Objection: Romans 8:11 Uses a Word for Resurrection That Cannot Take Place Until We Get Our New Bodies

The objector asserts that because Romans 8:11 refers to the power that raised Christ from the dead AND uses the word a Greek word translated “quicken” that is also translated as relating to raising the dead in many other places, Romans 8:11 must refer to the future point at which we get new spiritual bodies when Christ returns.

This idea is discussed in the section What Romans 8:11 Really Means, which you should read.  But you should consider 3 things related to this objection in particular.

The Greek Words Within the Verse

The Greek word translated quicken does indeed refer to raising the dead in most, but not all cases, as demonstrated in detail in What Romans 8:11 Really Means.

However, in the phrases “raised up Jesus from the dead” and “raised up Christ from the dead” within Romans 8:11 itself, the word translated “raised up” is the Greek word egeiro and the word for “the dead” is nekros.  But later in the verse, the Greek word translated quicken is NOT egeiro but rather the different word zoopoieo and the word mortal is the Greek word thnetos.  If Paul wanted to make the point that God who raised Christ from the dead would also raise us from the dead in the future, one would think that he would have been consistent within the same verse and say that God would raise us (egeiro) from the dead (nekros) rather than quickening (zoopoieo) our mortal (thnetos) bodies.

Your Mortal Body, Not Your Dead Body

The objector completely misses that the fact that Paul said that God would quicken our mortal bodies.  A mortal body isn’t dead yet!  And a body that isn’t dead can’t be raised from the dead!  This is discussed in much more detail in What Romans 8:11 Really Means, but what is important now is that life is to be imparted to our mortal (thnetos) bodies, not our dead (nekros) bodies!  So resurrection of something dead, as stated by the objector, cannot be the topic.

What Paul Wrote When He Really Meant the Resurrection

This same Paul who wrote Romans 8:11 also wrote the verses below:

1 Corinthians 15:51-52:
Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

Paul DOES refer to the resurrection of the dead here, but he uses the word nekros (dead), not the word thnetos (mortal) to describe the bodies being raised – and the bodies are raised (egeiro) – see above – not quickened (zoopoieo).

So we see that Paul himself uses 2 different words when he describes the raising of dead bodies here as opposed to the 2 words in Romans 8:11 where he describes the quickening of live bodies.

In summary, Romans 8:11 does indeed use a word (egeiro) that explicitly refers to resurrection of a dead body – twice!  But “quicken” is NOT one of those places!  So one could say that the objector is technically correct about Romans 8:11 as a whole (because a word for resurrection does appear there twice), but he has missed it when it comes to the real subject at hand, which is the word translated quicken, which is a different Greek word.