[zeek]

Originally Posted by UntoHim

An interesting thing is that the apostle Paul was actually fighting against the kind of mentality that separated the physical from the spiritual. This is a huge, huge linchpin in understanding this eminently crucial dynamic of the resurrection and it's implications, both in the present and in the future, for all believers in the Christian gospel, from the beginning until His second coming.

As zeek as pointed out, at the time of the New Testament, there was much more of an awareness of the spiritual side of life. Check out this quote from the Roman stoic, Seneca (a contemporary of the apostle Paul):
Sounds almost Judeo-Christian, but this man was NOT speaking of the Holy Spirit of the true and living God of the Bible. As a matter of fact, it was neither the Spirit of God nor anything remotely holy. It is this kind of mentality, this kind of philosophy, that Paul was dealing with when he wrote this epistle to the church in Corinth. To the way of thinking of most in the Corinthian society, there was not much connection with the present, physical world and the afterlife. Our physical bodies were only temporary vessels that would totally and absolutely cease to exist in the afterlife. But Paul knew this was not true. He knew that there was going to be a physical, bodily resurrection - and he was trying to show the Corinthians that the Lord Jesus had actually gone through this resurrection, and had received his resurrected, "spiritual body".

Lots more to say.

Good stuff. Seneca had a Stoic understanding of spirit which was not at all strange for his time. One question though. What is your claim that "Paul knew" based on? Isn't it more plausible to suppose that Paul was human like the rest of us and that he based his beliefs on his experience?