What does it mean that we shall be changed (1 Corinthians 15:52)?

Scripture declares that every believer “will be changed” at the rapture of the church (1 Corinthians 15:52). A believer’s body may be dead or living at the time (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18). Regardless, all will be changed.

If someone asks, “What will happen to believers who do not die prior to the resurrection?” the answer is, “They will be changed.” Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, so there must be a transformation (1 Corinthians 15:50; Philippians 3:21). The transformation for some will be while they are still living. First Thessalonians 4 reveals that “the dead in Christ will rise first” and then living believers will be “caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (verses 16–17, NASB).

Paul calls this truth a “mystery” in 1 Corinthians 15:51. The doctrine of the resurrection itself is not a mystery, since it is taught in the Old Testament (Job 14:14). But the truth that not all will die—that a translation will occur for living believers—is a mystery previously unknown, now revealed. There will be a group of believers who will not see physical death but will be changed “in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Corinthians 15:52).

The dead in Christ shall be raised incorruptible (i.e., they will never die again). The deceased will be raised immortal at the sound of “the last trumpet” (1 Corinthians 15:52). Once the trumpet sounds, all believers will be changed. The dead will be changed because of the resurrection, and the living will participate in that grand event. The transformation of their bodies will never be altered.

There will not be a single believer whose body does not undergo change. The adjective all (1 Corinthians 15:51) refutes the notion that one must be ready and watching to be transformed. If we believe “that Jesus died and rose again” (1 Thessalonians 4:14), our bodies will be changed and caught up to be with Jesus. Regardless of the depth of a believer’s spirituality, every Christian will be changed at the Lord’s coming.

“For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality” (1 Corinthians 15:53, NASB). The idea behind the word must indicates that incorruptibility is necessary. The earthly, corruptible body must be changed into a spiritual, incorruptible body that is suitable for existence in the eternal realm. Both those who are dead and those who are living at the time of this resurrection are included.

Scripture emphasizes the difference between the present earthly body and the future glorified body with four (combined) parallel uses of “the perishable” and “the mortal” in 1 Corinthians 15:53 and 54. In this way, the questions of verse 35 (“How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?”) are answered. A transformation of the present earthly body is essential for believers to attain the destiny of becoming like Christ. He is “the firstfruits” who shall change our perishable bodies to be fashioned like His glorious body (1 Corinthians 15:23; Philippians 3:21).

Even though not all believers will experience death, every believer will experience the necessary change from corruptibility and mortality to incorruptibility and immortality. “When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory’” (1 Corinthians 15:54, referencing Isaiah 25:8).