“But someone will say, ‘How are the dead raised? What kind of body will they have when they come?  Foolish one! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.  And as for what you sow– you are not sowing the future body, but only a seed, perhaps of wheat or another grain.  But God gives it a body as He wants and to each of the seeds its own body.  Not all flesh is the same flesh; there is one flesh for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.  There are heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies, but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is different from that of the earthly ones.”

~First Corinthians 15.35-40

Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth provides an opportunity to discuss race and the difference that it makes.  The word flesh is mentioned throughout the New Testament and there are several meanings or uses for it.  Jesus responded to Peter after he identifed Him as the Messiah, “Simon son of  Jonah, you are blessed because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father in heaven” (Matthew 16.17).  We are instructed not to put confidence in the flesh as “we are the circumcision, the ones who serve by the Spirit of God” (Philippians 3.3).  We are told that “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against rulers, against principalities, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6.12).  Of the meager list of things that are in the world, “the lust of the flesh” is included (I James 2.16).  Jesus Christ also took on flesh (John 1.14) , “taking on the likeness of men” (Philippians 2.7).

The congregants at the Corinthian church wanted to know the nature of the resurrected body.  “What kind of body will I have?” they asked Paul.  Now, while they were not asking about the social coloring of their body, we might as I have read of a white and “Negro” heaven.  It simply will not exist.  And as for the kind of bodies that we will see in heaven, I have an answer.  There is only one flesh for human beings and there are only two categories for bodies: heavenly and earthly.  So, when on earth, we have an earthly body and when in heaven, a heavenly body.  That’s simple enough.

It seems that it is only in our flesh that we divide ourselves up according to the social coloring of skin, economic class, educational background and the like.  But, there are no categories in heaven since there will be no flesh in heaven as “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (First Corinthians 15.50).  So, what difference does race make?  What difference does it make to Christ? None.  It’s all in the flesh.