Gr. psuchikos, an adjective derived from the word psuchē, which word is most frequently translated “soul.” Psuchikos means, pertaining to this present life. It is a difficult word to translate into English. The RSV translation “physical” is inadequate, and also contains shades of thought not in psuchikos. For example, physical may mean “material,” but the contrast is not between a material and an immaterial body, though the latter is really a contradiction in terms. The resurrected saints will have real bodies. Paul presents the contrast between the body that pertains to this brief earthly life and the glorious body in which the redeemed will be raised to eternal life in God’s kingdom of glory (see 1 Cor. 15:50, 52; Phil. 3:21; Col. 3:4; 1 John 3:2). The natural body is that which is subject to the limitations of temporal existence, such as pain, disease, fatigue, hunger, death. This body is placed in the grave at the conclusion of mortal life (see Job 14:1, 2, 10-12; 21:32, 33). The spiritual body will be free from all marks of the curse (see GC 644, 645).

Textual evidence attests (cf. p. 10) the reading “if there is a natural body.” The next clause should be translated “there is also a spiritual body.” Paul’s reasoning is not entirely clear. It seems to be based on the proposition that the existence of the lower presupposes the existence of the higher. Or perhaps Paul is basing his statement on the observations he has already made regarding the certainty of the resurrection. The corrupted body that is sown is as certain to spring to life as an incorruptible body, as a seed cast into the ground is certain to produce its corresponding plant.