What are Glorified Bodies?

In the process of salvation there are three acts of God that we as believers receive. First off, the act of justification occurs when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior and that he was the Son of God, having died and then been resurrected to sit on the right hand of God in Heaven. This is also compared to our being removed from our sins of the past. This is also when the Spirit comes into our bodies to perform its work on us. The second phase is that of Sanctification. From this point onward we are working towards becoming more Christ-like and fighting our battles against sin with the help of the Spirit. This can be compared to being removed from the sins of the present.

The last phase is Glorification where we are removed from sins of the future. However, this is a simplified definition and there is much more that happens during this last stage of the salvation process. This phase of glorification occurs when one of two things happen. First, it can happen when we physically die and are separated from our physical bodies. From there our souls are with God. The second option is when we are brought to heaven by God while still alive, also commonly known by the vernacular of the Rapture. For those who come through the first option, our souls are separated from our decaying bodies and united with our God until Jesus’ return to the world (Parousia). Then we will occupy our now glorified bodies. For those who come through the second option, our earthly bodies are reconstituted and rendered perfect, becoming our glorified bodies.

With his resurrection, Jesus became the ultimate, perfect human. God transformed his physical, earthly body into an incorruptible, glorified presence, flawless and faultless. This is also the plan of God for the completion of our salvation. Upon our claiming of our glorified bodies we will also attain the same level of perfection. We know this for certain because the Apostle John states this in 1 John 3:2-3, ‘We know that when He appears, we will be like Him because we will see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself just as He is pure’. It is this pure and perfect body that will allow us to reside in proximity with God.

But what are these ‘glorified’ bodies? The verse that addresses this especially is seen in Phil 3:21, ‘He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of His glorious body, by the power that enables Him to subject everything to Himself.’ More detail about our new, glorified state is in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. In 1 Cor 15:20 it states, ‘Our bodies will no longer be subject to decay, sickness, disease, or death. They will be made perfect in accordance with the pattern of the glorified body of our risen Lord Jesus’ This also points to idea that the physical body itself will be rendered perfect with all of the blemishes and frailties being removed. We will also be spared a lot of the negative emotions (also inferring physical discomfort) that come with our imperfect natures, as in Rev 21:4, ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away’. This glorified body will also have no expiration date and will be our eternal body in heaven. This is because Jesus completed his mission on earth and has rendered death impotent, bringing life and immortality through the gospel.