jesus’ humanity now is important for two reasons. First, this is what the Bible teaches. Second, as a man, Jesus is a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. As a priest, He forever intercedes for us.

1. “where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek” (Heb. 6:20).
2. “Hence, also, He is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:25).

In order to be a priest, Jesus has to be a man. A spirit cannot be a priest after the order of Melchizedek, and if Jesus is not a man now, He could not hold His priesthood, and He could not be forever interceding for us. Therefore, to deny Jesus’ present humanity is to deny His priesthood and His intercession on our behalf. Without His intercession, we are lost.

1. Jesus died. There is no dispute that Jesus died on the cross–except for some non-Christian religions and various atheistic groups who deny the biblical record. Nevertheless, the scriptures teach us that Jesus died.
1. “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus” (1 Thess. 4:14).

2. Jesus rose from the dead physically. The Bible teaches us that Jesus rose from the dead. Unfortunately, some Christians are not aware that Jesus actually rose from the dead in the same body in which He died though it was a glorified body. We see that Jesus prophesied the resurrection of His physical body in John 2:19-21 and fulfilled this in other verses:
1. “Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews, therefore, said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” 21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body” (John 2:19-21).

After Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, He appeared to various people to demonstrate that He had risen physically.

1. “See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have” (Luke 24:39).
2. “When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples, therefore, rejoiced when they saw the Lord” (John 20:19-20).
3. “Then He said to Thomas, “Reach here your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand, and put it into My side; and be not unbelieving, but believing” (John 20:27).

In these verses, we see that Jesus said He would raise the temple of His body. This He did, and the body in which He rose was the same one He in which died since it retained the physical wounds of His crucifixion–He still had holes in His hands and side! I want to note here that if anyone denies the resurrection of Christ that his faith is in vain, and he is not a true Christian.

1. “and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain” (1 Cor. 15:14).
2. Merely asserting that Jesus rose is not enough. Jesus rose physically, lest the very words of Christ be denied,

It is not enough to say that Jesus rose. You must acknowledge that He rose physically. A “spirit” resurrection is not a resurrection of the body, and without the resurrection of the body of Christ, death has not been conquered, and our faith would be in vain.

3. Jesus’ resurrected body was a glorified body. Jesus rose from the dead physically in the same body in which He died. But what kind of a body was this physical body in which He rose? Was it subject to death again? Would it grow tired or grow old? The Bible tells us about the resurrected body, which all Christians will receive in the future.
1. “But someone will say, “How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?..  40 There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. 42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body. It is raised an imperishable body; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. 47 The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. 48 As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly” (1 Cor. 15:35,40-49).

These verses tell us that something happens to the body that is raised from the dead. Notice that verse 44 says that “it is sown a natural body. It is raised a spiritual body.” The same body that is sown (dies) is raised. The natural body is the body with which we are born. The natural body dies and is raised from the dead. But, when it is raised, it is changed into a spiritual body. The resurrected body is different than the natural body in its abilities and qualities as Jesus demonstrated; however, and this is vitally important, it is the same body as before–only “improved,” “glorified,” “spiritualized,” etc. We see this in the fact that Jesus retained the wounds of His crucifixion as evidenced by the holes in His hands and side (John 20:27), yet He was able to appear simply in a room with the disciples without entering through the door (John 20:19-20). He was raised in the same body He in which died, though it had been glorified.

4. Jesus is a man in a glorified body. We have already seen that Jesus was raised from the dead in the same body in which He died, but that body is a resurrected body. However, some people believe that at Jesus’ ascension, He was somehow changed, and His physical body was no longer needed. But this is not what the Bible teaches. There is no place where it states that Jesus stopped being a man. If anything, the New Testament says He is still a man.
1. “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (Col. 2:9).

Notice that this verse speaks in the present tense (“dwells”). Colossians was written well after Jesus’ ascension into heaven, yet Paul tells us that Jesus is in bodily form. What body would that be? Why it would be the same body in which He was raised. To clarify that Jesus is a man, read the next verse.

1. “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5).
1. We see here that Jesus is called a man. Like Col. 2:9 above, this verse uses the present tense (“is”). It clearly states that Jesus is a man.

2. “And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as a dead man. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, 18 and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades,” (Rev. 1:17-18).

In Rev. 1:17-18, Jesus is in heaven, and John the Apostle falls at Jesus’ feet, and Jesus laid His right hand on him. Clearly, from these verses, we can see that Jesus is in bodily form as a man.

5. Objections Answered
1. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. Some argue that the Bible says that flesh and blood cannot go to heaven, as is stated in 1 Cor. 15:50, “Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.” The term “flesh and blood” is a phrase used to designate the natural state, even the carnal state of man.
1. “And Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 16:17).
2. “to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood” (Gal. 1:16).
3. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12).
4. “Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Heb. 2:14).

After the resurrection, Jesus said, “See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have” (Luke 24:39). Jesus specifically stated that He had flesh and bones, not flesh and blood. This may seem like a word game, but it is not. Every word is inspired in the Bible, and Jesus chose His words for a reason. Remember, Jesus’ blood was drained out of His body on the cross. It is His blood that cleanses us of our sins: “but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin,” (1 John 1:7). Jesus was the sacrifice, and His blood cleanses us. Therefore, flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, but flesh and bones can.

2. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 1 Cor. 15:45 says, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.” This verse is not saying that Jesus is without a body, but that He is a life-giving spirit. That is, as the last Adam, He is the one who gives life to people (John 10:27-28). Furthermore, it is designating that Jesus’ resurrected body is equipped to be in both the physical realm and the spiritual realm at the same time.